This item was provided free of charge to us by Hasbro and their PR company for review and photography. The views in this review remain my own.
In the past few years, Thanos has been a regular fixture in the Marvel Legends line both through his MCU appearances but also the comic book look with a build-a-figure release in 2015 to a Walmart exclusive in 2018. The latest version moves Thanos into a Deluxe release box allowing additional accessories to be included. This Thanos is the 'Infinity Gauntlet' version, based on the 1991 comic-book series of the same name by Jim Starlin and with artwork from George Perez and Ron Lim.
Thanos is packed into a Marvel Legends Deluxe box with side artwork depicting Thanos wielding the Infinity Gauntlet and inspired by the original comic book artwork. The box also carries the original comic book 'Infinity Gauntlet' logo and focuses very much on a gold accent colour on the black base.
The back of the box shows Thanos seated on his throne, with Lady Death positioned behind him. This throne is repeated as a backing illustration on the inner card which could be converted with some ingenuity to a display piece for your Thanos figure. The back of the box carries a short but succinct piece of text that reads:-
"The Mad Titan Thanos seizes control of the hallowed Infinity Gauntlet and wields near-omnipotent power. Who can stop this vicious new overlord?"
Thanos stands 7.5 inches tall and is a weighty piece in hand. While the look is similar to the 2015 and 2018 versions, this is an entirely new Thanos that loses the armoured look from the previous two iterations to a more natural muscular body. Each part is cast in the base colour with a deep glossy blue contrasting with the shiny, although not quite metallic, gold colour on the hands, boots, shoulder piece and around the belt. The painted detail comes in around the chest and the waist skirt section and it is all neat and tidy but does present as a slightly different shade to the rest of the body.
Thanos arrives with a standard head in place depicting the classic comic book Thanos with bright blue eyes, an open snarling mouth and bright white teeth on red inner gums. The purple skin tone and ridged chin are captured well and the helmet sits over the head and utilises the same blue & gold tones as the body. As a Deluxe release.
Hasbro has also found the opportunity to include a 2nd head, that of the bearded King Thanos from the 2016 Thanos series by Jeff Lemire, Mike Deodato and German Peralta. This head swaps out neatly and now includes a withered grey beard tied into a Viking knot with gold rings. Thanos is now wearing his crown, a gold version of his usual helmet, but with 9 spires coming off the helmet to form a ring to the crown.
The head is a nice inclusion but doesn't necessarily deliver a full King Thanos look. In the 2016 comic, Thanos is seen as more bloated and with different and more extensive armour with fur trim. If he retains his popularity, then we may see this version in the future now the head is already in play.
Just as important to the set is the Infinity Gauntlet itself, and we have two options to convert Thano's left hand to the Infinity Stone Gauntlet. The parts clip off at the wrist joint and are easy enough to swap. We get the option to have one Gauntlet with the hand open as though about to grab something, and a second posed ready to snap its fingers.
Both are cast in the same gold as the body armoured parts and feature the 6 stones each painted in a base gloss colour with yellow, blue, purple and orange across the knuckles and the green on the back of the hand, and the red round on the base of the thumb.
Despite his bulk, Thanos comes with a decent level of articulation, boasting 19 points of articulation in total. This provides plenty of stances to choose from, supported by a robust set of ankle rockers as well as thigh swivels and the hip joint. It is slightly disappointing that Thanos can't actually fully sit down so if you are thinking about a scratch-built throne, you may need to get creative.
The waist is articulated so as to swivel and above this is a T-joint torso to allow ab crunch so we can have Thanos leaning down to inspect his enemies or his minions. The head sits on a pegged ball joint which can rotate but can't look down or up as much as it would if a pivot had been included.
The arms are where we want the movement to be so Thanos can be posed wielding the gauntlet. It is here that Hasbro has perhaps not gone far enough - so while we do get a bicep swivel, the elbows are single jointed so don't quite bend to 90 degrees - enough to get the Infinity Gauntlet up to snap position but not as close to the head as we'd like. All the joints are tight, secure and keep Thanos in place once posed.
As a Deluxe release, Thanos delivers in terms of heft and bulk and has a good presence on the shelf alongside the usual 6-inch scaled comic book figures. The colours are bright and bold and the included Infinity Gauntlet parts work well. The additional head is a nod rather than a full attempt to recreate King Thanos and should be seen as such.
It would have been nice for Hasbro to perhaps go all-in on this set with a Throne and Lady Death figure, as seen on the back of the box, included. That would have driven the price up substantially and needed some articulation tweak to make sure Thanos could be seated. It is perhaps something we can hope for from the Legends team in the future as the world-building continues.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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