Marvel Legends U.S. Agent review – BAF Captain America Flight gear wave

U.S. Agent made his debut at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier after John Walker proved he couldn’t hack it as Captain America. The future of the character seems very interesting along with events playing out in other Marvel Studios efforts so he could be a pivotal character in Phase 4.

Hasbro has been strongly in sync with Marvel Studios for this year’s Disney+ wave and I was excited about adding this fallen hero to my MCU display. Let’s see if he’s worthy of saluting.

Packaging: I like the prominent The Falcon and the Winter Soldier logo along with the small Disney+ label in case anyone is unsure of this character. The package art captures Walker’s determination although there’s some confusion as to which version represented by the figure.

One actually reflects the screen accurate U.S. Agent while the other is a hybrid that isn’t effective for either look. Too bad it’s the figure in this case. More on that in a sec.

The bio also reflects the finale of the series stating Walker’s change of identity and new path. That’s an effective summary of the character’s arc in TFAWS.

Likeness:  This is going to be one of those cases where Hasbro is likely going to end up cranking out a more screen accurate version of U.S. Agent down the road.

This is essentially a repaint of the Walmart exclusive Captain America II figure. For the most part that’s fine, but the U.S. Agent costume doesn’t have the A-star on the forehead.

There’s no alternate head sculpt, but it’s not hard to see the Wyatt Russell likeness thanks to the work on the nose and mouth. This outfit has a large amount of texture and paneling throughout. All of the buckles and pouches are sculpted as well as the trickier lining around his arm.

One of the cooler design elements of this outfit is how the star resembles the Captain America “A.” His right hand has a trigger sculpt, which would be more useful if the gun in his holster was removable.

His boots have a real thickness to them and look well suited to knocking down doors in his pursuit of Flag Smashers. This reminds me that I would not be opposed to getting a Battlestar figure (hint hint Hasbro).

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Paint: The catch with the U.S. Agent outfit is it should have the white stripes along the chest area instead of black. Again, this was accurate on the package so it’s odd that Hasbro put this figure out and glossing over/ignoring a major element to the outfit.

Even worse, lining is improperly aligned — the red should be on the larger stripes. Most of the detail work is precise save for a few stray red marks near the A-star.

Scale: U.S. Agent is about the same height as Bucky, but should be taller than Falcon/Captain America. Naturally, I still need to get both of the headliners so I can’t do a completely accurate comparison.

Articulation: This mold allows for some impressive poseability and a potentially brutal rematch with Captain America and The Winter Soldier.

U.S. Agent has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• bicep swivel
• elbow (with swivel)
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• hip
• thigh
• knee (double-jointed)
• ankle

Accessories: U.S. Agent gets a swappable set of fists and…that’s it. The obvious additional accessory should be a black, red and white shield. For accuracy’s sake, he doesn’t actually have it in that final scene, but it seems like a wasted opportunity not to include some extras.

Another option could have been the alternate unmasked head sculpt. It’s weird with a figure that has so many potential accessory options to just get another set of hands.

He does come with part of the Build-A-Figure Captain America flight gear with the left wing. This is one of those deals where it’ll be cool when you have Falcon and start assembling the flight gear, but it feels lacking giving U.S. Agent’s lack of extras.

Worth it?  Wal-Mart had a mini-clearance sale on members of this wave so I was able to get U.S. Agent for $15. Given the wing nature of the BAF on this set, paying this price is ideal.

Rating: 7 out of 10

The costume mistakes clearly ding U.S. Agent and the lack of accessories doesn’t help either. This is a figure that seems rushed to allow for Walmart to get an exclusive. No doubt the upgraded U.S. Agent figure will be a major improvement, but likely not enough to justify the higher price point going forward for the line.

Where to get it?  U.S. Agent is available now for $15, but there’s no telling how that price will last. You can grab him now from Amazon or Entertainment Earth.