Iron Man Movie

Hydra Assault Trooper and Hydra Armored Soldier

(Captain America: The First Avenger) Double Review!

Height: 10.5cm to top of head.

Articulation: 24 points total- ball-jointed neck; 5 points each arm: universal joint shoulder, universal-joint elbow, swivel wrist; mid-torso ball joint; 6 points each leg: universal-joint hip, double-joint knee, universal joint ankle.

Colors: Molded dark green, black, gray, and clear blue. Painted black, silver, red, gray and fleshtone.

Accessories: each figure comes with a distinct Rifle and a shared Missile Launcher.

Release Data: Released Summer 2011 at an MSRP of $7.99 each. Green/yellow "Comic Colors" variants with slightly different harnesses also available.

Author: RAC

The Figure

I really like the design. They're decent looking "Notzi" soldiers- there's a touch of German influence, but enough for plausible cinematic deniability. The biggest change is at the top- the Assault Trooper head has more noticeable ear covers and silver stripes running up the helmet, but the Armored Soldier helmet looks thicker, as though it has an extra layer of armor relative to the Assault Trooper head. But at the same time I have to say I prefer the Assault head, because the silver stripes just look neat.

The slightly flared pants have a red stripe on the Armored Soldier deco which is omitted on the Assault Trooper- and honestly I prefer this. It means they can't be misaligned with the stripes running down the tunic. It's molded in on both legs, but isn't that noticeable on the Assault Trooper outside of looking like a heavy seam. The skirt of the tunic is slit in several places and does not restrict movement anywhere near as much as Red Skull's. The harness has a patch on the belt that continues the stripes from the torso to the tunic skirt, and has the added benefit of recoloring that patch of the belt to make the Hydra H stand out, something the Dark Threat soldier missed. Nice! (There's also additional Hs in the form of buckles on the harness and boots.) The harness also has a small pack on the back with a hatch that seems to be where the Cosmic Cube-energy capacitor is placed, and a flat cable running from there down the right arm- unlike the Dark Threat figure, this is a separate piece instead of being molded onto the arms. It does restrict movement a bit, but not severely, and it allows the cables to be omitted for the comic variants. Interestingly the right sleeve on both figures is green on the outside as opposed to the fully black clothed arms on the left. This implies extra padding between the cable and the user, which is a nice touch.

Neither head has much tilt, but swivel's fine. The arms raise up to shoulder-level as they should, and swivel is unrestricted on the left arm, and can be raised fully above the head on the right side without damaging the harness. The torso joint works fine, with a decent level of tilt. It also swivels fine, but you have to be willing to let the harness go along for the ride. The tilt can make the harness bulge in odd, unnatural-looking ways too, but it works. The legs aren't as much of a problem as Red Skull's, thanks largely to the openings in the tunic skirt. The hips are still the movie-style universal joint, which is a bit tricky to adjust as usual, but not impossible. The forward range is really quite good here. The knees double over easily enough into a fairly tight U, but the knees on both figures are a bit soft. Not the worst I've had by any stretch. The ankles get moderate tilt, but not great. Better than Red Skull, of course! For some reason balancing these guys gives me trouble, but I'm not quite sure why. The ankles aren't particularly weak, and it doesn't seem to be the knees' doing, so it's a mystery to me.


Accessories

-Armored Soldier Rifle

As of this writing, this weapon mold is unique and only available with the Armored Soldier and its comic-color variant. A techy-looking, stockless rifle with an odd loop around the grip and an angled foregrip. The main grip is a little loose, but the guard around it helps hold it on the hand. The foregrip's a bit more secure, and he has no trouble holding the weapon in a natural-looking pose.

-Assault Trooper Rifle

This is a smaller version of the weapon design used for the missile launcher included with both of these figures and Red Skull. This version was also included, completely unpainted, with the Target exclusive Red Skull that came with the completely hilarious Arctic Assault Captain America. The paint here's a lot nicer, but neither grip particularly fits the hands here securely. Even so, it's not loose enough to fall out of his hands, so he can hold it convincingly if you try.

-Missile Launcher

Same piece as Red Skull, different paint in all three releases. It doesn't fit these hands beautifully, but you can use the soft plastic stock and grips to force it into a reasonably-effective aiming pose. On the Assault Trooper, there's no reason whatsoever to not use the non-firing version.


Closing Remarks

It's a good enough figure to justify getting at least one version or the other.  I think this is a good figure to get both movie versions if you enjoyed Captain America- it'd give you a decent sized Hydra squad if you get the Dark Threat trooper as well, and technically it's not troop-building! Either figure is Very Good, but I give the edge to the Assault Trooper in looks, ever so slightly. I don't know that I'd be eager to pay extra to get the comic variants, but if you see them at retail and you need some comic-style Hydra goons, you could do a lot worse.

-RAC