Chase Customs: 3.75" Ultimate Captain America

Before you go "What the heck another Captain America reviewed on Chase Variant?!?!?!" I'd like to say this is my first custom ever!  It's also more of a "How I did it" rather than an outright review, so all of you who have never done a custom before and are interested in trying it out can see how my first experience went.  For those grizzled veteran customizers, you can have a few good laughs at my struggles.

I chose Ultimates Captain America for a few reasons:

1) It wasn't until I read the Ultimates that I liked Captain America.  So he's easily my all-time fave Cap.  Sorry Chris Evans.  Though you come in a close 2nd...

2) They haven't made a 3.75" Ultimate Cap that I've truly been satisfied with.

3) Avengers Movie Figures look great but don't move great.  Many of them end up having well-sculpted parts I really like (like Super Shield Captain America) so that for me was really the straw that broke the camel's back.  And with so many variations of cap after last year's movie, It made me really wanna cannibalize.

4) I'm starting to find loose Captain America 3.75" movie figures and Marvel Universe figures loose and for cheap because it's been a year now, and things are starting to go on clearance!

So this is about how I went about kit-bashing, with the emphasis on the bashing part!

Double Score!

It's been quite a while since I posted a toy haul here on Chase Variant an that's because it's been a while since I've come home from a hunt with good success.

Today was one of those few and fare between days.

Off from work for a day just to enjoy time with the wife and kid, we walk into one of the department stores that I like to look for game (OG Orchard).  Now the great Singapore Sale is currently ongoing, so there's a storewide 20% off discount.  I step into the  Marvel aisle and am greeted by a rare sight in this neck of the woods: Gamma Smash Hulk.  Not one, but three of them...

Thor The Mighty Avenger 3.75" Hammer Smash Thor

It's been more than a year since the Thor movie hit theatres and a good 15 months since the toys hit the shelves.  So that can only mean one thing--it's clearance time for the line! ;)

So I'm minding my own business in the toy section (sheah, right) at the local Takashimaya department store, when I chance upon a whole load of Thor The Mighty Avenger movie 3.75" figures going for clearance at 1/2 price.  Sure, it wasn't the excellent S$5 deal from another department store, OG.  But lo and behold, they had this Thor figure with the helmeted head going for S$9.90.  They also had a bunch of deluxe Blaster Armor Thor (unwanted) and Ice Attack Frost Giants at S$12 a pop.

Army builders!

A couple of Frost Giants and a Thor later, and I'm a happier man. (Does the dance of joy.)  I've been waiting to get the helmeted Thor for a long time now.  Ditto for the Frost Giant army.  And just when I wasn't really looking at all, I find them!  Both and the same time too, to boot.

Am I happy with them?  Hells yeah.  Especially since this helmeted Thor has the proportion of helmet-to-head ratio the way I like it.  You only have to look as far as the Thor 6" Thor figure to find a ridiculously small helmet, while the helmetless version has just been released in the Avengers movie line as a Walmart Exclusive!

So I'm thankful I found Hammer Smash Thor in the wild on the cheap, while not having to agonize over if/when I'd be able to have helmeted/helmetless Thor heads in 3.75" scale!

The Avengers 3.75" Super Shield (Ultimates) Captain America

Since the Avengers toys have been released, I've been going to toy stores and passing on the 3.75" movie figures.  But it's funny how each time I see the toys, I'll take closer look and suddenly find something I like about a figure that I didn't spot earlier.

Maybe I was put off by some of the worst articulation that Hasbro has put on its figures in a years.  So glaring were the lack of ankles here, the missing chest pivot there, that I couldn't see past the flaws to the good qualities that were staring me in the face.

Take Super Shield captain America here, for example.  It took me a long while to realize that this was Ultimates Captain America (my fave comics Cap) with a kickass vest and belt.  What I also missed was that this version of Ultimates Cap had wrist swivels where the movie line release didn't!  I had also failed to realize that this version of the figure was painted a nicer, deeper blue than the Cap movie Ultimates version.

So with my interest piqued, I couldn't resist picking this guy up.  To my surprise, there were quite a few more changes to the figure that make it a completely different Cap from its predecessor.

The Avengers: Marvel Select Hulk

As I write this review, I'm running around the house screaming like a little kid on Christmas morning who just got exactly what he wanted from Santa.  Except that it's not Christmas but Fathers' day soon.  And I'm not really running around the house, but more like lying around, imagining what it would be like running around.  And there's no Santa this time of year, but an awesome wifey and son--because this is what they surprised me with just a few days ago!

I'd already put down my order with my fave specialty store (Toyrealm at China Square central ;P) but I'd been going on and on about how I'd still snag Hulk if I saw him for sure if I saw him anywhere else, how I regretted not picking it up about 2 weeks back when a guy at the local "flea" market had a couple of the Jolly Green Giants selling at a pretty high price (about 120% of retail), and how this Hulk would make me the coolest father on the planet along with the rest of the people who also had him.

The specialty store's shipment wasn't due in until later this month and I was resigned to not truly being cool for another few weeks.  So imagine my surprise when the wife shows up with a huge bag with not one but two Marvel Select figures in it and hands it to me!  Happy Father's day indeed!

What was the other figure?  Movie Loki, of course  "So that I could re-enact the 'Puny god' scene from The Avengers for a chuckle or six until The Avengers 2 rolls around in 2015."  That's how she explained it.  But I suspect it might have been to shut me up from talking about Marvel Select Hulk every waking minute.  And probably sometimes in my sleep too.  ;P

No guesses how the figure turned out.  But why let me stop you from checking out the review and the awesome photos? ;D

Lego - The Avengers: Captain America's Avenging Cycle!

While The Avengers action figures are so far proving a little disappointing, there's no doubt that Lego getting the license for the franchise is good news.  It's great news indeed that they've finally been released in our favourite brick form--and here's their smallest offering in retail so far!

Though I grabbed the Loki's Cosmic Cube Escape and Hulk Helicarrier Breakout set first, this was soon to follow following its release about a week later.  I guess it was also the quickest to put together and that it had one of the figures we've all been waiting for--Captain America!  Sure, I was also dying for Hulk, Thor and Iron Man, but hey, Cap really grows on you!

From his slightly more edgy Ultimates self, to his stance (and death) in Civil War, to his awesome on-screen incarnation, it's no wonder the kids are all seeing stars and stripes.  Well, at least mine is.  He never fails to point out the Cap shield when he spots it--and he's just over 13 months old!

So enough talk and more review action--here we go! ;)

The Avengers: Stark Tech Assault Armour Captain America

This review should be named "Captain America and His Toys Part II"!  Why?

Simply because the good captain is learning that having less super strength and less speed is just not good enough!  Gone are the good ol' days where he was the strongest, the fastest and the most famous (and only) super hero.  Sure, he's still a master of battlefield tactics and the bestest (eva!) leader there can be, but who can see that sorta thing?  Being reanimated in this day and age where the most flashy (Iron Man), the most misunderstood (Hulk), and the most buff-n-blond (Thor) get all the attention hasn't been great for Cap.  So what to do?  Take a leaf from Tony Stark's book and get some toys of his own!

But why "Part II" you ask?  Because this should've been part I.  And the pics in this review will also give you a glimpse or two of Part III. ;)

To get back on topic, the Stark Tech Assault Armor Captain America has been on my radar ever since I saw it on the shelves in stores.  But the retail price of S$49.90 (US$39) is a huge put-off.  So I was willing to wait till clearance.

As luck would have it, the eagle-eyed Rangerlord, whose skill with a bow can only be outmatched by Hawkeye himself (or so he says), spotted this sweet, sweet piece of action in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for 60% of the price!  Needless to say, it was a score for sure!  So was he worth it?  Let's see!