San Diego Comic Con 2023 may have been the nexus of the collecting world’s attention last weekend, but there was collecting life going on outside of the event as well! In fact, Medicom Toy made quite a few reveals overseas for their Marvel MAFEX series at the 2023 Medicom Toy Exhibition. And the first two of those reveals have even gone up for pre-ordering already: Marvel MAFEX Phoenix and Comic Version Captain America!

MAFEX isn’t the household name in Marvel toys that Marvel Legends are (due to not being licensed to be sold at American retail and being 3-4 times as expensive), but there’s no denying that Medicom makes some spectacular Marvel 6” figures.

We generally only get a smatttering of Marvel MAFEX in any given year, but 2024 is looking pretty good already with these first two upcoming releases that add to the X-Men and Avengers lineups.

Medicom has given the X-Men a lot of love, with releases including Psylocke, Storm, Gambit and multiple versions of Cyclops, Magneto, Wolverine and Deadpool. And now it’s Jean’s turn to get her first alternate version in the line with the (Green) Phoenix MAFEX figure!

This was a bit of a surprise announcement, as I wasn’t expecting to see a new Jean so soon after the relatively recent Jim Lee 90s Jean Grey MAFEX. That said, the Phoenix Saga is considered by many to be among the greatest comic book stories ever told, so it’s not an unwelcome development at all. At a glance, I think this MAFEX Phoenix looks amazing, with the masterful paint choices really popping. The combination of matte green and lush metallic gold looks downright gorgeous.

At deeper inspection, I’m a little less impressed. The alternate angry, open-mouthed head is really neat—but it’s really the only accessory of note to be found here. There’s evidently zero fire effects pieces of any kind and even zero interchangeable hands. For an $80-$100+ figure, I’d just like to see a bit “more” than just a basic (albeit beautiful) figure included. This is still a “maybe” for me, though, because I really, really like the paints, even with a sad lack of extras for the price.

The other new entry in the line will turn a lot of heads, as MAFEX releases their first classic comic book Captain America version. This is about as iconic a comics version of Steve Rogers as you can get, and I think he may start a lot of collectors down the Medicom path.

The shaping of the boots and forearms of the classic Cap costume look fantastic, and the sculpting texture on the upper torso looks perfect as well. The colors are equally well-chosen and the design here is tops.

With calm, aggro and unmasked Steve Rogers heads—as well as an extreme amount of articulation and the ability to hang the shield on Cap’s back or pose him throwing it—there’s ample display options to really make this action figure work in a variety of displays. I think this Captain America MAFEX is just all-around outstanding.

MAFEX Captain America and Phoenix are now available for pre-order, and expected to release in summer 2024. They won’t be available in US retail stores like Target and Walmart, so be sure to reserve them online if you want them. Will either of these figures be joining your collections, Marvel collectors?