So the 8-Pack Avengers Figure Collection had a Thor in it, and that worked out pretty well for me as I just wanted a Thor figure on the cheap. This particular version is a tweaked Shock Strike Thor, minus his spring-loaded hammer accessory and with different paint applications. I think this figure looks better, personally.
Since Hasbro's new direction on Marvel movie (and Clone Wars, and G.I. Joe movie) figures has been to reduce articulation, Thor gets to be good, but not great. It's streets ahead of the 1990s and early 2000s action figures out of Hasbro, but isn't as spectacular as recent Marvel Universe and Star Wars Vintage Collection offerings. Well, the sculpt is, and the deco is superb, but you don't get waist, wrist, or ankle articulation. You do, however, get 11 joints including some superb double-hip articulation, knees, ball-jointed elbows and shoulders, plus a ball-jointed neck. I can see leaving the waist joint out, as it may upset the flow of the costume design. I mean, look at the hips. It can happen. The figure has sufficient movement to stand or be posed in an action-oriented manner and has no problems holding his hammer.
The deco upgrades aren't obvious without a side-by-side comparison, which I did in the stores as I didn't want to buy Shock Strike Thor. So here's a list.
Shock Strike Thor: Black greaves, no additional paint on belt, thin off-center stripes on leg, silver and red forearms.
8-Pack Thor: Silver greaves, dark line around back of silver belt plus a hole to see the armor through the front, thick red stripes directly on textured part of leg, black added to silver and red forearms.
Thor has a pretty good likeness and a nice sculpt, with a hammer that works well with the figure. Sure, it lacks the articulation of the first Thor movie toys, but welcome to the toy collecting world of 2013. We've seen figures creep up from $6 5-jointed virtual statues to $9 fully-poseable accessory-laden replicas with better sculpts than the high-end busts and statues of the 1990s. Something had to give with the rising cost of materials and the increasing Chinese minimum wage, and thankfully Hasbro still put out what amounts to a very solid toy. I dig how they decorated the figure fairly differently from the single carded release, so kudos to the designers on the set.
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