Super Combat Captain America

(Captain America: The First Avenger)

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 blue, white, brown, and silver-gray; Painted white, brown, red, blue, silver, metallic red, fleshtone, and metallic blue.

Accessories: Shield, Pistol, Helmet.

Release Data: Released May 2011 at an MSRP of $7.99.

Author: RAC

(more...)


After being rejected from service numerous times, young Steve Rogers agreed to test out the Super Soldier formula, which gave him incredible strength and endurance. Now he has become the world's greatest hero: Captain America. Equipped with his mighty shield, he is ready to defend the virtues he holds so dear.

Man, I hope this movie is good. Thor was really great, and the preview in front of that looked like it had a pretty good handle on things. But the toys are out well in advance, so I'm buying this blind! I'm not even sure why I decided to start with Super Combat Cap, which is the Movie version, but as much as I enjoyed the Iron Man 2 line I figured I'd end up with a decent toy.


The Figure

I think one of the advantages Iron Man has had over all other superheroes in film is that he's allowed to look like himself. Batman, Spider-Man, Green Lantern and Cap are all recognizeable, but the designers have gone to lengths to justify or otherwise inject "realism" (and gallons of unnecessary texture) into a genre that can only exist because somewhere, someone was willing to be unrealistic. (Call it whatever you like, but Green Lantern is about a man with a magic ring.) 

Digressive commentary aside it's not a bad-looking costume, with the grays and shoulder stars being cues from the Ultimate version of Captain America. As much as I rail against unneccessary texture, this does all right at both the costume and toy levels: I like the way Cap's star has been sculpted to not be just flat, but the sculptors wisely didn't really attempt to capture the subtle, suedelike texture the costume seems to have in photos. It's also worth noting that Cap's sculpted-on helmet now only has wings painted on the sides as opposed to real wings sticking off the sides of his head. Jay Garrick, he is not. The red straps across his stomach, going by official photos, should be a touch wider. Otherwise it looks right, with the most elaborate web gear you've ever seen to hold up six whole pouches. And the holster's on the leg instead, completely unattached! I'm not sure whether this looks like 1942 or 1992- really, with the straps and pouches it could go either way. I'm not sure, but I think he has a star on his back integrated into the harness. I say "I think" because he's got the typical Hasbro backpack socket there, so it does kind of interrupt the design.

The paint applications are largely cleaner than the Iron Man 2 line, though there's some typical paint-slop in places like the edges of straps, and there's some extremely minor white streaks around one of the headwings. (There's also a brown outline around his helmet- presumably leather padding- which looks much rougher in the photos than it does in person.) I've seen some very small, mild paint errors thus far, but nothing as bad as pink ARC reactors and off-center faces. I suspect not having to work in metallics helped a LOT.

Articulation's not a lot different from IM2. Right down to the neck articulation, which has no trouble with full swivel but does a better job of looking down than up. The shape of Cap's helmet makes this a lot more understandable, as does the fact that Captain America doesn't fly. The torso joint isn't quite as mobile as those in some Iron Man toys, but it works as a swivel just fine, and it's positioned perfectly, between the blue and white segments of the torso. It just looks really good that way, somehow. The arms swing out to slightly higher than shoulder level and swivel in a complete circle, albeit at an angle. The elbows bend to slightly less than the 90 degree angle I consider the baseline, and because the upper arm is shaped it only swivels 180 degrees- but anything more would look unnatural. Wrist swivel works fine. The hips are sadly also in the Iron Man 2 style, where you have to very carefully and consciously swivel the hip joints to move the legs in a specific direction. Because they're shaped to make the thigh swivels a little less obvious, this also makes them harder to manuver to get the leg lined up the way you want. The knees don't quite double over completely, and as with some IM2 figures they're a little bit on the soft side and feel weak, even if they are working perfectly fine. The ankles swivel but don't lean very far to either the front or back. Overall, it's about average for the Iron Man 2 articulation model.


Accessories

-Shield

I like the design. Again, a little extra detail but nothing crazy or baroque. It's done in metallic colors now, with a more noticeable indent between each stripe of the shield, as well as around the star. The star itself is done in the same style as the one on the chest. The underside is silver, with a reinforcing brace connecting the plate where the straps are attached. The straps are shaped to have the shield held in a specific way, which means if you have it on the left arm, the star will be upside-down (or at least without the point facing straight up when the arm's held straight). He's been drawn both ways, with Google Image Search's first few pages giving the left arm a decided edge. Which makes sense, since it leaves his Nazi-punching hand (or gun hand in this case) completely free and unobstructed. It also makes out-of-character sense, since Kirby universally drew the shield on the left arm. The package shows him throwing the shield right-handed, so I'll be interested to see which side the final film favors. (Last Minute Edit: the spiffy new trailer released yesterday shows it on the left arm, so there you go!)

I generally put the short strap in Cap's hand rather than getting it past the wrist- that seems to hold well. It's difficult to get a really good throwing pose as the rim of the shield's too thin for his grip, but as the gallery shows, it's not impossible.

-Handgun

The earliest example of Captain America using a gun I can find is in the Republic Serial (and since the serial has absolutely nothing to do with the comic character, it really doesn't count). After that, I'm not sure- I'd like to blame Mark Millar, just because that's something I genuinely enjoy doing in any situation, but I don't know that for sure. But somewhere along the line it was decided that Cap used guns back in the War, which is where the film is set, and it seems sensible enough (there's that realism creeping in again) so I can't say I really object.

I'm not a big gun person, but I was a vintage GI Joe person, and they all used WWII gear because Hasbro's designers could get World War II army surplus cheap back in the 1960s. I think this is supposed to be a M1911, the standard issue sidearm for the US Armed Forces for nearly 75 years. The fit in the holster is really snug, but looks good- it's not one of those holsters that looks oversized for the weapon it holds or the leg it's on, which is a big plus. It also has the small strap that fastens over a gun on a real holster, though they were smart enough as to not try and make it actually fasten- it just hangs there. The pistol fits in his hand well and his finger fits through the trigger guard. Not much else you can expect of an action figure gun.

-M1 Helmet

Another piece of standard-issue equipment. Well, except for being blue and having a big A on the front. The straps hang down and aren't fastenable, which'd be difficult at this size. Which is fortunate, because it's loose on his head, and the straps brushing his face keep it from falling off immediately. I prefer how he looks without it, personally.


Closing Remarks

Super Combat Captain America isn't going to surprise anyone who got anything from the Iron Man 2 line, except maybe with more competent paint. It's a solid figure, a Very Good figure, and if you like the movie costume or want to build a set of movie Avengers a year early, I recommend it.

-RAC