Captain America week is winding down and we’re looking at two grail items for any Cap collector. For years now, Sideshow Collectibles has been releasing its immensely popular line of Premium Format Figures. Two of their earlier pieces are Captain America and the Red Skull, released in 2007 and 2008 respectively.
For the uninitiated, a Premium Format (PF) Figure is a quarter-scale poly-resin statue that incorporates some form of mixed media. Cloth, leather, metal — something that gives it a little extra pop on the shelf. Basically speaking, it’s a statue with soft goods. Action figure collectors can be a precocious little bunch when it comes to soft goods on toys, but Sideshow has always gone the extra mile to make sure that each item is tailored to the static figure so that all pieces fit and nothing looks out of place or distracting. Let’s take a look and see why these two are centerpiece items for any Captain America collection.
Captain America
Standing at roughly 20 inches, Captain America is packaged in heavy duty foam in three separate pieces (the figure itself, the base, and a small bit of wreckage that attaches to the base with a magnet). The figure is attached to the base via two thick metal posts, so you must take great care during assembly so as to not damage the resin base. As they often do, Sideshow released two versions of this statue — the regular version, as shown here, and the Exclusive version that comes with three extra pieces that allow you to display Cap in all his WWII glory. The Exclusive comes with Cap’s WWII shield, head sculpt, and a German military helmet to replace the Ultron head on the base.
The sculpting on this statue is a perfect 10 in my book. With its stoic and confident face sculpt and powerful, yet not grotesquely muscular, physique, this is the Captain America I picture when his name is mentioned. Sideshow always crams a ton of detail into these larger statues, and it’s always appreciated. Everything from the individually sculpted chain mail on Cap’s chest to the damaged head of Ultron beneath his boot is near perfect.
The premium format element to this piece is the cloth on the leggings, torso, and arms, and a leather belt with metal buckle. I’ll admit that I was a bit hesitant about the soft goods when I bought it, but the cloth is tailored so well that all fears vanished when I had him out of the box. My only gripe is how difficult it is to keep dust free. My usual methods of compressed air and a duster won’t work on cloth, and a lint brush is a bit too big for some of the smaller areas. As a result, I have to use bits of tape to pull any dust off the cloth. You just don’t want anything too strong of an adhesive as you might damage the fabric. Painter’s tape works well.
Red Skull
A year after Cap’s debut, Sideshow released the perfect companion piece — The Red Skull. One of the greatest villains in all comicdom, The Red Skull Premium Format figure comes in at near 19 inches and is perfectly scaled to his star-spangled nemesis.
While most of this statue is covered in the cloth uniform, the Red Skull still has the impressive sculpted elements that Sideshow excels at. The detailed base is a bit more generic than that of Cap, but it complements the figure nicely and is full of tiny details like the bullet casings. The real treat is the sinister head sculpt — complete with removable fancy-pants cigarette holder. The paint is flawless and the evil of this character is undeniable.
While satisfied with the soft goods on Cap, it’s the Nazi uniform on the Red Skull that really makes him such a thrill to own. Every button, patch and insignia is perfectly stitched and tailored. Like Cap, the belt buckle is metal and has a very rough Nazi Eagle sculpted onto it. All of the different materials work perfectly with one another and make this a perfect example of why the Premium Format has been so popular over the years.
The statue shown here is the Sideshow Exclusive version, which means that he comes with just a little bit extra. Along with the skull cane sword, which is metal and removable from the cane, Red Skull comes with an additional hand that holds the Cosmic Cube. The hands are easily swappable and are attached via magnets.
Regardless of your opinion of soft goods and statues in general, it’s hard to deny the artistry and talent behind Sideshow’s Premium Format Captain America and Red Skull. As a result, these two can fetch quite a hefty price on the secondary market — with Cap slowly inching his way towards the $2,000 mark on eBay. Red Skull can be had at around the $500-$600 range. Valuable or not, these two are going to be with me forever. They’re just that cool.
Thanks for reading!
