Toy Review: Battle Hammer Thor

06/1/11

Back during the Thor Movie Toy Launch, I only bought 2 Thor figures, the rotocast Destroyer and Odin. I only had so much to spend and I wanted to prioritize the other lines since it looked like there were more than ample stocks available of the movie line. With each of the three Thor toys packaged 3 to a case, you just knew there were going to be a lot of leftovers after that first frenzy.

What made the decision even easier was that no one seemed to be rushing to buy the new Thor toys, and the Thor version I preferred was the LEAST favored by collectors; Battle Hammer Thor.

The Thor Movie line is a 3.75″ line consisting of maybe 6 or 7 figures per wave. The packaging is on par with the packaging of the Marvel Universe and Iron Man 2 Movie line. It’s a card-backed bubble with movie photos on the front, photography, blurb, copyright info and the “now-at-a-toy-store-near-you!” reel. That’s a lot of junk to smooshed into the limited space.

The whole thing is functional, if not pretty.

It took me awhile for me to put my finger on what bothered me about the movie line and I didn’t figure it out until I bought the Warriors Three a couple of weeks ago; none of the figures in the line really POP.

It’s been the norm for comics characters to dress as if they were headlining a gay parade, but the new Thor line is based on the movie designs which try to be more “realistic”. They toss that old trope out the window; No brightly colored banana hammocks for these godly men.

As a result, the line looks rather dull in your display. The browns and blacks and olive drab all look painfully mundane next to Captain America or Iron Man. And since it’s a smaller line, the details can’t carry the figure as much as say, the Marvel Select line.

End rant.

The Battle Hammer Thor comes with two accessories; his hammer, Mjolnir, and the line’s equivalent of the G.I. Joe’s Big F*cking Gun, the SWORD BECOMES HAMMER!.

Of the gimmicky accessories that come with the Thor figures I’ve bought so far, this is perhaps the least sucky, second only to Blade Battle Marvel’s Hogun’s AXE “BLADES” BECOME FIST “BLADES”!. The thing looks sort of like a sword, and sort of like a hammer, but doesn’t quite pull off either.

At first, I thought you were suppose to slide up the hilt, but you need to disassemble it (it splits in half) and re-attache it to the top of the blade. Then those poseable tips move down to form the top half of the “hammer”. It still looks fairly ridiculous, but not as bad as Loki’s BLADES COMBINE TO FORM GIANT SWORD!.

Kid’s may like it, but I fooled with it for about two minutes and then promptly lost it.

What I really like about this figure is that it’s a nicely sculpted piece with extremely good articulation.

The likeness is fairly good. I’m not convinced that you would be able to say “That’s Chris Hemsworth!” if you didn’t already see the movie and know that he was playing Thor, but details are strong, the beard is sculpted, and he’s got a fair range even with the hair.

The rest of the costume is nice. Like I said, the dark, bland colors are a problem, but the nice red highlights really make him stand out against Loki and Odin. I love the silver accents on the chest and the slightly bluer bits in the middle.

The best thing is the tassels on his belt. Neither the Sword Strike Thor nor the Mighty Thor versions have them. They add a greater sense of motion to the figure than the cape that the other variations sport and look great when photographing him in action poses.

The joints on this figure are also superb. Unlike the Marvel Universe figures like the Ages of Thunder Thor or the Comic Pack Thor, this one can actually raise his hammer above his head and look natural. He can even look up to a certain degree.

The rest of his joints are pretty standard; ball-jointed neck, swivel/hinges at the shoulders, another at the elbows, swivel wrists, a torso swivel/pivot, double swivel/hinges at the hips, double hinges at the knees, and swivel/hinges at his ankles - all with a decent range.

This makes for a very fun toy, especially when paired up with other toys from the line (which have equally impressive articulation).

Paint wise, you’re going to have to be careful. While he’s very sturdy and not likely to break with normal play (a welcome change from the Marvel Universe figures which fall apart if you look at them wrong), the paint applications can be terrible. You’ll have to really check out available figures to find the one with the least number of spillages or sloppy areas.

Another warning; those of you with scale issues should probably avoid this line as well. The Thors in the movie line are much shorter than they ought to be. From what I remember, Thor’s supposed to tower over mortals. He did it in the comics and in the movie, but this figure is kind of puny compared to the older Marvel Universe figures.

The good news is that these are still pretty much available wherever Toy Kingdom stocked them. Megamall still has shelves and shelves of this figure left over from that first delivery after the launch and the subsequent wave 2. Even after the movie came out and got great reviews all around, it seems that the Thor brand just doesn’t cut it when it comes to selling merchandise.

Personally, I’m not going to wait until this line goes on sale to get the ones I want. I’ve already picked up the Thor, Loki, Odin, Frost Giants, and the Warriors Three, and I’ll get Heimdall as soon as I can scrape together some cash. I’m worried that Sif will be a bitch to acquire since the second wave of figures was seemed under ordered, which means the third wave is likely to be even worse.

Despite the boring colors, the line is relatively well made, and fun. At Php 500.00 (between $11 and $12 US), it still feels expensive, but as that is the going rate for 3.75″ Hasbro figures, and with Mattel 3.75″ figures priced substantially higher, I can’t really complain.

I recommend you pick at least one of the movie Thors and get a Thunder God to lord it over your desktop today.