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In order to tie-in with 2014’s Captain America: Winter Soldier, the Marvel Minimates line gave us a comics-themed Captain America assortment, with some loose ties to the film, as sort of a lead-in to the more proper film tie-in.  This included a few of Cap’s recurring foes, with today’s all hailing from Hydra, who would prove quite central to the film, even if these specific characters didn’t.

The Packaging

The packaging is the same deal as the last two packs.  Still pretty standard issue.  The orange still feels a little weird, but I guess it contrasts alright with all that green in these sets.  Though Viper was officially the variant set, there’s nothing noting this on the packaging itself.  For pictures, head on over to the Database entries.

The Figures

Baron Strucker

“A frequent opponent of Nick Fury during World War II, Baron Strucker took over the subversive group HYDRA, and continues to battle Fury and SHIELD with his army, his advanced technology, and his nigh-immortality.”

First up, it’s the leader of the organization, Baron Strucker.  Not to be confused with Baron Smucker, the tyrannical leader of that company that makes jam.  Though I’m sure Strucker does love him some jam…

Strucker’s fairly light on the sculpting, featuring only a set of shoulder pads, which were reused from Rictor.  They match pretty well with the comics design, so smart re-use there.

The paint detailing is quite nice, especially Strucker’s face, which is appropriately old and surly.  I also like the simulated transparency of the monocle.

Strucker is well accessorized with a coat that can be swapped out with the shoulder pads, his trusty demon’s claw, a sword, a pistol of some sort, and a clear display stand.  I quite like the coat and the demon’s claw, as they allow me to set up the Strucker that I’m more familiar with.

Strucker’s a pretty important Hydra fixture, and one that’s many times left out of the toy love.  Getting not one, but two looks here is really great, and makes army building the Hydra guys he’s packed with all the easier, and he’s a solid ‘mate in his own right.

MMC Score — 8 out of 10

Viper

“Raised from girlhood to be a HYDRA agent, Madame HYDRA rose through the ranks to become one of the leaders of the organization. A deadly combatant, she took the name Viper when she became the leader of the Serpent Squad.”

Next, it’s Strucker’s second in command, Viper…er Madame Hydra…no wait, um…hmmm.  Yeah, I can’t make up my mind.  That’s okay, though, neither could Diamond, since she’s listed as Madame Hydra on some of the boxes and as Viper on the others.  I prefer Madame Hydra because it avoids any connotations to the lackluster interpretation of the character in The Wolverine.

Madame Hydra features 4 sculpted add-ons: hair, belt, and dual leg holsters.  The belt is a new piece I believe. The hair is a reuse from one of the figures in the Femme Fatales set, Dawn I think.  The holsters are from the Avengers movie line, and were most recently used on the comic version of Maria Hill, second in command of SHIELD, which is kind of a neat touch, I think.

The paint is a bit of a mixed bag on this figure.  All of the detail lines are nice and sharp, and I particularly like the face, which even features a scarred eye behind the peek-a-boo hair, but the transitions on the gloves and boots are incredibly sloppy.  Not enough to ruin the figure, but enough to be very annoying.

Madame Hydra includes two handguns, a bullwhip, and a clear display stand.

Though she doesn’t have the duality of the Strucker figure, Viper’s still a very clean figure, and one that felt rather overdue following the more generic film-style Viper we got out of Wave 52.  There’s a lot of really cool touches on this one.

MMC Score — 8 out of 10

Hydra Elite

“The Elite are the ceremonial guards of the subversive organization called HYDRA. Ranking higher than foot soldiers, they are charged with protecting key HYDRA installations as well as high-ranking HYDRA officers.”

Lastly, this wave’s army builders, the Hydra Elite!  Or they could just be basic Hydra dudes.  That works too.  This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Hydra army builder, but it had been a while since the last one, and that one wasn’t as good as it could be, even then.  So, I’m glad Diamond revisited these guys.

They feature 5 sculpted pieces: mask, ruffled shirt arms, a cape, and a belt/skirt combo.  I believe the belt and the mask are new pieces, and the cape and upper arms are pieces that have been used lots of times before.

The paint on these is quite nice, and what is really cool is the completely different Hydra mask underneath of the sculpted one.  The first Hydra Agent had this idea in place, but it didn’t work quite as well.  The colors are also brighter and bolder than the previous Hydra Agent, which looks much better.  One thing that does bug me is that the gloves and boots aren’t all the same length from piece to piece, which can look a bit odd.

In addition to the removable cape and mask, the Hydra Elite include a small handgun, a sword, a larger gun, and a clear display stand.

Definitely the selling point of these sets, the Hydra Elite are really great because they’ve got some nice customizability to them, which really makes them great for putting together a whole army.

MMC Score — 9 out of 10

Agree? Disagree? Why not vote for yourself below, or comment further over at the Minimate Multiverse MMC Review Forum.

Review and pictures by Glantern.

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