The character being sold as Marvel's Falcon has been around for quite a while. Back in the 1970s, he got a Mego figure! That may not sound like much, but consider that it's not terrible common for a brand-new entry from Marvel to get a figure in under a decade - unless it's in a movie. And, coincidentally, Sam Wilson is indeed in a lot of movies lately. He was even the title character in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which managed to keep the hero's high-flying powers after his appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but his pal Redwing was just a little drone there. Which, honestly, probably makes a heck of a lot more sense in terms of the audience being worried about his pet.
Hasbro did a nicer job with Falcon than with some other figures, but still, he's not perfect. Once more, Hasbro used the "bigger" male buck used for Captain America and Loki, this time adding a new head, a wing backpack, and a bird. You get more interesting stuff in the package this time, as opposed to the usual zero accessories. Redwing easily clips on to his wrist, so you won't lose the little guy too easily. The two-part unpainted red plastic wings fold up nicely, rotating out as you see fit. In many respects, Sam here looks a lot like an alternate-universe low-budget take on Kenner's old Silverhawks figures, which had pop-out arms connected to wings and most of them also had bird companions of some sort. For that reason, this 2022 figure might not be exactly how Kenner of old would have done Falcon. But hey, it's consistent with the other retro guys.
The new head sculpt is good with a costume that's translated about as well as it could be to this body type on a minimal budget. In the comics, you can see Falcon's boots have some fringe on them, plus talon-like markings on the feet. Here, the basic forms are replicated on his shoes but they look a bit more like fancy slippers, and the white on his boots look less like feathery feet fringe than they do odd socks. It's a good translation of the costume when all they had were pennies in the budget for paint rather than newly-tooled feet, but I have to admit they do look a little silly. The vest is painted-on and mostly looks pretty good - the red doesn't extend over the shoulders to the figure's back, and I also think Kenner would have painted it back in the old days. The enhanced f-like adornments look good, as do the figure's white gloves. It's close. The head is also pretty excellent, with nicely textured hair, a mask, and a bird crest between his eyes that looks like it misses the mark just a tiny bit. As anyone who had Kenner toys in the 1970s and 1980s can tell you, "close but wrong" is on-point for Kenner accuracy - if it were perfect, it'd feel wrong.
Back in the 1980s, Mego were kings of putting out figures with the same bodies on a budget - and Hasbro tried to adopt that principle when making its retro Marvel line in the 2020s. In most respects, I think they captured the spirit of the character while mostly maintaining what Kenner probably would have done back in the day. There are no action figures to speak of, but at least you get wings and a bird buddy - that would make this one of the more exciting entries in the line. It's not like Spider-Man comes with a radioactive spider, and while the Green Goblin has his glider they left out the pumpkin bomb. I held off opening Falcon for a while, but I'm glad I got him. He's fun, he has accessories that demand you play with them, and he's just a little bit better than a figure that looks good standing around. Within the tooling budget given to Hasbro for this line, this may be one of the best opportunities they had to stretch their wings. (Yeah yeah, I know.) Get him while you can still see him at a decent price.
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