Harpoon Blade Fandral

(Thor: The Mighty Avenger)

Height: 11cm to top of head.

Articulation: 24 points total- ball-jointed neck; 5 points each arm: universal joint shoulder, universal-joint elbow, swivel wrist; mid-torso ball joint; 6 points each leg: universal-joint hip, double-joint knee, universal joint ankle.

Colors: Molded green, blue, fleshtone, black, gold, silver; painted green, copper, gold, silver, blue, and brown(hair).

Accessories: Sword, Harpoon Sword(?).

Release Data: Released April 2011 at an MSRP of $7.99.

Author: RAC

(more...)


Fandral the Dashing is known as much for his skill with a blade as for his striking good looks. Many have swooned at his attention, but many more enemies of Asgard have fallen beneath his furious attack. There is no edge Fandral cannot turn into a weapon, and no clash that does not go exactly as he plans.

I can think of at least two within the scope of the Thor movie...

They seem to have had a lot of trouble casting Fandral. Zachary Levi originally had the role but was replaced by Stuart Townsend when he had contractual obligations to fulfill elsewhere... and then he was replaced by Joshua Dallas just days before filming commenced because of "creative differences." Man.

Honestly, I can't tell you much about Fandral as a character that's not in the movies, as Thor was not one of my regular comics. As his title ("The Dashing," not "Harpoon Blade") implies, he's something of a ladies' man. Copying celebrities for comics didn't start with Samuel L. Jackson and Nick Fury- Fandral was originally based on Errol Flynn, which comes through pretty clearly in his fighting style in the film. He's very much the merry swashbuckler in battle, a style few enough modern films even attempt and Dallas pulls it off pretty nicely. (Last film I can think of that did it was Princess Bride, and if you watch the first fight scene you can watch Fandral switch his sword from one hand to the other mid-fight- I guess he's not left-handed either.)


The Figure

It's a decent enough likeness, and he's got an appropriate smirk on his face. Where Thor's hair skews a little bit brighter than Chris Hemsworth's, Fandral's is noticeably darker than Josh Dallas'. The costume looks suitably swashbucklish, though it doesn't evoke/copy Flynn's Robin Hood as strongly as the comic original. It's lightly armored compared to Thor in particular, with armored bracers, boots and a breastplate making up the bulk of his protection. Other than that, he's clad in green cloth, with the yellow collar of his cape both adding some color and complimenting the gold of the armor. The odd cape, which consists of a flap of green cloth over each shoulder, holds on a bit better than Thor's since the collar slips around the neck instead of the whole thing pegging to his back. Lastly, there's a blue belt strapping his sword's scabbard to his leg- we'll get to that in a bit.

Sadly, we're back to the old ball-joint neck here, and it's a restricted one which functions only as a swivel. Once you add the cape, it'll barely act as that without dragging the cape along with it or knocking it off the figure outright. The shoulder joints can raise the arms to the sides to slightly above shoulder level, but you still have to be careful of running afoul of the cape when you swivel. The elbow's pretty restricted due to the shape of the bracers, getting a bend of only about 45 degrees. Wrists swivel fine, though. The one very clever bit of engineering on this is how the breastplate mounts entirely to the upper torso, so turning the torso doesn't break up the lines of the armor. Nice! And the torso turns very well... assuming the sword's not in the scabbard. That sword-scabbard combo complicates his movement on several levels.

Before we move onto the legs, let's talk about the scabbard, since it pretty much dominates the left leg's destiny. First off, it's a bit oversized in the way of action figure scabbards. And it's exaggerating to say that it ruins everything it touches, but it causes problems all up and down the figure. If the sword is sheathed, it's going to affect how the arm falls- and runs a risk of arguing with the breastplate and the cape. And it restricts the left leg substantially- though perversely, not quite as much as the shape of Thor's hip armor plates. But you really do have to fight the hip joint to get it aligned to any decent effect at first, and of course the leg can only go so far due to the scabbard.

The basic leg is a bit under par to begin with, judging by the right one. The hip does well, swinging nearly 90 degrees out and swiveling without restriction. Much better than Thor. The shape of the boots does the knees no favors though, with ever so slightly more than 90 degrees of flex despite technically being a double joint. The lower joint barely does anything. The ankles do a lot better, with plenty of front-to-back range, if all the usual swiveling hiccups of a shaped ankle joint.


Accessories

-Sword

A basket-hilt rapier- the most swashbuckly of all swords. The packaging is pretty unforgiving for such a soft plastic piece- you really have to bend it all to hell just to get it out. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be straight, but I could be wrong, because sword and scabbard are both warped in the same direction. Googling the figure shows most examples with straight blades and scabbards though, so I think this is a fluke. It fits his hands well enough, and does stay in the scabbard  fine- though doing so can even warp the sword.


-Harpoon Launcher

Very similar to Thor's Power Sword, except with a T-shaped missile sticking out. Push the button, and the halves of the blade spring open, and the missile launches. It has the same problem with the blade halves that Thor's sword does- they fall off very easily. On the upside, its handgrip is not grossly oversized like Thor's sword's, because it's not as large a weapon overall.


Closing Remarks

Fandral looks good, and has one neat idea- the way the armor is dealt with. But that scabbard, man. That scabbard. I've heard of people cutting it loose from the leg, and it's a temptation... but for now I think I'm going to leave it be. I hate cutting toys. As shipped, it's enough to knock the figure down to Could Have Been Better from its otherwise Good standing.

-RAC