Marvel Legends Captain
America 2 Red Skull Review

NoisyDvL5

Well, if I’m gonna review a Spider-Man and then Vault’s gonna review a Spider-Man, we may as well go all in this week and make it an All-Marvel Theme Week, right? I’ve got Marvel-y reviews today and Friday, so I sure hope Vault’s got something else Marvel-related to review on Thursday. Guess I shoulda asked him first.* Marvel has been on the mind all week, I’ve actually been on the toy hunt (remember those?) trying to catch a second case of either of the new Marvel Legends series that came out based on Captain America 2 & Amazing Spider-Man 2 respectively.

* – He totally does. He beat me to that new Marvel Legends A.I.M. Agent! “Oh, hey, Zemo & Red Skull are here. Nope, no Aim Agent.” No AIM Agent indeed!!

It’s funny because the ones I’ve bought weren’t quite the ones I was intending. It was Zemo & the A.I.M. Agent from the Cap line and then Carnage & Black Cat from the Spidey line. And, yet, when I find them, what few I’ve found, I pick them up. You already heard how Spider-Man won me over. For the Cap line, a lot of credit is going to go the Mandroid (& Iron Monger, really, love that toy!), but Zemo is a great figure. That Marvel NOW! Cap looks like a great figure. Red Skull is… well, great figure doesn’t quite fit.

I should cover some Red Skull history here. I’ve bought & sold three Marvel Legends Red Skull’s already. The first I bought because it was rare! It had a decent head sculpt, but the body wasn’t Legends-esque at all (keep that in mind). I think it was movie Daredevil pieces cobbled together with a really plain military jacket. I ended up selling it. The second Red Skull I bought because it was in a 2pk with an awesome Captain America. And, yep, I really liked the head sculpt, but the base body was this weird armory thing that he had to share with Baron Von Strucker. I sold it. Years later, I found it cheap in a used figure bin and bought it again, cause, “hey, Red Skull”. I sold it again.

So, flash forward to the far flung year of 2014! Here’s another Red Skull figure. Having sold so many Red Skull figures, I thought that maybe I shouldn’t buy this one. But, MANDROID. And the figure was calling out to me a bit from within the package.* I’m not quite sure why it was calling me because I knew already that I would hate 95% of the figure.

* – I may not have mentioned this in the Spidey review, but I really love the new packaging.** It’s sleek and pops on the shelf. I spot those pegwarming WW2 Caps every time I go Target.

** – Hasbro has really got to do something about the names though. This review is titled “Marvel Legends Captain America 2 Red Skull Review”, but in reality it should be like “Marvel Legends Infinite Series Captain America: The Winter Soldier Agents of Hydra Red Skull Review”. All that won’t fit in the little green title box, y’know? Some of that is the movie yeah, and the smart way to package variants, but is it Marvel Legends or Infinite Series?

Maybe hate is too strong a word. I am not a fan of the Nick Fury buck. It’s not a bad sculpt. It actually looks sharp when you’re not holding it. But the articulation just doesn’t work well. The ball-jointed shoulders don’t work with the coat (they don’t work too well without the coat either) and the ball-jointed hips make you want to pull out your hair. And the whole figure, on Fury, Punisher, Bucky, etc. just always feels gummy. Like you have to stand him up and then squish him around a bit, pushing down to the shelf to get him stand. It perturbs.

So what was calling to me from inside that package? The gorgeous head sculpt. It is far & away the best Red Skull head sculpt out of the three. It looks fantastic. I love it. It’s a mix of menacing and aloof. And, while good head sculpt, bad body is the hallmark of a Red Skull figure, this figure works well with the body. A few extras like the turtleneck piece and the cube-holding hand are nice touches that go a long way. Continue to Page 2…

Pages: 1 2

41 thoughts on “Marvel Legends Captain
America 2 Red Skull Review”

  1. I don’t really mind the “overcoat body” they keep re-using, but I wouldn’t cry if the mold “got lost”, either. 😉
    that Skull head does look good, however.

    I’m actually curious if you remember how much you got for that first Skull on the DD movie body? That thing was Pure Gold back in the day. I never found one. The ML 2pk version bothered me a bit, but was an acceptable look for the time, and hewed close to his appearance in comics, at one point, I believe?
    (pretty sure I had an extra I was going to repaint black?)

    I’m gonna be SO annoyed if I make the effort to go to town tomorrow and find a leftover Cap, but if it’s WW2 Cap, I’ll take it over Cmdr Rogers/Cap2 look!
    (double-checks Mapquest for O-town vs Warsh distances….)

    that Zemo looks sweet, too, and sweeter if I had one. or that banner ad flashing with Reaper and Wasp MUs was actually for 6″ scale figures. ggrrrrr….

    1. crap. just checked WM.com: both Caps @ 20 (NOT Cmdr Rogers look), sold out on Zemo and …ASM Beetle?
      target has Scarlet Spider and refresher stuff no one wants.

          1. I’m not sure how fast Target restocks, but WM seems to be on a week schedule? that’s how fast the ML Jean cases turned over, up here.

            no sign of either Cap2 or ASM2 at Warsh or Eureka WMs. check out guy at Eureka said he knew they had no “primary” associate assigned to toys even during holidays (area was a mess, as usual), just whoever wasn’t busy, and knew one guy there was a comic/toy fanatic.

      2. Beetle is from Spidey’s line and I think the movie version of the Rogers look (stealth, I think it’s called) will be in wave two I thought.

        1. yeah, sorry I wasn’t learer. only ASM2 left was Beetle and both Spideys.
          and Megatherium confirmed the “Cmdr Rogers” suit with Widow ad WS/Bucky in Cap2b wave on other review.

          and did I read somewhere that Beetle is female??

            1. Fyi Target has jumped to $20 on ASM2 Marvel Legends. I got Beetle last week for $15, and paid $20 for Electro today. Cap2 remains at $15, FOR NOW.

              Lady at CS desk didn’t even try to argue the price, insisting it must have been on sale last week. Checker priced return/no receipt at $15.

              Talked to kid doing restocks, asking how soon they would get another case. Shipments are Tu-Th-Sat, and to call before I trek 30min for no reason. He still reads Marvel and confirmed this Beetle IS female and from Ultimate-verse. He was also annoyed that he missed out on several ASM2 figures, himself.

    2. I don’t remember how much I got for it. I had a lot of rare MLs back then and they were easy to cash in on when I was in need of funds.

  2. Perturbing indeed. Looks like three times is the charm here since I’ve been avoiding that Fury buck like the plague.

    The Red Skull only seems to work in toy form if you go with a Jack Kirby or Mike Zeck design and/or do him in a smaller scale. Either give the dude his classic Silver Age green duds, (slap this head on a comic version Hydra Soldier) the fancy black Nazi uniform from the Zeck era, (which Hasbro whipped up for their SDCC Invaders set using Colonel Vogel’s body from the Last Crusade wave of their Indy Jones line) or the more recent Avengers Assemble version which uses the SDCC Toth body and trenchcoat. Any of those three should work better than the ones they’ve tried for their six inch ranges.

    As for the name, I gotta agree. What is up with that? All the solicits for Cap-related movie stuff sound flat out ridiculous. Looking forward to hearing how that Born Better version of Zemo turned out, though. It looks sweet in that last pic.

    1. It’s funny to me that they never do make a figure of him with his ascot and jumpsuit. Strange.

      I did have that Invaders set. That was sweet, but MU enjoyment is always fleeting for me.

  3. Totally agree on this figure. Didn’t have to buy it since I got the Mandroid part with the Hydra Soldier … but that headsculpt is just too damn good. It helps me look past that Fury body which I really don’t like. The cube is a nice touch too.

    I kind of hope with Guardians of the Galaxy coming we get a complete set of cubes for the infinity guantlet. Gonna need a movie Collector 😛

    1. The head sculpt sells the figure. No doubt about it. Though in some pics, he starts to look like Sheldon from BBT. I can’t explain it…

  4. Hope can find somebody today. I like the Skull and see what you mean. A good military look would be nice but thanks to this PC world we can’t have him as a Nazi. Even just that classic Kirby or dare I say the biz suit Red Skull look. Still he looks to missing something with no Crossbones, Mother Night (think that was her name) and Zola around.

    Still wish could find just one AIM and Hydra soldier to do a Wade, Bob and Bill pulling a Charlie’s Angels type pose (just need something for them to kill)

    1. Oh stupid me.

      The guns not being able to be holstered not a dealbreaker here. Can always figure something out.

      I didn’t snag any movie figs before (Miles doesn’t count) but thought about Fury for an Ultimate shelf. Guess looking and how wish got the movie Spidey just for the weblines.

      That Zemo does look nice too. Be looking forward to that review.

      Cube to a gunfight joke *thumbsup*

      1. weren’t they going to single-card some f those in the SDCC T-bolts set? I thought Luke and redeco ‘Bones were (semi-)confirmed? possibly with T-bolts wave of Rad-man and Songbird?

        then again, we’re still waiting on Moonstar, Ion Fist, and Bulldozer confirmation, among others….

  5. I’m likely, barring some sudden income redistribution trick, passing mr skull in favor of the hydra soldier… If I ever find him. My target is still in clearance mode to make space. Cuz you know, Christmas just came out of the blue this year *insert copious eye roll*

  6. And I find Marvel Now Cap and a clearanced Fantomex. (Gotta rework on building Zola now. Rebuy Bucky Cap, Drax, and Daken again to get the other limbs. Oray have a show this year and get Zola torso and correct head if can find Thunderball cause I saw Piledriver alot)

    1. Drax I’m pretty sure is still on WM.com or Target.com. price check Amazon, too, as he’s a peg-warmer right now. might not be when the movie hits?
      (at least two (semi-)locally, in these parts.)

      I snagged an extra Daken a few months ago from my WM refresher case (which may have triggered the Raccoon/Jean cases), but he’s in storage at moment, now 30m away, as we just moved to BFE. ugh. I was going to ebay him before my account got frozen. (“Final Value Fees” ugh.)

      I ordered Bucky Cap from Amazon last year, not sure what he’s going for right now?
      Sold my extra T-ball and completed Zola & Skull BAFs on ebay this summer, too, sorry.

        1. yeah. new rule: don’t head home with less than 1/3 tank. ugh.
          then again, she only paid $7500 for the place. yes, seven thousand five hundred.
          0_o….

  7. I largely resisted Marvel Legends after the Hasbro takeover. Poe Ghostal helped me get the TBolts set because I like the characters which caused me to dig out my old ones from storage.

    Then Hasbro Toy Shop and Amazon AND one of my LCS all did a massive clearance sale on Legends and I said screw it and binged. I’m still short a couple variants (Piledriver, Viper) and an odd character (Rulkette, Ghost Rider) but I caught up on the majority of the 2012 stuff and on.

    And I gotta be honest…just about everything from the Terrax wave on has been fantastic. There have been a few clunkers (Daken mainly–although I suspect I would have liked him better if I’d gotten the unmasked version). And I passed on Mystique cause she looks a little out of proportion.

    I plan on getting everything in the both the new Infinite waves (at least three of both the army builders). I snagged Skull, Zemo and modern Cap yesterday at $22 (Ugh) at TRU. It hurts but I’m a toy slut.

    I will say some of the aftermarket prices on the early Hasbro stuff is BRUTAL. I’d love to go back and pick up a few pieces but jeeeezum crow they run a pretty penny.

    1. Daken – I saw probably 30 UNmasked and only two masked versions, from StL county down to Rolla that no one wanted. then it seems they disappeared overnight, and ML pegs were clogged with Terrax/Zola refreshers?

      [scratches head]

    2. It’s easier to get into that Hasbro has cut their teeth. Much better figures. It’s kinda funny that those early ones have high eBay prices! I still want Hasbro to go back to the drawing board on Nova. Terrible figure.

      1. I’m hoping Hasbro releases a Nova Prime in a theoretical Guardians of the Galaxy series that will hopefully come out later this year.

        1. we should know next month at Toy Fair, but several people noted the AIM chest could be re-used for Quill/Starlord. I expect him to be announced next either way, movie or comic. so a GotG themed wave will likely follow the T-bolts wave. (BaF = Thanos????)

  8. All I have seen is refresher waves here untill the movie lines hit. I got a She-Rulk and missed out on the rest. Never saw them again and the Rocket Raccoon wave. 🙁 Nope none.

Comments are closed.