2016 may be the year of Deadpool and Spider-Gwen merch, but there’s another character flying under the radar (no pun intended) and getting far more toys this year than he ever has before: Sam Wilson, the Falcon! Many collectors regret skipping the 12″ Falcon Hot Toys figure released for Captain America: The Winter Soldier two years ago, but now they’ve got another chance: the Captain America Civil War Hot Toys Falcon is now available for order!

…Well, it’s about time. Finally, Falcon is getting some respect this year. Funko is releasing comic book and movie Falcon POP Vinyls, Hasbro is releasing comic and movie Marvel Legends Falcon figures in the 4″ and 6″ scales (and a 12″ Titan Tech Falcon), and there’s even a new LEGO Falcon Minifigure.

In short, it’s a good year to be a fan of The Falcon.

But for me, even amongst the multitude of other Falcon toys out there in 2016, the granddaddy of all the Civil War Falcon toys released this year will be the updated Hot Toys version of the character!

While Hot Toys draws some criticism from many collectors for releasing a new version of many characters every time they sport a new attire in a movie, the 2016 Hot Toys Falcon sixth scale figure will cover Sam Wilson’s look from three movies.

Yep, this is the costume Falcon wore in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man and now Captain America: Civil War. With that kind of resume, it’s actually a bit surprising we haven’t gotten this figure sooner! Those who didn’t like the militarized look of the first Falcon Hot Toys 12″ figure may find that the appreciate this comic book-inspired Falcon with red as a secondary color much more.

The biggest draw for this figure is the updated wings. There was plenty of griping about the limited articulation of the wings of the Winter Soldier Falcon Hot Toys figure, so Hot Toys has gone back to the drawing board and totally redone the wings this time, giving us much improved articulation for more posing opportunities.

…But the wings have another new trick, and it’s a cool one! This time out, Falcon’s flight backpack has a removable drone–“Redwing”–that can detach and fly alongside the Falcon 12″ figure!

This is definitely a fun addition to Falcon’s repertoire that makes this figure a worthwhile purchase, even for those like me who have the original Hot Toys Falcon 1/6. Note that Falcon includes one separate Uzi gun and another gun that pops out from his left gauntlet–I like that Sam Wilson has a bit of variety in his weapons this time out.

As he should, Falcon will include a Hot Toys flight stand with flexible pole, facilitating posing Sam Wilson in dynamic flying positions. They haven’t shown a flight attachment yet for Redwing, but I’d be very surprised if Redwing can’t be posed flying as well.

The one real downside to this figure is that Hot Toys is repainting the Anthony Mackie head from the original Falcon release.

Now, technically there’s nothing wrong with that head sculpt–I think Hot Toys nailed Anthony Mackie’s likeness straight out of the gate–but when I’m paying $200+ for a figure that’s appeared in three movies in a new costume, I’d much prefer an all-new head. Alas.

On the bright side, though, reusing the past head sculpt is allowing this figure to be priced lower than usual, and it’s expecting that this Falcon will retail for the lower price point of around $220–far cheaper than the original release despite all of the improvements.

The Hot Toys Captain America Civil War Falcon figure goes up for order this afternoon, and is expected to be released in fall 2016. Falcon is one of my favorites, so this upgraded version of him is a day-one pre-order for me (and as it so happens, that “day one” is today).

What do you think of Hot Toys’ second interpretation of the MCU Falcon, Marvel collectors? Will you be upgrading to this new and improved version of Sam Wilson, passing on this figure, or waiting to see how you feel after Captain America: Civil War hits theaters?