Review of The Return of Marvel Legends Wave 2: Captain America (Bucky Barnes)

The Basics:Scale: 6"
Price: $14.99 - $20.99

Bio:
Bucky Barnes was known the world over as the sidekick of Captain America back in WWII, until that fateful mission to stop a missle sent Cap into the ice, suspended in animation, and Bucky dead. Or so we were meant to believe. As it turns out Bucky had not died, rather he was mortally wounded. Found by soviets, he was bloodied, scarred and missing his left arm, frozen in ice, just like Cap. Under the eye of  General Vasily Karpov, he was given a robotic arm and a new life. Due to the accident he suffered from brain damage and amnesia. The Soviets took advantage of this and created the ultimate assassin, the Winter Soldier. Fast forward a few years and he was sent to kill Captain America, but Cap used the Cosmic Cube to restore Bucky's memory. Ashamed and scared of what he did, he tried to make amends and was given the ultimate oppurtunity after Steve Rogers was killed and Tony Stark passed the mantle to Bucky. Under his new persona, carrying Steve's Legacy, Bucky became a new symbol of hope to a country that had lost one of their greatest heroes.

First Thoughts:
Wow, I couldn't even believe that I found this guy. I had heard rumors that Wave 2 started hitting stores but I never actually saw them. This was the last figure in the Marvel Legends are of my local Toys R Us so I snatched it up the second i saw it and it is amazing.

Scuplt:
As far as I can tell this is a brand new sculpt from Hasbro and it looks great. There is great muscle detail throughout the figure and the head sculpt is fantastic.

One thing that I really like about the face sculpt is that you can tell by looking at it that it isn't Steve Rogers. It seems like a small thing but in the long run it makes a big difference to collectors and comic book fans alike.

The muscle detail continues into the legs and looks great. The boots are also very nicely detailed. It barely comes up in the pictures, but the boots have a texture to them that makes them look and feel like real boots. It's an amazing effect.

The belt is also fantastically sculpted, like the boots, to havea  leather look and feel to it. It has a sculpted on canteen, knife sheathe, pistol holster and a few other pouches. As I understand it, the belt is not removeable.

The gloves are two seperate pieces. The hands themselves, and the little cuffs at the end of them. The little details like the wrinkles are there and really add to the overall look of the figure.

Even the shoulders have nice detail, I really can't get over just how great the sculpt on this figure is.

Damn this dude is ripped. Look at his back! that detail is insane!!!!!
Overall the sculpt on this figure is just phenomenal and will probably be re-used more than once down the line but that is a very good thing!

Accessories:
The Captain comes with three accessories. His signature shield of course, his pistol, and a knife, all three are wonderfully sculpted and painted. As mentioned above the knife and pistol can be stored in their holsters and the shield features the clip/peg system that all Captain America shields come with now so it can be stored on his back.

Paint:
In terms of paint he has very little. The paint is all from the abs up so when it comes to looking for slop thats all you need to check. Mine had no problems and ive seen other reviews that have no problems but two areas to really check are where the mask meets the skin and his eyes. Other than that you should be set.

Articulation:
Ball-hinge head
Swivel-hinge shoulders
Swivel biceps
Double-hinge elbows
Swivel-hinge wrists
Ab crunch
Swivel waist
Ball jointed hips
Swivel thighs
Double-hinge knees
Swivel at the shin
Hinge ankle
Pivot at the ankle

Overall:We are now into Wave 2 of Marvel Legends and so far its improved on wave 1 in every aspect. Better paint, new sculpts, more accessories. Man I can't wait to get my hands on some more. This Cap figure is my first Marvel Legends Cap EVER and it is amazing. Another nice touch is since the head is on a ball joint it can easily be removed and the Bucky head from the Marvel Legends Winter Soldeier/Black Widow 2-pack can be put on it. That makes the figure even more amazing in my opinion. Bottom line: If you see him, grab him, he's more than worth it!
10 OUT OF 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!