Thor's vehicle mode is
a jet closely resembling an A-10 Thunderbolt. (THOR being a THUNDERBOLT?
GET IT? Eh? Well, I thought it was pretty creative.) When it comes to the
overall design and proportions of this mode, it's pretty top-notch, The
wings aren't too small, as is pretty common on jet Transformers, adn the
main body of the plain and engines are well-proportioned as well. There's
three fold-out landing gear pieces on the bottom side of the plane, and
most of the black missiles on the bottom side of the wings can be detached
if you want to "fire" them. There's almost no Mech mode extras in this
mode, either-- you can see the feet inside the engines, but that's really
about it. No big pieces of undercarriage junk or anything like that. Well,
and his hammer weapon can't store ANYWHERE in this mode, which you just
know
I hate. His mold detailing is also par excellence, with rivets, panels,
and the like covering his entire form in this mode. However, there is one
BIG downside to this mode, and that's that he looks more like an unpainted
prototype than any other Transformer-- Marvel or otherwise-- that I've
seen. His cockpit, front machine gun, and two little dots on the side of
his nosecone get some paint, but that's IT. And given how little the black
contrasts with the dark blue of the nosecone, the black paint apps barely
count, anyways. Seriously, what kind of airplane has a dark blue nosecone,
light red wings and body, black tailfins, and yellow engines? It's totally
nonsensical and completely distracting from what is otherwise a fantastic
alt mode, and it's a humongous shame. It all but ruins the mode.
In mech mode, Thor isn't
nearly as seemless as he is in vehicle mode when it comes to his design,
though his colors certainly make a lot more sense-- they're the same colors
as Thor's classic costume, and in the right places as well. It's also really
cool to see all the semi-mythical "Norse-esque" detailing on his robot
parts, which is a really nice touch. His head design is quite Thor-ish,
as well, with some nice "winged antennae" pieces that can move individually,
to boot. His proportions are generally on the ball, with some nice beefy
arms as well as legs. His main body's just a tad too long as result of
it being most of the nosecone, and his tailfins hang off his kneecaps rather
unceremoniously, but that's about it as far as proportions go. His real
problem in this mode is vehicle mode kibble, however-- the tips of the
nosecone look rather odd on the sides of his stomach like that, as does
most of the plane tail hanging off of his back (and with nothing to peg
into, natch), but the big one is his "cloak". Granted, it's quite creative
that they had his wings fold out to become a claok, but a hard plastic
cloak just doesn't work all that well. Plus, the pieces tend to jiggle
too easily. It just looks odd in most poses. Thor's head piece also doesn't
connect to his body very well, and tends to come undone way too easily,
which can obviously get annoying. As for articulation, Thor can move at
the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), wrists, waist,
hips (at two points), knees (at three points), and at the ankles, so all
major points are covered. The cap can interfere with movement some around
the shoulders, but otherwise you can get him into a fair amount of poses.
As can be seen, he can also hold his hammer Mjolnir in this mode, though
it's kind of on the puny side.
Thor has a few kibble
problems in mech mode-- particularly his cape-- but when it comes to his
design, overall he's an above-average Marvel Transformer. Unfortunately,
the utterly ridiculous colors and lack of paint in plane mode all but ruin
that otherwise excellent mode and knock down his score quite severely.
Mildly recommended for Thor fans, otherwise pass.
Review by Beastbot
*This mold was re-released in the "Transformers Mech Machines" subline of the Avengers movie toyline. The only difference between this release and the initial toy was that the yellow had been replaced with black and gray plastic. Although it didn't make him quite as comic-accurate in mech mode, it all but eliminated the horrid clash of colors in vehicle mode-- thus overall, I'd recommend the Avengers redeco over this initial release.