Hasbro’s 80th Anniversary initiative is the best thing they have done with the Marvel Legends brand since their rather ignominious beginnings after taking over from Toybiz.
With a bevy of near-definitive takes on several characters, Every 80th Anniversary offering looks like an immediate upgrade over previous versions, and Captain America is no different. We’ve reached the plastic pinnacle of Captain America figures. While I won’t say every aspect is “perfect” I will say it is streets ahead of any Cap figure.
I don’t usually care about packaging, but the 80th stuff comes in a nice package replete with Alex Ross artwork. It’s still going in the trash, but it’s good-looking trash and a nice difference from the standard Marvel Legends packaging.
The figure itself is just action figure bliss. It’s all too easy to say something along the lines of “previous Caps should have done this already” but the sculpted scales instantly place it ahead of the previous two Hasbro Caps. I was never personally affronted by the two previous Captain America figures, but I was also in a camp of not turning down sculpted detail if it was presented. While the painted on scales of the retro wave Cap were a good start, those figures are now historical curiosities in light of this Cap.
It’s easy to see that this Cap uses an Alex Ross-styled level of realism as a jumping off point. Argue what you will about the benefits of Alex Ross, but he’s always come at the superhero genre with open arms, embracing the idiosyncrasies of classic costuming with a respectful reverence while leaning into spandex with a shimmery earnestness.
The Reaper body that was used for previous Cap figures has always been fine, but this new body poses with an enhanced fluidity. The shoulders are unencumbered, the legs are able to achieve a wide lateral spread that puts the Pizza Spidey figure to shame, and the torso crunch gets a respectable back and forth. His neckball even allows for a bit of tilt to his head. Everything works very well, and this is by far the most playetic Cap figure outside of imports like Revoltech. I wouldn’t have said no to butterfly joints or for that line at the bottom of his scales to be an extra articulation point like the recent Beast or Power Rangers figures have, but that’s not a widespread POA in most Marvel Legends.
The scales are painted with a pearlescent blue paint. I don’t know if this is widespread, but mine only goes halfway down, stopping at an abrupt line around the front and back. This means the lower portions of the scales on Caps back and chest are a flat, dark blue instead of the pearlescent of the upper portion. I’ve got some similar paint I can fix it with if I decide to, but it was an odd aberration, and something to look out for if it’s widespread. He’s a Wal-mart exclusive, but I got this early from Robotkingdom, so it will be interesting to see if the one I ordered from Wal-mart’s website ends up the same way.
Otherwise, the rest of the paint is clean. I had a bit of a ding on the chest star, and there’s an issue with one of his eyes that I’ll get to when I go over his heads, but everything else was fine.
His shield is the standard Cap shield that has come with all of his figures. This Captain America has such a presence that even though the shield seemed fine on the other bodies, it’s starting to look a little small to me.
He comes with two heads, one comic inspired and one Alex Rossish. But to me they’re “grumpy” and “stern.” My grumpy head has a Jack Elam eye, but the stern one was always going to be my default anyway, so into a bag the grumpy one goes. I like the stern head much more than any previous Cap heads. It’s heroic without looking like he ate something that disagreed with him. It’s not quite my perfect ideal, but it’s getting there.
He comes with two sets of hands and a third shield-slinging hand. I’m defaulting to fists, because Cap will punch you for liberty and justice and stuff. And freedom? Sure, he will freedom-punch the bejeezus out of you.
The grab hands are fine, but I don’t need him to be holding stuff. I was going to use one as a shield-throwing hand but the thumb and forefinger are fused together. I could cut it with a knife if I wanted, but still, I don’t know what he’s supposed to be holding if the fingers are fused. A flag? He doesn’t come with a flag. Maybe he needs a flag. That’s ok, he’s going to be too busy freedom-punching bad guys to hold a flag.
The shield-throwing effect hand has always been odd. I tried to make it look natural, but I don’t think frisbees work like this. It’s always been a good effort and a neat attempt, but it’s not something I will ever use with any of my Cap figures.
Starting with the Secret Wars Captain America back in 1984, I have had a long run of Cap figures that are either good, bad or just “ok.” But we’re finally at a place with a genuine “great” one. This is a great figure. I’ll buy this again when it’s made in a lighter shade of blue, because we all know it’s coming eventually with a lighter shade of blue. But this one is finally the red white and blue hand-candy that I’ve been waiting for. It only took 80 years!
