Come, See Toys: Marvel Legends 20th Anniversary Series Captain America

Marvel Legends 20th Anniversary series Cap! Let's go!

So it's been 20 years and I'm not sure how many figures. It's probably over a thousand by now going by what I see in my display and the multiple boxes of figures. It's been quite a journey. I remember getting the very first Toy Biz series from Takashimaya. Back then each figure cost about SG$20. I got lucky with that. The subsequent waves were tough. Scalpers... the variants? Even tougher. Glad we don't have to deal with variants anymore. Things got easier once some stores started selling the waves in sets. I've been getting sets ever since.

Seeing the collection brings me great joy. I mean it's the Marvel Universe! Characters I grew up reading and watching. Being able to pose them is great. I love making team-ups and having characters face off. Sometimes in funny ways. Toyfare was a great influence. Lol. I want to keep collecting as much as I can. It's getting harder. The cost has increased significantly. For example Cap here cost SG$50. Then some of the waves seem so lacklustre. And I've been thinking, do I really need every single version of the characters? I don't have the space, and what I display is just one of each. Aside for Spider-man. I'm actually quite happy with the versions of the main characters we've already gotten.

Okay enough about that let's get on with the figure. Cap comes in a packaging similar to what Toy Biz figures used to come in. It's on a cardback so you can still rip it open with you hands. I was hoping for clamshell packaging. I kinda miss struggling to open Toy Biz figures. Lol.

I mentioned earlier whether to collect the different versions of characters. Now if Hasbro made them as good as classic Captain America here I wouldn't mind so much. This guy is superb! Loving the look and the brighter colour tones. The upper body reuses the Marvel 80th Anniversary Cap's while the legs reuses those from Wolf Cap. They paid great attention to the paint apps with this one. Check out the "scales" on his upper torso. Each individual piece has a spot of light blue paint applied. Very nice! He's also got some dark red shading applied on his gloves, ab areas and boots. It helps bring out the detail on the sculpt. I feel maybe they shouldn't have done the shading for the abs area. It looks like a stain from some angles.

The head sculpt is new. I think it looks better than the Marvel 80th Cap. He wears a pretty serious look on his face. You can make out his brow quite easily through his mask. His eyes were painted looking up which is annoying. I praised them too early with regards to paint apps. My figure has some flesh tone on his mask...

The brow and the mouth are the most prominent changes.

Accessories. He comes with an unmasked head, a rolled up mask, a harness, a set of open hands, a left pointing hand, a right saluting hand, his shield, electricity effect piece, slash effect piece and three bullet effect pieces.

There's also a base with "Marvel Legends" sculpted on it and a card backdrop. The base has pegs on it to stand the figure on.

There's a slot on the base for you to place the card into. On one side of the card is the cover of Captain America #109. And on the reverse side is an image of a ruined building which is a throwback to the display base which came with the old Toy Biz figure. How I wish we could get some diorama pieces without the cost increasing further.

The unmasked head looks okay. I see Steve Rogers and also someone else who I can't put my finger on. Some TV star or celebrity. That other person is pushing through more than Steve and I can't get that image out of my head. I guess I'm not used to seeing him with the side-parted hair. The hair has nice detail and has some shading in it. His blue eyes too were well done and I like how his blond eyebrows turned out.

Unsurprisingly the unmasked head will fit on the Marvel 80th Anniversary Cap as well.

Here's a quick comparison with Commander Rogers.

The rolled up mask is a simple piece. There is some nice detail done for the wings.

It sits loosely on his neck and tends to move around. Still it looks good on him.

I love the shield. Especially the size of it. I also like the bright colour tones and the gloss look it has. But why oh why the holes... yes I know they are there to attach the effect pieces but it looks horrible when he's just carrying it around. Each hole is of a different shape as you can see below. The inside of the shield is just plain grey swirly plastic. I really hope we can get this shield without the holes at some point.

The shield uses the peg and clip system. The clip is small and there's some difficulty just to clip it onto his wrist. I strongly advise against clipping it to his forearm. There's a good chance the clip will break.

A quick shield size comparison.

The effect pieces work really well with the shield. All of them look great. Attaching the electricity and the slash effect pieces is pretty straightforward. The bullet effect pieces can be a little troublesome as you need to match the different shaped pegs with the corresponding holes. All of the effect pieces are translucent. I like that some white paint was applied on the bullets and slash effect pieces. It really gives the impression of the point of contact and the sparks.

The harness has some nice detail on it. It's leather like and you can make out the seams and also the holes for the buckle on it. I like that the buckles were painted. The harness fits Cap nicely. And you can peg the shield onto his back without issue.

I am a little disappointed with the lack of gripping hands. I haven't been able to find a suitably coloured set for him to borrow so far. Shown below are the gripping hands of the Marvel 80th Cap (right hand) and Wolf Cap (left). Their red tone is too dark. The retro Cap hands might work. I'm unable to find him currently.

Articulation. He's got a ball hinge neck, ball hinge shoulders, bicep swivel, double jointed elbows, swivel hinge wrists, ab crunch, waist rotation, ball hips, thigh swivel, double jointed knees, boot swivel and ankle hinge and pivot.