Following on from the 2018 First Ten Years sets of MCU figures, 2019 saw Hasbro announce a similar line of sets from the MCU to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of Marvel comics. The Captain America set, which returned to Cap's origin story movie, was an Amazon exclusive and gave us a brand new WW2 Cap along with Peggy Carter.
Packaging 5/5
The 80th Anniversary MCU sets follow a very similar design to the 2018 First Ten years sets. The box is squared and mat black. The lead logo is that of Legends and interestingly while this is listed as an 80th Anniversary set, there is no obvious 80th Anniversary logo on the pack. The movie logo sits under the window - ad the window itself remains trimmed in red with the character names written into this red border.
The two side spines are now full picture panels and are quite glossy making them quite reflective. Peggy sits on the right hand spine, with Cap on the left. Round the back we have a movie poster - same as the First Ten Years sets - set centrally. To the right is a shot of Peggy from the movie, and Cap sits to the right. There is a longer than usual background text piece under each character. Once opened the cardback is a very impressive red explosion.
"Captain America
Driven to help out his country during World War II, Steve Rogers enlist in the military as part of Project Rebirth. After he impresses the scientist in charge of the project, Steve is injected with Super Soldier Serum, increasing his strength and physique. He becomes the patriotic hero Captain America, fighting for freedom throughout the world."
Paint & Sculpt 5/5
After struggling with Chris Evans likenesses since 2014, the last two years have seen Hasbro really nail the look of Cap and this set is just as good with a movie specific sculpt of Chris Evans. We have two heads included, both essentially the same head sculpt with face print technology that looks great. We then have different hair pieces glued on top, and these are not quite so good as they are very plainly painted and do stand up a little. The thinking seems to be that the "higher" hair is for when Cap is un-helmeted, the other head allows the helmet to sit naturally on the head. Of course any spare head also gives collectors the opportunity if they wish to update other figures - see the end of the review for some options.
The costume is the WW2 leather jacket over his promotional Captain america shirt with just a touch of the central white star visible. Over this is the ammo straps and pouches and a belt and below this a pair of combat pants and boots. The costume is well painted and this includes weathering on the jacket and a subtle wash to weather the trousers.
Accessories 5/5
I cant remember a figure coming with so many accessories than Cap has in this set. While some are designed to be shared with Peggy, they are very much orientated for use with the Cap figure.
We start with the blue helmet complete with the Captain America "A" and those googles. The goggles are part f the sculpt so cant be pulled down but this is not an issue as the helmet looks great and fits snugly on the smaller hair head. It will also fit on the other head (see first row right below) but it does sit too high.
Cap then has a revolver which is well detailed and includes a painted brown textured grip. It fits best in Cap's right hand with the trigger finger slotting into place. Cap can also hold it in the left and it also then fits into the working holster on Cap's belt. This holster is held secure by a rubber strap over the top that plugs into the lower holster to keep the gun in place.
For hand to hand combat Cap also gets a combat knife, again well detailed with a ridged painted handle and serrated blade. This also goes in either hand, and when not in use slots into a sheath on Cap's left shin.
We are still going..... and the next accessory is Cap's WW2 era machine gun. This is not quite as detailed, despite being larger, but is also painted so we have a brown wood coloured stock, handle and grip around the barrel. Thanks to the articulation, Cap will hold this in two hands.
And where would Cap be without his shield. And in the set we get two. First is his shaped original shield from the WW2 promotional show. This is smooth hard white plastic with vibrant red and blue painted designs. Over this is splashed some brown paint to weather it. Round the back we have too plugged in handles that can slip over Cap's forearm to allow him to hold it in either hand.
And finally we have the Stark built round shield, in its original unpainted state. This is the same shield as has been included with a lot of recent Cap figures from Hasbro and it is now cast in silver plastic. The looped handles round the back are brown leather in colour with one larger than the other and that also slip over either forearm.
After this wealth of accessories it feels greedy asking for more, but it would have topped this figure off nicely if one or both shields could have been slung on Cap's back - but sadly not.
Articulation 5/5
So we have great packaging, great sculpt, great paint and an abundance of accessories. Surely the articulation cant be great too? Well actually it can, with Cap coming with 21 points of articulation.
Head : ball jointed pivot neck
Body : torso ball joint, waist swivel
Arms : ball joint shoulder, bicep swivel, double jointed elbows, pivot wrists
Legs : ball joint hips, thigh swivel, double jointed knees, boot cut swivel, ankle rockers
This makes Cap really poseable and there some really great dynamic poses you can play with including firing his weapons or fighting with either of his shield. He can even dance with Peggy if you wish. All the joints are tight and work well with the figure standing squarely and securely with no issues - as if Captain America would stand any other way!
Summary
This new WW2 Captain America is a superb release, and I can't fault it on any element from paint, sculpt, articulation and accessories. He looks fantastic on display and there are multiple options for display with loads of variations using the helmet, head options, weapons and shields.
I can score Captain America no less than a 5 out of 5, and this set is a real stop-stopper and I recommend it highly for any MCU Legend collector.
Figure Hacks
Because you get two very similar unmasked Captain America Chris Evans heads in this set, you may be looking to see if the "spare" one can be used to upgrade an existing figure.
As this is an early MCU Evans sculpt, we tried it on the following figures
2014 WW2 Captain America : While this Cap body is a little small, the head still works. The fit is tight and you may need to warm up the head/peg slightly. I really like this look.
2014 STRIKE Suit Captain America : The Winter Soldier Cap is also a good look, but the head hole is a lot larger than the peg. So while the head fits, it is very loose. If you want this look you will need to pack the whole a little.
2012 Avengers Captain America ; This one sadly does not work due to the height of the neck peg. While the fit between head and neck is good, the look is all wrong. It will be interesting to revisit this with the 2019 "Avengers" Cap from Endgame Wave 3 to see if that works any better?