Introduction
Peggy Carter is familiar to audiences both as the love interest of Steve Rogers (Captain America) and as an able and intelligent agent in her own right. In the recent Marvel movies and shows she has been played by actress Hayley Atwell. JX Toys has just produced a figure of Atwell as Carter's character and it is this product that you are looking at here. I decided to change up the format a little bit, keep the review concise and end with a silent photo story giving you plenty of opportunity to observe the figure/character in different poses. Since I am no expert on the character and my ability to provide objective evaluation in some of the categories is limited (e.g., what other accessories would be appropriate, would she wear a cap with her uniform?), I have omitted assigning stars to the categories, but I believe the photos and descriptions would suffice for you to make up your own mind.
Packaging
The figure comes in a relatively compact hard cardboard shoe box-type container with a printed color image of the product on the cover. Inside it is a black foam trey with a thin sheet of black foam as a lid, containing the figure and its accessories. This is pretty basic, but also completely collector friendly and safe: my package was slightly damaged in the mail but although a little creased, the box held up, protecting the product.
Sculpting
The actress/character can look a little different in different angles, scenes, or settings, but I believe JX Toys produced a very accurate and realistic likeness of Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter. It has the slightly austere, overly neat look of the period, conveys the fashion of a bygone age, and is one of those instances where the finely sculpted hair does work well for anything but very short hairstyles. Since this is a jointed body (with some seamless soft shell material for the torso) that is pretty much all covered up, I did not evaluate the rest of it for sculpting, although I will note that a true seamless body would have helped with the look of the knees and, to some extent, ankles. The hands are sculpted of very soft plastic, but work very well.
Paint
The paint work is fairly minimal and very neat, both of which are appropriate. The face is pale but not unrealistic for the powdered and contrasting lipstick look of the era, the eyelashes and eyebrows are given very fine treatment, the eyes are glossy and symmetrical, the hair is perhaps a little flat but the fine sculpting of the strands overcomes any potential negative effect. Not seen in the photos, there is a bit of a hair clip showing at the top of the hair, which is appropriately painted a darker color and given a shiny finish. Even the fingernails are painted to match the lipstick, though here the level of detail and accuracy is just a little less impressive.
Articulation
The articulation of the underlying body appears to be excellent, providing for all the movement you could expect or desire. The shirt and jacket do make posing the arms a little more difficult, and the skirt definitely limits the articulation of the thighs, as well as the ab crunch. The ankles are articulated, but just a little loose, an effect compounded by the inherent instability of high heels in this (or any?) scale. This is really the only annoying feature of the body, and makes it very difficult to have the figure standing in even fairly neutral "museum" poses -- without a stand or something/someone to lean on. If there is anything that bears improvement, it is the functioning (and look) of these ankles.
Accessories
This is a very simple set. You get the figure in its outfit, some alternative hands, making a total of four pairs (relaxed, fists, trigger grip, knife grip), and a single true accessory, a non-articulated gun with painted handle and screws. This is minimal, but to be honest my memory of the movies (and I haven't seen the shows) is not detailed enough at this point to propose exactly what else should/could have been included. Moreover, retailing at about $105-140 (USD) even on eBay, while simple, this set is relatively modestly priced for a high-end figure from the Marvel Universe these days.
Outfit
The outfit is made up of stockings, underwear, a blouse, a skirt, a belt, and a jacket. Everything looks pretty well tailored and realistic, and the jacket is particularly impressive, with pleating and brass-colored metal buttons. Everything comes already on the figure, so unless you want to customize the look, you are all set. I removed the jacket to show the blouse, which also looks appropriate for the character and period, albeit inevitably creased. The belt works well, except for the difficulty in trying to get it to go into the cloth loop past the buckle. The one really annoying feature here are the stockings, which keep trying to slide down in an unsightly fashion and require repeated adjusting to look reasonably well. They also seem a little too light colored and opaque, but I am no expert in World War II-period stockings.
Before getting to the rest of the review, here is a little silent photo story (you can provide your own dialogue) that evolved from the photographs as I was taking them... World War II is not my period, so I didn't have all the necessary items, and this was the only other uniform from the time I had around. So consider it an alternate universe or what happens differently when Steve goes back...
Fun Factor, Things to watch out for, Value, and Overall
There is almost nothing to worry about here, but as always, take care with the delicate wrist pegs. The combination of high heels, stockings, and less than perfectly tight ankle joints makes the figure quite unstable, so take this into account when posing it and displaying it. This cuts into the Fun Factor, as it can be annoying and time-consuming. But she looks great and will delight any and all of your Captain America figures, and probably anyone else too. Going for anywhere between $105 and $140 (USD), the set is not cheap in itself, but for a high-end rendition of a named protagonist from the Marvel Universe this is not bad. And if you worry whether the final product matches the promotional images, you need worry no longer: it does. Overall, this is an excellent figure with some minor issues. I imagine some customizers might end up swapping the body, and that might overcome some or all of these issues.
Where to Buy?
As always, you can search eBay for a deal. You can also find the set here:
GianToy for $105
Toy Origin for $120
Hope this has been helpful. What do you think?
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