Hot Toys 1/6 MMS 156 Captain America The First Avenger Review Part I

Hi folks, i'm back today to review a figure i've been waiting for a long time and he's finally in my collection. It's Captain America The First Avenger by Hottoys( Based off the hit movie earlier this year). Been very busy these last 2 weeks with work and family but i just got this Kick arse figure today so i just got to share it with you guys haha. So here we go...

The set features a shoe box style packaging which is simple and effective in my opinion.

the front sports a giant Captain America Shield design ... The highlight of the Captain America character.

Throughout my childhood days there's no other superhero other than CA who fights more efficiently with a shield.CA is also able to use it effectively as a projectile/ boomerang like weapon. It's made of the 2nd strongest metal alloy in the Marvel universe : Vibranium (1st being Adamantium) which is native to Wakanda.

Back of the box has a picture of CA and a list of credits.

Upon opening the box, there's an insert with another picture of the CA figure and a brief description of the character/background.

Remove the insert and we'll see CA nicely packaged on a black plastic tray as well as his accessories .

Oh and behind the cover of the box is the Weapons tray, His shield, machine gun, pistol, Back shield holder and leather body strap.

Straight out of the box, the figure is almost fully geared up.....but with a few FLAWS. #1 mine has a lot of remnants sewing treads on him. It's not uncommon to see a few treads here and there but this figure has a lot! I have dusted off all the debris on this figure for this review. Problem #1 solved.

#2 Next thing i noticed is the figure is not dressed properly, i.e. Hottoys never even bothered to put the leather belt thru the belt slot, it's just dangling around the waist. The bottom of the pants is also not tugged into the boots, it's just folded upwards internally just above the boots. The upper portion of his costume is also not well aligned like around the arms and torso. I have fixed all the problems except the belt issue for this review.

Problem#2 almost solved.

#3 Next up his hair is BLACK?? Steve Rogers with black hair??

I've been a fan of CA for a long time and through some of his costume changes to this movie

he never did have black hair EVER! if i'm not mistaken. I don't know if this will bug you guys but it annoys me lol. Then again i never noticed if the prototype had black hair?

I will have to paint him blond to solve this zzzzz

#4 The biggest flaw of the bunch, the tailoring of the costume. Now when this figure was first released in HK i read in forums (and saw pics!) of QC issues with this figure. Normally by the time Singapore gets them it would be maybe a few batches after the initial launch. So in the past i haven't had much bad luck with Hottoys figures. But CA spots some tailoring defects/flaws on my piece.

The tailoring works on this figure is inconsistent and that can be overlooked easily.

 Check out the tailoring on both the shoulders areas, i think the blue pointy piece is either meant to be cut away or sewn down i don't know, and the right piece is a bit bigger than the left when looked at directly from the front.

 The intersection point is not even sewn together, just cut off and dangling on both sides.

Problem #4 cannot be solved sigh....

Now don't get me wrong, the design of this costume is very complicated and i think Hottoys pulled it off perfectly on their prototype. But i think they dropped the ball with QC this time round.

I'm not fussy and won't bring this figure back for exchange, but i think with the type of $ we spent on these toys we should be getting better QUALITY?

 Ok, now that i got the initial negative impressions off my chest, it's time for the ups of this figure.

The belt is well made with a nice buckle and pouches.

The sidearms/pistol hostler is also good looking but be careful when playing as the material used is thin and can be damaged if not careful.

 The pants has excellent stitching and brings out the details nicely.

 The shoulder pad extensions are held to the arms via leather straps, another nice touch.

 The leather gloves gauntlet extensions are also a nice touch by Hottoys, soft plastic material a faux leather inner lining to hide the ball wrist joints.

The boots are also made with the same soft plastic material and the paint apps is good making it look like a real pair of leather boots.

Hottoys added a pair of  "extended" leg pegs if you are like me who wants him to look taller.

By default CA comes with the peg on the right, the longer one on the left can be swapped in to "extend" CA's height.

Just remove the boots and do the swap.

I unfolded the bottom of his pants and tugged it into his boots afterwards.

Next it's shield time! Before we do anything "risky" it's good to take a look at the "official" instructions sheet first(click for larger pic).

The buckle on the shield strap is very fragile so handle with care. I didn't follow Hottoy's instructions.

I simply slotted the big strap in first and pry open the fists to grip the smaller strap. This way can avoid risks of breaking wrist pegs & strap buckle. But that's just my two cents haha.

The construct and paint apps for this shield is Hottoys at their best.

It's made of plastic with soft plastic straps.

The paint apps makes the shield look metallic on the front and the glossy finish is just icing on the cake.

It's so shinny you can see your face haha.

The internal side is matt silver coloured like in the movie before colour is added to the whole shield.

The straps are coloured nicely also making it look like real leather straps.

To sum it up just looking at the shield will make you believe it's 'metal'.

So Hottoys nailed this shield perfectly... Well visually at least.

Which brings me to the next point. CA carries/backpacks his shield when he's not fighting or riding his bike.

So another iconic representation of CA is him with the shield behind his back(my favourite pose)

This is done by a shield holder S hook which we slot onto the metal Y-buckle on his back.

according to the instructions we 'hold' the larger straps together and slot it into the longer side of the S hook.

Now in theory this sounds like a good idea, but it is quite hard to hold the straps together and slot it onto his back. So i did it the other way round: slot the shield onto the S hook first then put it on his back. All's fine this way without any risks.:)

If Hottoys had implemented magnets instead it will be perfect. Just like how Sideshow did Captain Rex's jet pack...oh well

Now onto  the head sculpt,

I don't really see Chris Evans there, but i definitely see Captain America lol.

This is the best ever Captain America toy ever made till now.

The helmet is nicely sculpted and finished with good paint apps.

The exposed mouth area is also nicely sculpted and the chin straps looks good too.

The ear guards is also very detailed.

The eyes are also nicely painted, so apart from the hair colour i think this is a work of art from Hottoys.

Then his weapons, first we have his machine gun which comes with a rifle sling, removable magazine, movable aim, and corking handle.

The sculpt is nice and the wooden paint apps is also spot on.

Next we have his pistol/ side arm. Unfortunately this pistol has zero moving parts, even the ammo clip cannot be removed. Nevertheless the sculpt and paint apps is also good on this pistol.

CA comes with 7 extra interchangeable hands and 2 spare wrist pegs. There's also a small bag of extra studs included in case ours fall off and got lost.The standard Hottoys black MMS stand is also included.

Now that i covered everything, it's time to fully gear up the captain!

Final Impressions on this figure:

I hyped myself up for this figure after i saw the proto type on STGCC this year,

and now that its here, i can say i don't regret it.

Sure it didn't turn out as good as it could have been but i think we shouldn't underrate this figure.

Other then the QC issues i encountered with my piece, i think CA is still a good figure to add to your collection if you are a CA fan/ or building the Avengers team. Sure Hottoys will definitely make a few more variations down the road, but as we know the $ is also rising with each release.This figure is still reasonably priced at least in my opinion.

Hope my review has helped some of you guys still sitting on the fence about this figure set. I'll cover CA's articulation on my next post so stay tuned .Ciao for now guys ,

Have a nice day!!