Man I love Captain America. He’s just so over the top, and a bit of an arse kicker in the Marvel Vs series from Capcom. I never read the comics, so the games are where I got my Capt mojo from. As a result his somewhat silly comic costume was my favourite. When the Marvel/Disney movies came along, I was sceptical about the costume. How to reduce the cartoon look to make it look cool, but still have it retain the essence of the character?
Well, for whatever reason, I ordered the Civil War version of Captain America which seems to have quite muted colours. I really did want a Figuarts Cap though, so here we are. How is he?
Pretty damn good! I must admit that I have been buying a few more Figuarts these days. Depending on the type of character they make (ie humanoid) the articulation is pretty damn good! As usual though, the box is small and doesn’t quite look like he’s worth the 5k yennies he sells for in the shops.
The design is pretty nice and I can imagine if you bothered to get the Civil War Ironman they’d look nice together on the shelf together. I wonder how many characters they intend to make, as it has the team on the side. Will they do them all? Spiderman? I could probably get behind a nicely articulated Spiderman!
The artwork is mostly all toy pictures, all except for the Cap Vs Ironman picture on the very front. Even though it’s small, it’s a fairly striking box.
Opening the box, you can see Cap’s accessories. He comes with his shield and some hands, as well as an unmasked head. I think there’s a good selection of hands, with fists, open, shield throwing and holding hands as well as braces for the shield. More on them later.
Cap’s base body looks pretty cool. Proportions look pretty nice and if you have a look and compare him to the Age of Ultron, he looks a bit similar, but also a little bit more armoured. The red and white aspects of his comic design (and even previous movie toys)have been rather downplayed in this version of his costume.
First impressions are good. For the photos above, I have swapped his fists, which he wears in the box with his splayed hands. The shield can be mounted on his back, in a somewhat excessively complex way, however the end result does look damn nice from all angles. Without the shield, he looks like the last picture. The centre silver piece is a plug for a tiny hole. The instructions somewhat helpfully tell you not to lose the plug piece. With good reason too:
Trust me, if you’re not careful, you’ll end spending WAY too much time looking for that damn plug!
He comes with two heads, one masked and one unmasked. Like Bandai’s recent attempts at real life people, Cap here has a digitally printed face. I assume they must have scanned Chris Evans head sometime too. I will admit that I don’t really like the masked head that much. It’s got nothing to do with how it’s been done, I’m just not that fond of the design, even in the movie. The eyes seem ok, I think there is a little bit too much blue on the mask version’s eyes. Also I don’t know if it’s because the mask draws attention to it, but his nose looks rather large…
It is well sculpted with the chin strap and nicely painted, even with a little strap going around the back of his neck. The digital printing seems to look nice from afar, but if you go and have a good close up look, it isn’t as crisp looking. But that's ok, with him at desk length, however long that may be, he looks good.
The heads come with a neck piece which swaps out because the helmet has his hair tucked into it, and the other has hair free flowing. A good idea I think, it also make swapping the heads over rather easy.
Now, I much prefer the unmasked head. It looks awesome! The sculpt (digital?) is bang on although I have some minor doubts about the printed eyes. At first glance, it looks like his face has a bit too much wash over it, making his skin darker than it should be, but once on the body, it doesn’t look that way. I like the way they’ve done his hair as well.
The changing of the neck piece allows extra movement, so his collar can turn a little. It looks nice.
The paint work is pretty nice too. Colours are subdued, with the mostly blue. The bit that attracts your attention is his red and white waist. Along the sides there isn’t that much, but all the colours manage to meet up together well. I do really like his little Avengers logo he has on his shoulders. Wonder if he will still have them in the movies after Civil War?
A quick summary of my thoughts on the sculpt.
I really like the design, but I feel that he is a bit too skinny. In Civil War, Cap looked like he was wearing some pretty cool armour and was, well, not chunky, but definitely a bit chunkier than this figure comes across as. Maybe Chris Evans was too bulky? The sculpt of the toy is definitely covered in armour, there are sculpted plates on his chest, but he’s a bit, hm, skinny?
I think I’ve pinned though, the figure’s abdominal area looks a little bit too thin. I do feel that it lessens the strength looks of this guy a bit, however it is in no way a toys killing aspect. I guess it just would have been nicer if the waist was a bit wider. I do suspect that my nitpick stems from the limits of plastic and er, well, physics thereof.
Articulation is great and manages to keep the sculpt looking ok in most poses. The shoulder, elbows and knees all present problems in this respect as they have plates over them, but I think overall Bandai have done a good job of working around them.
Let’s count them joints!
- Neck ball x 2 (base of head and collar bone)
- Ball and hinge at shoulder, as well as hinge allowing across the chest movement.
- bicep swivel.
- Double jointed elbows and knees/
- Swivel hinged wrists, as well as another ball joint for hand connection.
- diaphragm rotational joint.
- Ball jointed waist. Hindered slightly by the belt sculpt.
- Extendable ball jointed hips, allowing 90° bend forwards.
- Hinged and swivel ankle
- Toe hinge
Not too shabby at all.
Generally you can move them all without messing the sculpt up, but the knees, elbows and shoulders do break the illusion at extremes.
The elbow and knee pads just float out in the middle of the joint when they are fully bent, while the shoulders can look a little distended due to the way they’ve been made to match up with the body armour.
Naturally with all that articulation, you will want to pose this sucker. and the good news is he is rather fun to play with. Let’s check out his hands.
And makes it hard to resist making him shove in some guy’s face!
You are also supplied with unheld strap plugs. Behold the pieces for back mounting.
And the bits for shield slinging.
As annoying as they can be to set up, it does look good from any angle. Much better that just a fold away plug that plugs into a hole in his back.
Obviously his only accessory is the shield and as you’ve seen, the underside looks nice. The painted side is juts as good. Actually better. The paint is very nice and it looks awesome.
How many times have I used the word awesome? Ctrl +F, hrm. 4 times…
Have a squizz at my pose gallery:
I had quite a lot of fun photographing Captain America here. He also manages to be a good size for Marvel Legends figures as well.
I think I need help…. I also have Steve Rogers, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D back home….
Well, I guess it’s about time to finish up. This toy is a very nice figure, it’s well articulated and comes with all the important accessories you would expect ( a shield and hands to hold it) and looks very much like the character. I think it may be a tad too expensive, although I have noticed Figuarts prices crawling up, no matter the character lately. Although the shield setup is a bit fiddly, the end result is an effective and nice looking figure. the only drawbacks being the slight skinniness the toys has and the breaking of the sculpt lines at the shoulders, knees and elbows.
I give this guy a
Thumbs up soldier!
Gif stolen from wwww.fightersgeneration.com
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