2018
04.07

Back when Toys R Us was still a major player, they partnered with DST to offer an exclusive Fan’s Choice set each year from 2009 to 2014 (though, they missed 2013).  2010’s set was a Through the Ages set designed to tie-in with Captain America’s return to the land of the living.  There were 6 proposed Captain America looks, four of which were chosen for this set.

The Packaging

This set uses the same style of packaging used for the rest of the Marvel line.  It’s been done up with an American flag backdrop, which suits the theme well, and helps it to stand out from other releases of the same time.  For images, check out the set’s Minimate Database entry.


The Figures

World War II Captain America

This set took a few cues from the Captain America: Reborn series that returned Cap to the land of the living. The default Cap was based on his appearance at the end of the series, and this Cap is based on his appearance early on in the series when he’s reliving his WWII days. It’s not incredibly far removed from his earliest comics appearances, but it has been given a few updates to make it just a touch more “real-world.”

The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation (due to the sculpt of the boots). Cap has sculpted add-ons for his helmet, upper torso, glove cuffs, belt, and boots. He shares the boots and glove cuffs with the Reborn Cap in this same set, but other than that all of his pieces are new to him, and as far as I can tell they’ve remained unique. The helmet is a nice update on his original mask design, merged with just a touch of Ultimates styling. It ended up being the inspiration for the film take on the costume, so it looks pretty familiar nowadays. The upper torso is an interesting piece; it applies the more recent change of giving Cap three-dimensional scales on his upper torso and also serves to bulk him up a bit. I’m not typically a fan of the really obvious scales, but in this case it doesn’t look too bad; in fact, it kind of makes him stand out nicely from the crowd.

Cap’s paintwork is noticeably more subdued here than on most versions of the character, but it’s definitely true to the design DST’s aiming to capture. It actually looks pretty cool, almost like a faded photo from the 40s. The paint is pretty great overall, with no issues of slop or bleed over to speak of. The underlying face has a nice Jack Kirby feel to it, which is perfect for a WWII era Cap.

This version of Cap is packed with his original mighty shield, a spare, more classically inspired mask, and a spare hairpiece to display him unmasked.

I fully admit to way underestimating WWII Cap. He’s kept being the best figure in the set only by the presence of one of my favorite Cap ‘mates in existence.  Nevertheless, a solid offering.

MMC Score – 9 out of 10


Suspended Animation Captain America

This figure depicts Cap after he returned from the dead…the FIRST time!  Yep, this figure’s based on Cap’s appearance at the beginning of Avengers #4, right after the Avengers find him floating in the ocean, frozen in a block of ice. This is back when Cap’s long nap in the ice was about 15 years, not the 70 years it is now.  Anyway, the figure gives us Cap in his army fatigues, which have been shredded, revealing his Captain America costume below.

Frozen Cap has a five sculpted add-on pieces, for his hair, glove cuffs, belt, and pulled down cowl.   The hair is the same as the Tony Stark piece from Wave 21’s Mark I, and serves as a decent disheveled piece, though it does seem a little too in his eyes.  The cuffs are the same as the ones on the WW2 Cap, which makes sense, and the belt is the same one used for the DCD Golden Age Flash.  The pulled down cowl is the only new piece included here and it works well for what it’s supposed to be, and is a fun addition.  Kind of a shame this piece ended up as a one-off.

The paint on this guy is pretty solid stuff.  The face has a different expression from the much more intense WW2 variant, but I like that you can clearly tell it’s the same person.  The work on the torn uniform is pretty cool, and the colors on his underlying costume are perfect match for the old ‘60s coloring. There’s a little bleed over between the two uniforms, but nothing terrible.

Suspended Animation Cap comes with a spare set of ungloved hands, his shield, a proper mask piece, and coolest (heh!) of all, a chunk of ice to place him in.  I suppose I could complain that it’d be cooler if the chunk actually covered more of the figure, but that would be sort of pedantic, wouldn’t it?

This is far from your standard Cap, and he’s obviously very moment specific. Still, this is a really neat variant of Cap, executed quite expertly, and is definitely one that will stand out on the shelf.

MMC Score – 8 out of 10


Armored Captain America

Behold, the 90s. Oh joy. In the 90s, Cap’s powers stopped working correctly, leaving him with brittle bones and stuff. So, like all good 90s heroes, he got powered armor. Yay. Here it is, in all its glory.

He’s got 6 all new sculpted pieces, which, to date, still remain unique to him. Because no one else would ever touch something this ugly. To their credit, the pieces all do a pretty good job of capturing the design from the comics and translating it to fit on a Minimate body. Truth be told, the blocky nature of the line actually does the design some favors, and he manages to get some pretty great mobility, in spite of the bulky armor.

The paintwork on this figure isn’t quite as great as WWII Cap, but it’s not bad. The metallic red works pretty well, and the stretched-out A on the head captures the 90s styling pretty decently. And he’s even got a proper grimace under the helmet! There’s a bit of slop around the edges of the torso stripes and the head wings, but neither is horribly distracting.

Armored Cap includes his trusty shield, done up to match the armor, as well as a hair piece (which has some pretty bad flashing on the sides. Yikes!)

Armored Cap is better than I expected, but he’s still my least favorite in this set.  There’s no denying that this is an ugly, ugly design.  It’s unique, but boy is it ugly.

MMC Score – 6 out of 10


Reborn Captain America

This is the figure that functions as the set’s definitive Captain America.  This figure depicts Cap as he appeared right after his return from the dead.  It’s the classic Captain America look with a few minor changes that aren’t really noticeable.

Reborn Cap makes use of add-ons for his mask, harness, belt, glove cuffs, and boots.  As noted above, the gloves and boots are shared with the WW2 Cap.  The mask and belt were new, the mask in particular is a piece that’s stuck around for more recent Cap figures, and remains the best version of the mask.

The paint on Reborn Cap is amongst the strongest in this set.  Everything is very sharp, the colors are appropriately bright and bold, while still being a little more modern than the SA Cap.  The face lines up perfectly with the mask, and does a great job of walking the line between soldier and hero that a lot of Cap figures seem to have so much trouble with.

Cap includes an alternate hair piece for an unmasked look (borrowed from the Universal Monsters Dr. Frankenstein).  He also includes his mighty shield, for throwing, which can either be plugged into his left glove or his shoulder harness, depending on how you want to display him.  One thing he doesn’t come with, however, is an alternate left glove cuff sans the strap for the shield.  None of the others in the set include this, but this is the only figure in the set with the harness, which serves to showcase the fact that his left glove still has the straps.  Fortunately, there are enough glove pieces out there that it’s fairly easy to find one that matches (including the gloves from this very set’s Suspended Animation Cap).

There are a lot of standard Captain America ‘mates out there, but this one feels just a step above the rest.  To date, this is the best modern equivalent to the old Wave 5 Cap.

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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