Captain America's alternate mode is a heavily-armored military Humvee. Design-wise, this mode is very good. The proportions are more-or-less spot-on, with the only real exception being the overly-large "spare tire" on the back end, which becomes the Cap's shield in mech mode. Still, even though it's a bit oversized, making the shield a tire IS pretty ingenious. There's no mech mode extras visible in this mode whatsoever-- even the knees on the back end are covered up by rear bumper panels. There's also a TON of mold detailing on Captain America, to the point where it puts almost every other Marvel Transformer to shame. bolts and rivets on the sides, paneling everywhere, vents, door handles, headlights and tail-lights, criss-cross detailing on most of the front half... it's all there. Unfortunately-- and this is my problem with the alt mode-- almost none of it is painted. The front bumper is painted up quite nicely with some red and silver, and the internal of the wheels, "spare tire" and the front and side windows are painted, but that's it. Captain America has HYUUUUGE areas of unpainted plastic on him that, combined with the odd sudden transition halfway through his alt mode from dark blue to red, makes the toy really look like an unfinished prototype. Honestly, as of this writing the only Marvel TF who has it worse in this department is Thor.
    Just like his vehicle mode, Captain America's mech mode is more or less pretty good, except for one big detail. Proportion-wise, for the most part he's quite good-- his chest sculpt being made from the front bumper looks quite good, and his legs are more or less good too, though the lower halves are a bit overly large. Using wheels for the upper arms makes them look like biceps, which is a neat design nod, and I love how the spare tire "expands" slightly to become Cap's shield, which can plug onto the side of either arm. His face sculpt is quite well-done, looking quite a lot like a robotic version of Captain America, though his expression looks a little too mean, in my opinion. His couple of vehicle mode extras-- his roof, parts of his side doors, the sides of his front section-- either fold/clip out of the way or accent the mold as shoulder armor. The Cap's articulation is also pretty good-- he can move at the neck, at the base of each of his head-crests, at the shoulders (at two points), the elbows (at two points), the wrists, waist, hips (at two points), knees (at two points), and a bit at the ankles, so every major point is covered on this dude. This, combined with his large feet, means that you can get him into some pretty cool poses. Unfortunately, Captain America's lack of paint continues in this mode-- his head is painted up nicely, but that's it. All the other sparse paint detailing carries over from vehicle mode. Which is a shame, given that he has some cool servo/piston detailing, particularly in his upper legs. What really bugs me about Cap in this mode, however, is that his shoulders are on a VERY flimsy sliding mechanism. Simply put, it's very difficult to get them into a position where they don't just flop around and can actually hold a pose, and when you finally manage to do so you better not move him or it's back to being floppy again. It's EXTREMELY annoying, and given the transformation there's absolutely no reason for it, which makes it even MORE annoying. His arms are also a bit skinny when looked at from a head-on angle, to boot.
    Captain America, when it comes to his overall design, is quite an impressive toy in both modes (but especially in vehicle mode). He's got great proportions and articulation, and some fantastic mold detailing. But his almost prototypish lack of paint detailing, odd color scheme in vehicle mode, and extremely annoying and flimsy-looking arms really drag on him, as both of them are pretty big problems. Mildly recommended if you like the Cap, but keep in mind the aforementioned problems, as they ARE major.

Review by Beastbot

*This toy was later re-released in the "Transformers Mech Machines" subline of the Avengers movie toyline. However, beyond the different packaging this later release was exactly the same as the intial release.

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