Super-Adaptoid

Confession: although these reviews often make it sound like I really know what I'm talking about, the truth is I'm just really good at researching things and then relaying that information for everyone else. And that's why I had no idea the Super-Adaptoid was supposed to be a giant-sized character. Originally developed by Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) to combat Captain America, the Super-Adaptoid can duplicate the powers and abilities of heroes nearby allowing it to contend with the entire Avengers team. The Adaptoid was AIM's attempt to copy SHIELD's Life Model Decoys. It was built with unstable molecules so it wasn't locked into only ever mimicking one person, but AIM could only ever get one Adaptoid to function, because they had to use a sliver of a Cosmic Cube to power it. Its default state is a blank, featureless body (somewhere between Silver Surfer and Zero in appearance), but when it takes on someone's skills, it for some reason turns green. The majority of this figure gets its molds from Hasbro's 2017 attempt to make 12" figures happen. It's Captain America, of course, wearing his Marvel NOW! costume, which means plenty of stuff for this twice-as-large-as-usual offering to sculpt: hexagons and armor plates on the chest, padded sections in the armpits and inner legs, cloth textures on the pants, a herringbone pattern and a zipper on the abdomen, leather and nylon for the belt... it's more than a 6" figure can do, even seven years later. That was all sculpted by May Thamtarana, while the new parts include the boots and gloves (to get the notches in the front of the folded-over part of the boot and the fins on the back of the gloves), the shoulders, and the repulsor port on his chest. Plus the head, of course, which features two fins running over the top, no nose or mouth, and a version of Hawkeye's mask. Super-Adaptoid is done in three shades of green, with the only white being reserved for his blank eyes. There's no way of knowing if green was the color Kirby had in mind when he created the Super-Adaoptoid, or even if he had a color in mind at all; the comics industry was rather slapdash back then, even at major companies like Marvel, and the artist who pencilled a book might not know what color a character's costume would be until they saw the book in print. Just like Stan Lee was handling almost all the scripting by himself, Marvel also had all its coloring done by one person: Stan Goldberg, who was really free to do whatever he thought was best, which is how we got things like Scarlet Witch wearing green the first two months we saw her. So honestly, Jack might not have even bothered giving it a moment's thought, he just drew a big amalgam of all the Avengers and knew Goldberg would pick something for it. In that case, why green? Probably because it contrasted the best against Captain America's red, white, and blue. The 12" Captain America was a solid, heavy figure, and so the Super-Adaptoid is, as well. He has swivel/​hinge ankles, swivel boots, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, hinged abdomen, balljointed chest, swivel/​hinge wrists, swivel gloves, double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders, hinged neck, and balljointed head. The original release of this mold had protective pads on the shoulders, attached to the figure by molding them as part of the ring inside the shoulder joint; the Super-Adaptoid doesn't get those, which is why the shoulders have been redone. The joints all feel sturdy enough to support the weight of this big brute. Even the figure's accessories are reused. He comes with Captain America's shield and Thor's hammer, which really makes for a mixed bag. Only the right hand is open to hold anything, so the hammer has to go there. The straps on the shield, however, are too small to ever fit over those big fins on his gloves; the only way you can have him use the shield is to pry the left glove off the arm, take the hand out of the wrist, then reassemble everything with the shield already in place. While the Adaptoid did usually have a shield, it wasn't circular like Cap's, but longer and more triangular. Plus, when this mold was originally released, it had a feature where you could push the star on the figure's chest to pop out the star on his back; you could then turn that piece around to reveal a peg the shield could plug onto; not only does the new Iron Man repulsor port in the chest take away that feature, the back-star seems to be glued in place, so you can't even pry it out yourself. Additionally, the hole on the back of the shield where the peg would have gone sticks out far enough that it makes fitting the shield against the glove rather tight and precise. As long as they were neutering the ability to turn the star on the back around, they really should have used that opportunity to plug something into his back: since one of the first heroes Super-Adaptoid super-adapted was the Wasp, he's generally been depicted as having wings. Having nothing at all behind him, not even a cape, makes the figure look wrong. And if they could use the existing chest-hole for the uni-beam, they could have used his back to accommodate wings. This is a decent figure, though with a couple flaws that keep it from being great. And just as I'm fine getting a Giant-Man who's human-sized instead of double that, I'd be fine with a 6" tall Super-Adaptoid, as long as he had his wings. And maybe a bow and arrow. -- 03/25/24