Wednesday 14 December 2011

Hot Toys Captain America photo review

I was really excited to get this figure after seeing the film. I don't know what the general reviews were like but I really enjoyed this film and I would probably place it high up on my super hero films list. It surprised me because I never really had any previous interest in the character. Anyway onward and upward, lets have a look at the figure itself!


Bit of a negative point to start things off, the shield is plastic :( bummer. I guess a metal one was asking a bit much. Plus It would no doubt throw the figures balance off a bit. On the bright side it looks well cool, the paint is really good and makes it actually look like metal.

I'm really happy with the sculpting over all on this figure. I know some people commented that they couldn't see Chris Evans (the actor who played the part) in the face but I reckon the helmet is just throwing most people off. It would be interesting to see a picture of the face with the helmet removed I guess. No doubt someone over on the Sideshow forum has done this already heh. On the subject of the helmet, for some reason I really love it, its so well sculpted and painted. Really smooth and precise. Bravo to JC Hong for the paint apps here.


All the detailing on the clothes and accessories are what you'd expect. I always look straight at the footwear of any figure haha, for some reason I really like to a see a good boot in 1/6 scale.

Here's the reverse of the shield, check out the leather-like straps. Please note if you get one, you can actually unclip the straps via a small plastic catch. I wrestled with the hands/arms to get the shield attached before I realised doh.

The costume is really what sold this figure and film character to me. I loved the look they went with in the film, its a very realistic believable approach (instead of rubber *yawn)
Hot Toys did a great job replicating it and it really does look cool on the figure. As a nice touch Hot toys have thrown in a bag of spare pips (buttons?) so that you can replace them if any fall off and become lost. Another plus to note is that there are no visible articulation joints on show. I always dig figures that appear seamless.

The holster is pretty cool, and I love the little US logo on it.

Now don't get me wrong I love this figure, but one thing I would comment on is the fact his articulation really sucks. The legs are fine and are what you'd expect from a truetype body, but from the shoulders up he barely moves! His costume restricts his shoulders and his elbows and you can barely move his wrists due to the sculpted rubber gloves. Plus Hot Toys for some mad reason have used muscle body type arms on a regular truetype torso. These arms look nice but they have a terrible range of movement. I really wish Hot Toys would come up with some sort of better designed elbow or just use regular Truetype elbows on figures with clothing! See at the bottom of this post for more information regarding the arms. Anyway overall a great figure but let down a touch by the arms. I may at some point swap out the body, I couldn't even get him into a position where he has his shield raised right up pfft. I notice he is doing multiple poses in the official Hot Toys pictures that cannot be reproduced tsk.

He comes with a Pistol which is pretty simple and does the job, the top doesn't slide back like you normally find on these figures but hey ho I've complained enough about this figure heh.




Below is a picture of the body Hot Toys used for Captain America. The torso is basically a standard truetype body but the arms are more like the muscle body arms. The elbow joint only allows a bend of around 90 degrees. Plus you can't turn the arm at the bicep. You can turn the arm left and right at the elbow, but who's arm does that?!! just think about it for a moment. Your arm moves at the shoulder and bicep not at the elbow. I really dislike these arms that Hot Toys have started using more and more. To be honest I'm not a massive fan of the muscle body at all. Even when I got my hands on Wolverine (which I think was the first figure to use a muscle body) I instantly disliked it.

Below is a picture of the body Hot Toys used for Superman. This type of arm offers much better movement, allowing you to rotate the arm in a natural way (note the cut joint at the bicep) and also you get a better degree of movement at the elbow (though its worth mentioning that even this particular arm suffers a bit due to the enlarged bicep they used) On a standard arm similar to this you can bend the arm way higher.
Ah well rant over ha. Please note Hot Toys, use these arms on all figures that have costumes or covered arms!!!

2 comments:

  1. Bro, thanks for your detailed reviews..Great score!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. i'm having a hard time putting on his hands. Is it just me?

    ReplyDelete