Hydra Solider

December 19, 2011 | By More


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The thing that has really struck me about the Marvel movie lines is the lack of baddies for the heroes to face off against. All three of the individual Avengers movie lines have been over ripe with the heroes. The endless Iron Man repaints versus just a few bad guys. Thor had versions with and without sleeves and helmets and such. It’s just recently that the main action bad guy has made it to shelves. So why should I be surprised Captain America followed suit?

The single carded non-deluxe Hydra Soldiers have been some of the toughest figures to find from the line. Rare means they are really good figures right?

Appearance:

I’m sorry. As of this writing I haven’t watched Captain America yet. The DVD is here, but there’s a bunch of stuff on the DVR. I’ll add some notes after I see it.

Let’s face it. He’s a generic soldier. Maybe it’s all the great GI Joe figures I’ve reviewing lately, but this guy looks like a knockoff to me.

The head is probably one of the main contributors to this issue. It looks like there’s mold marks are something interfering with the detail. The face reminds me a bit of one of the old Adventure People space characters. Despite that, the eyes are well painted, as well as the tiny Hydra logos on the sides of his helmet.

The second main contributor to knock off look is the web gear. It just looks really big and bulky. The fact that the red stripes continue from his jacket bottom to the belt doesn’t help. They are easily moved off location. The back pack is integrated into the gear. The power line for his weapon is also integrated into the webbing. The arm straps help it and don’t look grossly oversize. My complaint is that it stops at his wrist and any movement makes it shorter. So essentially, you are left with a power cord that can’t reach it’s intended weapon.

The arms are black except for a green patch covered up on the right one. The left arm gets Hydra logo at the shoulder. They are okay arms, probably one of the part part of the figure.

The chest is mostly covered by the web gear. Except for the spot where the big silver smear is on mine. This is the only one they had at the time, so beggars couldn’t be choosers. It does give the figure a cheap get it out as fast as possible look. though.

Fun:

Well. He is a generic solider for Cap to beat up on. And I’m sure there are folks who are army building this guy. He’s not bad for that purpose. Just not great.

This Hydra does come with a couple of guns. the first is an oversize affair. I’m assuming this is what the power cable on his arm is intended for. It has a couple of spots of paint on it to represent the power “glow” blue light. It looks okay for the most part. The handle is hidden in the ring with the paint. The front handle is offset a bit, but I still couldn’t find a good pose for him to hold it.

He also comes with the same projectile firing weapon Red Skull did. It’s not really any worse than his primary weapon is concerned in my opinion.

Overall:

Like I said above, maybe I’ve been spoiled by GI Joe. While this soldier be okay for backgrounds and army building, he doesn’t really merit a prime spot as a foe for Cap.

Engineernerd Score: 78/100

 

 

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Category: Featured, Marvel, Toy Reviews

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Comments (8)

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  1. Engineernerd says:

    After seeing the film, I would have much harsher in this review.

  2. Tom says:

    For what they are I thought the Hydra troopers were “okay” I had been prepared to troop build these so Cap could kick the crap out of a whole battalion, and while they have been showing up with more regularity I just haven’t been able to make myself buy a second one (that would change in a heartbeat if I found the green/yellow variant). It’s nice to have faceless minions but I really think I’d rather see some more marquee baddies in the comic book line instead of another Cap repaint or Captain Britain(!?). Anyway I think the figure is a pretty good representation and while I don’t hate it, I just can’t make myself love it like I wanted to.

  3. Engineernerd says:

    You know if I could stand him next to a Cobra Trooper and have him look close in detail and presentation, I’d want more. I was tempted by the other single carded version, but I can’t get past the Fisher Price head.

  4. Joseph Tages says:

    These guys remind me of the Infinity Heroes Gotham City Patrol men. Useless wastes of plastic all around. It’s a vicious circle with comic-to-movie adaptations. The characters end up looking vastly different and when the ensuing toy line shows up, the figures suffer due to the inferior movie design. How much cooler would it have been to get the Kirby/Steranko HYDRA designs instead? Less tooling work for Hasbro as well.

    As it stands, I’d rather have Cap fight a bunch of Cobras loaned out to the Skull than go searching for this figure, let alone army build the sucker.

  5. Errex says:

    I got this guy just the other day, and I must confess I like him. Sure, a big part of it is that I got the figure at 50% Off, but I actually like the color scheme and the overall detail, although mine had a busted left kneecap.

  6. Engineernerd says:

    Broken knee? Could you tell before you opened or did it just fall apart?

  7. Errex says:

    I could have tell before opening the package, but I just didn’t pay due attention when selecting a figure at the store. I guess I just went for the better painted one and didn’t check more closely the joints.

  8. Engineernerd says:

    They get you one way or another.