Orignally posted at:
http://www.zedsjoesite.com/review/thor/thor.html
Thor is by far my all time favorite comic book character, so I am uber excited over the Thor movie this summer. Thor is the one guy I think can legitimately go toe-to-toe and probably defeat Superman. Some point to Silver Surfer, but remember back in the day Surfer went rouge and who finally took him down: Thor. World War Hulk was noticeably missing Thor, probably because everyone knows no matter what Thor will take him down LOL.
One of my all time favorite fights in Thor's Marvel series was the war between the Asgardians and the Celestials. The one in which Thor launched the giant sword right into the red Celestial's chest. Now that I think about it I don't think I have read the story in about 5 years, now I have something to do.
When I heard about the Thor movie and accompanying toy line I got excited. My first thoughts were of the comic line and the potential for cool favorites like Beta Ray Bill, Ulik, Thunderstike, Kurse, and a huge list of others went running through my head. I thought the chance of these characters were greater with the fact that Thor has had so few different looks. Unlike Iron Man, Thor didn't have as many possibilities with his outfits. Iron Man has had literally dozens of looks and variations of his armor. While Thor has changed armors over the years he really hasn't done so to the degree Iron Man has.
Imagine my disappointment at toyfair this year when the first four waves were introduced at New York Toyfair and there was no comic figures. Also imagine my disappointment to find out that most of the Thor Line was going to be repaints. Actually you don't have to imagine as I am pretty vocal about my feelings in my rundown of Toyfair right here http://www.zedsjoesite.com/fun/state/state.html, but I will say (for those who don't want to read through all of that) I am pretty upset with Hasbro in general with the constant repainting done across the board this year.
Anyway it is clear Hasbro doesn't have a whole lot of faith in Thor, in the above writing the exact release set was not known, it now looks like we are getting 4 waves from now until around Jul. No I am not hold out hope for more cause if we were getting more we would see less repaints I think. Hasbro has blown it, if 9by some miracle) we do see a comic series in this set I will be presently surprised but hoping Thor will do well enough is an exercise in futility I believe. Sorry to sound so pessimistic but better to accept reality now than later.
I am not sure why Hasbro would chose to not have comic based Thor figures.
Still does all of this make the Thor figures bad, I don't think so necessarily
I will state up front I actually like the look of Thor here, he has many of the essential elements of Thor while having a unique and different look. This is exactly what I want to see in these Marvel Films and so far with Iron Man and Thor I have gotten exactly that.
The llikeness of Chris Hemsworth is passable, it looks enough like him to recognize but there does appear to be some slight differences. I don't think a perfect likeness is possible though for any actor even in this day and age. It is defiantly better than some actor likenesses Hasbro has attempted in the past.
Articulation is exactly what one would expect at this point. They have added the "look up" head joint similar to Marvel Universe but it really is not very effective on Thor or Odin due to their hair. My one knock (and with Thor its a huge one) is that cape. The cape falls off way too easy and with a character like Thor his cape is pretty essential. Thor is one of the very few Marvel Characters who regularly wears a cape, let alone pulls it off. With toy-tech where it is making a plastic cape that can stay on shouldn't be a huge deal. I mean Odin has a cape that is also removable but can stay on quite well, why can't Thor?
This version of Thor hasn't got his helmet but I can let that slide since (just based on previews) it appears he spends most of his time without it anyway. I have seen the pics of Thor figs with the helmet and to be honest it looks kind of bad, but I think that says more to the movie designers than anything.
However with all these pluses there is that annoying issue of scale everyone is talking about, so let's look at it.
People have said this figure is too short for Thor, I am not so sure. Chris Hemsworth is 6' 3" according to Internet Movie Database where as Thor the comic character is listed at 6'6" according to his listing on Marvel's Website. I think this might account for some of the discrepancy. If you look above Thor is just a hair taller than Snake Eyes, which isn't that unbelievable if Hemsworth is 6' 3". But the big problem comes in when you compare Thor to Iron Man. The problem here is that we don't really have a clear idea how tall Iron Man is in his armor in the Iron Man movies. He can look at Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) at straight eye level, Jackson is 6' 2" where as Robert Downey Jr. is 5' 8 1/2" so we know that Stark is taller in the suit, but not sure how tall. I suppose the only way to be certain is to wait for the Avengers movie to see the difference in the two.
An unrelated note, the last guy to play Thor in live action was Eric Allan Kramer (who also has an unlisted credit in current Thor film) in the TV movie "The Incredible Hulk Returns" and he is also 6' 3" Lou Ferrigno (who is played as the Hulk) is also 6' 3". BTW Ferrigno is also listed as doing the voice for Hulk as he did in the most recent Incredible Hulk film. Just stumbled on these little facts on accent and thought I would share.
Still I think Thor looks alright with the other Marvel Movie toys released so far in spite of the scale issues with all of them.
Overall I really dig the figure. No he is not the best 1:18th Thor figure ever (That honor IMO is still strongly held by the Toybiz Super-Hero Showdown figure) but it is a good figure and a must have for fans of the Marvel movies either way. Not sure about Battle Hammer Thor yet, but he is in pretty huge abundance so I can hold off on getting him for the moment.
Another huge disappointment in the lack of comic based figures in the Thor line is there will be no comic Odin. But on the bright side we do get a movie Odin. So how does it translate.
Decently, I really wished there was more detailing on the eye patch but it works. Doubt very seriously any Hannibal Lector customs are going to be made from that head sculpt. Still it isn't a bad sculpt at all. Also as I mentioned with Thor his cape does stay on better.
His accessories just plain suck, both of them are gimmicky and way oversized. The Sword stupidly splits several times for no real reason other than it does. The shield is slightly better with spikes coming out but the shield is so thick and gangly it becomes unusable. I really wish Odin had been packed with something useable. like maybe his spear, Gungnir or even his scepter, Thrudstok. I am not at all sure if ether of these items make it into the film at all, but either one would have been better than the two gimmicky ones we got.
Of course literally five minutes after purchasing this I discover there is a variant, YAY. The gold armored version appears to be more screen accurate as well. Dangit. Still I think it is highly likely that this is the only stab at Odin Hasbro is going to take in 1:18th scale. As far as I am able to tell Marvel Legends never even attempted an Odin Figure. In other words, with the wide list of characters covered in that series it shows Odin isn't high on the priority list.
To me, in absence of a Comic Series Odin, he is workable. I like the figure, don't get me wrong, but I would have much rather of had a comic based Odin, even if he was made from (mostly) modern Thor from the MU line. Still if this is all we ever get, I like it.
Next is the Frost Giant, well not exactly a giant but he is tall. When I hear Giant, especially Frost Giant, I think of something 20 to 30 feet tall. Still looking over info on the movie it does appear the Frost Giants are not quite as tall as 20 feet. Not sure what may have precipitated that decision but if that is where the movie is going then I guess it works. Part of me thinks that the movie might be going to the area of Loki being the son of a Frost Giant, thus they made the giants smaller to avoid the obvious jokes. To me the jokes are still there but granted they are not as huge as they would be (yeah I meant that to sound the way it does LOL).
The only thing I don't like about the figure is the helmet. It doesn't quite fit right on his head. But the Frost Giant gets major props for not having gimmick weapons like spring loaded swords and crap that has permeated the Thor line already. This figure is going to be repainted to death by most accounts. There already is a deluxe version with more weapons as well as another regular and deluxe down the road. Basically I am saying getting a frost giant shouldn't be a problem for anyone who wants one, also that repaint-apolosa is alive and well even with this figure.
As I said, the Giant is taller than the rest of the Thor line figures. His height is even taller than Hulkbuster Iron Man. Truthfully he is probably my favorite figure of this line so far. He isn't perfect but is cool (pun intended).
I've also read that some people have had problems with joints being loose on some Frost Giants. Mine seems fine but his chest joint is a pinch loose, but not anything unusual to my mind, I have seen worse in the Iron Man 2 and Marvel Universe lines. But I have not had the huge problems of the hip and knee joints being so loose that they just flap when you shake the figure. This looks to be a QC issue yet again but I got lucky I guess. Still it is something to note as I have read enough people complaining about it to take it seriously. Since mine is fine I am assuming that not all of them are the same with joint tightness, that or a lot of people are abusing their figures right out of the box. Then again some people might be like that so who knows.
I would say grab at least one if you are a Thor fan, at the least he can be some kind of fantastical creature for Thor to fight. Army building is out for me at this point cause I just don't feel like having an army of them. Not sure why not but I think one covers my needs. Still I can see people building the crud out of these guys.
Now to create a whiplash effect, let's talk real military...
With Low Light I have seen a great deal said about "Wow he has so much gear." Truthfully at this point with the Pursuit of Cobra line that has become almost cliché'. But what is even more impressive about Low Light is the fact that he has places to carry 90% of his gear which is something I appreciate so much more than having a great deal of stuff. To me, the lack of being able to carry a majority of his stuff was a major failing with Shadow Tracker. I liked the figure but I hated trying to figure out what to do with the stuff he came with. I liked most of the gear but with a megaton of stuff comes the issue of storage and keeping track of it. Lowlight has a slightly oversized pack to fit much of his stuff as well as a case specifically designed for his sniper rifle. These small add ons are something I appreciate almost as much as the gear itself.
My one knock on the figure is those forearm guards. They look clunky esthetically and detract from an otherwise great figure. He does recycle some parts but I will complement Hasbro on the fact they did a decent job of not making it obvious and thus he feels like an all new figure. Hasbro if you insist on recycling molds this is how to do it, not straight repaints like the Thor Line. He also comes with his signature Uzi just as the original did. Honestly this should have been a figure in the 25th anniversary line. There is absolutely no doubt who you are looking at when you see him, he takes many of the great elements of the old figure and brings them forward.
Much has been said about his face sculpt but, to me, I have always viewed Low Light with his goggles on, and thus I just keep them on his face.
Low Light is probably one of the best redecos in the GI Joe line in the past several years. Even casual GI Joe fans should pick this one up I think. He isn't perfect (once again like Shadow Tracker, if he turns his head it ends up in his collar, but at least Low Lights head isn't as limited in motion by dreadlocks, Low Light's jacket hides a slightly elongated torso as well) but he is darn good. So yeah go get him.
So ends another round of reviews, until next time, EXCELSIOR!
Uh wait, that is Stan Lee's catch phrase ain't it.
