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.
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