We've reached the point where Hasbro has had the Marvel license for so long, they can't help but remake some of the their older releases. And not just from the first years, when things were really rough, from the later batch when they started being pretty good! This series, for example, has Viper and USAgent, who were both released in 2012. Are the changes enough to make fans re-buy?
Originally appointed by the US Government to replace Steve Rogers as Captain America, USAgent John Walker must balance his moral compass against his duty to his country.
Must he? He's never really seemed to have much of a moral compass. Like, he's a good enough fellow, as long as there are other actual heroes around to keep him in check, it's just that he does whatever the people in charge of him tell him to do. He's a joiner, a follower, and yet he expects everyone to treat him like a leader and gets mad when they don't. Steve Rogers has a moral compass; John Walker is the type of guy who got a taste of petty power and would do anything for more. Respect mah authoriteh!
It's easy to forget this costume originally belonged to Steve: he, having a moral compass, refused to support the government's efforts to abuse its citizens, and they revoked his commission. But he, having
a moral compass, could not be stopped from helping people in need, so D-Man (yes, the guy who dressed like Wolverine and Daredevil had a baby) designed him a new costume. And for Steve, it made sense: it was black, because he was in mourning for his country, and the star was just created from negative space, representing a (metaphorically) America-shaped hole in his heart. Handed down to Walker is only makes sense in the contect of being "edgy Captain America." Which, to be fair, has pretty much been his only story role for like 35 years now.
Another important change to the design is the mask. Yes, it still had the silly little wings on the sides, but no longer an A on the forehead - when Steve put this suit on, he wasn't representing America, so he no longer wore its initial. He was just "The Captain," not "Captain America." Because of that change, USAgent can't use any of the existing Cap heads. This sour-faced sculpt looks similar to existing ones, but is its own thing.
USAgent is built on the medium body, which is bulkier than his last figure; since he and Captain America are both in the sisterhood of the travelling pants, that's a fine choice. We do prefer the slightly more martial version of the costume that's more influenced by Ultimate Captain America, where he's wearing what look like trousers instead of tights, but he's definitely worn worse costumes. The figure has fists, or a holding hand and a splayed hand.
His only accessory is his shield. The older figure also came with a gun and knife, things that were utterly appropriate
for him, but aren't necessary. The shield's beter this time anyway: USAgent's carried quite a few different designs, but none of them have had a star in the center like that one did; heck, there was one that literally had the letters "U.S.", but nary a star. This one just does concentric circles, though it makes the outer ring blue instead of black. There have definitely been times the shield has been portrayed with blue, but that was just the coloring style, not its actual hue. Still looks perfectly fine, though. And helps break up the shapes.
The figure also comes with the right arm and hands of the Controller, the Build-A-Figure for this series.
We're never going to be the gatekeepers who get mad at a company for releasing characters new fans might have missed, especially when the last release was almost a decade ago - that's plenty of time for the general level of quality to improve, even if you were around back then. And so yeah, this USAgent is certainly a better release than the last one. That said, is it enough of a better release to be worth upgrading? Only you can decide that for yourself. At least the Series 3 figure didn't have a BAF to force you into buying it back then?
-- 11/08/22
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