Orignally posted at:
http://www.zedsjoesite.com/review/skull/skull.htmlSorry been a bit busy and not posted a couple of reviews on here, will make up for that the next couple of days, first up Red Skull and Crossbones from the Captain America Line.
Hey, guess what, there is a Captain America line. I was just mentioning that because the street date is May 16th and it appears that there are a bunch of retailers who haven't figured that out yet. Even still one of the smaller retailers in my area did get a one case of these figures in and I was able to snag Red Skull and Crossbones.
Of course these two are short packed in Wave 2 of the Captain America line. Skull is the movie version while Crossbones is of course the comic version. This mixture of comic and movie figures seems to follow the pattern of X-Men Origins Wolverine in that it mixes the two unlike Iron Man which had Comic and Movie lines. It also begs the question WHY COULDN'T THIS IDEA HAVE FOUND IT'S WAY INTO THE THOR LINE!!! Oh well.
Much has been said about the scale of the Cap figures and how they are too short. I think they work just fine myself, at least these two. There are factors for each one I will bring up later, and of course at this point I still have not managed to purchase any of the Captain America figures to see how they measure up.
Starting off we have the big bad Nazi himself, Red Skull. Cap's arch nemesis and a figure many said could never be released (even though the Marvel Legends version apparently did). I really dig this figure, he is very simple but also fills the role perfectly. This is based off the movie appearance but I do feel he can fit in just as easily as the more modern version of the comic. Rumors abound that the SDCC Invaders set version will be released as well, but at this point Hasbro has not confirmed that despite some of the SDCC having shown up on Ebay recently. Add to the fact that the SDCC WW2 Cap is being released in the Captain America line and you just have more credence to the rumors.
The head sculpt is great, dead on and you have no doubt who he is when you see him. An odd thing is that his eyes are different colors apparently (one blue and one appears to be black). Then again I have heard much of bad paint in this line, still this is the only flaw on the figure I see so it might just be purposeful. Skull's face has a nice slight scowl to it as well which adds to the character. He also comes with a Cosmic Cube (which appears to be wrapped in energy). I read a few reviews saying the cube doesn't fit well, but I will point out there is a trick to it to get it to stay in place (and is very hard to describe, but essentially watch where the flattest end actually ends up). It's not 100% secure, but it fits better than normal that way. The Cube's presence implies the Cube will be in the Captain America movie (although we do see it at the end of Thor as well) but it is hard to say for certain at this point. Also it should be pointed out that Skull has no ankle articulation. This isn't a huge thing to me as I don't think of Nazi's and karate kicks as being hand and hand. Still it can limit some of the stance choices for this figure. However, a counter argument could be that Nazi officers are pretty stiff anyway so you can go back and forth on the issue.
I was very much hoping to get the new WW2 Cap just to pose these two together, but at so many a case I am sure the WW2 Cap will be findable, whenever someone decides to put the figures out that is.
Another cool aspect of Skull's presence is it gets me one step closer to assembling the Prime Movers of "Acts of Vengeance" which I thought was a cool storyline but the application was a bit off. Still the idea behind it was cool. Now all we are missing is Kingpin and Wizard in those characters. Still with the ones we have, I feel the major players are now covered.
Being a Nazi just makes for some comedy gold. Also he fits well with the Indiana Jones Nazi's which means if you collected both lines you might have an instant army. Some have said this figure looks like it is recycled from Indy, but as you can see in the picture above that is not the case. I admit the mold does look familiar and not just because of the uniform look of Nazi's but I am hard pressed to realize where it comes from.
This figure is a no-brainer. He is the Red Skull after all. Being that he is short packed and probably will be like the bad guys from Iron Man 2 last year and be hard to track down. In other words if you see him
Now on to Skull's right hand man...
Crossbones is a huge favorite of mine. I remember back when he first appeared and I thought he was a great foil for Captain America, however in those early appearances Cap and Crossbones didn't actually fight. In fact, I am hard pressed to remember where they first fought. I remember more than one occasion the Red Skull telling Crossbones to back off from a potential encounter from Cap. But that holding off made Crossbones much more interesting of a villain. Kind of like in wresting when two guys are going to fight and they purposefully avoid fighting in order to make the actual match that much more. Be that as it may, Crossbones became one of my favorite villains pretty darn quick. He ranks up there with Taskmaster and Deathstroke but unlike those two he isn't really a mercenary due to his intense loyalty to Red Skull.
My one knock to the figure is the color choice of the guns. A quick dig through the extras box found an easy substitute, although I will admit it is loose in his hands, I plan on finding something else later but wanted to show Crossbones with a gun with a better color as well as a better scale. The rifle he comes with seems a bit small for him even though Crossbones is a big guy to begin with.
I am sort of scratching my head as to why exactly Crossbones was included in the Cap line. I don't mind him there at all, but is inclusion does seem a bit odd when you look at the rest of the line. Of course this also makes me wonder why the Thor line couldn't be handled in a similar fashion. Hasbro confuses me. I suppose the role Crossbones played at the end of Civil War is a huge part of why he is here. Trying not to spoil it but then again the issue got national attention so I don't think it will be to big a spoiler. Crossbones was the guy who shot at Cap when he died. Not the death shot (I won't spoil that) but he did hit Cap with a sniper rifle as Cap was going up for trial.
While there is a big part of me that would prefer Crossbones older costume, I am perfectly fine with this one. He was one of the few Marvel Legends figures I really, really wanted when he was released in that line (Of course I never had money when he was in the store), so having him in my favorite scale is a "DUH" principle. I feel lucky to have gotten him so early.
Many have complained about the hips, the major thing is the hips on this figure are sort of a half cut from what has been done in previous movie lines like Wolverine and Iron Man. By half cut I mean that the slits usually on both sides of the hips are only on one side. This does make the figure a bit hard to pose but also keeps him solid as well. I can see some hating it but I find it is something that can be worked with.
Once again the DUH principle presents itself, if you want it, buy it if you see him. He is cool and hard to find and is defiantly worth the money.
So that wraps up this edition of the reviews, until next time I hope you dance-
OK that one wasn't as cool as some of the others, sorry.
