New Planet Cybertron: August 2013

Intro:

When The Incredible Hulk was first introduced, he was indeed the strongest one there is. There was no other Marvel superhero that could rival the Hulk in term of strength.

Marvel wanted to have somebody, who would be able to beat The Hulk, and be believable doing it! Easy, they made him a God. And so Stan Lee and co began to delve into ancient mythology and he was quite intrigued with the Norse mythology, in particularly, Thor – the God of Thunder.

Hence, the Mighty Thor was born.

Throughout publication history, Thor has indeed proven to be a worthy opponent for the Hulk. Any duel between these two would be too close to call. Just like the Green Behemoth, Thor’s strengths and power have increased significantly throughout their publication history, to the point where both characters could destroy planet-sized objects with a single punch!

They even introduced the concept of Berserkergang, or Warrior’s Madness, which would increase Thor’s strength and stamina tenfold! It’s worth to note that The Hulk has still been able to defeat Thor at this level – take that all of you Thor fans…

Anyways, Thor has always been one of those characters that intrigued me. Just like any superheroes, Thor too has a human disguise – in fact, the human host have changed several times in the past -- the most well known of them are of course Dr. Donald Blake and the architect Eric Masterson. Masterson would later go on to be a superhero of his own called Thunderstrike, whose outfit resembled Thor, but without the cape; pony-tail haired; no helmet and wields an enchanted mace called Thunderstrike instead of a hammer.

Being an obvious Class 100 character, this figure is extremely hard to come by in this country and I was kind of lucky to be able to find him at a weekly free market in town, and obviously at a marked-up price.

Thor is released in Series 2, numbered 012.

Figure:

When Marvel decided to release Thor under their Marvel Universe Banner, I was kind of hoping that they would have issued him in his classic outfit – a look that I have long-associated with Thor in general, but unfortunately, the powers-that-be decided to go with the modern outfit instead, but I ain’t complaining.

Having said that, it’s not to say that this outfit is in any way inferior to his classic costume – sure, this newer version costume may seem a bit duller in color, but it is definitely way more detailed.

The designs are so intricate: the armor and mails are intricately carved onto the body, with the ripples of the clothes and capes are done perfectly.

The cape is planted permanently onto the chest of the figure, with it swaying more to the left.

The head sculpt is nice, though I do feel that the nose seems to be a little bit flat. The wings on the helmet don’t seem to be evenly leveled – the left one seems to be higher than the right.

Beta Ray Bill and Thor

Both hands are sculpted differently too, with his right hand being made to hold his mystic hammer – Mjolnir, while his left hand is just a fist.

Thor vs Beta Ray Bill

Articulation-wise, Thor encompasses almost all range of movements predominant in this line, inclusive of a waist joint. My only complaints of this figure, in terms of his articulations would be his head. Due to the design of the head sculpt; although it can rotate quite easily, it can’t really look up or down. Those movements have been severely limited by his hairs.

Thor vs Hulk

Still, you’d probably have loads of fun pitting him against various iconic foes such as Beta Ray Bill (who is his equal in every single way) and Hulk (whom I would still root for in any of their fights).

Hulk!!! Thor uppercuts thee...

... but Hulk Smash Puny God

Of course, Thor would not be Thor without his trusty mystical hammer – Mjolnir. Some may argue that most of Thor’s powers come from the hammer. Without it, Thor would be severely handicapped, as depicted when he first encountered Beta Ray Bill, when the later wielded it against Thor.

The hammer is very detailed, with countless dints and cracks, battle-worn to the max – absolutely fantastic.

Also, just like any Series 2 figures, Thor also comes with an envelope containing his Superhuman Registration Act card; a top secret letter from Dr. Lauren Dean to Tony Stark, with a note from Norman Osborn; and also a stand.

Thor, of course, do not require the stand, though it might come handy when posing him in several tricky poses.

All in all, it’s a fantastic figure.

Summary:

In the end, Thor is a really good figure. Thor fans would definitely love it, though finding one in this part of the world may require some hard work.

The movement limitation of his head is a major concern, because with it, it could really brought Thor into a whole different ball game with the several poses that I have in mind for him.

Still, comparatively, it’s a minor complain when compared to the numerous pros that this figure has.

Recommended.

Final verdict, 9/10.