Hot Toys Unveils Captain America: Civil War Figures, I Weep For My Wallet

This past weekend Hot Toys displayed a number of new products at the annual Toy Soul convention. While new Star Wars figures are nice and all, the real meat and potatoes was in the unveiling of the first Captain America: Civil War figures. These are the first new collectibles for the upcoming sequel that anyone has shown to this point, though only returning characters have been given the public spotlight so far. At least as far as the sixth-scale line is concerned. There were a few vinyl figures for some of the newcomers, but it would appear anyone holding out hope for the sixth-scale Black Panther or Agent 13 will have to wait until 2016 for a glimpse.

Still, that we've been given a look into the future of Hot Toys' Marvel Cinematic Universe plans this early is exciting. Typically these sorts of tie-in figures are kept under wraps until the last possible moment. That nine have been revealed already certainly doesn't bode well for anyone hoping to grab a complete set, especially considering the characters that aren't included so far, and that Iron Man likely changes armor at least seven times in this film. So that's another dozen figures right there. Probably.

First up is the new Captain America. He's still as handsome as ever, but the suit has been tweaked ever so slightly from its previous incarnation in Age of Ultron. The colors are more muted, the chest has ditched the red highlights, the tailoring and kneepads on his pants are different, the shield straps look wider, and the arms have ditched the white bands completely. There some other small adjustments in there too, but the head sculpt appears to be the same as does the shield itself.

I do love how slowly this uniform has evolved since the base design debuted in Winter Soldier, but that suit still looks like it's going to offer the same posing problems as the previous releases. Hopefully Hot Toys is keeping the magnetic shield attachments so the old problem with the easily-snapped straps is gone for good. Even though there probably aren't enough differences here to make someone who got the AOU version eager to buy it, I do prefer this one for its like of overly bright colors.

Bucky Barnes gets a whole new wardrobe for the sequel, but more importantly, his head sculpt ditches the heavy black makeup. Now you can actually see his face. The sculpt doesn't look all that different in the face, though his haircut appears to be much cleaner. The Winter Soldier version had some ratty hair, which suited the character at that moment, but it's good to see Sebastian Stan with a more civilized look.

The arm still looks sharp, and what his new outfit lacks in superhero-y-ness it more than makes up for in tailoring. Hot Toys penchant for making its miniature figures look like they're wearing authentic adult clothing has always been impressive. It's easy to hide some design flaws in more ornate costuming, but even though Barnes' outfit is sparse, it looks immaculate. I actually wish there was a bit of wear and tear to show what he's been through, but this figure looks outstanding so far otherwise.

Black Widow has probably changed the least of all the figures since Hot Toys' Winter Soldier line, but this one still has a few noticeable differences. Natasha has almost entirely ditched all color from her uniform, leaving the red Widow's symbol to stand out that much more. Her knees and elbows have solid pads there now too, but she's still rocking the dual pistol look. The skintight outfit will definitely still be a posing problem, but like Bucky's black ensemble, the stitching and design is gorgeous here.

The angle of the photo doesn't give me enough to work with to see if the head sculpt has changed at all, but the new synthetic haircut sure has. Good luck with all of that. Styling it into curls will likely be a nightmare, and the only figure I've seen with remotely any chance of looking good out of the box has been the Winter Soldier version that had straight hair. I appreciate what Hot Toys is doing with the female figures, but the upkeep is just not worth the hassle sometimes.

Now we finally get a Scarlet Witch figure who's been given some proper attire. While the street urchin look worked for the AOU, the plain clothes costuming just didn't translate that well to the figure in my opinion. Besides, this red leather jacket is way better than what she scrounged up in Sokovia, though like Black Widow, I can see movement being an issue already. Leather pants are incredibly cool from a visual standpoint. They just don't offer enough flexibility when it comes to toys.

The head sculpt appears to be identical to Age of Ultron, but she's taken to styling her hair. Again, great for the movie. For the figure, not so much. Who has a curling iron that small besides Barbie? It brings much more realism to the figure, but damned if that isn't going to be a hot mess when it comes out of the box all static clingy.

At last, a Hawkeye figure whose costume looks good. Glad to see we no longer have to worry about that awful trenchcoat (yeah, I'm still complaining about it). I love this new one-sleeved look, and the deep, deep purple used looks great in execution. Hawkeye is also finally getting a new bow and quiver, or at least a new quiver strap. The new hands and gloves are a nice touch too considering so much of the original Avengers sculpting was used for the AOU iteration.

The portrait looks like the grumpy face has been retooled, though his haircut is almost identical to the previous version. Hawkeye just looked so angry about being a toy with the Age of Ultron figure it was hard to enjoy the overall piece. Here that seems to have been rectified, and this might finally be a Hawkeye figure worth purchasing.

Falcon's got an almost entirely new figure this time around. His Winter Soldier look was heavily militarized, but the version we saw in Ultron and Ant-Man appears to be the one we'll be getting in Civil War. It doesn't look like the wings or head have been altered much beyond some new paint apps, but the red highlights really make the character pop. Relying on the combat fatigues for the first version left the color palette a little dull. There's just enough here to make this costume more appealing.

There doesn't appear to be many accessories included with Falcon, so I have to wonder if the rumors about Redwing being in the film in some capacity will come true. I don't think they're actually going to give Falcon a falcon, but some sort of gear besides pistols would be nice.

War Machine not only gets a die-cast version, but his suit has been redesigned quite a bit, too. From the helmet to the chest plate, down through the legs and even in the forearms, there's a great deal of new sculpting on this third incarnation of the character (if you don't count Iron Patriot). He's also got some kind of baton/cricket bat now, too, so that's something to keep an eye on in the film. I don't know if he's pledging a new fraternity or what, but that just seems like the wrong kind of weapon for the kind of fighting War Machine excels at.

Instead of a traditional Iron Man figure debuting with the rest of the Civil War line, Hot Toys showed off a new Power Pose version of the MK XLVI armor. What you're seeing there is about as much posing as you'll be able to do with this figure. Yeah, it still lights up, and yeah the armor looks sleek, but the Power Pose line has never done it for me. There are an awful lot of Iron Man armors already out there, too, and you can expect a more articulated version of the MK XLVI to come. As always, the paint app is on point, and I can't wait to see all the shine taken off that armor when Bucky and Cap beat the crap out of Iron Man in the film.

Can you tell me a single thing different about this version of the Vision from his Age of Ultron counterpart? I sure can't seem to find one. It doesn't look like Hot Toys did anything here but change the stand to have the Civil War logo instead of the Age of Ultron one. This figure still looks like too much meat stuffed in too small of a package, and I'm just not jiving on this design. It looks bad.

Finally, a Black Panther sighting. The Cosbaby line is the first place you'll be able to find a Black Panther and Crossbones from the MCU, and both figures look adorable. Everyone else looks okay, I guess, but we've seen most of them in some form before. Falcon and Bucky are new additions as well, but even Ant-Man's been down this road not too long ago already. As far as chibi-inspired vinyl collectibles go, these are fairly nice. For my money, I'd rather have the larger figures though.

Touma will once again have a few figures for the Hot Toys Artist Mix line. I can't figure out why the Captain America is still the Age of Ultron version. Maybe Hot Toys didn't have an updated one ready for Toy Soul. If that were the case though, why even display it at all? Just show Falcon and Iron Man. It does look like Redwing will indeed be included with the Falcon here in this iteration, and has the appearance of a drone of some sort. Now I really hope Hot Toys includes it with the sixth-scale Falcon. Also, that means there might be an actual remote-controlled Redwing released at retail by another of Marvel's toy partners, which is pretty damn awesome. I never thought I'd see the day. We still might not, but the possibility is much closer to reality than it was before.

None of the figures have a price or release date just yet, but we'll share all those updates as soon as the details come in from Sideshow Collectibles.