Sword Spike Thor

(Thor: The Mighty Avenger)

Height: 10.5cm to top of head.

Articulation: 25 points total- universal-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 black, blue and silver; Painted red, white, blue, black, silver and fleshtone.

Accessories: Hammer, Power Sword.

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

Author: RAC

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Thor is the master of nearly every weapon in Asgard's arsenal. The dwarves created Thor's Power Sword to allow him to channel his otherworldly abilities and defeat any foe that dares to cross his path. The unusual blade hums with divine might as Thor charges the internal spike with the power of his lightning.

I'm a little late to the party, but it's not like you're going to have the least bit of trouble finding this figure. Of the three Wave 1 Thor figures that you're likely to see at your local store, this one was my choice because its costume is movie-accurate, and its articulation is not compromised to pay for the light-up hammer electronics. I was thinking of holding out for a Wave 2 helmeted Thor, but honestly he doesn't wear the helmet for most of the movie, and the figure looks better without it, so what's the point, really?


The Figure

The movie's costume is based, mostly, on the most current version of Thor in the comics: the familiar six discs on the torso with some extra trim, and armored coverings for the arms. The trim is more ornate, as would be the helmet if it were actually here, but it's recognizeable as Thor and you can see the roots of this Thor in Olivier Coipel's version of the character. The angular branching lines of the breastplate really do remind me of Kirby's Asgardian stylings, though I'm sure there are other designers they're meant to evoke as well. The cape has been simplified, still sweeping upward as it does on the comic Thor designs, but in a much more conservative way, because they had to figure out a way to make real cloth do that. In terms of physicality, this figure is a lot less exaggerated than the equivalent Comic Thor- who looks strangely Capcom, in terms of proportions. He's still a pretty bulky guy, but well within the range of realistic human anatomy. The likeness doesn't seem like it's quite right- it's reminiscent of Chris Hemsworth, but there's just something... not... Hemsworthy? I can't quite place it, but I think it's something about the eyes- the lower eyelids are too pronounced.

The paint overall is fairly clean, especially for a Hasbro Marvel movie line- though to be honest I did sit and pick out the one with the best face. But because I was focused on that, I missed the red ridges on the outside of Thor's right boot not being painted. It's minor but noticeable; again this is obviously a flaw unique to my figure and so doesn't count towards the final rating. The lack of red trim on top of the right-hand bracer is not a paint error; the actual costume only has that padding on the left. The cape is obviously going to be tricky to execute, because it seems to be coming out of the shoulders of the armor, and the armor's pretty flush to Thor's chest. So the way it works is that it pegs into a socket in Thor's back, and it's up to you to align the zigzag edges of the cape with the notches in the shoulder armor. It works pretty well, and it holds in place under most circumstances. The cape's folds are sculpted very nicely, and it flares out at about calf level. It's very rigid plastic- it actually reminds me of the early Spawn figures' capes. It won't stand on its own, but it does kind of make Thor into a three-legged figure. Which might be for the best, as we get to below.

One nice thing is that Thor uses the universal-joint neck of the later MU figures and a select few Iron Man 2 figures. I wish Captain America hadn't reverted to the earlier ball-joint, honestly. Even despite his hair, he can look up and down better than any ball-joint figure I own and especially the movie Iron Men. As is sometimes the case it makes his neck look a bit long- and that may be why they skipped it for the Cap line, I suppose -but only from some angles. His arms are standard movie-line arms, raising to shoulder level and swiveling fine though you have to watch the cape when you swing past the shoulder. The elbows get a nice, tight 90-degree bend, and are restricted to what a real person would be capable of by a very defined elbow on the back. Wrists swivel fine- he's got one gripping hand and one open hand that really makes me wish I had some Star Wars Force Lightning pieces lying around. The torso joint is possibly the best of its type on a figure this scale- it can bend and hold positions in any direction. Every torso joint should be this great. ...then there's the hips. See, Thor's armor has a tunic or surcoat or somesuch that has a pair of flaps that hang down beside his hips. In toy terms, this means they cover the hip joint and limit its range severely. I want to say you can move the legs maybe 45 degrees forward. It also quite naturally makes it harder to adjust the angle of the universal joint hips, which as we've discussed before at length can be pretty tricky to begin with. This is coupled with not-very-good knee joints, because the shape of the legs prevents a lot of the usual bending ability of this type of joint. Chris Hemsworth must have a hell of a pair of calves on him, I'll tell you that. The ankles tilt well, though the shape of the joint gives the same issues with turning the foot that some of the Iron Man armors have. You can do it, but it looks odd.

Overall, I'm pleased. You don't know how tempted I am to get a spare Sword Spike Thor so I can trim the skirt armor and see if I can get the hips to match the torso joint.


Accessories

-Hammer

It's a pretty standard Thor hammer, that being a stick with a strap on one end and a big rectangular block on the other. The handle is longer than is usual on Thor hammers at this size, which only emphasizes how terribly small the Nerf Thor Hammer really is. If that were about twice as big, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. It's a good thing the strap is there, because the handgrip is too thin and Thor can't hold on to it very well. But the thong is long enough that it can loop around the hand and keep it in place.

-Power Sword

No relation to He-Man, of course. It's a big sword with a very broad and thick blade and handguard. Push the button on the handguard, and the blade splits open to be a three-pronged blade with a clear blue spike in the middle, hence the name. The spike is soft plastic and is removable to no apparent end. As are the blade halves, though they really don't stay on well enough to begin with. It's your basic action feature piece for a movie toy. Thing is? The handgrip is much thicker because it's made of rigid plastic. And rather than use the left hand for this weapon and the right hand for the hammer, they scale Thor's grip to the big dumb sword, and make it difficult for him to hold his hammer. Really bad idea.


Closing Remarks

It's got its problems- most notably the weapon grip and the hip range -but it doesn't deserve to sit the way it has, particularly since it's the most movie-accurate Thor yet released to my knowledge. It's Good, and I think I'm fine with it as the only movie Thor in my collection- at least until the Avengers version comes out...

-RAC