ML Infinite Series: First Avenger

The first Avenger was a good adaptation of Captain America in my opinion. While it wasn't the most action packed out of all the Marvel movies, it had the heart that made Captain America lovable. With that I pay homage to his First Avenger costume in the form of Hasbro's Infinite Series: WW2 Captain America!

This Captain America is actually part of the Mandroid BAF series but it comes with no BAF. The back of the box clearly states that it IS part of the set though despite it missing the said piece but… oh well.

With no BAF, this Captain America comes with a gun and his famous shield(DUH!). Lacking in the accessories department, but here we are. Sadly most WW2 Cap comes with distorted shields thanks to the packaging.

I'm not the biggest fan of his costume in both Avengers and First Avenger. Then again I have never been a huge fan of his comic book outfit at all(just recently changed it to make it more suitable for modern age; adheres to the Avengers movie design actually) so for the movie costumes to remain true to the comic book is a good and bad thing. One thing is for sure if I was just to look at it from the standpoint that the movies did a good job, well I guess all things accounted for it did a fantastic job! The figure does the same thing and being immaculate in both detail and paint job that one will recognize it as the First Avenger costume almost immediately! From his shield to his costume, it is the Chris Evans adaptation of Cap.

Articulation wise is where this one's greatest flaw is. I would've let the weird chest joint and the way it made his upper body look distorted with every pivoting go. The peculiar way the arms poses at times wasn't a big deal nor was the hinderance of certain costume designs was a big deal to me! What made things a bit difficult is the fact that there was no ankle pivot! Yes that minor subtraction of a simple foot movement made things difficult to pose Cap!

That and his shield being distorted in the packaging wasn't an easy thing to let go! But there are more than a few poses that I found him worthy to have.

Bucky Cap, Marvel Now Cap, and Terrax BAF Steve Rogers

While I still have a couple of Captain America in packages(Toybiz, Diamond Select, no Hasbro I think), I would like to say I have enough Caps to form a boy band. This doesn't include an "Iron Patriot" I have from the original Iron Man series that has a shield like Cap as well! The saints come marching in!

No Mandroid BAF piece, lack of ankle pivot, distorted shield and a bit of awkward articulation here and there I would say that the better Captain America I got from this wave so far was the Marvel NOW Cap. There is another one in this wave that I am on the fence about buying and that is the Winter Soldier Cap outfit. So was this a loss? No, not really. Not my favorite one but I have it as a homage to a movie I really liked and Captain America is a character I admire despite him not being on the top list. But for any 'casual' Cap fan(less casual than me anyways), I say this is a pass. 

ML Mandroid BAF: Captain America (Marvel NOW)

A Marvel Legend came to my stocking courtesy of Santa(Well, we know what happened but let's stick to the Fat Man stuffing my stocking with wonderful toys, shall we?)! I first heard about the new Marvel Legends of 2014 that is paying homage to the Winter Soldier movie way back when. There were only a couple of figures I was interested in, this guy wasn't one of them but here we are with him! So let's scrutinize this guy, shall we?

Right off the get go one can truly see the distinct new box of the Marvel Legends series. It's rather compact, got rid of wasted space, and it's very friendly to the collectors who want to open their action figure. From what I have seen through photos and videos, the Amazing Spider-Man 2(MUST HAVE) has the same box as well. One thing to point out with the box is that the Legends are called 'Infinite Series' which gets me to surmise that this is their new Movie concurring line perhaps? Guess I'll just have to wait when the Jubilee BAF comes out to see what that one is called as well.

As I said, I didn't think I was going to enjoy this Captain America as much as I am right now. To point out about the detail, let's just say that it is very well done. Being the "Marvel Now" Captain America costume(about time he got an update!), it does look identical to his comic book counterpart. Now not to delve TOO MUCH into comic books, the costume is highly influenced by the 2012 Avengers costume. Which I had no specific qualms with that suit or the First Avenger outfit at all. In fact to me it does bring a much more modern take on a costume that just doesn't suit the day and age(or even back then). So well done on Marvel for the redesign. Putting it into action figure taste doesn't look too bad as well! Wonderful sculpting with the ridges, his armor 'plating', the wrinkles in his suit, so on and so on. Though I did get a slight pain distortions here and there, but I can't complain.

Accessory wise he lacks. He has his shield as he should and the Mandroid BAF head piece(ambivalent about building him by the way). I want some interchangeable hands or maybe an unmasked head variant as some of the new legends seems to come with. Nothing much on this department though.

Articulation in these action figures are becoming more and more manageable for those who like to do dynamic poses. Though I had a bit of trouble with the stiff left shoulder joint; caused me to wrestle with it for a bit so the left bicep swivel is rather loose now, but with that minor debacle, it still turned out okay. Again, I won't and can't complain about articulation because as I stated, it's getting good and just getting better; now there is still much an eastern articulated toy can offer in terms of articulation(and details, paint, etc.) but for the price of norm retail action figures these guys ask for, it's something to hold worthy. Though pretty soon Hasbro will have to hand out much more zestful accessories like stands, dynamic stands, or perhaps do something much more innovative with articulation to keep up with the on going collector needs.

Again some dynamic special affect like bullets hitting his shield can't hurt! It'll add flavor to this figure which is only pretty much a standard type of display action figure.

My three Captain Americas that are out of the packaging. Again all Hasbro made and all pretty recent. Between the Bucky Cap, Captain Rogers, and this new Captain America, this one is my new favorite First Avenger action figure in my game room.

A very good Captain America action figure. I didn't have high expectations for him so he impressed me rather than met my standards. Fervent Cap fans will love this figure and those who are into BAF collecting, I think this series has something to offer. The BAF character may not be my favorite(movie version of Mandroid) but some of the characters in the series does help add more ammunition to one's Marvel themed collection! And if that's the theme, Captain America is always a must in the roster since he IS the Superman of Marvel.