Captain Britain

Rule, Britannia! Britannia waives the rules! Unlike his siblings, Brian Braddock is not a mutant. Until he was a young man, he lived a perfectly normal life. He never considered himself particularly heroic until a string of tragedies brought him into inevitable contact with Merlyn, who flooded him with mystical power. Now, he serves the British Isles as Captain Britain, a hero powered by the magical energy inherent in Britain itself. So long as his homeland thrives, Brian Braddock will protect her. Man, being the only non-mutant in your family must suck. It's like being Cooper Manning, except with superpowers instead of Super Bowls. Brain's older brother, Jamie, has the ability to pull on the quantum strings that hold reality together, thus reshaping it however he likes. And then his twin sister, of course, is a psychic. Becoming the embodiment of all Britain's magic is almost a consolation prize at that point. Remember how, on his first costume, Captain Britain wore an amulet that gave him his powers? Well somehow while travelling through relative dimensions in time and space, the amulet and the Star Sceptre he carried were dissolved and combined into a new costume, the most important feature of which was the helmet - for some reason, the costume wouldn't work without it. This uniform seems inspired by the British Household Cavalry - particularly the tall, dark boots, and the white pants and gloves. If not for the giant Union Jack pattern covering his torso, he could almost pass for a member of the Life Guard or the Blues and Royals. Overall, it makes him look more martial than his first costume, even if this toy is made from the same molds as that one. Granted, he does get new knees (for his familiar knee flaps or whatever they are) and flared gloves like Captain America, so he's not a pure repaint even if you ignore the head. The figure is just over 4⅜" tall, which is a little bigger than he should be, but not terribly so. The paint is all crisp, but unlike the Union Jack doesn't continue onto his back - it's just a large expanse of blue. Judging by literally the only picture I could find online that shows Captain Britain's back, that's accurate! I guess the Marvel Legend and the Minimate got their paint wrong! There's a grey wash on the legs and gloves to bring out the details, but it is nowhere near as annoying as the blue shadows ToyBiz figures always had. Cap doesn't have any traditionl accessories, just a display stand and the "paper accessories" - a manilla envelope with a Superhuman Registration Act ID card, an internal HAMMER memo between Norman Osborn and Victoria Hand, and a code that will never be of any use on the Fury Files website. But since his powers were all internalized by then, what accessories could he have possibly come with? [Widget --ed.] Considering how good Captain Britain is, it's a shame the only other Excalibur member we ever got was Nightcrawler. Yes, there's a Shadowcat, but she's in the wrong uniform. We have no Phoenix, no Meggan... just Captain Britain and Nightcrawler. -- 06/09/14

Tweet