Hulk & Thor (Playskool Heroes)
Keeping up with the Marvel Heroes Playskool line, today I want to talk you about one of the sets that have been around since the line launched and which is included in every refresh shipment.
Thor & Hulk are two of Marvel’s powerhouse characters and Hasbro/Playskool decided to pair them together in the same package.
As I have repeated several times, some character designs work well within the Playskool format, while others don’t really lend themselves to the conversion, and in this set we get to see an example of each.
Thor is the one that actually works in this presentation, with all the sculpted detail on his chain mail and the affixed cape on his back. He even has an articulate hammerhead which allows him to rotate the weapon.
Hulk, on the other hand, looks rather unimpressive. He is developed on a tall buck similar to Thor’s, but lacks the overall bulk we tend to associate with the character, especially around the shoulder and upper arm areas. Factor in that the sculpture is a lot simpler and the end result comes up looking rather scrawny.
Both figures are articulated similarly with swivel necks, pegged hinge shoulders, swivel wrists and swivel uni-hips, although as I mentioned before, Thor does get one more articulation point on his weapon.
The paint job on both figures is generally solid, but nonetheless, one has to juggle around a little bit to find a set where the two figures are painted equally well. One particular bit of painted detail I liked is the text inscribed on Thor’s Hammer, which contains the whole “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of THOR” paragraph.
The first shipments of these characters came in open-style packaging, but the more recent shipments include an extra plastic shell that provides some protection for the figures.
Even though the Hulk figure was rather unimpressive in this set, Thor kind of picks up the slack and is a good reason to get this set.
Errex Score: 80/100
Category: Featured, Marvel, Toy Reviews