FIGHTING CHANCE CAPTAIN AMERICA & ROBOT RED SKULL
MARVEL MINIMATES
Continuing the theme started two days ago, I’ll be looking at another set from my recently received shipment of Minimates. Today marks my first of three reviews from the most recent wave of Marvel Minimates. With increasing regularity, waves will follow a set theme, and this wave continues the trend. All the figures in this wave are based around Captain America, likely to somewhat tie-in with the upcoming movie. This review focuses on variants of Cap and his arch nemesis the Red Skull.
THE FIGURES THEMSELVES
These two were released as part of the 54th wave of the Marvel Minimates line.
CAPTAIN AMERICA
First up, the lead hero of this wave, Captain America. He’s billed as “Fighting Chance Captain America,” and according to the back of the box, this figure depicts Cap from a storyline where the effects of the super-soldier formula began to wear off, which served as an excuse to give him padding and pouches. Because the ‘90s, that’s why! Cap is built on the usual Minimate body, so he features 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall. He features 9 sculpted add-ons: Mask, shoulder/chest padding, glove cuffs (with straps!), a leg holster, a matching leg-thingy for ammo, and his trademarked boots! The mask is a reuse from the WW2 Cap released in the Captain America Through the Ages set, but everything else appears to be a new sculpt. This includes the boots, which have been reworked to fit a bit better. Everything else looks appropriately detailed, and very “pouch-y”. The paint is quite good. Cap’s face is covered in lines, which seems right for the art style, and the torso is fully detailed under the armor, in spite of the fact that the armor can’t easily be removed. There are a few fuzzy lines, notably on the sleeves, but overall, everything looks okay. Cap includes an alternate hairpiece, which was reused from The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes, a handgun, his mighty shield, and a clear display stand.
RED SKULL
Next, the arch enemy of Captain America, the Red Skull! …Sort of. This is “Robot Red Skull”, who supposedly represents the Red Skull after he transfers his mind into one of Arnim Zola’s robot bodies, following the death of the Russian general he was inhabiting before. Okay, so that happened. I think that was actually during the Ed Brubaker run on the series, so it was probably much better than it sounds. Robo-Skull is built on the typical body, so he’s got the usual stats. Robo-Skull is one of the less sculpt-heavy figures in this wave, but he still features a brand new head, plus shoulder pads, and a skirt. Go ahead, insult the skirt. I dare you. The head looks nice, and seems to be accurate to what they were going for. The rest of the figure relies on painted details, which look very nice. The face on the torso in particular is very cool looking! Robo-Skull includes a Red Skull mask that fits over the robo-head, a hand holding the Cosmic Cube (you call it a Tesseract and I will hurt you), and a clear display stand. The Cosmic Cube in particular excites me, because it’s a piece that’s been sorely missing for far too long!
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
These two were part of the large shipment of Minimates I ordered from my favorite Minimates retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. I really only got these two because I was buying a whole set of wave 54, but they aren’t too shabby. The Cosmic Cube is practically worth the price I paid alone!
The Figure In Question 