Captain Marvel

At last, someone joins Henry Cavill in the "you can have a sequel, but only with the addition of other characters" club! Captain Marvel is a powerful solo act, but now has a real shot at redemption as team member of The Marvels! "Redemption"? Gonna be interesting to see what that bio is hinting at when the movie opens. Are we talking redemption for not telling the Skrulls about the entire empty-ass planet where Thanos used to live? Redemption for not being around to stop him sooner? Redemption for not telling every little boy in the audience (by name) that he's super special and he runs real fast and can jump higher than anybody she's ever seen? For what does she need to be redeemed? Share your best guesses on our message board! (This is a transparent ploy to make everybody use the message board. Because that's what it's there for.) Carol's costume doesn't look as good as the first movie, but I had to compare this toy to one of those to figure out why that was. Mainly, it doesn't look as "costumey." The darker blue is fine, but there's no red other than on her chest and shoulders: like, there are no accents on the thin lines in the suit, her belt is blue, her boots are blue, she only wears short gloves and those are blue... it feels like the equivalent of cosplaying in jeans and a licensed T-shirt. The sculpt is very detailed, with tiny textures that once would have been unimaginable, but the design feels flat. It's a tradeoff, though, because the head sculpt this time is tons better than the first movie's! It looks recognizably like Brie Larson this time, which is more than could be claimed about the first movie's "generic blonde lady" heads (cf. all the "generic blonde guy" heads we got before getting a real Chris Evans; it's not just a "her" problem). Don't count on being able to trade this head back to one of the flashier figures, though, because the style of articulation is different today than it was four years ago: a barbell joint rather than the balljoint/hinge combo of yore. This one does get the benefit of double-hinged elbows instead of a single swivel/hinge, but the rest is pretty standard: ankles, knees, thighs, hips, chest, wrists, biceps, and shoulders. Question though: why would a character who can fly feel the need to wear wedge heels? Why would she be self-conscious about her height? Like we said above, this figure is darker and more drab than the first movie's, thanks to the lack of red accents anywhere. We do get at least a little bit of color thanks to her sleeves ending mid-forearm and revealing a flash of skin. She's wearing small silver bracelets, which are probably related to Kamala's magic band. Ask again in five days. You have your choice of fists or more open hands, and can gear her up with yellow energy swirls, but no fireballs or anything. She does have Totally Awesome Hulk's Build-A-Figure left leg. Right now, a week before the movie opens and we learn anything at all about it, this costume is disappointing; maybe it will look better once we see it in action, but no matter what, at least the face is great. -- 11/05/23

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