Review of Spider-Man, Captain America
Captain Action Deluxe sixth scale costumes

Introduction

Just a few days ago, I reviewed the new deluxe Captain Action set from Round 2. For more info on these re-releases and the plans going forward, check out the website.

Along with the figure, they are producing a series of costume sets. I'm looking at two of the deluxe sets tonight - Captain America and Spider-Man. While the original CA had costumes from DC, Marvel and King Features, this time around they only have Marvel characters. With the new Avengers movie coming this summer, that's probably enough.

Keep in mind that these figures are going to look goofy - if you're expecting Hot Toys realism and detailing, you're going to be disappointed. But as a nostalgic old man, this style really works for me.

There are both basic and deluxe figures and costume sets. The basic costume sets will cost $20 each, while the deluxe sets (like these two) will cost around $30.

The basic sets have the key pieces - costume, boots, character mask, belt, gloves, newspaper, and in Cap's instance, one shield, while Spidey has the mini camera. The deluxe sets add in extras like the human face mask, extra shield, web shooters, and of course, the Hawkeye extra.

Other costume sets coming out later this year include Thor and Loki, further following the lead of the new Avengers movie.

Packaging - ***1/2
While the deluxe costumes don't include the cool vintage box, they are completely collector friendly. Cut a couple pieces of tape, and that's about all the damage necessary to free the goodies.

The package is also very sturdy, and shows off the majority of the accessories well. The only hidden accessory is the 'BAF" Hawkeye piece (the boots with Captain America, the bow and arrows with Spider-Man), which is tucked away inside the interior box.

These boxes also remind me of the flat boxes that the original costumes came in. No, they aren't identical, but they have enough of a similar style to bring back the memories.

Sculpting - ***
This is sort of a weird category for these costume sets, but it's still applicable.

The faces aren't head sculpts - they're masks which fit over the standard Captain Action head. How well this works depends on what the mask is trying to accomplish.

If it's really supposed to be a mask, as in the case of the Spider-Man outfit, it works pretty well. It's still a little big, but your mind expects it to be - it's a mask over a person's head. The final photo shows it on the normal Captain Action body, and the second to last photo shows the whole Spidey outfit on a TrueType (38) body next to the Captain America suit on Captain Action.

When it's supposed to be a full human face, as is the case with the Rogers and Parker masks, it doesn't work as well. They end up too big, even for the broad shoulders of the body. If you read my previous review, you'll know I was hopeful that the wide shoulders on this new body would help make the masks look a bit more in proportion - I was sadly wrong.

The Rogers is worse than the Parker, perhaps because of the widely set eyes or the extra wide jawline. While it might look like that jaw isn't completely over the head in my photo, trust me - it is. I worked hard to get these on as tightly as I could, and that's the best I could come up with. Peter isn't awful, but he's still not as good as the standard Spidey mask.

The Captain America is someplace in between, because there's a mask...but half of the face as well. It doesn't look quite as bad as the complete Rogers face, and his jawline doesn't seem quite so ridiculous. He's still more bobble headed than I'd like, but it isn't outside the kitchy-ness of the general appearance of the overall figure.

Because these are hollow masks, they'll never have the level of detail of a full head sculpt, but there's more stranding in the hair and detail around the eyes than I expected.

Like the standard Captain Action, the fisted hands are too small, while the open grip hands are properly in scale.

Paint - Spider-Man ***; Captain America **
The paint work on Spider-Man, including the Parker face is decent if not exceptional. Like the regular Captain Action, I'm not thrilled with the lipstick lip color, and the skin tone is a little light, much lighter than the body. But the edges are clean and the eyes straight, which can't be said for Captain America.

More specifically, it can't be said for the Rogers mask for Cap. The eyes are awful, with one so lazy it makes Marty Feldman look normal. The hair line is a bit sloppy as well, but the Captain America masked face is much better. There's still a little dirt in the paint one one side, and the edges aren't perfect, but it's a huge improvement of the human face.

Accessories - Captain America ***1/2; Spider-Man **1/2
In this category, Cap takes the lead on Spidey.

He comes with his Steve Rogers face mask, as well as the Captain America masked face. I've already discussed the pros and cons of each.

There's his black rubber belt, and four small brown pouches. Since the belt goes through the back of the pouches and it has to also feed through belt loops on the costume, think about how you want it to look in advance. You'll need to thread a pouch on, thread the belt through a loop, thread another pouch on, etc, til you get the look you want.

He has a modern round shield, as well as a more classic triangular shield. Both have extremely bright, clean paint jobs.

There are four brown rubber straps included for the shields. Two are short, and intended for using the shield on his arm. The other two are longer, designed to fit over his shoulders and hold the shield on his back. Switching between them is pretty easy, but the pegs on the back of the shield are tiny, so don't crank on them when pulling the belts off.

There are two sets of gloves - one fisted and one gripping. He doesn't have a lot to grip, but you never know. Swapping the hands is pretty easy, and the wrist pegs are close enough in size to other bodies that transplanting them is also pretty straight forward.

Finally, Captain America comes with one paper extra - a scaled newspaper headline proclaiming he lives again. No need to take the paper out of the plastic wrapper, as there's nothing on the inside fold.

Spider-Man has some very similar extras, but not quite as many overall.

Again, he has the two masks, one of Peter Parker and one for his superhero persona. I like the Parker better than the Rogers, but a big part of that is the awful paint job on Rogers.

Spidey also has a similar newspaper, plus there are three Peter Parker photos of the superhero, ready for submission to the Bugle.

He also has two sets of hands. There's one fist, one splayed, and two web shooting poses.

To stick with the Parker theme, there's also a camera. A really, really small camera. We're talking spy camera size, here. In fact, it's so small, that I dropped it and can't find it - I've never lost an accessory before. Trust me, it's small.

The one other accessory that I couldn't quite manage to use is the web shooters. This is a more traditional Spider-Man of course, which means he has mechanical web shooters. There are two silver devices which are supposed to fit over the wrists, but I couldn't get them on easily. I do think it's possible to get them over the 'shooting' hands, but I've had enough trouble with breakage and damage lately - I didn't want to tear them trying. I included a photo of them next to the hands, so you can compare. They will go over the fists of course, but then that doesn't really look right.

Outfit - ***
I'm really only included the body suit, boots and belt here, since I've already covered the rest of the extras in the Accessories section.

Captain America's costume is old school style, and fits the CA body well. The thin Velcro strip in back is fairly unobtrusive, and stayed closed through the photo shoot. I mentioned his black belt, which is rubber with a buckle that has two small posts. These posts fit inside two holes on the belt, and it works surprisingly well.

Spider-Man also has his Lycra outfit, and like Cap, it can fit on other figures but it's a tight one. It has some very vintage styled webbing under both arms. Again, he has a rubber belt, which attaches the same way. I had a harder time keeping this one in place on the wide hips of the CA body though - it worked better on the narrow hips of the TT.

Both costumes have sleeves that are too short. They are stretchy - you can pull them down and cover the arms. However, they pull back up again. Fortunately, the gloves with both these costumes hide the issue in most poses, and if it really does bug you, you can always use a couple of those clear rubber bands to keep them in place.

Cap has his own red rubber boots, and the deluxe version also has Hawkeye's purple boots, which just so happen to be the same basic sculpt. Cap's red boots are a bit sticky to the touch, which can be concerning. If the paint is having trouble setting up with the rubber, they may never stop being sticky, and you should take care storing them in contact with other rubber or PVC items.

Spider-Man's boots don't exhibit this same stickiness, so I'm hoping it's limited to Captain America. His boots look good, although they are a bit over sized. Again, this fits in with the general nostalgic feel of the sets.

Fun Factor - ***
While the basic Captain Action wouldn't be a toy most kids these days would find a whole lot of fun, I do think that combining him with these well known costumes might be something the 5 -  7 set might enjoy. They aren't as sophisticated of toys as some, but they are just as good looking as the large scale figures we're getting for the Avengers, and these have the 'dress up' quality that they lack.

Also in their favor is that they are fairly sturdy, although you will want to watch those pegs on the back of the shields.

Value - **
While I had my issues with these sets, cost wasn't one of them. That's a rare thing these days, when almost everything seems overpriced.

The regular costume sets will be $20, while these deluxe versions will run $30. Considering the overall quality and quantity, I think that's a very solid value.

Things to Watch Out For -
Just the same issue with the potential of snagging the costumes on the Velcro strip. Oh, and don't drop Spidey's camera.

While swapping the brown straps on Cap's shield wasn't too difficult, I could see the potential for breaking one of the small pegs if you're too forceful.

Overall - ***
When judging these overall, I tried to remain true to the original concept - these are re-issues of the classic series. However, lots of people are going to look to these for other things, and I suspect will be less happy because of it.

The Captain Action basic body is shorter than standard, which isn't an issue when you're only looking at these to be Captain Action. But for customizers looking for another body source, it's a disappointment.

The smaller body means the costume is also too small to easily transfer to another body. That's going to disappoint folks looking to swap these costumes onto most standard TT or other bodies.

The hands and accessories aren't an issue, and there are ways to make the costumes work. But kitbashers and customizers aren't going to get the slam dunk out of these sets they were probably hoping for. 

As I mentioned earlier, I included a photo with the Spider-Man costume on a TT38, a fairly standard Hot Toys body. You might be better off going with a narrow shouldered version as well, but it's not really the shoulders that's a problem - it's the height. You can get the outfit on, but it's mighty tight. Another choice is to cut the toes out of the costumed feet, allowing them to pull up the foot and ankle. That might solve the issue and make for a better looking fit on the larger bodies. You'll need to use a shorter neck post (I didn't have one handy for the photo) but the hands, boots and belts work fine.

If you're just looking for a nostalgic trip back to your youth though, you'll be happier with the outcome. The costumes do fit the smaller body well with the exception of the short sleeves, and you can correct for that with a couple of those clear rubber bands you have lying all over the place. The material is stretchy enough that you can pull them down inside the gloves and band them tight. 

While most folks will shun the Rogers mask (and probably Parker), putting them on the shelf with the masked heads works fine for me. I actually like the Parker enough that I may go with a similar pose to the one in the seventh photo down on the left.

Of the two, Spider-Man is my preferred set overall, but Cap comes with far more accessories. With the basic Captain Action body and accessories costing just $30 at Toys R Us, the price is right to pick up one for each costume you really like. The TrueTypes would cost you that much or more, and cause you more trouble than they're worth in this case.

While these costume sets are nice, I do think Round 2 might be missing out on the stronger nostalgic factor by not expanding on the basic Captain Action concept more. Going for more generic accessories for him, along with adding in new concepts, might be a worthwhile avenue for them to explore.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ***
Paint - Spider-Man ***; Captain America **
Accessories - Captain America ***1/2; Spider-Man **1/2
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - ***
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has the regular figure set for $43, and the individual costumes for $33.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I covered the deluxe Captain Action earlier this week, and  Cast-A-Way Toys has also done a smaller scale (9") version of the good captain and his nemesis, Dr. Evil.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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