U.S. Agent, a.k.a John Walker, is an inferior Captain America best known for having a lust for violence instead of using it when necessary like Steve Rogers would. He began life as Super-Patriot with a far different view on patriotism than classic Cap before eventually taking up the mantle as the next Cap and later having the identity he is best known for. Meanwhile, Bucky Barnes was an old sidekick of Captain America who later became the assassin known as the Winter Soldier. After Steve Rogers was murdered at the end of Civil War, Bucky took the mantle as the next Captain America out of fear from Tony Stark choosing the next successor after becoming part of S.H.I.E.L.D. These two shield bearers are part to fight each other, and perhaps my opinion on these characters is a sign of what's to come for the review, right?
Here we have U.S. Agent in hand. Using the Grim Reaper body mold, we return back to a mold used on Captain America back in 2016. Revisiting this body type made me wonder how well the proportions had up, and while they don't fully capture the same comic physique someone like AnthonysCustoms would have a hard-on for (no offense), this can somewhat pass for Walker better than Rogers in some capacity. From using a blank sculpt, all of the details are simply tampograph's, with the belt, gloves, and boots reused from Cap. While that would be fine if Hasbro wanted to make their paint apps crisp, opaque, and aligned properly, it does make me wish there'd be shading applied to make the black of the costume not look as cheap. As it stands, it looks okay but not great.
His head sculpt looks to be based on the Cap head used specifically from the Onslaught wave version (with optional wolf head) and the retro-carded version. The proportions and facial structure may not be 1:1, given how Walker is normally depicted with a less stoic and more aggressive facial expression befitting his character betraying the traits Steve Rogers followed as a superhero. The articulation is of the standard Legends norm from the 2010s, so he still has the disk-hinge neck as well as the lack of butterfly joints. His main accessory is the shield that feels more sinister with the black and lack of any proper blue or star...though that bluish grey trim should also be black.
He comes with the right arm of The Controller as well as an accessory-holding right hand he could use for the shield while the left hand is splayed open for either any action pose where it would be open, or to display him holding the aforementioned BAF piece and ponder if I would even get the other figures or not. That being said, if you got this figure for cheap like I did at a Burlington, it's a great deal for $7.99 rather than the near $25 Legends goes for nowadays.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Up next, here we have Bucky Cap, who has a costume closer to the more traditional Captain America design philosophy from the waist-up at least. The black that tapers near the waist almost looks like he's midway in putting on or removing a black layer over the red, white, and metallic blue. This represents the sort of rogue nature of Bucky Barnes with the mantle while spiting Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. This figure uses the Vulcan body mold, which may be somewhat more refined than that of the Grim Reaper body mold. And yes, the same character who began the trend of Hasbro reusing the same base mold for numerous Marvel Legends is now a reuse of a blank body mold. HOW DOES IT FEEL, BUCKY BARNES?! Anyways, the two stars on the chest and back are raised in relief, though there isn't much else with altered tooling beyond that. The slight metallic sheen in the colors is appreciative, though the blue may be either painted or marbleized. The belt is new for the figure, but the blank space in the front is a little annoying despite it being accurate.
His head sculpt is new much like with U.S. Agent, though it, too, also has some slight alterations to make the face under the mask look less like Steve Rogers. The A is thankfully raised in relief, and his wings are a little more classic in shape this time. Articulation is the same, though the waist swivel does get hammered somewhat by the belt while the butterfly joints don't work that well. In addition to his shield, he comes with a gun as well as a knife, which says a lot about Hasbro still willing to give their figures realistic firearms while WB won't let McFarlane do the same with the DC Multiverse line unless it's for 17+ sets. Yeah, their decision to add guns to their Jonah Hex, BvS Batfleck 2-pack, and expensive AF Joker movie sets is stupid as fuck. Still, Bucky Cap is better than USAhole, but there is room for improvement with the proportions and articulation range. He should be available in some shops for a slightly cheaper price than $24.99, but not at Walmart anymore.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Here are all the Caps lined-up along with the a-hole. Seeing these three together makes me want to get Sam Wilson Cap...maybe at a discount? Anyways, 20th Cap still represents a standard higher than other characters by virtue of having more unique tooling to the sculpt, in addition to including some needed paint apps to accentuate the sculpted details. Sure, he was more expensive, but he at least later got released in the Secret Wars wave with some deviations to match the context of the story arc. And he cost more or less like any recent retro-carded Legends!
Also, if you're not sure about how either turned out, you can always compare them to the early-2010s versions and be the judge. Both use the actual Bucky Cap mold (literally we have the original use here, though U.S. Agent may have more useful accessories with the gun and knife. While Bucky Cap came with a piece of Arnim Zola, US Agent came with a display stand that plagued plenty of early Legends in the 2010s when Hasbro brought them back.
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