Welcome to our review of The Dark World Thor from the Marvel Legends The First Ten Years series of releases from 2018. Thor comes in a two pack with Lady Sif who we will be reviewing separately. If you have come here after the Lady Sif review then please feel free to skip the Packaging segment which is a repeat.
Packaging 5/5
Rather than stick with the scooped sided packaging of the main Marvel Legends line, the First Ten Years packaging reverts to a standard box with a gloss black finish. The figures are displayed through a shaped window, trimmed in gloss red. The main logo is that of Marvel Studio's First Ten Years, with the Legends logo slightly smaller to the opposite side. The two character names sit under the window in an expanded section of the red border. The names are simply given as "Thor" and "Sif". Across from this is confirmation that these are taken from the 2nd Thor movie, The Dark World.
On the right hand side spine is a montage of conceptual images from The Dark World including Thor wielding Mjolnir. The spines on the side of each of the First Ten Years line up to make a full montage of those First Ten Years. So even if fans open the packaging they may wish to keep the box.
The left hand spine is designed more as a data card and carries a synopsis of Thor : The Dark World. This is in white text over a red box and is headed by Thor's hammer logo. Beneath this the set is confirmed as #5 in the First Ten Years series.
"A Legendary Warrior, Sif fights alongside Thor in the Marauder's war at the battle of Vanaheim to regain control of the Nine Realms. To end the siege, Thor strikes down the giant rock monster. Together, Sif and Thor take the Marauders prisoner and bring them to Asgard to face justice"
The reverse of the box repeats the First Ten Years and Legends Logo's with the number 5 confirmed again as the set number in the corner. Under this sits two circular images of Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Jaimie Alexander as Sif. Under each sits a short bio piece about the character.
"Thor : Side by side with his childhood friend, Sif, Thor strikes down the Marauders on Vanaheim, seeking to bring peace back to the Nine Realms."
"Sif : A long-time ally of Thor and a powerful Asgardian warrior, Sf battles wit a double-bladed sword and a keen understanding of her enemies."
To the side of this sits the movie poster for Thor : The Dark World.
The figures are accessed via either of the two side flaps and slide out in a plastic tray set into an inner cardboard tray that is decorated in more grey scale montage images of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Sculpt & Paint 3/5
Thor re-uses a great deal of parts from the 2015 Age of Ultron Thor. The head, body and legs are all re-used with new armoured arms sculpted for this figure. The likeness to Chris Hemsworth is passing at best, and there while the eyes indicate this has some face printing applied, the beard is very thick and angular and the face shape is just off.
The hair is a seperate piece sculpted to flow around his ears and down his face and over his shoulders. Again it's not quite right and the two pieces down either side of his face don't hang too naturally.
While the head sculpt doesn't quite hit the mark, the body is much better. As with most Asgardian figures from Hasbro, Thor is sculpted as a taller muscular figure and this is enhanced by the solid armour pieces down the chest and into the legs. There is then some very good chainmail arms with the pattern sculpted into the plastic and then painted and washed in silver. The red cloak is a cast plastic piece and quite rigid and this flows from the shoulder armour down the back of the figure.
The armour is predominantly grey but there are gold sections which are painted in a bright gold finish - although some of the circular panels on the chest plate are not fully finished and look a bit wonky.
Articulation 3/5
Thor racks 18 points of articulation, starting as always with a ball jointed pivot head. This has full movement, with the hair section being soft enough to move with the head although doing so does make it look a little odd. The main body has a torso ball joint and this gives Thor the ability to rotate his upper torso and lean in and out.
Arms are ball jointed shoulders, a bicep swivel, double jointed elbows and pivot wrists. This opens up a raft of arm posing options - with or without his hammer. The legs are a similar set with ball jointed hips, thigh swivel, double jointed knees and ankle rockers. THe lower skirt and the cloak do hamper lower leg posing and you will be limited to wider stances only for Thor. The hip joints are sadly quite loose, the left more so on our figure. This makes Thor difficult to stay standing and you will find him either sliding into splits or sliding then falling.
Accessories 4/5
Thor comes with Mjolnir as an accessory, and Thor's iconic hammer is really well executed as a 1/12 scale piece. It is cast in a slightly softer plastic, but the lines and angles remain crisp. There is sculpted detail on the hammer head and then a twisting leather wrap design on the handle down to a looped leather look strap.
It looks like the whole piece is cast in a gloss gray marble type plastic that makes the head look wonderful. Over the top of this is a darker wash that brings out the detailing around the shaped ends. The handle is then painted black with a bright silver pommel and dark brown loop.
Thor can hold Mjolnir in either hand, but it sits most comfortably in the right hand as seen on screen.
Summary
Thor and Sif represent the first figures in 6 inch scale for Thor, The Dark World and as a pairing they look excellent together and are scaled beautifully - even with Hasbro's ongoing approach to sculpting Asgardians a lot taller than normal human characters.
When lined up with Sif you can see there are a few years between the development of these figures and Thor sadly looks a little off in terms of head sculpt and paint applications. The body armour is done well as is the chain mail, but painting could have been better with lots of loose lines and miss-coloured edges. Articulation is great, but the cloak will hold back certain poses and it is a pity that the hips are loose straight out of the box. Mjolnir is a well executed accessory and what else would you give the God of Thunder?
I score the Dark World Thor 3/5
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