Originally posted here:
http://www.zedsjoesite.com/review/ultimates/ultimates.html
Much has been said about the Avengers figure line since the previews at SDCC, and probably much more will be said before everything is said and done, but here are my two cents from the figures I found early, beginning with the figure I was most excited about, Ultimate Thor.
So up front I will say I loved how Thor was portrayed in the Ultimates. You were never really sure if he was a nut or really the Norse God of Thunder. This gave Loki plenty of opportunity to do what he does best, manipulate people into messing with Thor. The story played out well and worked on many levels. Unfortunately since then the Ultimates haven’t quite lived up to that level of coolness, but Ultimates Thor still has a great look of a wild-eyed man who may or may not be who he says he is.
So on to the figure, and of course the big huge elephant on the couch: articulation. Yes, it’s been severely cut back. In fact articulation has been cut back to the point you really wonder if this is made by the same company that has made GI Joe for so many years. Even the current crop of Star Wars figures have more articulation than this. It’s just sort of surreal to see a figure that would have been ok 5 years ago on the racks today.
What makes this situation worse is when you look at Thor and Hawkeye’s wave-mates. Each one looks like the main figure from the respective movie lines. The major problem with this is the fact that all of them are much less articulated than the ones associated with each movie line and the movie line versions are still on the shelves. Many have said cost cutting is the reason for the loss in articulation, but new tooling’s for figures already in production would seem to be MORE expensive, not less. It would make more sense for Hasbro to just repack the figures from the movie lines than to completely retool the same figure with less articulation. I know some might argue it isn’t cheaper, but it seems counter-intuitive to not be that way. Never mind the fact that these figures look exactly the same to what is on the pegs already. Iron Man has the triangular arc reactor, Thor in his helmet, even Captain America with the buckles and such simulating the stripes on his abdomen. This really does make no sense what so ever especially when all three characters have been seen with different (although similar) looks in trailers to the Avengers Movie.
While I’m trying not to get on a soapbox here, it seems to me that the cost cutting measures were anything but and as a result we got figures that could have been spectacular but were just good. There, I said it and it had to be said because it permeates every aspect of these figures and will probably get referenced again.
But on to Thor, a figure I was really hoping for in the Thor movie line before we found out Thor wasn’t going to have any comic based figures (which I felt was a huge mistake, but is beside the point now). I have to say if you were going to cut articulation Thor is probably the guy to do it with as he is a bit less agile than Cap or Hawkeye. As such he doesn’t suffer from the loss as badly as some of the other figures.
Still, simple things like holding his hammer with both hands are not possible with this figure due to lack of wrist articulation. I’m not so uptight about the loss of the double knee or the ankles as I am the wrists just because it allows for so many options. Also it should be pointed out that in the box Thor looks like he has wrist articulation (created by the seam from his wrist wrappings). I thought he had them and the cries of loss of articulation may have been a fluke, but that isn’t the case. He can’t even hold his hammer over his head in that classic Heroclix pose.
But that doesn’t mean he’s all bad, in fact he’s quite great. His arms are some of the best muscle molding on a 3 & ¾ figure I have seen. His face sculpt has that wild-eyed stare that makes you wonder if he might just be a nutcase and the hair (while positioned odd to afford neck movement) is brilliantly molded and sculpted. Sculpt wise he is just about amazing.
On the articulation, he does have ball jointed elbows and knees much like current Star Wars figures. This helps to keep the integrity of the mold while allowing for the articulation to be present. It’s a tough trade off to be sure, but at least there is the idea that his sculpt is still solid. One of the biggest irony of this figure is that Hasbro seems to have nailed down the hip articulation. Rather than a ball joint like in Iron Man, Wolverine and other movie lines the joint is on a peg that allows for a full range of motion. This is a happy medium between the movie line sturdiness and the range of motion allowed in the Marvel Universe line. It also keeps that mold integrity rather than having to work the articulation around the hips. It’s one of those weird things that makes this line so hard to score.
Of course Hasbro inexpiably took out any sort of torso or waist motion. There have long been arguments about the torso joint, how it disrupts the form of the figure and looks unnatural verses the more natural movement point. At the very least Hasbro could have put in a waist joint though, something to allow Thor to twist around. I can see the argument against the torso joint (especially with this figure) but not having the ability to move his body at all is not a better alternative to me.
Some have asked about his height as the Thor movie figures were “short.” I do stand up for the Thor movie line figures though as I think they were keeping in line with the actor and not the comic representation of Thor (which makes a huge differences as Chris Hemsworth is around 6’ 2” and Thor is listed at around 6’ 6”). Ultimates Thor is taller than the movie Thor, but also shorter than the Modern Thor from the Marvel Universe line. To me this is just right for him as I tend to think of Ultimate Thor as a bit shorter anyway.
But also the figure comes with another gimmick as most movie figures seem to have to in this age. To be honest though, even for a kid’s gimmick this one is lame, it’s a spear that folds out into an axe. Utterly pointless and in many ways laughable, especially when you look at the version of Mjolnir that comes with this figure.
Speaking of Thor’s Hammer one of Ultimate Thor’s most distinct features is his version of Mjolnir which is bigger, brasher, and somewhat scary looking with the Axe on the other side of it. While later Ultimate Thor wielded a plain hammer, this one just looked incredibly cool and having him come with it does make the figure that much better in my opinion.
So how to score this one, well it’s very tough, the sculpt is really great but that loss of articulation is totally a bummer. Still Thor could lose that articulation more so than most of the Avengers such as Hawkeye, Black Widow and Cap. He’s got Mjolnir as it was in the first two series of Ultimates and he is a very good representation of Thor in that form.
So after weighing it all I have to give him 4 ½ stars. He is a favorite of mine, he is an awesome sculpt and he fits the role he is intended for perfectly. The articulation really is the only knock but as I said it’s a minor one at best with Thor.
Now we get to Hawkeye, which is another tough figure to call. If you read the previous review with Ultimate Thor you know that the articulation issues were not as huge a deal as Thor is a big, bulky guy who is a bit more agile than most might give him credit, but if you had to cut someone in articulation it may as well be Thor. Hawkeye is not as easy to forgive though. Hawkeye is pretty agile and can do some very athletic things. This version you do kind of really noticed the loss of the articulation much more than even with Thor because of that. There is a nitpick I have always had with any figure as well, the knee joint is below the knee pad. Don’t ask me why but this little thing has always bugged me when I see it on action figures. Call me weird, it just is.
For whatever reason, Hawkeye is depicted in the outfit he wore beginning in Ultimates 3 (at least that is where I remember seeing it first). This seems an odd choice at first but when you look at the movie version of Clint you can see that he resembles Hawkeye’s look in Ultimates 1 and 2 which might have precipitated this choice. It’s still a cool outfit and works on many levels so it really isn’t a big deal.
One very noticeable absence from the figure is Hawkeye’s signature bow. To be honest Ultimates 3, I felt, really missed the whole point of Ultimates and I was never able to bring myself to finish it. Still I find it hard to believe Hawkeye wasn’t using that bow at some point. A reasonable substitute comes from the GI Joe line with Pursuit of Cobra’s Shadow Tracker. Of course the movie version of Hawkeye seems to have a reasonable substitute as well, so it’s not a big deal as it seems at first. Doing some quick research I found a few pictures of this version of Hawkeye with a bow, so I am a bit at a loss as to why it wasn’t included.
Hawkeye does come with a mini-crossbow and a couple of guns that fit into his holsters. The issue with these are that they are so rubbery and flimsy that they bend right out of the package. The quality of weapons from Hasbro has been going down for quite some time, but I have to say this is some of the worst since the Captain America line.
Still he is a solid mold and fits in well with his Ultimates counterparts. UGH again a tough call.
The worst of the figure though is probably the kid’s gimmick of another spring loaded launcher. For some reason this figure made me think back to all the spring loaded launchers over the years and ponder “Has this ever worked?” Thinking about it, spring loaded launchers were a huge contributor to the downfall of GI Joe in the 1990’s and honestly they didn’t help Rise of Cobra very much either. While here were a few scattered about the Iron Man lines, they weren’t HUGE like this one and they were more of a nuisance that could be tossed to the side easily. I’m seriously hard pressed to think of a toy line with these huge honking launchers that actually did well and as such I think I see a huge issue.
All this talk of cutbacks and reducing the costs, these launchers can’t be cheap and it looks like the Star Wars and Marvel Universe lines are not suffering cutbacks and also they DON’T have the launchers. Could this be the magic solution? I’m sure some will argue that point, but the more I think about it the more sense it makes to me.
So how to grade this one, well he is a cool mold, guns can be replaced with extras and the bow isn’t a huge deal. I really hate the lack of articulation though. He does come across cheap in more than a few places, but like Thor his articulation does keep the integrity of the mold. So with all of that in mind I somewhat grudgingly give him 4 stars. I am taking off one for the articulation because he really needed it. I thought about taking one off for the huge backpacks but I think they are livable (although should be smaller and are made huge due to the stupid rocket launcher and rockets stored in them).
I have to admit though, that was a tough one to call.
