Marvel Legends 2012 Thor, Hope Summers, Terrax action figure review

Welcome back to part three of the Marvel Legends 2012 figure review. Thor and Hope Summers are the last two figures in the assortment but we can't forget the Build-a-Figure Terrax. If you collect six figures (Thor doesn't come with a piece as he was already released as a SDCC 2011 exclusive) you can build Galactus' herald the mighty Terrax. There are variants of Steve Rogers, Ghost Rider, and Iron Man you can keep an eye out for too.

The sculpt on Thor is excellent, plenty of scale mail sections, creases, folds, and a serious headsculpt as if the god of thunder has just witnessed someone kicking a puppy. His cape has a nice texture to it and doesn't get in the way. One small complaint may be that the lower double joint of the knee leaves a fairly big gap, separating from the knee armor when its bent. But it's not very noticeable and you can just bend the upper knee part more.

Thor's paint is nicely done. His SDCC version had lightning deco and this is the normal look. There's lighter blue airbrushed highlights, a great metallic blue wipe to his armor, and his eyes are amazingly realistic with multiple levels of detail in them. Everything is crisp and clean too. Even his boot straps have weathering on them. One neat thing to touch on is the strap on Thor's right side. It can be unplugged to store Mjolnir on his hip. A nice touch!

Articulation for Thor and Hope Summers is great. Thor can pose just about any way you wish and has a great ball jointed torso. His waist covering doesn't hinder his leg movement very much at all. Hope's articulation is the same as Sharon Carter/Black Widow and remains one of the best female body types out right now. Neither figure has ankle rockers but Hasbro will address that in series 2. This excellent articulation harkens back to the ToyBiz days without overdoing it.

Thor comes with his hammer Mjolnir which is very nicely painted with all sorts of weathering on the stone. Hope comes with a larger Cable-style laser rifle that we saw with the Forge/Wolvie 2-pack. It fits nicely in her hand for being so large. Hope's wrist guards and cape are removable which is a nice touch and are equally detailed up. I'm impressed with Hope's headsculpt, thoughtful yet still pretty unlike many of the female sculpts before her.

Now for the build-a-figure, Terrax. He's tall, a good 8" in stature. His sculpt is completely new and like most of the figures in the line his armor is removable. This provides an excellent new base body that's larger than other figures and would make for a great Venom or Sabertooth base. Who know what BAF's we'll see from this in the future. All Terrax's armor is painted sharply and looks classic just like he appears in the comics.

Terrax's articulation is excellent. He's the only one in the set with ankle rockers and they're styled just like the new marvel Universe figures with an angled peg inside the foot that allows for nearly full motion. While his elbows are only single joints his knees are double and his wrists, neck, shoulders, hips, etc are the style of universal/ball joints we expect. Add an ab-crunch and waist cut, Terrax can pose just about any way you need.

For accessories Terrax just comes with his cosmic axe but boy is it nice. It breaks down into two pieces and you can kinda store it on his back by tucking the spike into his back strap. Unfortunately Terrax can only hold his axe with one hand, but that's better that the prototype we saw with two clenched fists, yikes. Let's face it, you were waiting for a Terrax and this is the best we've ever had before.

So what's the verdict? This whole set is a total victory by Hasbro. They pulled out all the stops, gave us excellently articulated figures with great paint apps, and characters that aren't usually seen in figure form. My suggestion is to get the whole set and make Terrax but you can of course cherry pick your favorite people. Our sponsors Big Bad Toy Store have them in stock and you can grab them from Past Generation Toys soon.