Review : Marvel Select Thor - Avengers, Age of Ultron (Diamond Select)

Aside from Black Widow, Diamond's Age of Ultron releases were met with let's say lukewarm enthusiasm from fans and collectors. With three figure slots, Diamond chose to release one new figure (Widow), one tweak (Hulk) and one repaint (Thor). Thor was released in August 2015 and arrives in the standard Diamond Packaging. The usual glorious art-work adorns the side and their is further images on the cardback with blurb about the character. Down to the right of the cardback are images of the other three Age of Ultron figures - although Black Widow is not an image of the figure but rather an action shot of Scarlett Johansson with a "not actual product" footnote.

The grey scheme along with the continuing Avengers Initiative badge matches nicely to the Hulk which came out a few months earlier. It also matches the Ant-Man release and will also match the Widow packaging when she arrives in later August. Once unpacked you will find the Thor figure, with Mjolnir already in his right hand, and a base piece which we will talk about later. Thor is a straight up repaint of the 2013 Dark World Thor release. The figure stands an impressive 8" high and the sculpt is particularly strong and a better likeness than the original 2011 Thor figure from Diamond. The armour is nicely sculpted down the torso and into the chainmail legs and knee high boots. The arms are bare arms, and are suitably muscled for the God of Thunder, ending in bracers. The right hand is sculpted to hold Mjolnir and the left is open to bring the Thunder. The cloak flows nicely off the shoulders down to the floor and is sculpted in a relatively solid rubber/plastic. Articulation is always limited on Diamond figures, but that is not necessarily a bad thing as the figures can always get into a half decent display pose, and Thor is no different. Starting feet upwards there are ankle rockers to allow Thor to stand solidly. The knees bend, the thighs swivel and the hips are on a ball joint - despite this the legs can't really do much other than a neutral stance. Even with a bent knee, Thor can't kneel due to the solid rubber cloak. There is no waist joint, but there is a Torso joint which allows Thor to lean to either side to a small degree. The arms have the widest range of movement allowing Thor to hold his arms to a 90 degree position to his body with bicep swivel, elbow joints and wrist swivel. The only downside is the ability to get Thor's arm raised above his head in a Lightning summoning pose. The arm looks like it can do this, but it is blocked by the cloak. Paint on this figure is the only difference between this release and the Dark World Thor. However in this case I feel the head paint is much crisper and brings out a better likeness to Chris Hemsworth, The armour paint is however a little sloppier with some bleed on mine between the silver and the darker areas, and also on the bracers where the skin tone has bled onto the metal area of the bracer. I honestly prefer the silver trim on this armour to the Dark World gold, so for me I think this is the closest we have got to a true Avengers Thor in Diamond 7" scale - but to make it perfect I would have preferred the armoured arms. The base section is a hefty chunk of plastic and joins up with the Widow piece to make a diorama base which is obviously themed around the final battle on Age of Ultron. The piece contains various bits of debris, including what looks like sand-bags and ammo boxes. There are no peg holes, so Thor can stand anywhere on the base, and once Widow arrives we will update the gallery and this review to confirm how the full piece stacks up. So there he is, the 3rd Thor in the Marvel Select Cinematic Universe range. Yes, people will feel he is a wasted release - but if the economics of getting Widow (who will be the star of the 2015 figures) meant all Diamond could do were tweaks and repaints for the other slots, then I am happy with that. Dark World Thor scored a 4 out of 5 when I reviewed him, and there is nothing here to change that score. If you don't have a Thor yet, then this is the best one that is out there and like all Marvel Cinematic figures from Diamond I would pick him up now as the majority of prior releases are now seeing hefty prices on the secondary market.