Stats
Company: Hasbro
Year: 2009
Size: 4 1/4" Inches
Price: $8.44 (Wal-Mart Stores)
Packaging: Carded
Well a couple people mentioned interest in the Captain America figure in particular, and personally he is one of my favorites so far. So I decided what would be better than a review and some Photos? Well...nothing I guess.
Sculpt: 5/5
I actually tried pretty hard to find a problem with this sculpt of Cap, but for the life of me I can't really find any. In fact compared to most of the current roster popped out by Hasbro, Captain is just simply one of the top 5 best and original sculpts thus far! I've really never understood exactly what kind of material Caps suit was made of, but I always assumed it was some form of mail or scaled skin armor. And every single scale is sculpted in, very evenly I might add. The Chest Star is sculpted out and raised as well. A very nice affect that stands out perfectly and adds an extra FLASH to the figure. The build of the figure is also perfect I feel. The musculature of the figure somewhat reminds me of the classic Captain America, and seeing how Hasbro is reusing every body type so far more than once, it's probably exactly what they were going for since we have about 3 or 4 more caps coming out this year. He appears to be very balanced in his sculpt as well, as I can't find any noticeable flaws in the symmetry of the sculpt...and if you have had as many Hasbro figures as I have, you will know Hasbro doesn't have perfect figures all the time, so this is really a nice rendition of the character for sure. I am especially fond of this Ultimate design with the laced boots and utility pockets on his belt, gloves, and boots. All of which is very nicely sculpted. He even has a canteen on his belt. I also really like the head sculpt of this figure. He looks like Cap, and head isn't out of scale like maybe many Star Wars figures Hasbro has made over the last 10 years seem to have. All these details are great, but something I've always liked about action figures is how detailed the sculptors sometimes are allowed to get! In fact a few of my favorite small details on this figure are the on the back and boots. Right down the center of the figures back there appears to be a zipper like seam running down through the mail which gives an awesome affect of realism to his costume. And his boots as mentioned feature sculpted in laces, and tread along the bottom of his boots, as well as wrinkles and seams around the tops of the boots. So for the size of this figure, the sculpting is quite top notch!
Paint Applications: 3/5
There are some major flaws in the paint applications, some of which made me want to just give him a 2, but there are also so many great paint apps on the figure that I wanted to give him a 4! Crap! Split the difference. So The Bad first. The worst and most disappointing points are on his face, MAJOR crapshoot here. The head is molded in blue plastic, so the white and flesh are painted on. The flesh color on the face and ears are just dead sloppy! there are spots under the chin not completely filled in, and there are spots on the face around the edges of the mask flowing over. One of his ears aren't completely painted either. The A on his mask is also a bit sloppy with some slight overflow along the edges of the A. Next the upper arms are molded in white plastic, and white can be pretty difficult to cover up. So there is some see through on the blue paint making the blue somewhat lighter in color from the rest of the costume. There are also some bare spots and severe show through around the upper edges of the arms where they connect to the Shoulder Ball. Of course I don't feel the arms detract too much from the figure, but if your picky you will for sure notice this.
Now the Good. There is a lot of good! The pockets, belt features, boot laces, shield, and chest star are all very well painted! The Star is simply perfect with a nice little black outline all the way around it, the shield is also very perfectly stenciled with the white and blue paint. The white on the shield is exceptionally done, as Red is a color that sometimes easily shows through white paints. All the pockets on the boots and gloves are nicely painted each with the small buttons painted silver on each of these as well as the belt pockets and silver buckle. Nice and clean! The laces are also nicely done too. Also a nice feature on this line so far is the wonderful paint washes, and cap has very nice dark blue paint washes all over his suit, as well as dark brown wash on his gloves and boots. All of the washs really pop the small details such as the scaled armor and wrinkles in the boots. Also on a small note, despite the sloppy face paint the eyes are pretty clean for their tiny size. And last but not least, the Red stripes on his mid section are all clean and straight. So you can see why I wanted to give him a higher score. If only the face was better.
Articulation: 3/5
Well Cap has plenty of Articulation. Ball neck, Hinge/Swivel shoulders, Swivel upper arms, Hinge elbows, Swivel wrists, Swivel/Ball chest, Ball-pin hips, Double Hinge knees, Swivel boots, and Hinged ankles. So he has a very substantial range of motion on the figure. Most of his joints are nice and sturdy as well. However his wrists are a bit loose, and this isn't good when trying to pose him with his shield sometimes, as the wrist will occasionally fall with the weight of the shield depending on the position. Also a problem I have is the chest movement in the Sway and Lean department is very low. He can swivel all day, but there isn't much else able to go on in that area, it's apparent I think that Hasbro is still in the experimenting stages of articulation with this line, as we have seen a number of different styles so far with the different body types. Caps is one of those different body types for sure. Other than that, all his joints have decent range, and allows for many great poses on this nifty figure! Go get em Captain!
Accessories: 4/5
Well, I don't know alot about the Ultimate series, as I don't really care for it. I'm still quite happily stuck in the 70's and 80's era of marvel. However I think I recall some images where Ultimate Cap wasn't shy about using firearms...correct me if I'm wrong. But I think this figure could have really used a pistol of some kind....maybe a Luger.
But I have to say, I am very pleased with the shield! Hasbro put alot of thought into the use of the shield. It's perfect in design. It has 2 stretchy straps which not only make the shield have a realistic appeal to it, but these straps allow you to strap the shield around Caps shoulders on his back, for an neato relaxed pose like from the comics when Cap walks around in the Avengers complex. There is also a little ring clip to so you can clasp the shield to Cap's wrist. A very great accessory and obviously important to the figure. Quality: 4/5
The plastic used for the figure is okay, I'm not sure about it yet though. I havn't had one of my MU figs break yet, but I can imagine that these things aren't exactly made for kids so much as they are for collectors. I'm just really unsure about the lifespan that the arms and chest may have. The figure just feels fragile around these spots, though he appears to take some solid movement pretty well. All this may really be due to the softness of the plastic. As there is quite some give to it around the joints. So it's soft and sturdy, which can kind of get confusing really...you tend to try and be careful while posing them. However I'm confident that dropping, and probably even throwing the figure wouldn't hurt it too bad.
Cost: 2/5
YIKES! Over $8 bucks for a 4" inch fig is just harsh! Given some of the loose joints and bad paint spots it doesn't help matters either. The price needs to drop at least $2 bucks before I will actually feel happy about the cost on these things. Really sucks that this guy is almost 3 times the cost that a Ninja Turtle used to be.
Availability: 3/5
Despite the apparent death price on these figures, supply and demand has kept these guys steadily off the shelf. You have to really get to the store at the perfect time if you don't want to find nothing but Spideys and Torchs. I've only seen 2 caps since I've started collecting, so it's obvious that he is one of the better demand figures. But still he should be quite available online, so you shouldn't be paying more than the retail price in my opinion. And Hasbro has been nicely repacking older wave figures in with newer waves so far due to the high demand for this still fresh and thriving toy line.
Cool Factor: 5/5
Well there is something about Captain America that is and will always be cool. He is one of the most recognizable characters throughout the entire world for sure! Cap has fought monsters, aliens, robots, and Nazis in his lifetime as the protector of the American way. So maybe Ultimate Cap isn't the original, but he still carries that torch that cap had. Being one the original forefathers of the American comic generation, as well as an adamant survivor over the past decades he has solidified his position in every comic fans heart. Cap is Cool and that's all there is too it. And I'm sure if the Japanese sent all their giant robots and super saiyans to stop him he would find some off the wall way to win.
Average Score: 3.6/5
An average score for your average American hero.
The figure isn't bad really, and is quite fun. So don't feel bad about leaving him mint on card, but also enjoy the heck out of him if you decide to play with him. He will be nice to look at either way guys.
Attached Files
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cap1.JPG 115.68K
11 downloads
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cap2.JPG 183.96K
16 downloads
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capiron1.JPG 214.47K
8 downloads
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capiron2.JPG 185.27K
10 downloads
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Assemble.JPG 246.02K
12 downloads
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HulkMad1.JPG 218.38K
7 downloads
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HulkMad2.JPG 199.58K
14 downloads
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Lineup.JPG 182.04K
20 downloads
Edited by Universal Ruler Supreme, 04 July 2009 - 05:10 PM.
