A broken figure isn’t the worst thing in the world, but boy does it suck. I’m not going to launch into a foaming rage about Hasbro’s quality control standards (though I’m not so hot on the rubbery knee caps) because this would appear to be an isolated incident. I’ve checked the boards on the popular toy forums and seen few, if any, reports of breakage. So, for now, I’d have to just say I’m unlucky. If breakage appears more prevalent as more of us actually find this figure, I’ll amend this paragraph.
I will say that I didn’t put my Thor under any undue stress though and the joint wasn’t frozen – I’d moved it prior. The hip peg just wasn’t long for this world. So, yeah, it seems I drew the short straw. If I’m fortunate enough to run across a second, I’ll pick it up and return this one in its stead. Still, this is getting a Quality Control Spotlight. Stupid broken figure.
If you’re like most folks finding these and end up with a Thor that’s not broken, you’re in for a decent figure. Yes, everything below the neck is a rehash of the 2011 figure, but it’s still a very nice detailed sculpt. Plus, the new head sculpt is light-years better. It’s a bit hard to say that because I don’t think it looks all that much like Chris Hemsworth, but I really hated that helmeted figure’s head sculpt last year. I think it might look a little more like him if the sculpt showed some emotion. A wry smile or or a more angered approach, maybe? But, like Loki, the expression on the face is rather flat.
As for the body re-use, I’m still holding out hope we’ll see the “casual” Thor displayed at NYCC, but I’m not sure what Hasbro has planned – we never did get that unmasked Chris Evans Cap shown at last year’s Toy Fair.
The paintwork is a little rough around the edges as you can tell from the close-ups, but still good considering the level of difficulty on the tunic. I might like to see the figure be a little shinier on the metal areas, but these duller colors work, particularly when contrasted with the bright red cape.
Articulation is pretty good, though noticeably not as nice as Loki’s who sports some newer innovations like the ball-jointed ankle with the peg in the foot. The head is removable, but on a two-piece neck for a greater range and there’s also ball-joints at the shoulders, hips, and ankles, swivels at the biceps, wrists, and thighs, double-hinged knees and elbows, and the mid-torso joint. It allows Thor some great range, but I’d still like to see a waist swivel and something more on the wrists.
I’m still not a fan of the hip pegs plugging up into the torso (even when they don’t break), but what I really didn’t like is the rubbery middle parts in the double-joints. I don’t know if that’s a safety standard or what, but I hate it when Mattel does it and I’m not a fan here either. Before his leg was broken, it was already warped from the package because of that soft plastic piece’s inability to withstand the time it spent in the tray.
Thor included the must have pack-in, Mjolnir. As a Thor fan, I’ve got a ton of Mjolnirs all over the place, but I still like the detail work here and I love that the strap is big enough to be held or even slipped completely over the hand and looped around his wrist. All Mjolnir’s should be that way (and, sadly, most haven’t been).
Also included is an Avengers stand. Now, this may look a little funky at first, but I love it. I have to applaud Hasbro for the ingenuity. These stands are based on Heroscape terrain with pegs added for the figure’s feet. Like the terrain pieces from the game, they are interlockable and stackable. As you can see in the pre-legbreak pic above, just stacking two stands can already look pretty snazzy. If you pick up all the Avengers (as I plan to, save the Iron Man) you should be able to get a nice multi-tiered display going (and you can go beyond that, I actually picked up some extra Heroscape terrain pieces off of eBay last night to build up an even more impressive group stand.
In all, Hasbro cobbled together a decent Thor figure. I’m still hoping we get the one we saw at NYCC and I’d like to see something a little newer with improved articulation, but the new head and Thor “buck” pull the weight here. I know I started the review with a bland eye towards the figures and it does suck that mine is broken, but my intention to return it and get another should make it clear that this is far from a bad figure.
That said, I want Hasbro to do better on Avengers. Right now, the movie is playing a large part in my feeling compelled to buy these figures. Maybe I’ll be more impressed by Hulk & Hawkeye, but Whedon, Hemsworth, and Hiddleston are why I’ve bought what I bought so far, more so than anyone at Hasbro. They need to up their game for future assortments.
And, on that note, we’re getting more Avengers figures, right? We do still need that “casual” Thor. An unmasked Captain America would be pretty cool. A Mark VII Iron Man wouldn’t hurt. A movie-accurate Fury would be fantastic. A Colbie Smulders Maria Hill should be easy enough to do. And, oh yeah, there’s that little matter of Hasbro making only the male members of the team. They can’t really be planning on only giving us five-sixths of the Avengers can they? There has to be a Black Widow, right? Right?
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Nick Fury / Black Widow 2-pack. Make it happen, Hasbro.
In the Lego Minifig scale, we’re missing only Nick Fury. He showed up rendered on a promo poster, so it could happen? Or else Lego was just teasing us for the sake of recreating the movie poster, which could be a possibility.
In Minimates scale, we have the whole team. Well done, DST!
In 3 3/4″, we have to re-purpose an IM2 Nick Fury (who is himself a re-purposed GI Joe), and hope that the Hawkeye / Black Widow wave hits anywhere with some regularity, soon.
In 6″, like you noted, there are some really obvious gaps. I never saw the Nick Fury from the 6″ Cap line, but maybe it was easier to find elsewhere? Really need a Black Widow, now.
In DST’s 8″ line, we’re missing Black Widow again, and an updated Captain America. Loki and Iron Man are re-packaged from previous releases, and you’ll have to hunt down a Thor from last year’s movie release. No Nick Fury here at all, either.
Hot Toys has been teasing a sixth scale Hulk, so they’re about to give us the entire team, just like we saw in Minimate scale.
It’s a shame when team completion isn’t a priority for everyone, equally.
I’ve asked this before and I’ll ask it again–who really buys female action figures?
I’d like to think there are little 10-year-old girls out there checking the toy aisles for a Black Widow figure every time Mom takes them grocery shopping because “she was so cool and pretty and she can fight like the other heroes!” But realistically, the shortpacked Widow was picked up by some 25-30 year old (male) collector. Hopefully it’s for their personal collection, but there’s also the chance they’ll immediately turn around and list her on eBay.
And it’s not like ALL female figures sell quickly. Rise of Cobra’s Cover Girl and Scarlett hit the clearance aisle quick, but Agent Helix was the hot ticket for a good while. Was it because Helix was a better figure? Was she sexier?
What about 25-30 y/o female collectors?
On a side note, that Loki looks surprisingly good for a human action figure made by Hasbro.
Hm. I think I suddenly need more Loki in my life.
Who wants a total plastic sausage fest on their shelves?
you’d be surprised…
but i digress. i believe most likely the average female figure is indeed bought by 18 to 34 year olds males. it’s a shame, but it’s likely true. i don’t see girls in the action figure aisle ever, and i’m there w/ my boys frequently enough that if they were there, i’d spot them.
My niece complained to me several times there was no Kitty Pride action figure for X-Evolution, who was her favorite on the show.
I fail to see why it matters who buys the female action figures. Yes, it would be cool if some young girls were inspired by the likes of Black Widow or Arcee or Scarlet or etc., etc., etc., but the point is the female figures do in fact sell. The toy companies, however, cling to an outdated mentality that they don’t, which is why we’re unlikely to ever get a complete 6″ Avengers team (for those of us who can find any of them, anyway. I lucked into a Captain America and Thor over the course of a week and a half, but it’s not easy going trying to collect this line). Hasbro’s leaving money on the table and pissing of their fans (aka paying customers) with their antics.
Toy companies know they sell–otherwise they wouldn’t make them at all. And yeah, I know the desire for a “complete” team is high–you should have heard the Power Rangers fans flip out when the “basic” (aka not Mega Mode) Pink and Yellow Samurai Rangers weren’t announced at the same time as the males; the girls were eventually released in the following wave.
I’m not overly fond of the frenzy new female action figures whip us collectors into (yes, I include myself in that dirty, sweaty lot). We scour the toy aisles from first thing in the morning to the middle of the night, and when we find a Black Widow, Hope Summers, or Catwoman, we instantly turn into Gollum. “My Precious!” we chitter as we clutch our treasure to our chests, a white-knuckle grip on the package as we scan the rest of the displays for more, hidden by other collectors underneath the WWE figures and clearanced ThunderCats.
And I find it funny/sad that Renegades Scarlett chokes the pegs, despite her being a prominent character in the show and a decent modern Joe. I joke that it’s because she’s dressed sensibly; if she had bare arms and legs and bright red lips, she’d fly off the shelves.
it matters in the sense of the targeted demographic… as in, since the companies insist that the lines must appeal to moms/kids, if moms/kids aren’t buying the female figures, if those figs are hard to dins and sell through more rapidly than the male figs, it verifies that the “adult collector” community is indeed a major buying presence at retail.
My daughter buys some…especially TFs and imports. Rarity I know but true. It frustrates her when the 30 year old dudes snag the domestics up and scalp em on evilbay.
Don’t forget a certain Agent who is the crux of the Marvel Movie Universe!
His only action figure form so far was as a Minimate. For shame, Hasbro. 🙁
YES, PLEASE!
THE SON OF COUL SHALL NOT BE DENIED!
Here, here!…And here again!
A big Quality Control problem. I’m sorry for your action figure.
Who had the stupid idea of posing the action figures in poses inside of their package?
Marketing did.
Good review, even if it is for a “variant” of a figure released last year with new accessories.
Did you manage to find the previous Thor figure? If so, I would head swap him with this guy. I feel your pain over getting a rare figure that breaks immediately. (esp with so many stores around you that SHOULD be carrying these, and they don’t!) I finally tracked down a loose DCD Indigo Corps Munk figure on ebay, only to have him arrive with a broken hip. The dealer does have more in stock and is being kind enough to replace him, free of charge, thankfully.
I do like the addition of the Heroclix stands, which help these stand out (no pun intended), but it also presents the problem of finding more stands for the other figures which can fit in this line, like last year’s 6″ movie line.
i’d love to see every hasbro marvel fig start coming w/ those heroclix stands.
Shame he’s broken. He looks really solid, I would definitely prefer the sleeveless look though.
What exactly is the ironman figure that’s there? I’ve been looking for a good one.
It’s a Hasbro Iron Man 2 Mark something or other figure and can still be found on the pegs at various Toys “R” Stores, which restocked IM 6-Inch figures when the Avengers hit (a side note, but these restocks included previously hard-to-find figures like Crimson Dynamo and Avengers Initiative War Machine).
I just happened to notice that Mattel uses sturdier plastic for their 6 inch toy lines compared to Hasbro’s ROML and this. Hasbro’s plastic is rubbery and very delicate to deal with when playing with the figures. I was disappointed when I found this out.
Considering how hard it is to find these, that makes him breaking even worse. I have a feeling I will never see these at retail unless there is some big shipment waiting to hit shelves later this summer or they make these available on Walmart.com a year after the movie comes out. I had the same issue with the DC Classics wave (which eventually came to Matty) and the same issue with the ML Ant Man wave (I only found AOA Wolverine). I still remember buying Buttons Mc Boom Boom from the old COPS N CROOKS line (hey was one of the hardest to find cause he was so cool and had guns in his chest) and breaking the door on his chest withing seconds of opening him! I almost lost it…
that ML10 wave (Ant Man/BAF Giant Man) hit haphazardly around here. almost every store got one case, and a few others got more than that, with one store in a smaller town getting in an island and probably half the action figure aisle. The only advantage this store has is being right on the interstate and I had no problem getting a couple full sets, other than the variant Weapon X, which was the short-packed figure (and only available to the stores that had the island display?)
otoh, WM’s exclusive DCUC w10 came and went with few problems for me. My main WM store got in a case, sold out. got in two more cases, sold out, then three more cases, which seemed to linger for a bit, meaning the local buyers were done. THEN they got in at least TEN more cases and there are still a few Foragers and plenty of Power Girls sitting in clearance today. they were $11 for the longest time, but a little while back I bought one of each on different trips, then suddenly they were $3! D’OH!
I had two Thors — bought the second one because I wasn’t happy with the paint apps of the first — and ended up returning one because the right leg was so unstable. Luckily, the second Thor was almost perfect. Almost, because the first one’s cape could be used to help him stand; the second one falls unless pegged.
It’s very odd, these distribution networks. My rinky dink Walmart has had at least four cases of these and I’ve caught three full cases and all but a Hawkeye of one case on the pegs. And most normal Walmarts around me have pegs for these (not those stupid new Walmarts with very scaled back toy sections). I’ve grabbed one of all but Loki. And the two Thors, as mentioned above.
The big problem now is that, even for a store like mine that got a good amount of cases, we are finally backed up on Iron Mans and Captain Americas. If you missed the first four cases — a good amount, but not one of the one-per-case figures lasted more than 24 hours except Loki, and he was gone within 36 hours — you might be out of luck now as no new cases may be forthcoming. But you never know.
I wonder if my Walmart will be punished for having so many Avengers by not getting any DKRises Gordons…
Shame about your figure, dude. I’m sorry you had to deal with the hassle. But you still gave a fair review, so bravo!
I do think the head sculpt does look a little like Chris Hemsworth. But I think it would be lightyears better (like you said ;)) if they’d gotten his hair right–the length, the curliness/body. And I completely agree about that damn helmeted head from the fig before–I have it and hate it! I can;t wait till I manage to hunt down one of these somewhere just so I can head swap! 😉
I have been on the fence with getting this movie version of Thor.
Yes, the head sculpt is far better than the old winged helmet.
And, yes, he is big in height, but not big enough or even muscular enough for me.
Thor is one of my favorite Marvel characters, but aside from getting a neat version of Mjolnir that has a great strap, I just don’t know If I want to spend nearly $18.00 on this exclusive. 🙁