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.
"Peggy Carter
A British agent with the Strategic Scientific Reserve, Peggy Carter is a capable soldier and strategist. She is part of Project Rebirth, which developed the Super Soldier Serum that was injected into Steve Rogers. When Project Rebirth ends, Peggy continues to assist Steve as he becomes the world's first Super Hero, Captain America."
Paint & Sculpt 4/5
The figure has a good, but not perfect, likeness to Hayley Atwell. The eyes are not as intense and the jaw a little slim but aside from that the face print is good with blushed cheeks and ruby red lipstick. The hairstyle is also well sculpted with intricate swirled fringe and permed round the back.
Peggy is wearing her dress uniform as seen in the Camp Lehigh and New York scenes when Steve became Captain America. This is not a bad choice by any means, but considering this is a line of action heroes it might have been nice to get Peggy in her leather jacket and trousers from her scenes on the front and alongside the Howling Commandos.
The outfit we get is faithfully recreated with details including the buttons and lapel wings in gold paint. The legs have a stocking seam painted up the back and the shoes are heeled, but done in such a way that Peggy cant stand.
Accessories 3/5
The box set as an entirety comes with a large amount of accessories, but most feel like they are designed for Steve Rogers and not Peggy. Peggy can of course use a number of these, and while the helmet and shield don't make sense - she can use the machine gun, knife and handgun.
Each of these is well cast, the machine gun being the worst of the three, with good details like the textured grip on the handgun and the serrated blade on the combat knife. Peggy's smaller hands will hold the weapons, but are too small to slip a finger into either of the triggers.
Had this set been the Howling Commando Peggy then the machine gun would have worked, instead I think the handgun is probably her best accessory option - although using this leaves Steve with an empty holster.
Articulation 3/5
As a female figure, Peggy has a joint count of 16 - quite a bit less than Cap, and with some joints not as mobile as the ones used on the male buck.
Head : ball jointed pivot neck
Body : waist ball joint swivel
Arms : ball joint shoulder, single joint rotating elbow, pivot wrist
Legs : ball joint hip, thigh swivel, double joint knees, ankle rockers
While the legs are very well articulated, most joints are redundant thanks to the pencil skirt. This is not a bad thing essentially as I don't know how you'd get round this - but it does give another argument for this having been a trousered Howling Commando Peggy, not the dress uniform. The skirt does thankfully cover most of the knee joints - but the ankle joints are very unsightly. The arms, with the single jointed elbow are not fully mobile but there is enough there for her to have her hands behind her back, hands on hips or cradling the machine gun.
The heeled shoes are, as we said above, designed well enough to allow Peggy to stand with the ankle rockers nice and tight. You may have to use the thigh swivel to turn the feet outward a little, or for more shelf security drop her onto a stand.
Summary
The Captain America and Peggy Carter set is a wonderful thing, but Cap is obviously the star of the set with Peggy more of a supporting character. Cap gets all the accessories, articulation and swap out parts - while Peggy has a single look and she can borrow one of Cap's weapons if needed.
I score the Peggy Carter figure a 3 out of 5. And I hope that Hasbro can find an opportunity to enhance the head sculpt even further by sticking it on a more action orientated Peggy body in the future.
