Welcome to our review of the Crossbones 2018 release from the 10 Years of the MCU Civil War 2-pack. The figure is a brand new addition to the 6" Legends line and comes complete with two head options. He is packed with a Civil War Captain America MCU figure, which itself includes two brand new head sculpts on the original 2016 body. You can checkout the review of that half of the set here.
Pros : Very detailed sculpt with loads of costume extras such as ammo clips and shotgun shells. Face sculpts are both impressive and horrific.
Cons : Slightly off putting hips with articulation prioritised over looks.
2018 is the 10th anniversary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and to celebrate Hasbro have launched a side line to their Marvel Legends line called "The First Ten Years". These are a range of individual releases, up to three figure box sets, each set revisiting a movie from the past 10 years and bringing characters we thought "missed" into the 6" Legends MCU range.
All 10 sets have pretty much hit at once, so we will be picking these up on a priority basis and this one was top of my list as I loved the visual look of Crossbones from Civil War, and the promotional images indicated this was finally an MCU Captain America that looked like Chris Evans.
The packaging separates itself from the main Legends line and comes in a rectangular black box. The Marvel Studio 10 Year logo is front and to the left, with a smaller Legends logo across the other side. The figures are presented in a red trimmed window and under this sits the character names "Captain America" and "Crossbones. The Civil War movie logo is placed under the window to the right.
The right side spines of the boxes on these sets combine to make a wider piece if you are collecting them all boxed. The left spine is a red panel with white text that talks about the events of Civil War.
Around the back is a very new format for Legends collectors with no figure imagery and instead a circular head shot of each character with a short multi-lingual bio underneath. To the side of these sits the movie poster and above this the set is numbered as #9 and from 2016.
This is all set against a montage of MCU scenes in black and white over which the larger First Ten Years and smaller Legends logo also sit.
The figures are accessed in the usual way via either of the two side spines which are taped closed. The inner tray slides out inside its own cardboard insert which formed the backdrop to the figures in the window.
The figures are clipped into the inner tray with no ties, with the alternative heads to either side and Cap's shield in the centre.
It is worth recognising the MCU panel artwork that is repeated from the main box on the cardboard insert with imagery from all of the MCU movies to date - including a large image of Thanos from Infinity War.
While Crossbones didn't last long in the MCU, I loved the visuals they gave to the character - a real mix of modern day military gear while including elements from the original comic book character. This brand new figure of Crossbones translates most of the costume to 6" scale and what you get is a very detailed and intricate sculpt with so many little details throughout the suit.
The figures comes fitted with his masked head. This is relatively plain with the grey colouring and the white spray painted markings. But behind this are two frightening bloodshot and damaged eyes - obviously printed using the face print technology rather than painted on top.
The costume has loads of sculpted and cast details starting with the blast vest and the feint white sprayed cross across the centre. Around this is a central belt of pouches and ammunition. There is a similar collection of ammunition down either arm with painted bronze shot gun shells on the left arm, and grey ammo clips on the right.
The legs, on closer inspection, are not black and grey like the upper body but are actually camouflage patterned. On his right hip Crossbones wears a hand gun, but this is not a useable accessory - rather a sculpted piece glued in place. The legs move down to knee pads and finally multi layered boots.
Crossbones packs 18 points of articulation. This starts at the head where there is a ball joint and pivot. Due to the torso design there is no torso joint, just a swivel waist. Underneath here are the legs which use ball jointed hips which does throw out the figures look a touch at the waist. These then move down to thigh cut swivel, double jointed knees and ankle rockers.
Moving to the arms, and these initially look very restricted by means of those huge Gauntlets. What is surprising is that the gauntlets themselves are actually two separate pieces that are cleverly cast in a rubberised plastic and are hollow to fit over the forearms. This means you can vary your look of Crossbones - but also opens up the possibility of future figures using these like one or both of the Homecoming Shockers
Under the gauntlets, the arm articulario is standard and comprises of a ball joint shoulder, bicep swivel, double jointed elbows and a pivot swivel wrist.
Crossbones comes with two head options, and these swap out by popping the head off the ball joint neck and popping the new one in its place.
The alternative head is the unmasked Brock Rumlow and is face printed to give a good likeness to actor Frank Grillo, including his five o'clock shadow. As well as the facial features, the face print also adds the battle scarring that Rumlow suffers at the end of Winter Soldier and the face is heavily scarred and the eyes are bloodshot.
I am not totally convinced with the forehead shape or the hair which seems to stand too tall. You have to respect the accuracy of the hair piece however where it is cut away at one side of the face where it has been burned away.
Rumlow didn't stay unmasked for long at the end of his Civil War scenes, eventually blowing himself up. The unmasked head works well on the figure, but I suspect most MCU collectors will go for that more iconic mask with the bloodshot eyes peering from beneath.
The other figure in the set is Captain America and we will be looking at him separately.
The two figures do work really well together, and there is plenty of scope to reflect their showdown in Lagos from Civil War.
Crossbones, like a lot of the "First 10 Years" sets represents something quite significant in Hasbro's approach to the MCU. Previous releases only focused on three or four key characters and character like Crossbones - or indeed Yellow Jacket or Sif - would not have been an option. With this new appetite to revisit older movies and give us these characters, Hasbro well and truly have my MCU spend and I am all in with whatever they give us going forward.
As a figure the sculpt on Crossbones is second to none and the face print technology has been used to good effect to both give us those disturbing eyes beneath the masked head, or the full disfigurement of the unmasked head. There are also lots of details built into the costume like the ammunition and the variant colouring on the combat pants - all of which are faithfully recreated. The articulation is also impressive, and I love the option to remove one or both gauntlets for display.
The only real criticism I can throw at the figure is the slightly unsightly groin where they've prioritised articulation over looks. All that considered I am going to score MCU Crossbones a practically perfect 5 out of 5.
I score the set overall a 5 out of 5. While Cap is a re-use with a couple of niggles, the Crossbones figure and the design and artwork of the packaging do enough to give the combined set top marks also. You can Click Here to read the review on Captain America, the other half of this two-pack.