Review of Captain America: The Winter Soldier sixth scale action figure

Introduction

Hot Toys continues cranking out the figures based on the Marvel movie properties, and let's be honest - 2014 was a banner year.  Three excellent films were released: Captain America 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and perhaps the best, Guardians of the Galaxy. Even the worst Marvel movie of the year - Amazing Spider-Man 2 - was miles above the terrible superhero movies of the yesteryear. And Hot Toys is providing us with plenty of plastic crack from almost every one.

Their latest release is the Winter Soldier, a key character in the second Cap flick. Hey, his name right there in the title, so I'd say he's pretty critical. He's also going to play a major role in the upcoming waves of films, so this isn't going to be the last time we see him.

Hot Toys didn't do an exclusive with this guy, not even for Sideshow.  The one release will cost around $240 at most retailers, and has finally started to ship in the U.S.

Packaging - ***1/2
While I love every Hot Toys package for its clean design and collector friendly nature (nary a twisty in sight, and no need for any real damage to the packaging), this one is about as basic as they come for the company. It's simple shoe box style and standard graphics are attractive, but there's no ground being broken here.

Sculpting - ***1/2
The likeness on both sculpts - yes, there are two portraits, and you know how much I love that - is extremely good. The best way to compare is to use this reference photo, and put it side by side with my first photo at the top of this review, where the angle is about the same. Yep, that's pretty dead on, at least in terms of the face.

The hair is a bit hat-like, I'll give you that. He has a lot of it, and while they did get the strands pretty thin, it's still a whole lot of fully sculpted hair on top of his head.

The hair is actually removable on the masked portrait, held in place with a magnet. I like that they sculpted a little of the hair on the actual head, and they had the majority of the hair rest on this - it allows for a much cleaner hair line, and makes it almost impossible to see the break between the two pieces.

The masked head looks great as well, and the pattern and colors of the mask look just about perfect. The goggles are a separate piece, so you can display him fully masked or with the eyes visible. The mask does have an up and down, and you'll be able to figure it out pretty easily. There are two sets of 'arms' on the mask, and the ones that go on top have little posts that fit in shallow indents on the upper edges of the permanent lower mask.

While both heads look great, I much prefer the unmasked look. However, it's always a huge plus when they give us more than one option like this, and goes a long way to making the ever rising prices less painful.

My only real complaint here - other than the slight helmet hair - is the lack of stubble on the face. While there's a slight shadow, he had quite a bit more than that in the film. We know Hot Toys is the master of subtle facial hair, so they certainly could have pulled it off.

Paint - ****
This is Hot Toys, remember? Anything short of a perfect, realistic, life-like paint job would be a serious disappointment.

Everything here is spot on, from skin tone to eyebrows to lips to eyes. And oh, those eyes - they've nailed the multicolored, flecked iris' once again. If you photoshopped some real hair on this dude, there would be no way anyone could tell it wasn't a human face.

There's also some paint work on the body this time, because of the 'metal-like' left arm. The silver looks amazing - it's a tough color to work with - and the red star is clean and sharp.

Articulation - ***1/2
The underlying body is the usual hyper articulated TrueType, but the costume does restrict quite a bit of the potential movement this time around.

The double ball jointed neck works well enough normally, but here we have a very high collar and very long hair both working against you. Still, I was able to get plenty of lean and tilt action for just about any pose.

The ball shoulder on the left is a bit restricted, and I had trouble getting the arm to hang naturally close to the body. However, the left shoulder is more articulated than normal, with the ability to pop out slightly to drop down and out further. This works great for some of those double handed rifle firing poses.

The pin elbows and wrists work pretty well, and the underlying waist and ab crunch can get some movement even with the tight leather vest. The ball hips and double pin knees work pretty much as you'd expect, but the ball ankles are restricted by the boots.

Overall the poseability is extremely good, but not quite at the level we've seen with some of their releases, or at the full potential of the underlying body.

Accessories - ****
Now THIS is how every figure should be outfitted.

I've already mentioned that there's two heads, and that's critical to the score in this category. You'll have some trouble doing the swap - the fit with the masked head is very tight - but overall, either final look is great.

There's a pair of goggles that fit over the masked head as well, to get the fully concealed look. These are sturdy, with little chance of breakage, and are designed to fit one way only.

This is a violent guy, and he comes with more than enough weapons to get his personal point across. There are two small handguns that fit in special plastic non-removable holsters on his right thigh - a COP 357 derringer (the larger of the two) and an Intratec TEC-38. Both have very cool sculpts and paint, but neither have any moving parts or clips. While they are tiny, he can hold them in his appropriately sculpted hands.

He has a third handgun, and this one can be held in another non-removable plastic holster on his left hip. It's a SIG P226, nickel plated. It doesn't fit quite as tightly as the other two handguns in its intended holster, and you should be aware that it can fall out when handling or moving the figure, making it easier to lose. The SIG has a moving slide mechanism, as well as a removable clip, both pretty standard these days.

There are also three larger firearms. First, there's a Skorpion, a small machine gun that snaps tightly into a holster on his upper back.

He also has an M4A1, a rifle that just about every character in this movie fires at least once.  His is slightly different though, since it includes a grenade launcher.  There are also two grenades, and these can be inserted into two loops on his belt.

His final gun is a funky modified grenade or mine launcher, that he used in the film to take out Fury's SUV.  These last two have extending stocks, and are fantastic sculpts.

While that's a lot of firepower, our villain also has a few blades to work with. There are two tactical knives - identical - that slide into sheaths on his back, or can be held with the appropriate hand. These look like Emerson tactical knives to me, a common knife in modern films.

His last weapon is a spike-like dagger that he can wear in a non-removable sheath on his right hip. It's tiny, but it does stay in the holster.

While all this is fantastic, there is a couple weird omissions. We didn't end up with the sniper rifle (Barrett) he is carrying so prominently on his movie poster. I don't actually remember him using that gun in the film, but it's still an image that sticks with you. If you really need one,you can always go the ebay route, where you can find a nice sixth scale version in the $20 - $30 range.

Also, we got the weird spike knife, but not the Gerber he used so proficiently in the fight with Cap.  I'd have preferred the latter, but perhaps the spike was more appropriate to the costume. If so, I'm fine with that - I prefer accessories I can kit up on the character, rather than those that stay in the box.

There are also four sets of hands, plus one. The four sets include fists, a relaxed grip set, a tighter grip set, and a relaxed pose. There is also a single bare right hand taped to the top of the plastic tray, done in a splayed pose.

Outfit - ****
While the outfit isn't super complex, they've done an outstanding job with tailoring and matching the on screen look.

The shirt/vest is made from several materials, including a thin, properly scaled leather-like material. The pants fit great, and even the boot sculpt is exceptional. I like that the knee pads are permanently attached (when they aren't, you spend a whole lot of time picking them up and putting them back on), and both the outfitted belt and shoulder holsters require almost no futzing. I'd even go so far as to say this is one of my favorite costumes they've done this year - it's that nice.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
This is one for the adults, obviously, but you'll have plenty of fun finding the perfect pose with all those accessories!

Value - **1/2
Yes, this guy is a solid $240, and that's slightly above the current 'average' Hot Toys price of $220. And yes, I'm one of the loudest whiners about the continued price hikes on these and other high end sixth scale figures.

But this guy is loaded, with not only a ton of weapons and a great costume, but two unique head sculpts. If you give me this much stuff every time, I'd be whining a whole lot less.

Things to Watch Out For -
Swapping the flesh colored hands was tricky - they are made from a much harder material than the black gloved hand. Take some care, and perhaps take advantage of the second wrist peg.

Swapping heads is also almost impossible.  The head he comes wearing - without the mask - works easily enough, but the masked face is not an easy fit on the neck post, and you will have to use heat, either a blow dryer or hot water, to make it pop on.

Overall - ***1/2
While I'm sure we're all thrilled that Hot Toys has given us a dozen different versions of Captain America to fill our shelves, it's figures like this that I really like getting. Cap just isn't Cap without someone to square off against him, and when they do such an amazing job on the villain, it does my little heart good.

I'd suggest picking this guy up now if you're a big Hot Toys Marvel fan, because unlike Cap, or Iron Man, or Spidey, or just about any of the other heroes, it's unlikely that we'll get this particular character in anything quite like this outfit again.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ****
Outfit - ****
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Sideshow has him at $240.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
You can't have the bad guy from Captain America 2 without the bad guy from Captain America 1 - Red Skull!

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