Battle Hammer Thor
Well, once I got over the articulation hurdle, I began getting more of the Avengers movie line figures by Hasbro, with yet another Thor action figure leading the charge.
This time what I got was the wave 1 Battle Hammer Thor (02), from the line’s Comic Series. This Thor design is inspired by his appearance in the Ultimates comic titles, therefore Thor is attired in a much more practical manner than his regular armored, cape-wearing self.
Right out of the gate, the sculpture is really great. This Thor is taller and more muscular than any other Thor figure I have. The costume has a nice amount of sculpted details and leather-like textures and the head sculpt is also very impressive and full of character although the hair is a bit of a letdown for a couple of reasons. The arms are very muscular and nicely sculpted, but they also have rather large R’s and L’s carved on the inside of each piece, which mars an otherwise excellent sculpture.
The articulation, unfortunately, follows the new design limitations set for the other figures in this line, consisting of:
• Ball jointed neck.
• Pegged hinge shoulders.
• Pegged hinge elbows.
• Pegged hinge hips.
• Upper thigh swivels.
• Pegged hinge knees.
The neck joint function only as a side-to-side swivel because the post goes too far into the head, but the rest of the joints work well, even though none of the limbs actually bends to 90° because of the way the joints were integrated into the design.
The paintjob on Battle Hammer Thor is relatively simple. The body was cast in a very dark blue plastic and a pearlescent blue wash was applied to it, adding some glitter. The boots and belt are painted in metallic bronze color and the disks on his torso display a very subtle color gradient from light blue to white.
Arms and head were molded in flesh colored plastic, while the hair is a separate piece made of yellow rubber. The arms have no paint on them other than some brown for the bracers, but on the face the eyes and eyebrows are painted on, as well as a short-ish beard painted in a light brown hue.
The hairpiece, on the other hand, was given a very irregular wash with the same color used for the beard, and some lighter yellow highlights smeared haphazardly. The overall looks is that of a hobo with nacho cheese on top of his rather filthy hair, but it is a look that kind of works for this incarnation of Thor.
As far as accessories go, Battle Hammer Thor comes with his trusty Mjölnir (which is actually an axe), and another thing with an expanding head. This last one could be classed as some sort of halberd, I think, but it definitely isn’t a hammer. The contraption works well though and it actually looks good on it’s own, unlike most other of these action accessories included with figures.
In the end, I get the feeling that Battle Hammer Thor could have been a truly great action figure because of the sculpting and the overall character design, but the diminished articulation really drags him down to just OK.
Errex Score: 75/100
Category: Featured, Marvel, Toy Reviews
About the Author (Author Profile)
I've been collecting action figures since the original Kenner Star Wars days. Nowadays, I still collect pretty much anything that catches my eye.Subscribe
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The nacho cheese comparison would be funnier if it wasn’t so true.
It’s my favorite line from a toy review ever.