Review of Odinson, Hela, Loki, Hulk
Marvel Legends Thor Ragnarok action figures

Introduction

There's plenty of good movies coming out in the next six weeks - Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Flatliners, Blade Runner 2049...but none have me anticipating quite like Thor: Ragnarok. This is particularly unusual, because while it's part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I love the MCU just as much as the next nerd, the Thor installments have been some of my least favorite.

All that might just change with this release. Start with a more mature, battle weary Thor, add in a dash of Jeff Goldblum, mix in several bad ass female protagonists and antagonists, and top it off with a lovely swirl of the Hulk, and you have all the right ingredients. Now let's see if they can get the recipe perfected.

I'm finishing off my look at the Marvel Legends wave attached to this film with Hela, Loki, Odinson, and the BAF: the Hulk. Three of these four - excluding Odinson - are based on their look in the new film.

You can find them at most mass market retailers like Target or Meijer right now, and they'll run you around $20 each.

Packaging - ***1/2
The packaging is more of the same, as you'd expect. It's all collector friendly, and it shows off the figures and accessories nicely. They're pretty easy to pick out on the shelf from the previous waves, but I do think they need to come up with something a bit more striking to differentiate each wave. There's at least four different waves of figures on the pegs right now, and that's being conservative. A more obvious marking for each to indicate which wave they belong to would go a long way to easing the search for new figures.

Sculpting - Odinson **1/2; Loki ***; Hela, Hulk ****
There was a surprise in this batch - a recent Marvel Legend figure that disappointed me. For the most part, Hasbro has been kicking butt with the line for at least 18 months now, with great wave after great wave.

But this time around, Odinson left me cold. Let's face it, with these comic based characters the bodies are generally straight forward, with just minimal sculpting to create the look. That's true here as well, but the little details like the belt and cape do look good. I even like the Conan-like portrait, all gruff and steely. But that hair, oh, that hair. It's a soft sculpt with little detail, and it's merely plopped down on the head like a bad hat. It even has a wet, matted look, and they tried to give it a little of the wind swept dynamic, but that doesn't work for me either. Ugh.

Then there's Loki, a figure based on his look in the upcoming film. Most of their newer 'real' characters have nice portraits, and the detail is here...but it's not quite Loki. He has a pinched, sour expression, like he just sucked a lemon. It's not as bad as Odinson, and in hand it looks better than in macro photos, but it's still pretty average work. It also doesn't help that his cape attachment is terrible. There's two small pegs at each shoulder, and the soft rubber simply doesn't want to stay in place.

Ah, but Hela and Hulk make up for any short comings of the other two. The movie accurate Hela portrait is very pretty, and looks very recognizable. The detailing on the specific costume is excellent, and her cape attachment - with a single peg in the back - works much better than Loki's. She's also boosted by two head sculpts, masked and unmasked, and both look terrific. I was surprised by how much I like the unmasked look (that cowl is so damn cool) but that's due in part to the excellent paint. I do have a nit around her ugly shoulders, but I'm going to take them to task for it in the Articulation section.

And yes, this is a great looking Hulk. Like several other recent BAF's, he makes picking up the less than stellar figures like Odinson, or those that are perhaps less popular, like Ares, a no brainer. His bulky body looks great, and while this head sculpt looks familiar, it's still an excellent rendition. The sculpt doesn't get in the way of the articulation, and the various costume pieces have excellent detail work.

Paint - Hulk, Loki, Odinson ***1/2; Hela ****
As I just mentioned, Hela has some great paint work on her face. It's hard to see in hand, but she even has the subtle veins or lines in her forehead - think 'lightning' - and the work on the eyes themselves is excellent. The white skin looks amazing, and there is almost no slop on the costume.

The other three are a bit more straight forward, but all have clean work. The best of the three is the Hulk, with his funky war paint. The dude even has proper chest hair!

Articulation - Hela ***; Odinson, Hulk, Loki ****
These are Marvel Legends - that means excellent articulation. And for the most part, they live up to the expectation.

There's no surprises with Hulk, Odinson, and Loki. The joints are tight and highly mobile, making them all very posable. The longer hair on Loki restricts the neck a little, but they've used a softer plastic making it less of an issue. Both Hulk and Odinson have no such issue at all, and even the armor and other costume pieces on the Hulk leave him plenty posable. They can take natural stances, and even deep stances work thanks to the great rocker movement in the ankles.

Hela is a little less articulated, like many of the female figures. She lacks the ab-crunch or cut waist, making her upper body stiff. It's not a deal breaker, but she gets dinged for it.

Her bigger issue is those damn shoulders. While they allow for some good arm poses, the odd looking gaps are ugly, hurting the overall appearance.

Accessories - Loki, Odinson ***; Hela, Hulk ****
Regular readers know that having a BAF piece - or two - gets you an automatic **1/2 stars in this category. Of course, if you're not interested in the BAF, it's not as valuable to you, but who's not interested in the movie Hulk?

Loki adds in his cape and his helm. This would normally result in a higher score (higher than ***) for him, but as I mentioned earlier, the cape attachment design is weak. The helm itself isn't bad, made from a soft plastic, but this same soft plastic can mean a weird fit from certain angles.

Odinson only has one extra, but it's a nice one - the large ax. He can work with it in one or two handed poses, and it's quite impressive. You can also count his cape, if you'd like - it is removable, if you pop off his head. It's the best cape of the entire wave, thanks to the less than stellar way most of them attach to their respective figure.

Hela wins with the regular release figures, thanks to her sword, her cape, AND her extra head sculpt. I love it when we get a second portrait, and this one kicks all kinds of butt.  Swapping is easy as well.

The Hulk is an accessory himself, so when he gets accessories too, that's a huge plus. Here he has his helmet and two large hammers. These look terrific, although I am a little worried about the softer plastic used with the hammers. They could wilt over time, particularly in warmer environments.

You could also count his shoulder armor as an accessory, since you can pop off his arm and remove it - or never put it on in the first place. All in all, that's quite a few extras for a BAF, who are lucky to get any.

Fun Factor - ****
Marvel Legends are tons of fun, thanks to the excellent build quality (no breakage these days!), tremendous articulation, and smart accessories. Kids will love these, particularly the movie based figures, and adult collectors will enjoy adding them to the display.

Value - ***
They are holding steady at around $20, perhaps a couple bucks cheaper depending on the retailer. While the costs of production have decreased - thanks to cheaper oil - they've put those savings back into better quality plastic, better quality sculpts, and better quality paint work.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - ***1/2
Another excellent wave, although Odinson leaves me cold. I like the costume, and the ax is neat, but that flat, wet looking hat hair of his just kills the overall look for me.

Loki has the pinched expression, but it's not that bad in hand. I'm assuming this new costume will be pretty sweet on screen as well, and having a Ragnarok movie rendition is a nice addition to the shelf.

The winners are Hela and Hulk, both movie versions as well.  It's always great to get a cool Hulk figure, and I love the costume on this one. It's very Planet Hulk in it's theme, and posing him with the movie Thor makes a great set up.

Hela is all around cool, even with her articulation issues. The two head sculpts are both well done, but it's the unmasked portrait that really wowed me.  When Hasbro wants to do great female figures, they certainly can!

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - Odinson **1/2; Loki ***; Hela, Hulk ****
Paint - Hulk, Odinson, Loki ***1/2; Hela ****
Articulation - Hela ***; Odinson, Hulk, Loki ****
Accessories - Loki, Odinson ***; Hela, Hulk ****
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ***
Overall - Odinson ***; Loki ***1/2; Hela, Hulk ****

Where to Buy 
These are popping up at most mass market retailers right now. Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has them on pre-order for $21 each.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've covered dozens and dozens of Marvel Legends figures. The most recent was the first half of this wave, including Thor, Thor, and Ares, and the back half of the Netflix wave, including Man-Thing, Elektra, and Daredevil, and the first half with Punisher, Jessica Jones, Bullseye, and Blade.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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