Ordinarily there’s a bit of a Marvel toy news lull after San Diego Comic-Con, but that doesn’t seem to be the case this year! Not only has Hot Toys blitzed us with some outstanding new sixth scale figures this week, but now Disney is launching their own line of near-sixth scale Marvel Ultimate Series Premium Figures! Their 10″ Black Widow figure isn’t too bad, but that Marvel “Ultimate Series” Captain America action figure… oh dear…

Most companies don’t launch what’s seemingly intended to be a major toy line out of absolutely nowhere–but most companies aren’t Disney, and I’ve never been able to understand the inner workings of Mickey’s mind.

Regardless, an exclusive line of not-quite-sixth-scale “Marvel Ultimate Series Premium Figures” that will be a joint exclusive between the Marvel Shop and the Disney Stores launched out of literally nowhere this morning!

These “premium” figures are definitely unexpected… but are they any good…?

Unfortunately, the answer seems to be a very obvious “no”. Or in the case of the exclusive Marvel Ultimate Series Captain America figure: “Hell no!“

The idea here seems to be a more modernized and slightly larger version of the beloved MEGO figure line and Toybiz’s popular Marvel Famous Covers–or even a vastly cheaper version of Hot Toys figures for comic books. Of course, toys have come a long way in the decades since MEGO was around, and these new Disney Store exclusive figures may be a wee bit… underwhelming… by modern standards…

Let’s take a good look at this 11.5″ Captain America Ultimate Series figure (but not for too long, lest you go blind): the figure’s neck is totally covered by his huge collar, Cap’s pinhead looks ludicrous atop enormously broad shoulders, and Captain America’s hands look bigger than his head.

While the tailoring on Captain America’s costume is far from the worst I’ve ever seen, I don’t think anyone could consider it to be “good”.

On the bright side, Cap features 30+ points of articulation and comes with a shield and interchangeable hands–but those features feel largely futile when a figure looks as awful as this one. Oof.

Meanwhile, the Marvel Ultimate Series Black Widow 10″ figure looks like a masterpiece in comparison to poor Cap, but is a below average figure overall, in my opinion.

The glam photos make Natasha’s head look decent, but in the packaged photo she looks like a harpy.

Even so, the tailoring of Black Widow’s costumes looks world’s better than Cap’s (most likely largely due to her costume being all black), and Black Widow has a truly impressive spread of accessories including guns, batons, Widow’s Bite bracelets and even electrical effects pieces!

I already own four Hot Toys Black Widow sixth scale figures–and they’re all a million times better than this version–but the Ultimate Series Black Widow costs about 80% less than any of my Hot Toys Widows did and is comic-based and not Scarlett Johansson-based, so it might be a worthwhile addition to my collection.

I’ll need to see it in-person at the Disney Store to judge the head and overall appearance before deciding, but I think there’s a slight chance I might scoop this Black Widow figure up. Maybe.

These figures are both priced at $34.95 and will be available exclusively from the Marvel Store and the Disney Store online, as well as at the physical chain of Disney Stores.

What do you think of the new Disney Store and Marvel Store exclusive Marvel clothed figures line, Marvel collectors? Was I too hard on Captain America, or too generous toward Black Widow? Are you contemplating picking up either of these inaugural figures in the line?