So, Binary Captain Marvel, a little late are we? Seriously, this figure has been out since the first half of the year, I would say since before the film came out. There was an online release back in June, and the weekend of my birthday but I missed it because I was busy and didn't check the site! Darn, so I missed out on it. Then in July it was showing up in stores near me as limited stock but that was all lies! Then I missed the 2nd online release, the only things available were the overseas from Hong Kong with the $18-$20 shipping, making the total price about $40. There were rumors that she would be released around August. I made it all the way to August but I just couldn't take it anymore so I caved and bought a Hong Kong one from eBay... only to find out there were sightings of the figure inside the U.S. a couple hours after I had already bought one for almost half the price! Needless to say, I was disappointed. I still didn't see this figure in person (in stores) until September 3rd and I bought two more, the one time I saw the figure in "person" was at a Wal-Mart roughly 20 minutes away from my house. That one had the Binary box but the Target Starforce Captain Marvel figure swapped. Initially I didn't notice, but then I realized that a Target exclusive figure wouldn't be in a Wal-Mart, so I got upset again, such is life let's see if it was worth the wait.
The box is basic, it has the Captain Marvel (2019) logo with the subtitle of "Binary form." You get a pretty good idea of what is in the box, nothing is hidden from view.
The art is almost identical as that of the regular Captain Marvel from the Kree Sentry wave.
The only thing that changes is the bio and the lack of Build-a-Figure "checklist."
"Captain Marvel channels her powers from cosmic energy manipulation to access an elevated binary form that lets her blast down any galactic threats."
You get a fair amount of accessories for store exclusive figure, a pair of swirlies, flame effects for the hands, and an alternate head.
The figure itself is identical to the other MCU Captain Marvel figures, with a couple things that justify buying another of the same character. Not simply a palette swap, as you may have noticed, the arms are translucent. The hands and forearms completely translucent, although my Carol came with a warped left forearm. The biceps are translucent plastic but the upper bicep is painted a metallic red color. It does do a pretty cool fade. The sculpt is identical, nothing new here.
He head is different, it doesn't really scream Brie Larson but neither did the other figures. It's a mix of the Air Force jacket hair and the stoic face of the Starforce and Standard suit figures. The face is done in a more solid colored plastic and it does hold its shade well, up close and personal she looks uncanny and almost like a real person. The lips are painted as well as the birthmark under her left eye. Eyebrows are nicely done but the eyes are the weakest part of the paint applications. The eyes are orange with a yellow pupil that are a little crooked on some figures. Mine isn't too bad, it's not distracting. The hair is a separate piece and is done in a translucent color with some nice color variation, under proper lighting conditions the translucent parts look amazing.
The first part of the effects are the swirlies, which are supposed to be the flare effects that she has make the look complete.
It wouldn't be the same if it was just a semi-translucent figure. They are made out of a soft rubbery plastic, they are kind of loose and the more you play around with them the looser they get.
There's also the "blast effects" which don't really work for me, they look more like boxing gloves but I get what they were going for. I'm not sure how else they could have gotten the effect in plastic form but I guess I'll accept it. The basic Captain Marvel figure from the Avengers: Endgame (2019) line have the same effect, or at least it just looks the same.
They fit into the hands well and they're not loose. They'll stick fairly well, they're not incredibly heavy so they won't weigh her hands down over time.
That's it for the effects, I'm not sure what else I could have gotten with this figure, maybe the lunchbox where you could hide the Tesseract? That would have been cool, or maybe a flerken Goose the cat with the tentacles coming out.
She does come with an alternate head, the marked head with a translucent mohawk.
The headsculpt is different here, I'm surprised, she wears a very serious face unlike the standard suit Captain Marvel and Starforce Captain Marvel figure. The hair sculpt is identical but it just looks better in translucent plastic.
There is one other difference, the eyes are done in a very faint orange color which looks okay, I would have preferred the white eyes better.
There is one issue I have with the figure, and it has to do with one little bit of paint application.
This figure, along with the Air Force jacket one, have the neck painted in the skin tone. The other two have the neck painted in their respective suit colors. I prefer the fleshy colored neck for the unmaked head because it just looks better that way.
But, having the masked head and having the neck exposed just looks strange to me but I guess that was the small price to pay. I just need to get an extra Captain Marvel figure to do some parts swapping and then I'll be happy.
The articulation is identical to the other Captain Marvel figures, ball jointed diaphragm, hinge and ball joint on the head. Pin and swivel at the shoulders and hips. Double jointed knees, single jointed elbows, pin and swivel for the hands at the wrist. Elbow and thigh swivel, ankle hinge and pin for rocker action.
The lack of double elbows is still disappointed, it is acceptable when it's done line the Infinity War Black Widow but not this way, you don't get the best range of motion but it works. It's not as bad as the Wasp from the Cull Obsidian wave. If you have the other Captain Marvels, some head swaps will make this figure look that much better.
Here she is next to the basic Captain Marvel figure, and the Binary Captain Marvel from the 2-pack with Captain America. The effects are slightly smaller than those releases and it's a different sculpt.
Both of the Captain Marvels from the Kree Sentry wave. The hair is identical to the Air Force Jacket Carol and the base body is the same as that of the regular uniform.
Next to the Target Exclusive Starforce Captain Marvel, same body but different colors.
The masked head is different than the other two, the skin toned neck doesn't look right with the mask, I'm going to try to get another base body and see how it'll look.
If you swap the head with the basic figure from the 2-pack you can get a more accurate look to the beginning of Endgame, maybe add a little more paint on the shoulders and ta-da!
I do prefer this hair over the one that we got but I do see the "flowing" hair effect that they went for.
The head is smaller and it's a tighter fit but it works just fine.
Was this figure worth the wait? Yeah, I think so, especially if you were patient enough to pay the $18.95 instead of the extra amount anywhere else.
It's definitely not worth more than $25 considering everything, it is really nice but it's not incredible or super innovative. I would pay more than $30 for a Figuarts because of the amount of articulation, accessories, and general quality of sculpt and paint applications but Marvel Legends is the affordable option.
Availability? Well, some people have seen tons of these in stores, I did too but it took such a long time and it was only one Wal-Mart out of the 11 I frequent so I can't really say. Brickseek wasn't much help either. If you can find it in stores for $18.95, go for it. It's available at the Wal-Mart website through 3rd party for a little over $25 and on Amazon at $25, so a much better deal than I paid. If you can't find any, check eBay through Hong Kong sellers for a fair deal, $20 and around $20 shipping from across the world. Best of luck finding one, happy hunting.
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