So, judging by the comments, the last two major entries in my more-than-complete Guardians of the Galaxy were barely noticed (Major Victory and Mantis, if you haven't seen them, check'em out and tell me what you think! Cosmo the Space Dog got a lot of attention, but then everyone loves dogs), so maybe y'all will like the next figure in the series. And what's not to like about yet another Captain America homage? Heck, this guy actually ran with Cap back in the day, and was a proud teen member of Cap's hero hotline! Oh, he's a boy scout alright, but he's had an interesting (and obscure, and convoluted) journey, one that ultimately led him out into space to join Star-Lord's guardians. Let's hear it for Jack Flag!

From the outset, the modern Guardians of the Galaxy was a team comprised largely of forgotten characters or second-stringers. Notably, the five most iconic members of the group (the movie heroes, Star-Lord, Drax, Gamora, Rocket, and Groot) had all, at one point or another in their careers, been absent and unpublished in Marvel comics for a decade or more, prior to banding together as the world-renowned team of cosmic heroes they've now become. Some members of the extended team (Adam Warlock, Phyla-Vell, Moondragon) have been a bit more fortunate over the years, but many of the backup team members are even more obscure than the leads!

Take Jack Flag here. A kid sidekick on a TEAM of kid sidekicks, back in the 90s. His powers are identical to Captain America (from a different source, but still), his name is equally patriotic, his costume was just a modern take on Cap's threads, the guy was pretty much destined to be forgotten. And he was. Until the Civil War, when the writers decided to put the last nail in the coffin by skewering the guy with a sword, severing his spine and paralyzing him. And then dumping him in the Negative Zone. Bye Jack. You're a forgotten loser, and we're literally dumping you where forgotten losers belong.

And then, lo and behold, he gets rescued from the lame duplicate dumping ground by Star-Lord himself, he gets himself all healed up - because this is comics and paralysis ain't no big thing, just ask Professor X . . . over and over and over again - and suddenly he's on a looney cosmic adventure (which he HATES, by the way), saving the universe from an intergalactic imperial war and SPACE CANCER!! 'Cuz again, this is comics, and that IS a thing, apparently.

Point is, he's a second-stringer among second-stringers, a footnote in the chronicles of more important heroes, a character even Marvel trivia buffs look at and say, "Huh? Who?" He's so forgettable, even the artists for Guardians of the Galaxy couldn't depict him with any kind of consistency. The guy never kept the same exact look from issue to issue, someone was always changing his mask, or his shirt hemline, or his boots, or his colors, and finding reference art for the guy was an exercise in frustration. So I finally kinda shrugged and decided to build him however I wanted. As a result, my Jack Flag figure is less a straight rendition of the Guardians character, but rather a pastiche of what I feel are the character's best costume accents, mixed into a coherent whole.

This figure is an original, ML Series 1 Captain America, resculpted from head to knees. I added muscles to his thighs (Cap's were a little anemic), a loose jacket front, raised hem lines, and a fully sculpted head. I'm particularly pleased with how the hair came out, though it doesn't show up as well in photos. In person, it looks awesome.

On the negative side, he is one of only two figures in the set that doesn't have an unmasked head to swap (not counting Major Victory, his mask doesn't come off). On the plus side, like Mantis, he's very well balanced, and can handle a free-standing running pose on one leg with no external support. Maybe I'll make him a second head in the future. *shrugs*

Excelsior!