Appearance 9/10
Dum Dum Dugan
The Shield agent body is a reuse of the Face-Off Punisher body with some new straps on the torso. The body is a good choice for a couple reasons. First it is more buff than the standard Bullseye body which is nice to have in an army builder military group. Secondly it puts him at about the same size as the Hydra soldier. While the Hydras seemed to tower over the standard Marvel Legend, Dum Dum Dugan can look a Hydra soldier straight in the eye. The only stark difference between them is that the head on the Hydra soldier is huge compared to Dum Dum, but in a battle scene that could easily be overlooked. As for details, the Shield logo is printed on great, with no visible problems. Hopefully there will be good quality control on these figures and smudging of the logo will not become a problem.
Stylistically Dum Dum looks less toyish than some of Hasbro’s recent offerings, including the Hydra soldiers. He looks perfect next to Toybiz legends though, even without a paint wash. This is thanks to the body sculpt which has an uneven texture all over the figure, which is perfect for the uniform look. In contrast the white straps look a little bland because they were molded white. However the overall appearance is really dependent on the blue, as the thin white straps become more of a division between blue areas than a color scheme. The head sculpt is excellent for Dum Dum, having different textures and capturing his likeness perfectly for plastic form. Overall this is a superb interpretation of the Shield agent, and is much more worthy of army building on that basis than the Hydra soldier.
Chaste Ninja
The Chaste Ninja sports the same body as Ronin and the Hand Ninja. While the figure does look like a Ninja, the figure is not comic accurate. The robes of Stone, one of the Chaste Ninjas, were much more plain and completely white. I’m happy to be getting Chaste Ninjas at all though. As is the black and white is a nice color scheme and will probably contrast nicely with the dark red of the Hand Ninjas. The black helps add some texture but he still stands out a little bit from Toybiz Marvel Legends. Nevertheless he looks excellent next to Daredevil or fighting Elektra.
I was expecting the ninjas to be a little taller, but he stands at a decent height and has good proportions. There’s a lot of paint slop and marks on my figure, but I think it’s the exception and not the rule. On the shelf he’ll look great fighting Hand Ninjas, and the white really helps him stand out. The white color is a little dull though, but Hasbro was probably trying to avoid a bright plastic appearance. Overall the figure will do a nice job as a Chaste Ninja, but I would be interested in seeing an all white version
Articulation 9/10
Shield Agent
The articulation is standard, featuring double pinned knees and elbows, pinned abdomen and swivel waist. His legs can go up about 90 degrees at the hips. He gets full range of motion in all his joints except that his arms can’t sit completely at his sides. Some more range of motion in the torso would have been nice but is not really necessary. His hands open and close, and are both molded with trigger fingers. The pistol on his chest and knife on his boot are both removable.
Chaste Ninja
The jacket over the torso severely limits range of movement. The shoulders still manage to get most of their range of motion because of the openings of the jacket. The hips do not get all of their range of motion, and in addition the abdomen joint cannot move very far. The rest of the figure features a mixture of ball joints and pinned joints. The head can look down but not up, and looks to the side easily, but at a slight angle.
Poseability 9/10
Shield Agent
The Shield agent is very easily posed due to the great range of motion and articulation. The only problem this figure has is the rifle tends to slip out of his hand. With a little effort he’ll hold onto it, but this figure is great for the many dynamic poses he can do. From crouching to fighting this figure looks great, and he’ll look even better when posed with multiple Shield agents.
Chaste Ninja
The Chaste Ninja is a bit harder to pose. In particular the crouching poses necessary for a ninja are hard to achieve. It may be possible though to trim the skirt a little bit to allow full range of motion in the legs. He does look great holding his weapons though, and a group of them will look great. He can’t do everything I want a ninja to do, but he can do enough.
Final Judgment: 27/30
Both figures are great, but the Shield agent and Dum Dum Dugan definitely came out on top. The Chaste Ninja looks good but lacks comic accuracy and the ability to crouch. The Shield agent however has all the articulation and poseability I could ask for. Both figures are good buys even without other agents or ninjas to stand next to. By themselves they can be Dum Dum Dugan and Stone. With other sets they can be a Shield squad or the Chaste Ninjas. Both possibilities are good.