When I spotted the Signature Series Spiderman Origins line of 9” Marvel figures during a recent shopping trip to Wal-Mart, I was extremely pleased to find a Captain America in the line-up. Granted, he’s not 12”, but he looks danged cool, nonetheless. Since he was the closest figure in a Captain America to what I really want, I decided to pick him up, and take him home.  

Packaging - ***
It’s kind of a trapezoidal-type thing, with a clear front so you can easily view the contents (Captain America and his shield). The package features Spiderman/Captain America graphics on the front and a bio about Steve Rogers (aka Captain America) on the back along with pictures of the other figures from this line. Personally, I think the whole action figure packaging is over-rated. However, if you’re a “MIB” freak, the box looks sharp enough I guess. I had to cut through 4 pieces of tape, 5 twist ties and 2 rubber bands to free The Captain from his “prison”, but I think I was still able to do it in under a minute.

Sculpting - ***
The molded parts of Captain A’s likeness were fairly well-done. I mean, I suppose since I’m so used to 12”-scale action figures, I might be a little put off by the features of the Captain’s smaller persona. His boots and gloves are molded on, and look sharp. His head sculpt is decent, if a bit generic. 

Paint - **
The Captain is going to get dinged for his paint ops. There is quite a bit of flesh-color bleeding over onto parts of his mask. The white of his helmet “wings” don’t seem to go low enough onto his mask. The big “A” on his forehead looks pretty tight though. 

Articulation - **1/2
Again, I am spoiled with all the 12” figures I own, and the articulation they bring. As a result, I am disappointed by The Captain. However, his molded-on gloves and boots are jointed at the wrists and ankles (respectively) and allow for some decent poses. He can’t kneel or look up, but he can assume several heroic-looking stances.

Accessories - ***
Captain America comes with his trusty shield as his lone accoutrement. It’s good-sized, it snaps right onto his wrist and it features decent paint work.

Outfit - ***
The good Captain comes replete with his bodysuit of red, white and blue Spandex-esque material. It fits the bill well, and looks great on the figure itself. The suit is stitched onto the figure, so unless you’re a decent seamstress, you ain’t swapping his costume to another figure!

Fun Factor - ***
It’s Captain America, for crying out-loud! He’s got a shield that can block imaginary bullets, and he can kick butt on all forms of Nazis and Communists! What’s not to love about Captain America? However, I take issue with the fact that this incarnation of The Captain is smaller than my entire World War II action figure collection (Kinda hard to kick Nazi butt when they tower over you by at least a scale foot or two!) However, as my 11-year-old son pointed out, he’s just the right size to do battle with Bionicles! (As soon as I figure out which Bionicles are the Nazis and which ones are the Communists, Captain America will go to work on ‘em!)

Value - ***
I think he was $14.88 at Wal-Mart. I didn’t think that was a wholly unreasonable price, all things considered. There were several other figures in this series that may be of interest to other people. I just bought Captain America alone because I like the subject matter. ($14.88 would have been the perfect price if he were about 3 inches taller!)

Things to Watch Out For - 
Nazi and Communist Bionicles! (They are diabolical little suckers!) If you are buying Captain America at a retail store, you might want to look at several to find the one with the best paint ops. Besides that, Captain America is a pretty robust action figure and can handle himself just fine!

Overall - ***
I’m not going to lie: I’m biased. I really like the Captain America character. This particular figure is danged impressive. However, I think it’s time someone made a 1/6 scale version of The Captain! I’m talking cloth suit, 30+ points of articulation and scaled to issue a beating to the entire Dragon, BBi and 21st Century Toys lines of Nazi figures on the market. (A figure like that would definitely get 4 stars in my book!)

SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - ***
Paint - **
Articulation - **1/2
Accessories - ***
Outfit - ***
Value - ***
Overall - ***

Where To Buy - 
Wal-Mart is your best brick-and-mortar bet. At the time I’m writing this, Kbtoys.com is the one place I’ve looked for them online that had them.