Thursday, April 16, 2015
Review: figma Captain America
| Figure Information | |
| Manufacturer: | Max Factory |
| Figure Number: | 226 |
| Origin Series: | The Avengers |
| Scale: | Non-scale |
| Height: | Approximately 15.5cm tall |
| Original Price: | 6,111 Yen |
| Packaging: |
As mentioned in my previous review, a majority of the figma boxes after #200 are generally the same so I won't such much here; the product shots are really horrible IMO because Captain America really looks old for some reason and thankfully that improved (check it out later) but yeah, the box is your typical generic figma box nowadays with some product shots here and there while being accompanied but a lighter shade of blue as the background color.
Like the other Avengers figmas, the top also shows GSC's logo in this release.
The di:stage cutout that comes with figma Captain America is just another boring one as it's just full on blue with no designs/patterns/anything.
| Details: |
First off is Captain America's face, I'd definitely say that figma definitely improved on his face because the official shots really made him look like an old man but then he still looks far off from how the Captain looked like in the film; I'd say figma got the nose correctly but the facial skin just lacks details to make it look more realistic, had they colored the lips correctly and added in some more facial muscles in the mold, then this would've been a really good translation of the character to a small scale figure. The eyes doesn't bother me so much since they did the same on Thor and it's okay in my standards.
Going to his mask, the molded in lines look great and it's amazing that they didn't miss out on the details especially that feather marker on the sides as you can barely notice them, unless you have a good eye for details, while watching movies.
Going to the rest of the details, I love how distinct the different shades of blue are in there but IMO the lighter blue is a bit too bright for my personal tastes. Color aside, there's a great amount of detail running throughout Cap's suit such that the belt pockets and the portions of the suit with zippers are really well defined. A further inspection on his frame is that they really gave him such a muscular silhouette as they definitely are in there although I believe this is inaccurate to Chris Evans' body build at that time of the first Avengers movie. Lastly, much like Thor, figma Captain America does also suffer from an elongated torso vs their real life counterpart though it's a lot less worse in Cap's case.
One thing that truly bugs me is how Cap's torso looks like when viewed at the back, there's definitely something horribly wrong at the torso shape from the back view.
| Accessories: |
Figma Stand and his signature Vibranium shield aside, Cap comes with quite a number of alternate hands (poor Thor lol); the pairs come in two variants of gripping hands, open hands, shield holding hands which can also double as chopping hands for Cap and lastly, a special right hand that's to recreate the "and Hulk... Smash!" scene from the movie. (Where is figma Hulk though??) Additionally, like all figmas bearing the new wrist joints, you get yet just 1 extra wrist joint and like his Mighty Asgardian comrade, Cap also comes with a tuner. While the accessory count is definitely in the okay zone, I really wished they gave us a Steve Rogers (or rather Chris Evans) head since he was maskless during the film's climax battle.
| Articulation Points: |
Much like Thor, Cap has moveable eyes which you can tune using the tuner that comes with the set; the good thing about Cap is that the tuning sticks/pegs of the eyes are much longer than what they did on Thor, this results in a much easier task of moving around Cap's eyes.
While Cap bears the same neck joint as Thor, he certainly do not have that grand upward movement since but still a very good range and should allow you some normal up/down movement thanks to the hinge as well as sideways rotation and/or head tilting thanks to the ball joint.
Cap's arms are fully rotatable via the shoulder joints as well as allowing you to raise them sideways; additionally, as how figma joints work and I'm sure you're already tired of reading the same thing (lol), you can use the connecting point to the arms as some form of bicep swivel though it's quite a minor movement due to the mold. Cap's got smaller figma joints for his elbows, thus, also limiting his arm bend to just somewhere around 100-110 degrees at best. While I forgot to take pictures of posing them around, Cap's got the new wrist joints, so it should move much like your average figuarts or just check out Thor's review to get an idea (or check the pictures later!)
While the shoulders normally just raise sideways to a perfect 90, the shoulder cover material on his body is made of soft material so you can definitely raise the arms sideways by a little more thanks to this.
Losing the lower torso hinge that was featured in Thor, Cap only moves his body via the ab section or his waist; both points allow you to rotate them while the ab joint can act separately as a tilting point. Using both joints does give the Captain a nice body crunch and an even nicer body stretch.
His hip joints are ball joints so you can indeed split his legs in two ways as well as use a built-in swivel function in the connection point between the legs and the ball socket. The knee joints does allow you to bend his legs to really neat degrees.
Ankle joints retain your normal hinge and swivel combo to allow you to tip toe Cap, rotate or tilt his feet and much like Spidey and Thor, Cap retains the toe hinges.
| Poseability: |
While Cap's articulation is as dynamic as Thor's, there's still quite a lot of movement available in him. The shield gripping hands really works wonders for me but I've also heard that some pieces couldn't really grip the Vibranium shield that well.
The eye articulation also works well since it does make some of his poses look more solid with proper eye contact. Shield throwing shots were really fun to do and definitely, Cap can more than just standing or throwing shields since his frame is really nice. I really do wish that they allowed us to port his shield at his back though, also note that the shield handles might be a little loose and can pop out from time to time depending on the pose.
I actually forgot to do some shield bash poses haha but he definitely can and with such, some CQC with my favorite beat-up guy, the SHF Shocker Combatman.
And some reference scenes, because Cap wants Thor to "Put down the hammer."
And because we're probably never getting figma Hulk...
"And Dayo... Smash!"
And since this IS Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America, an "assembling" is definitely mandatory! And with that said... "AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE!"
Yes, Spidey is included even though TASM Spidey isn't part of the MCU but hey, Spidey will always be an Avenger to me.
| Final Thoughts: |
Captain America is definitely the weakest release of the figmas mostly because of how his face was done and that he does have some popping issues (on mine at least) like the left leg and the shield handles; however, after the shoot, my opinion on him has slightly improved since the face definitely is a good improvement vs the original preview. However, with the S.H.Figuarts Age of Ultron getting a release this coming July, I definitely root for that one versus the figma but again, this figma is generally not that bad. For the pricepoint though, I believe he's definitely more worth the price than Thor if one would consider the accessory count. The Marvel figmas are definitely not cheap so think wisely about getting them. I haven't had any experience with the Marvel Legends line so, if you're a Captain America fan, then getting this figma is quite recommendable. Much like my previous Marvel figmas, I also got Cap from CWToys!
I give the "boss" (as Stark has it) a 3.5 out of 5.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have yet to get the Cap figure, as the first two attempts (from eBay) have resulted in NOTHING showing up, but at least I got REFUNDS. I am waiting on the THIRD attempt to have one arrive (if the USPS doesn't louse it up again).
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the lack of "texture" details on the uniform. Why they left that out is anyone's guess.
Aside from that, you have a good review, and had I not ordered one (or three) yet, I would definitely get one AFTER reading this.
Carry on.