On top of that sculpt is some pretty decent paint. I love the metallic colors used as it’s true to the costume in the comics and really makes the figure pop. There were some minor issues here and there like the star being a tad crooked or the flesh tone paint around the eyes not quite filling the allotted space, but nothing looks sloppy on this figure. He looks good.
So articulation is where this guys shines. I mean, it’s a pretty figure – you can tell that from the package or in my pics, but what really will impress you with this guy is how he can move. I can give you the numbers: ball-joints at the head, shoulders, hips, and ankles (and it’s those awesome new ball-jointed ankles), swivels at the bicep, waist, thighs, and calves, double hinges at the knees and elbows, and the ab crunch, but it just doesn’t quite tell the story. A lot of it has to do with those new ball-jointed ankles where the peg inserts into the shoe facing forward. They’re like super rocker ankles and it makes me sad that my DCUCs don’t have them. The great range on the neck and abs help the figure to not only balance but look graceful in poses, but it’s really the multiple swivels and hinges in the limbs that really open this guy up. One other thing I loved was that the figure can actually reach both of his stowed weapons convincingly – how often does that happen?
The only thing I would like to have here is a stand. The inner parts of the double hinges have a little more give than I’d like (they’re not bad, not just as solid as I’d prefer). A stand would not only help that, but also allow for even more poses.
Bucky Cap included three accessories, the aforementioned knife and gun, and the classic shield. The knife and gun are fine pieces, but I wish they were a little more silver than grey. Bucky Cap holds the gun perfectly in his right hand (ready-to-go trigger finger in the sculpt), but the left hand is a little loose around the blade. I’m still happy to get both these pieces though.
Beyond his weapons, Bucky comes with the required shield. This is the same mold that was just released with Steve Rogers a few weeks ago. It may be a little darker than the one that came with Steve – though I might be remembering wrong since I only have the variant photon shield. It’s a solid sculpt that can be clipped around the wrist or held by the peg depending on which is flipped up. The peg also doubles as a storage solution as Bucky Cap, like Steve, can stow the shield on his back. Bonus points here for being a figure that can stow all of his gear.
Overall, I have to end here saying this might be one of the best Marvel Legends ever. It is certainly some of the best we’ve seen from Hasbro and surely better than a good chunk of the Toy Biz years. The sculpt is fantastic, the paint looks great, we’ve got three accessories that can all be stowed away on the figure, and the articulation provides plenty of fun to boot. Simply put, Bucky Cap is a must own.
I’m still not sold on being a completist for this go around, my ML collecting will largely revolve around my wanting enough of the individual figures or really wanting the BAF, but when the figures are this good? It’ll be hard to say no to characters that I don’t have that much of an interest in. I’m ecstatic that a figure I wanted got so much love, but that might mean I have trouble saving money when a dud comes along with a beautiful figure. And while I’ve got plenty of ROML2 reviews to get to, this figure makes me absolutely stoked for Wave 3’s US Agent! I’ve been waiting for a 6″ figure of him for years and, not to get my hopes, he’s shaping up to be a kickass figure if Bucky Cap is any indication.
For more Marvel reviews, check out our Review Index.
I have a sneaking suspicion there’s going to be plenty of Piledriver talk in the comments section today…
Great Review, but I guess I’m at the other end of the spectrum. I’m burned out of Marvel Legends (Mostly because of the scale issues) and am more pleased with Marvel Universe. I think Hasbro is doing a good job looking at the last few reviews, but getting 2 MU figures for the price of 1 ML figure makes the army builder in me happy.
The price is good, but I do like my 6″ collection…
I’m not sure what I think about the scale. I know some of the figures are too large, but I can’t say for sure if it really bothers me.
Steve Rogers bothers me. I’ve got a nice little collection of Brubaker-era Captain America theme figures standing on my shelf, and he just throws it off. There’s the awesome Winter Soldier, Bucky Cap, Maria Hill, Sharon Carter, Black Widow, all in a fairly realistic, gritty style, and then there’s 7-foot tall Steve with his giant cartoony melon in there, and he just doesn’t fit.
I think if the head were a little smaller, he’d fit in a ton better.
If he were a little smaller and his head were a lot smaller.
LOL. I don’t mind the height so much, but I can definitely understand those who do.
Allow me to start the Piledriver discussion: Looks like Thunderball will be the running change instead of the other way around. Either that, or both guys be will be shipping randomly.
I wouldn’t cut MU loose yet. There’s some truly awesome waves on tap for this year that I’m eager for you to review.
I’m not totally out of MU yet… I do need to suck it up and get the Psylocke at least, maybe not the Thor. Coming up… Ultimate Spidey II, She-Hulk, Nova, FF Spidey, Professor X, Mandarin, Jubilee, Blastaar, and of course that Foom… yeah I’m not out…
I got this guy last week, and absolutely love this figure. I can’t wait for US Agent, and I really hope that Hasbro will release their own Steve Rogers comic book Captain figure built on this same body. None of the toybiz Cap figures look that great to me, the best one is probably the face-off figure, but you can’t even get him for under $40 now. Even so, he still looks like he has too much detail with ugly articulation. This figure has all the articulation, but looks great.
I have the Face-Off Cap, but yeah I’m up for a Habro replacement.
I should also say how much I appreciate Hasbro reintroducing hips that connect horizontally to the torso. I really love being able to pose the figures without having to oddly twist the ball hip in a couple of directions and work the thigh swivel, just to get the leg to go forward.
Agreed.
I thought his boots were still red.
I remember seeing them red, but they’re almost always black anymore.
The boots are only red when there’s a coloring error (which happens a not-insignificant amount of the time). They’re supposed to be black, though, and have been since Bucky adopted this suit.
Thanks! I didn’t know that.
i’ll refrain from my usual (though you had to know that pose would get a reaction) and simply say i can’t wait to lay hands on the wrecking crew… man these guys EXACTLY how i’ve wanted them to look, like big angry bad guys to kick around your hero of choice.
bucky cap just does nothing for me, but i will say, you’re right in how often figures fail to be able to grasp their own weapons (especially off their own bodies,) so it’s cool as hell to see that he can do.
It’s odd ’cause Thor is huge and I guess they have to be big to fight him, but I don’t know if I can really advocate for a toy line just doing it’s own things in regards to scale.
see, i like it in this case cuz the WC are big bruiser types… but yes, seeing bucky cap and the previous wave’s IM, they are kind of all over the place scale wise… and hasbro had done generally well w/ that previously (disregarding the micro hulks of the hulk wave)
Exactly. I like it here, but do we “let ’em off the hook” so to speak and regret it later? That’s what I’ve been wondering.
Maybe you and I should start splitting ML cases, dayraven. I think the Wrecking Crew is one of the lamest groups ever created, but Bucky Cap was my #1 must have from this line.
🙂 sorry man, old school thor fan here, so yeah, i loves the crew. and the nice thing is, i’m a figure player/mixed cast displayer, so their overall large size and snarky face sculpts means they look good bullying everything from marvel legends to dcu to motuc… just wait till they find out that those puny gi joes have much beefier sigma six older brothers… that is one bus stop where no lunch money will be trading hands.
out of curiosity james, when did you start reading comics?
When did I start? Probably as soon as I could read. One of the first “books” I can remember was a Superman read-along story that came with a vinyl record.
I really started collecting and reading seriously about 20 or so years ago, around the time of the launch of adjectiveless X-Men (full disclosure: I was way more into the Archie TMNT comics at the time than I was Marvel or DC, though I still read plenty of those).
ugh Im so sick of this cap outfit, it looks like trash to me why cant cap jsut be cap anymore?
Great review tho
Not a fan of the costume design, either. I have a feeling that if anybody else but Alex Ross had submitted a character sheet of it to Marvel, it would have been thrown out, possibly with all sorts of condescending and mean comments from the editors written on it. No joke, the first time I saw previews of it (not knowing anything about what was happening in the comics at the time), the first thing I thought was that Marvel was introducing a new “Captain Puerto Rico” character because the torso elements really do remind me of the Puerto Rican flag.
While I’m not a fan of Ross in the slightest, I do like the design here!
Re-reading my previous comment, I think I might have overstated my case. I’m not a fan of how it looks in print (particularly when it was first revealed… the upper torso, shoulder, and head/mask area was rendered by Ross to look like burnished metal), but at the same time, I don’t think it’s egregiously bad as far as re-designs go and I suppose it is unfair to harp on it in a toy whose designers were only trying to re-create it in plastic.
It’s funny how the “inverted coloured triangle on a black bodysuit” motif dominates a number of his designs, though (such as in this unused Spider-Man movie costume design).
The first thing I thought when I saw the Bucky Cap suit was that Alex Ross must have only one way to redesign characters, and that if you ask him to do it for any character, you’ll get “black, with a wedge of classic costume across the head and chest and some color on the hands.” Then I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to ask him to redesign Batman Beyond or Nightwing?
That said, I really do like this costume. Is it great for Captain America? Maybe not, but it was sure right for Bucky attempting to be Captain America.
Ross I love his work but this costume jsut doesnt appeal to me in the slightest, Hasbro did a great job making it in 3D but I’m more of a fan of a classic cap outfit..I know htis is bucky cap..and dont even get me started on that, there is only one cap…..I just dont like the Black and blue/white/red combo
and to be real, i don’t like the smaller build of this cap. i know some folks are put off by the steve rogers from wave 1 being too large, but i think that has more to do w/ his skull/torso ratio that the figure’s actual proportion. steve is a large, fit dude, he should be big, and while mr buchanan is not as large, he’s not a small dude either… and the bucky cap design has a slimming effect as it is, plus the smaller buck makes him look, to me, diminutive. and i hate the flare boots.
of course, that said, all of this misses one huge point… buying a captain america figure with a gun feels a lot like buying a batman figure with a gun… i don’t care what kind of schtick or retcon they’ve worked, steve rogers doesn’t use firearms. for me, ML wave 1 steve stands and remains the unchallenged master of all cap figures. even over the later ultimate caps and FA caps and FO caps and all the others…
it also burns me a little that we’re getting USAgent on a puny body. he should have been built on the FO cap buck, not the FO punisher. makes me wonder if hasbro lost some of the older molds, because in theory, they have a MUCH more diverse library of parts than what they’re currently tapping. like for instance, rather than building new leg parts for the wrecking crew to make them bigger than the hulkling buck, why didn’t they reach for the omega red body? why are they defaulting all the bodies to the bullseye buck or the FA punisher buck? what, they lost the black panther buck? they’ve, in theory, got a ton of different spider man bodies they can pull parts from or could tap the FA cap or FO cap to add further size/shape diversity, and all the initial costs, the molds, are done… it’s like printing money, right? would klaw really look so different if they’d chosen to base him on the gambit body, rather than that puny surfer body? why oh why haven’t we tapped the she-hulk body yet for another figure? titania, maybe? (the first she-hulk fig, not the “savage she hulk” fig w/ the big boobs… though she’d make a fine base for a black cat fig!) i don’t get why they aren’t tapping bucks that are older than 10… what are they, jerry sandusky?
Captain America has always used firearms. The retcon is the attitude that he doesn’t or shouldn’t.
The problem with the Steve Rogers figure is that he’s too tall. If anything, he should be much more muscular to accurately depict how the character appears in the comics. Shrink him down a half an inch and use the plastic you save to bulk him up a little more.
Complaining about flair boots on Captain America is like complaining around a cape on Superman. It’s an iconic part of the character’s silhouette, and he’d look wrong without them.
allow me to clarify… i hate the flare boots on bucky. steve’s a throwback kind of guy, they kind of work (and at this point, they’re kind of iconic). bucky owes 0 loyalty to that outfit, so at best, it’s lip service on him… making all the elements kind of sarcastic. it just doesn’t work for me.
as for steve, dude, i think you’re really off here. the body is fine, if a little compact for steve, and if you broadened his chest and shoulders to get the right overall mass, the head would seem far less “huge.” mostly because, the head is only marginally too big. you mention an alteration of a half an inch in height, that’s more than the difference between steve and klaw, who’s clearly undersized. steve is just about right, heightwise. and while in comics we’re used to seeing small heads to make the overall mass appear larger, this head is a tiny fraction of an inch large for the body he’s put on to maintain the same proportions you see in the comics.
and for me, i read cap in the early 80’s, and he was incredibly anti-gun. that he was a soldier at one point makes no never mind to me, he was anti-gun when i came up. he made a rather noted choice of opting off firearms once gifted w/ his shield. it is indeed a retcon that he uses them now with any regularity. the guys not stupid, a tool is a tool, but he was cap, he comes to the table with skills beyond accurate aim. while he may know how to use them, he didn’t prefer them enough to make them a part of his packout.
Not using guns is too much of an oversimplification to me, so I don’t really mind it. I totally understand that where you start reading comics makes a HUGE impact though.
I don’t care so much about Batman not using guns because it fits in with the gun violence involved in his origin, but I do get annoyed when folks start clamoring about Alfred using a rifle and how Batman wouldn’t approve – Batman doens’t want Alfred dead either (I know you’re not saying that, that just comes up when I talk about this now).
Captain America not using guns is something I largely didn’t think about it until the conversation here went in that direction.
Hi ,my 2012 marvel legends wave 2 Review:
http://s1222.photobucket.com/a…0Legends%206%20inch/
hope u like ~
http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/hhbto/2012%20Marvel%20Legends%206%20inch/
Some great pics there!
I really like this figure, though the gun and knife holsters do hurt the hip articulation, and the fact that the costume looks more like body paint. I mean, what’s up with those veins by his shoulders?
I wasn’t sure if they’re getting in the way or if the hips don’t have enough range for them to get in the way.
I do agree on the veins though, I just overlooked it since the buck system is a necessary even at this point.
While I can’t place the body, the veins are what lead me to believe this was a previously used buck. And while I know that the buck system is necessary these days, it’s little things like that that kind of hurt it. Much like with Constrictor’s crotch piece and its molded in belt, I have to believe they could have gotten an equally suitable torso to this one that wouldn’t have had veins bulging through what is supposed to be metal plating.
I agree. Even if they didn’t have a suitable torso piece, they would have done well to mold one. Then they could use it on other heroes. As much as people harped on Mattel for their DC classics reuse, if they needed a specific piece, they’d make it.
The veins definitely gave me pause on calling this a new sculpt for that very reason. I hate it, but I’m simply not versed enough to be as sure/thorough as I am on the DC front.
I can see the veins driving some nuts, but, logic aside, they don’t bother me near as much as that belt buckle.
“but seriously, how often do you really look at a man’s shoes?”
Don’t ask Rob Liefeld! LOL
I found most of these while running around StL and St Chuck counties Friday (“Local” Comic Shop was having their anniversary sale, then I find out 501st was there Saturday. ugh.). I snagged Piledriver and unmasked Daken because I thought they were variants. of course, then I realized I haven’t seen a “regular” blue GR or solid shield Steve, yet. (In fact, I also found all of w1 in seeming abundance except for one red GR and IM.)
I passed on Bucky Cap the other day because I only found him at TRU, and didn’t want to pay the extra $3 I would at Target (or $2.50 at WM). I didn’t realize he was carrying some nice sculpting. Definitely when I see him at Target (or when a certain e-tailer across the River gets them in).
Sunset TRU was the w2 motherlode, with about a dozen Bucky Caps, 3 scrawny/tribal ink Drax, and 4-5 Daken, all unmasked. I can’t remember where, but I did see one FF Spidey. I’m thinking it had to be TRU (Chesterfield?), as I didn’t want to pay extra for him. No sign of Thunderball, Fantomex, or either Madame.
Speaking of, I did notice that Piledriver is only credited as “Wrecking Crew” and both guys are shown on front and back of package, with no additional delineation. Is this the case for “Marvel’s Madames”? I saw you have a Madame Hydra, while Madame Masque is pictured on the wave line-up.
oh yeah, if we’re getting USAgent in w3, then I expect (classic) Thunderstrike this year, as well! Even if he’s only announced!
If they’re going Cap and Thor heavy, then Eric/Thor II and Thunderstrike are sure to be shortlisted, and I’d prefer Thunderstrike first!
(also, Warriors Three, Sif, Balder, and BAF ODIN.)
the box is listed that way “marvel’s wrecking crew” so that they can use that one box for all four wrecking crew members, thus reducing the expense of printing unique boxes for all 4 guys.
BUT this one only features Piledriver and T-ball, not the other two, so they’ll have to adjust the art for them. only the “Marvel’s Wrecking Crew” chip is the same, but odds are, it’s on the same press sheet as the bottom insert.
I wonder if they held off naming them because of the 007 “Thunderball” movie? I know they could get around that by adding “Marvel’s ___________” like everything else, but now I’m wondering.
Heck, at the moment, I can only picture the orange/silver dude and forget the names for him and the fourth. :/
Also, why DOES Piledriver come with Thunderball’s wrecking ball? talk about a waste of plastic for a character that doesn’t need an accessory. :/
I kid you not, but I’d bet it would’ve cost Hasbro more money to remove it than it was to include it. That’s logistics for ya.
It’s just for these two, the same as the Madame’s. The orange dude is Bulldozer and then there’s Wrecker himself.
hrm. could’ve sworn there was a fourth lackey under Wrecker at some point?
0.o?
don’t mind me, I’m unsane.
and could Bulldozer be used for an updated AoA Sabretooth? one without biceps that make Scott Steiner jealous, small forearms, and arthritic hands? (don’t even start on the head sculpt!)
It could be. I’m not that big of a Marvel fan. 😉
There was a character called Excavator, who’s the son of Piledriver, who was temporarily a member a couple of years ago. I don’t recall him lasting more than an issue or two, though.
That sounds familiar! Thanks!
Expect Rob Liefied jokes when we get to Fantomex….
I’d love to get a Thunderstrike.
I’ve been trying NOT to buy these at TRU, but have been failing miserably.
Great review…havent ran across these in my area yet.
Good luck on the hunt!
I like that Hasbro’s supplying the new ankles and extensive articulation to the most wanted figures. It’s a pity they didn’t start with the last wave of two-packs, they would’ve helped immensely with Deadpool’s posing abilities. As for the inclusion of a stand, I see your point; though as a fellow pose aficionado, I like to see if I can pull the desired poses stand-free.
I think the only time I’ve ever seen a figure have enough range of motion to draw it’s own holstered weapon was with Fansprojects’ Warbot “Springer”. You can actually guide his fist to pull his pistol out of his hip storage. A buddy of mine remarked that he hoped that Hasbro’s improvement of ML in the articulation and quality control departments would push Mattel to improve similarly, I’m starting to hope this too with ML figures that sport capabilities like this. I’m sure many are speculating as well that if the rumored DC All Star re-arrangement is true, it’s a response to the explosion of ML by getting more interesting product out there to compete rather than a bunch of repaints and reissues.
I do like stand-free poses, but this guy could really get into some cool fighting poses with a little assistance.
I’d love to see Hasbro prove a point to Mattel. I think the DC sub is looking up, but the folks at Mattel still go for the “something is better than nothing” approach.
I built up Zola first (prepare to be disappointed by his rubbery as hell legs), still need the crotch and arms for Terrax.
With DCAS, they at least seem to have realized how crap the first wave was going to be and they switched things around. Doesn’t make up for the increase in price and the loss of the CNC part.
Is it his knees that are rubbery? Cap kinda suffers from that too.
I wasn’t a fan of this costume design, but the figure looks great! I’m definitely keeping an eye out for him along with most of wave 2 (Fantomex? Yes, please!).
Here’s to Hasbro lighting a fire under Mattel’s ass!
We can only hope!
Fantomex is pretty cool, but I want to get him switched to an all-white version.
MU “Giant Battles” Bucky Cap
CA Movie Comic Series “Heroic Age” Bucky Cap
ML2012 Bucky Cap
So who’s the fourth Hasbro Bucky Cap? Was it a Superhero Squad figure?
There was a SHS Bucky Cap, yes. I don’t know if Noisy was counting that, but it does exist.
I’m assuming that Noisy is counting both Cap movie Bucky Cap’s. Theres the single Card and the Comic 2 pack one.
I didn’t know about the SHS – that’s cool though – and I had forgotten the Movie 2pk Cap – so there are six total, not four!
The one I was counting was the TRU Exclusive Avengers 4″ figure line (the one with the bases)!
And don’t forget the Marvel Select version (both masked and unmasked.)
Yep. Those two!
Looks like a great figure. I wish they would do die-cast weapons sometimes or at least give weapons a more metallic look.
I am also wondering if the recent layoffs of nearly 200 people will affect ML in the future. I was shocked when I heard about it and it sucks that so many great folks were let go just as this line is starting up again and looking so good. It sounded like the board game division was losing money, so I am not sure why the Marvel Team was affected.
Die cast would be pretty cool, but would the modern shoulder joint be able to hold those puppies up?
I haven’t followed up on the layoff news yet, what have we heard?
Well I’m super late with this comment but I found some interesting things tonight.
1. TRU, who had been the first to get Legends by almost a month in this area, no longer has pegs for the line anywhere. Not a single Legends tag to be found in the whole store.
2. I went to Walmart and saw 4 regular Iron Man figures sitting there haha.
And I’m about to paypal you for the Iron Man you found me. Thanks again buddy.
Doh! That’s how it goes. Hopefully, you’ll have your IM soon!!
I only know what was reported by yahoo and a few other places, but I know that one of the main guys behind Marvel Universe and RML, David Vonner, was let go. He updated his facebook status with the info last week…
http://www.masslive.com/business-news/index.ssf/2012/03/hasbro_cuts_jobs_but_says_east_longmeado.html
That sucks! I’d missed all that. I have so little time beyond my job, family, and IAT!
Finally got mine yesterday. The hip joint to me looks similar to his MU figure. Smooth forward and backward movement but the side movements are limited but that’s ok 🙂 Great sculpt and articulation all in all a great figure!
Now I hope Hasbro releases a classic comic-book accurate Captain America!!
I’m ready for Hasbro to give us a classic Cap. I don’t think we’ll be waiting too long – there’s a Cap themed figure in all three waves so far.
Yup. Next up it’s “Nomad,” then Rikki Barnes, then 90s Armored Cap, then American Dream, then 1602 Steve Rogers 🙂
Was playing with my ROML1 Rogers and ROML2 Bucky Cap and was annoyed that their belts was not glued or pegged like that of ML8 Cap or FO Cap. Playing with them is annoying with their belts getting in the way. Even my ROML2 Drax is getting annoying… Whats up with their belts?!?!?