Welcome to our review of The Dark World Sif from the Marvel Legends The First Ten Years series of releases from 2018. Sif comes in a two pack with Thor who we will be reviewing separately. If you have come here after the Dark World Thor 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 4/5
As a brand new figure, as opposed to the tweaked older figure that is Thor, Sif is beautifully sculpted and painted using the face printing technology. The likeness to Jaimie Alexander is exceptional, with those expressive eyes and even her beauty spot. The hair cascades down either side of her face in a softer black plastic.
The armour is as seen in Dark World with a silver armoured bodice trimmed in crimson and with sculpted edge detail down each of the pieces. There is then a Roman style sectional skirt and knee high armoured black boots. The painting on the body is quite simple with silver, burgundy and black used and with no washing or added effects. The engraved look around the edges of the armour might have benefitted from a wash, but stands out enough without it in natural light. There are areas where the paint wanders, particularly round the triangular designs above the knee armour and on the arm bracers with silver creeping across the red striping.
Hasbro has a tendency to sculpt Asgardians a lot taller than normal humans. Sif has a little of that, standing a half head taller than Black Widow. But a tad shorter than Valkyrie and a lot shorter than Hela.
Articulation 3/5
Once again a female figure gets short changed a little with her articulation, 16 points in total The key difference to her male counterparts comes in the arms with single jointed elbows that can only bend to 90 degrees and no further. The shoulders are ball jointed and there is a clever movement when these are raised as the shoulder panel moves with the arm up and over the shoulder. The arms end with pivot wrists.
The head rotates on a pivot, and the hair is cast in a softer plastic so this can move with the head. A torso ball joint is included under the chest allowing both the upper body to rotate but to also lean in and out of poses. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and with a thigh split - both hidden under the skirt piece which like the hair is flexible enough to move with the legs. Knees are double jointed and we finish with ankle rockers.
Accessories 3/5
Sif comes with what initially looks like three identical swords. The first of these is just that, a sword. It is cast in silver plastic with basic brown paint around the handle - this is applied quite sloppily too and doesn't fully cover the sculpting of the wrapped leather design.
The other two swords actually connect together to make the double bladed staff/speak that Sif uses in The Dark World. Like the first sword, these two pieces are cast in a softer plastic. They connect reasonably well, but are not quite straight once locked together. All three swords can fit in either hand, although the lack of double jointed elbows does make two handed poses with the connected spear difficult.
Sif comes with a fourth accessory, a small shield also seen in The Dark World. This is cast in silver plastic with some nice scroll work in the sculpt. There are no applied paint apps which might have helped the shield look less plastic and made the scrollwork pop. Round the back are two hoops designed to allow Sif to hold the shield. This doesn't quite work in plastic as the loops are too small to let Sif's hands slide through. The best you can do is pop off Sif's hand then try to attach the shield before popping the hand back in place - hardly ideal.
While the sheet quantity of accessories for Sif is impressive, the quality on all of them is very low and maybe less is more in this case?
Summary
Sif is a wonderful looking figure with excellent likeness to the actor delivered by the face print technology. The armour and outfit is well executed also, but is lacking a touch of paint and where paint is applied there are some messy areas. Articulation suffers from the ongoing issue with not giving female figures a double jointed elbow and that has a knock on to the use of the larger weapon.
Sif looks fantastic alongside Thor and it does make me hanker for more Thor movie figures like Malekith, Kurse and other Asgardians like Heimdall.
I score Sif from Thor The Dark World a strong 4 out of 5
