Review of the Avengers Hammer Smash (Ultimate) Thor

The Basics:
Scale: 3 3/4"
Price: $10.99-$12.99

First Impressions:
History lesson time kiddies. This Thor depicts the character of Ultimate Thor. That doesnt mean he is "THE GREATEST THOR EVER!!!!" (Although i think he is), no, it means he is from Marvel's Ultimate universe. See around 2000 things got complicated and Marvel decided to make a new universe called The Ultimate Universe where it was a parallel versionn of the regular Marvel Universe, called Earth 616 in the Ultimate-verse. Complicated? Theres more. The Ultimate-verse has all the heroes and villains the regular earth has but it simply takes a different spin on them, Thoe more so than others. Rather than have a human host in Donald Blake, Thor IS Donald Blake, or vice-versa, Marvel never made it clear which is part of the fun. Thor came to earrth with no powers, no mjolnir, no nothing. When he told people he was a "Thunder God who lost his way" they obviously figured hes a nut, and turned him over to the authorities. Tony Stark had other plans. He believed him, and even gave him powers. The blue harness and silver belt you'll see in the pictures is what gave him his powers but it wasnt until Tony gave him Mjolnir until he truly was Thor, it gave him flight and the ability to summon lightning. However a few storylines later and Thor ditches the belt because now he has his real powers and the real Mjolnir back. However....Marvel Still never revealed if he is the true Thor or Donald Blake, and I wouldnt have it any other way.
That being said i was so excited to find this guy but got very dissapointed when i opened it....

Sculpt:This is one area where i can actually praise the figure because despite its flaws, you cannot deny that this is one of the best 3 3/4" sculpts ever. The face is dead-on to the Ultimate Thor, the hair is intricately sculpted, the Armor on his chest and the belt are amazing. The Side of his pants have ab unch of straps and buttons going down the side that are wonderfully executed and the boots look amazing. His hammer is scuplted well and his gimmicky weapon even got a great sculpt (as unescessary as it is but more on that mini rant in accessories).

Paint:The only other area i can praise this figure in. The paint job is flawless except for two areas. On his back you can see where the skin meets the armor, it can sometimes bleed onto the skin. The bad part is there is no way to check as you cant see his back in packaging. Secondly his hammer is molded in all gray plastic with no paint except for the little rope on the end..........thats it......... dissapointing.

Articulation:Ball jointed head
swivel-hinge shoulders
swivel-hinge elbows
swivel-hinge hips
swivel thighs
swivel-hinge knees
he has no wrist, ankle, or waist movement at all restricting most poses and limiting playability for younger kids.

Accessories:Okay, time for a little rant.
Now Thor comes with two accessories. His main hammer Mjolnir as seen above, which although sculpted well has no paint except the rope and was severely deformed out of packaging. See how straight it looks in the above pic? It took me 2 hours just to get it straight!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now for the worst part, he comes with a gimmicky weapon where the "hammer" becomes an even bigger "hammer". REALLY HASBRO?!?!?!?!? The money you put into these gimicky weapons could have been put into adding wrist, ankle,and waist movement, something NONE OF THE AVENGERS FIGURES HAVE!!!! They put in the gimimicky weapons for kids but lets be honest, no kid is going to buy this because of the lame weapon, they want it because its Thor! Or theyll want others because they want an Iron Man and Captain America figure!!!! I've witnessed a kid (my nephew) open up a Thor figure, take everything out of the package, play with the figure and the gimmicky weapon was thrown into the deep bowels of his toybox never to be seeen again....and hes 6 years old...... I mean come on Hasbro, its not rocket science!!!

Overall:
While i mostly am dissapointed with this figure its sculpt and paint are things to be praised. Im really torn but i can only recommend this figure to fans of The Ultimates and Ultimate Thor. It's just not what it should have been which is a real shame.
6 out of 10