Hasbro Marvel Legends - Mighty Thor

I swear, the timing of this review is entirely coincidental and not really meant to coincide with the release of Thor's second movie, The Dark World. That said, I don't mind the occasional happy coincidence! I happily take them when I can. Let's take a look at Thor from Hasbro!

Those who only know Thor from the movies will probably be a bit confused by this look. Not too much, since the movies stayed close to this appearance, but it's not quite the same. This suit was actually designed by Olivier Coipel, who managed to create some fantastic art. In 2007, the Thor books were relaunched, and this was the appearance they went with. Coipel drew Thor with distinctly Norwegian features, such as a broad face and nose and a stocky build. It was a striking difference from what had come before, but it was pretty universally accepted as a fantastic look.

This figure was released in 2012, when Hasbro relaunched their Marvel Legends line of 6" figures. The figure itself, however, is a repaint of the 2011 San Diego ComiCon Exclusive. I figure that's close enough to no longer be considered new. He came in a wave with Steve Rogers (in an outfit you'll see in his next movie), Hope Summers (a relatively new character from the X-Men), a blue Ghost Rider (with orange variant), Iron Man, Klaw (a villain made of sound that's never accomplished much of anything, ever), and Constrictor (another fan-demanded villain but not really mainstream). It was the first wave of what many hoped to be many, many more toys to come in Marvel Legends.

Marvel Legends actually started with a company called Toybiz that, essentially, no longer exists. It quickly made a name for itself by introducing far more articulation than was ever thought possible before. It also created a bit of controversy, because some believed that the added articulation hurt the figures' aesthetic appeal as well as lessening the overall quality and durability of the figures. I'll let you judge for yourself, by showing what is considered one of the worse examples, but I'll admit it is why I never got into the line when they first started being released. They were just too.. jointed..

Hasbro managed to find more of a happy medium with its figures when it took over the line, getting rid of things like toe and finger articulation and simplifying the shoulder joints. Perhaps it was done for cost purposes, but it still helped the line overall. Thor is a great example of this. His build is solid and impressive without too many breaks in the sculpt. What is articulated is necessary to get a lot of poses, but not so much as to be utterly ridiculous.

Thor came with his hammer and a piece of the Terrax build-a-figure (a gimmick I don't care for as I'm not a completist and just end up with useless hunks of plastic sitting around). Edit: Thanks to Colbey in the comments for correcting me on this. Thor did not actually come with a build-a-figure piece, despite the rest of the line having a part. I don't really think any other accessories would have been necessary, and the figure is so large and solid that I don't feel like I got ripped off with the purchase price, which I believe was right at $15.

There really are no shortcomings with this figure whatsoever. Nothing at all that I can complain about. He's a great figure that creates an imposing image on the shelf. I have him posed here with a Mattel "flight stand" which fits him perfectly and allows for more variety with his poses. He does stand well on his own, but I prefer to have him either taking off or landing in his poses, so the stand works well for that.

If you can find him for around $15, I would definitely recommend picking him up. Any more, and I'd be hesitant unless you really want the figure. Without any small parts, this is also a figure that would be great for kids to enjoy. I do love the modern Marvel Legends line, and my ability to pick and choose which characters to purchase, but as the prices rise higher and higher they are becoming more and more of a luxury item. I suspect the future will bringer smaller and more simplistic figures, other than specialty lines, which is unfortunate. The children will adapt, as children do best, but those of us who grew up in the 80s are going to miss our heritage. Luckily, even if all action figures stopped being made tomorrow, I'd still have decades worth of cherry-picking to do. That's the beauty of loving the vintage!