Captain Britain
For some reason, I have always had a certain fascination with flag-costumed superheroes, and Marvel Comics is the only big publisher I know of that can blatantly rip-off the color scheme of any flag and turn it into a striking costume.
One of the most recognizable flags out there is the Union Jack, a flag that has been flown all over the world ever since the British Imperialistic expansion drive in the late XVIIth century.
The Marvel Universe line by Hasbro already has a couple of characters based on this design, the first one being the redundantly named Union Jack from MU Series 1, and the subject of today’s review, Captain Britain (#26) from Marvel Universe Series 2.
Captain Britain uses a new tall and 
muscular generic body sculpt. The new body has deeply-cut muscle groups sculpted at torso, arms and legs, with slight folds and wrinkles added to the waist and feet areas to simulate the costume. The only truly unique piece in this figure is the head, since even the flared glove cuffs and knee flaps are plain enough as to be used again in other characters.
Captain Britain is the classic square-jawed hero type and the head sculpt reflects (and exaggerates) this trait to the point that if you painted the cowl black, it could easily pass as some costume variation for Batman.
Articulation remains the same as in the slim muscular body sculpt, although the added bulk on the limbs makes it feel better implemented. Captain Britain has:
• Ball jointed neck.
• Peg & hinge shoulders.
• Swivel biceps.
• Hinged elbows.
• Swivel wrists.
• Floating torso.
• Ball jointed hips.
• Double hinged knees.
• Peg & hinge ankles.
Now, the really striking thing about Captain Britain is his costume, which is brought to life by a very good (although not flawless) paint application.
The scheme in front of the torso is loosely based on the Union Jack pattern, which consists in a big red cross surrounded by white borders over a deep blue field, with the arms of the cross extending all the way down the figure’s arms until they reach the white gloves.
The Union Jack pattern is also used to decorate the frontal area of the cowl, while the back of the head and torso are painted just plain blue. The pants are molded in white plastic, but given a paint wash in light gray to add some shadows; the boots are simply molded in blue plastic.
The paint coverage is good and the colors are vibrant; there were a few paint rubs and wavy line edges on my figure, but those were easily fixed. Considering the sheer complexity of the design, I think Hasbro did manage to deliver a pretty good paint job with this character.
Like the rest of the figures in Series 2, Captain Britain comes with his H.A.M.M.E.R. File envelope and a black rectangular plastic base, personalized with the character’s name and his number within the series.
The bits of information contained in the files is not Pulitzer Prize material by any means, but at times they contain intriguing hints at the inner workings of the Marvel Universe; in this case it seems Dr. Doom might be a viable source of insight as to how to influence Captain Britain to join Norman Osborn’s organization.
I must say I liked this figure a lot, even if I had to touch up the paint job (then again I probably didn’t need to do it, but I happen to like the prototype-look on my figures). It is always nice to see new molds introduced in this line, and Captain Britain here is a very welcome addition to my collection.
Errex Score: 96/100
Category: Featured, Marvel, Toy Reviews
About the Author (Author Profile)
I've been collecting action figures since the original Kenner Star Wars days. Nowadays, I still collect pretty much anything that catches my eye.Subscribe
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Do you have a Guardian? Seems like he should be in there. I’ve only seen him at way overpriced stores.
No, sadly I didn’t get the Guardian figure and the secondary market price is just insane.