Thor (Ages of Thunder)

July 2, 2012 | By More


This version of Thor comes from a series of comics set before his exile to Earth and the stories portray him in a rather unflattering light, as something of a bully with a quick temper and a penchant for extreme violence.

There was a previous Ages of Thunder Thor sold as a San Diego Comic Con exclusive a few years ago, and this Series 4 Marvel Universe figure uses most of that mold with a different head.

Note that I used “different” instead of “new” when I mentioned Thor’s head. This is so because the head this figure comes with is the same mold that was used for last year’s Doc Samson figure.

Normally, I don’t mind too much Hasbro’s reuse of parts in the Marvel Universe line because up until now they had the consideration to develop unique head sculpts for each character and I felt that was a good way to compensate, but using a previously sculpted head for Thor felt like a very cheap move.

Luckily, the result turned out to be pretty good. After the hair color change, I have to admit that the facial features are a very good fit for a young Thor, with the square jaw and high cheekbones.

This Thor is attired in less belligerent garb than the previous version from Series 2. He wears no armor other than a broad riveted belt with a length of chain mail hanging at the front, heavy boots, gloves and a very tattered red cape.

The cape is affixed to his chest by a couple of pegs, of which the one on the right side can be loosed, but the one on the left is glued, so there is no chance of actually removing the cape from the figure without risking damage.

Even though the cape is dynamically sculpted and reasonably well detailed, it is more of a hindrance than a bonus because it is fairly heavy piece and it’s weight alters the center of gravity of the figure.

Thor is based on the tall male body used for figures like Captain Britain and Warpath, so his articulation spread goes like this:

• Ball jointed neck.

• Pegged hinge shoulders.

• Swivel biceps cut.

• Hinged elbows.

• Swivel wrists.

• Floating torso.

• Ball jointed hips.

• Double hinge knees.

• Pegged hinge ankles.

The joints all work reasonably well. The hair restricts the neck joint a little bit and I really miss the upper thigh swivels from the previous Thor from Series 3, but as a whole the end result is good enough for me.

The paintjob on Ages of Thunder Thor is also good, but not terribly spectacular. Torso and legs are molded in a dark blue plastic over which a black shading wash was applied to bring out the texture. The cape has a little bit of airbrushed grime on it that looks reasonably effective and the paint applications on the head are neat and clean. The only part where the paintjob is decidedly poor is on the elbow hinges, where the skin colored paint fails to cover the black plastic underneath.

Thor’s only accessory this time is his hammer, Mjölnir. For Series 4 of the Marvel Universe line, Hasbro decided to start cutting costs, so they no longer include a numbered display base with the figures, which in the case of Thor would have been extremely useful item to have. Instead they pretend that a small cardboard insert  (Comic shot, they call it) would be the equivalent value.

While I don’t really regret buying this “prequel” Thor, I don’t think it is an indispensable one either, especially considering the cost cutting involved.

Errex Score: 75/100

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Category: Featured, Marvel, Toy Reviews

About the Author ()

I've been collecting action figures since the original Kenner Star Wars days. Nowadays, I still collect pretty much anything that catches my eye.

Comments (1)

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  1. Engineernerd says:

    I kind of dig this version of Thor. A bit different than the more recent ones.