Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Review: figma Thor

Figure Information
Manufacturer: Max Factory
Figure Number: 216
Origin Series: The Avengers
Scale: Non-scale
Height: Approximately 16cm tall
Original Price: 6,296 Yen


Packaging:


Figma Thor follows the same box style as most figmas released from number 200 onwards which is the very plain box with the black bottom for labels etc, and then a bunch of product shots in the sides and the back which goes along with a chosen background color; nothing much more to discuss here since this is how most figma boxes look like these days and even if this is a first for my figma reviews to have the new box style, you'll probably see more of this in the future. (2 more in the coming weeks to be exact)


A good thing to note is that on the top of the box, you can actually see Good Smile Company's logo in there which is a rare case.


As the box style gets renewed, so are the bonus di:stage cutouts which also becomes very plain and in Thor's case a plain dark blue one.


Details:


Starting with the face, I know Max Factory's figma line is definitely not the best when it comes to sculpting real-life faces but I guess Thor looks a bit decent or rather passable to me, especially when compared to, like, the upcoming Age of Ultron S.H.Figuarts' face. He definitely lacks in more realistic details but there is some features in there that somewhat resembles Chris Hemsworth. (The actor behind Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe)


While I like the face, the hair is totally far from being accurate since Thor's hair is pretty much more layered into thinner strands.


First off, the figma rendition is a little far off from screen accuracy since face aside, one would notice that this figma has quite a longer torso than his real-life counterpart although this really doesn't bug me that much. As far as other details goes, IMO, they really captured the armor details quite well but his pants was supposed to have two shades of blue but that just didn't show it here; color nitpicking aside, the silver paint finish on Thor's armor is definitely a work of art and I'm actually quite glad that while the red paints on him aren't as bright as the movie suit, it definitely looks better for my personal taste.


Thor's cape is generally made up of two materials, the mantle is made up of soft plastic while the cape itself is of cloth, it's just too bad that they didn't make the cloth have the poseable wire like figma Sayaka's. The cloth also can be attached in two ways generally but I only used one in here.



For a size comparison, I really don't believe he's just 16cm tall but that is a nice measurement since it does have him stand as tall as the previously reviewed Revoltech Mk V who also was stated to be 16cm tall.


While I failed to take a shot with him standing next to figma Spider-man, Thor does indeed stand much taller than him.

Accessories:


What's ridiculous about Thor is that he has a really low accessory count, Mjolnir (because that's a given) and figma stand aside, Thor only comes with two alternate handsets that comes in the form of a pair of gripping hands and a pair of open hands. Additionally, there's a tuner included which you'll know the purpose of in the next section. Lastly, as most of the new figmas that bear the new wrist joint, you are provided with an extra joint in case you break it; it's a nice touch but really, couldn't they have provided us with 2 joints instead? XD 

Articulation Points:


Now, there's something unique to Thor that most other figmas don't, it's moveable eyes, and that's what we actually get in exchange for having just one faceplate. Removing the front half of the face reveals the turning nubs for the eyes and that's where you use the tuner that comes with the set.



Additionally, Thor's back hair is actually divided into two pieces of plastic which are individually articulated.


Thor's head movement is really great, since the top of the joint is a ball joint and there's still a hinge and the connection port which allows you to swivel. This literally allows Thor's head to move in a great way, be it sideways, up or down or even tilting! Combining the neck and the back hair joints actually gives you an incredible range to make his head look up which is perfect for flight poses.


The arms move like your typical figma arms such that you can fully rotate them via the shoulders or even raise them sideways to a perfect 90, additionally, the shoulder can be used to swivel his arms to a neat range. Much like what figma did with Spider-man, Thor also possesses rather larger than normal figma joint for his elbow and this does allow a great bend.


As this is my first figma review that's past number 199, most of the figmas from that point on uses new wrist joints which is pretty similar to how SHF wrists work, this is actually a nice touch for figma since sometimes the old wrist joints really prevent you from doing that one pose you must perfect. The new wrists now allow you to rotate the hands on it's connecting point now while still keeping the hinge and the swivel ability on the joint's connection point to the arms. 


Thor's got a lot of movement actually such that you can rotate his upper torso or entire torso on his ab or waist respectively. Additionally, much like a lot of western action figures, Thor also has that ab hinge which definitely gives you a really neat amount of body crunching while not so much when stretching out.


For his leg movement, there's a neat amount of movement going on the hips as they are ball jointed, and this allows really great front and back kicks and to maximize it, you can actually pull up the waist piece by a little to maximize the hip joints on both kicking forward and back as well as side splits; you can also swivel the legs by a little on the hip joints which basically acts as his thigh swivel. The legs bend at his knees to a degree that actually feels like those joints are double jointed but, in reality, is still just the typical figma knee joint. Lastly, his ankles can move on a hinge, tilt on the feet connection ports and then rotate the feet on the leg connection point while each of his feet have hinges on the "toes".


Poseability:


Posing is actually where figma Thor shines, it really feels like his articulation points were all thought out carefully as this does allow you a wide variety of poses despite having such low accessory count.


What made glad is that his joints allow him to posed dynamically as well as all sorts of flying poses and your normal hammer swinging poses. The biggest bummer for me is that they didn't make the cape poseable to actually support good flying poses unless you use stands.


And while I have no marvel villains for Thor to fight, here's a little head hammer swing nod to what he did at the start of Thor 2 haha, sorry Gyaos. :p


And finally, as my MCU reviews expand, so will the team up shots! So here's a little shot of Thor and Mk V together~ 


Final Thoughts:

While figma Thor is definitely far from being screen accurate, he definitely has his strong points and is pretty fun actually despite his accessory count. Definitely, among the 3 Avengers released in the figma line, Thor is definitely on top with Iron Man for me, And while S.H.F. Age of Ultron's pre-order just opened recently, I'll be passing on that since I do feel like this will still be better overall and will be a keeper as my MCU Thor figure! Once again, Thor's courtesy of CWToys!

I give figma Thor a slightly mighty 3.5 out of 5.

2 comments:

  1. I just got the THOR figure and I agree with much of what you've said. I would (also)have liked to have seen some more "accessories" (whatever they might be).
    As to the cloth part of the cape - what are the TWO different ways to attach it?
    Those (very) small pegs don't want to go into the holes provided near his chest-piece. If there is a BETTER (and easier) way to attach it, I'm all for that. I don't have hands that are THAT small (or tweezers that skinny)...LOL.

    It IS a very nice figure, with really good articulation points and range-of-movement.
    Thanks for a great review.

    Stay safe.

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    Replies
    1. Hey there, thanks! As for the cape attachment, you might have noticed that the cloth cape has 2 holes on each side, using the pin on both holes or just a single hole will have a slightly different effect on how the cape look like on Thor.

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