Review: Marvel Legends Captain America - Series 01


The Captain America action figure sports the classic look of the character from the Silver Age to the present. He has the letter A on his forehead. Sleeves cut in the middle of his biceps. There are fake chainmails on the top part of his torso and shoulders. His buccaneer's boots would have looked better if the folded part was longer. Captain America's face looks like Jack Kirby's version.




Packaging
The figure comes in a Blister pack with a Captain America # 109 that tells the character's origin. It's by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. Marvel originally published it in 1968. This is a great value for kids and collectors as they get a classic comic book with an action figure. More vendors should adopt this strategy.


Scale
Captain America
is taller than the Spider-man Classic Daredevil but will fit perfectly with all Marvel Legends action figures. Unlike DC Direct, Toy Biz standardizes Marvel Legends figures' scales. Marvel Legends figures really are six inch and may appear shorter than DC Direct figures.

Stability
Although his ankle and toe joints are loose, Captain A
merica stands very well. Using the diorama that comes with the figure is a good idea as peg holes hold the figure solidly. The figure's stability suffers from the way the sculptor designed its abs. My figure came packaged with the ads backward. When adjusting the abs and the back, the figure will hunch and become unstable.

Diorama
The backdrop is a blow
n up window. At the foot, sits empty ammo shelves and the top part of a tank's canopy. There's a detachable flag that fits in the canopy. Considering this version of Captain America is from the Silver Age up to the Bronze Age, the World War Two backdrop doesn't fit with the figure. There's a peg hole in the back of the wall to attach the figure to a real wall. The canopy and ground pieces are difficult to attach to the wall but once inserted they hold up well.

Sculpt
The sculpt of early Marvel Legends' figures are gruesome compared with what if offered now from the company and competitors. Many avoided
Marvel Legends because of that. Captain America is very buff. Nonetheless, once I got the figure, its grotesque looks grew on me and It's now a favourite. The Captain's gloves are far too large to look good. The Captain's face is the best sculpted area of the figure.

Articulation
Captain America has 34 articulations at the shoulders, the biceps, the wrists, the fingers, the torso, the waist, the hips, the thighs, the calves, the toes and double articulations at the neck, the elbows, the knees and the ankles. The double articulation at the neck doesn't add any motion. The torso articulation is sloppy and makes the figure lean on one side. Some pegs that hold parts stick out of the figure.







Props

The Captain comes with his classic shield. There are two harnesses made of elastics covered with fabric. To hold the shield securely to Captain America's wrist, there's a grip on the shield. Like the figure, the paint is sloppy. The American flag that comes with the figure is a sheet of paper glued to a plastic pole without paints. The paper flag easily detaches from the pole and becomes useless.

Paint
There are several problems with the paint application. There are bleeding all over the figure and the white coat on the figure's sleeves is botchy. The chainmail is a decal that can easily peel. There are lots of scratches all over the figure's face and body. The blue paint on Captain America's legs and thighs doesn't cover all area, leaving large chunks the base plastic visible.


Plastic
Marvel Legends uses cheap plastic that's appropriate for kids, but not good for collectors. The plastic in the joints often peels if too much posing occurs. The plastic makes the articulations loose.