BARON STRUCKER, MADAME HYDRA & HYDRA ELITE
MARVEL MINIMATES
I’ll be wrapping up my reviews of the most recent wave of Marvel Minimates today. This wave is based around Captain America. I’ll be looking at a few of his recurring foes today, all of whom are members of the deadly Hydra organization.
THE FIGURES THEMSELVES
These figures were released as part of the 54th wave of the Marvel Minimates line. Baron Strucker was the more widely packed figure, with Madame Hydra as the one per case variant and both of them packed with one of the Hydra Elite.
BARON STRUCKER
First up, it’s the leader of the organization, Baron Strucker. Not to be confused with Baron Smucker, the tyrannical leader of that company that makes jam. Though I’m sure Strucker does love him some jam… Anyway, Strucker is depicted in his Hydra uniform(s). He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he features 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall. He’s fairly light on the sculpting, featuring only a set of shoulder pads, which were reused from Rictor. The paint detailing is quite nice, especially Strucker’s face, which is appropriately old and surly. I also like the simulated transparency of the monocle. Stucker is well accessorized with a coat that can be swapped out with the shoulder pads, his trusty demon’s claw, a sword, a pistol of some sort, and a clear display stand. I quite like the coat and the demon’s claw, as they allow me to set up the Strucker that I’m more familiar with.
MADAME HYDRA
Next, it’s Strucker’s second in command, Viper…er Madame Hydra…no wait, um…hmmm. Yeah, I can’t make up my mind. That’s okay, though, neither could Diamond, since she’s listed as Madame Hydra on some of the boxes and as Viper on the others. I prefer Madame Hydra because it avoids any connotations to the lackluster interpretation of the character in the recent Wolverine movie. Madame Hydra has only really had one look, and that’s the one they went with here, so that works out. She’s on the standard body, and has all the usual stuff associated. She features 4 sculpted add-ons: hair, belt, and dual leg holsters. The belt is a new piece I believe. The hair is a reuse from one of the figures in the Femme Fatales set, Dawn I think. The holsters are from the Avengers movie line, and were most recently used on the comic version of Maria Hill, second in command of SHIELD, which is kind of a neat touch, I think. The paint is a bit of a mixed bag on this figure. All of the detail lines are nice and sharp, and I particularly like the face, which even features a scarred eye behind the peek-a-boo hair, but the transitions on the gloves and boots are incredibly sloppy. Not enough to ruin the figure, but enough to be very annoying. Madame Hydra includes two handguns, a bullwhip, and a clear display stand.
HYDRA ELITE(S?)
Lastly, this wave’s army builders, the Hydra Elite! Or they could just be basic Hydra dudes. That works too. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Hydra army builder, but it’s been a while since the last one, and that one wasn’t as good as it could be, even then. So, I’m glad to see Diamond revisiting these guys. They’re built on the standard body, so they’ve got the usual articulation and height and such. They feature 5 sculpted pieces: mask, ruffled shirt arms, a cape, and a belt/skirt combo. I believe the belt and the Mask are new pieces, and the cape and upper arms are pieces that have been used lots of times before. The paint on these is quite nice, and what is really cool is the completely different Hydra mask underneath of the sculpted one. The first Hydra Agent had this piece, but it didn’t work quite as well. The colors are also brighter and bolder than the previous Hydra Agent, which looks much better. One thing that does bug me is that the gloves and boots aren’t all the same length from piece to piece, which can look a bit odd. The Hydra Elite include a small handgun, a sword, a larger gun, and a clear display stand.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
These are probably my two favorite sets in this wave. I’ve been hoping for a redo of the Hydra agents for a while now, and these guys really do that nicely. I’ll need to track down a few more of them because I want a serious squad of these guys. Strucker and Madame Hydra are nice additions too, and really allow for a proper parallel set up with SHIELD and HYDRA, which is super cool!
The Figure In Question 