Thor: The Dark World Kurse

Thor: The Dark World opens tomorrow! I hope I can catch it the first day. I've been looking forward to it. The toys have been out for a couple of weeks. I haven't been able to do much shopping of late. Thanks to a friend for helping me get them!

Kurse is a character I don't know much about. From the back of the package he's said to be a powerful villain who serves Malekith (the main villain). I kind of got that from his appearance. He's got such a fearsome head sculpt. The horns are quite something and they were well painted too. There's lots of great detail on his body. He's got a rough, tough looking exterior. Almost the whole figure is textured. The "skirt" is a separate piece and is glued on. It too has great detail. He has some trouble standing and tends to fall backwards, so I had to use blu-tac on him.

UPDATE: He appears like this due to the mask he was wearing fusing to his face. The likeness is spot on.

Accessories. He comes with a grenade like object. I'm not sure what it is but we should be finding out very soon.

UPDATE: This weapon is sort of a "worm-hole" bomb.

There's three more of those things sculpted on his belt. Check out the mud caked /weathered detail of his "skirt". Great stuff!

The articulation is a little lacking. He's only got a ball joint neck, ball hinge shoulders, swivel hinge elbows, 360 type hips and swivel hinge knees. The shoulder pads hinder articulation and he cannot extend his arms out to the side fully. He also can't lift his legs much, especially his right leg due to the "skirt".

If you have no space in your Marvel display we can always use him as an orc.  

Comparison shots. This guy is pretty big.

The articulation could be better but other than that this is a great figure. Can't wait to see Kurse in action on screen. Thanks for viewing!

Iron Man 3 Hall of Armor

Click image to enlarge

Here's a look at the Iron Man 3 Hall of Armor set. This is an Amazon.com exclusive. It's still available at the time of this post.

The main reason for getting this set is for the Tony Stark and the Mark 42 figures. Let's take a look at Tony first. The figure uses a G.I.Joe base body. He's got a nice head sculpt, there's a good likeness. He looks a little odd from the front but that's due to how his eyes were painted. I like the hair which I think is well done. His facial hair was painted on. The arc reactor too was well painted but I would have liked if it were a little faded. It's underneath his shirt after all.

The figures do not come with any accessories. But here's something you can do. You can pull out Tony's hands and attach Iron Man's, then we'll have a cool figure of him testing out the repulsors. Who needs the Hot Toys version. Lol.  

Click on images to enlarge.

Articulation. He's got a ball joint neck, ball hinge shoulders, swivel hinge elbows, wrist swivel, torso pivot, ball hips, double jointed knees and ankle hinge and swivel.

We can use Tony's head on some Iron Man figures. Unfortunately it can't fit on the movie figures, those from this set anyway. It can fit nicely on the Bleeding Edge. Have fun trying it out on the different armors. I think this is something a lot of us have been wanting to do.

Now for the Mark 42. This is more the figure a lot of us wanted. A figure with a good sculpt and articulation. There's great detail on it. And the paint is pretty good too.

Articulation. He's got a ball joint neck, ball hinge shoulders, swivel hinge elbows, wrist swivel, torso pivot, peg hinge hips, thigh swivel, double jointed knees and ankle hinge and swivel. The shoulder pads hinder articulation. He's unable to extend his arms out to the sides much. I would have liked if he had a neck hinge and wrist hinge.

Here's a quick look at the other figures in the set. They are the Mark I, II, III and VI. They are the same figures as the Iron Man 2 ones with paint differences. The colours of these figures are matte which give them a cheap appearance. There's also the noticeable glow painted around the arc reactor on the chest.  

Comparison shots. Tony is shorter than most of the Iron Man figures which is how it should be.

The choice is clear which will be on display between this and the Assemblers version of the Mark 42.

The paint of the IM2 figures is far better then that of the figures in this set.

This set is costly considering I'm just getting it for two figures. At least the collection is more complete now. Thanks for viewing!

Click to enlarge

Star Wars Black 3.75" Mara Jade

A friend got this the other day and he was kind enough to let me have a look at it.

The first thing you'll notice of the figure is how high Mara's hair is. While I'm not too familiar with the character, it looked off and I soon confirmed it after looking up images online. The eyebrows are also off. They were sculpted on and are far too thick. They remind me of those of a fiery Scotsman. The head sculpt is okay. But with her other features she has the appearance of an older person. The body is much better. The detail of her attire is superb. It truly looks like a tight fitting leather outfit.

Accessories. She comes with a gun and holster, a lightsaber and an activated lightsaber. She can grip her weapons well. The holster may be attached on her right or on the back of her belt.

Articulation. She's got a ball joint neck, ball hinge shoulders, swivel hinge elbows, wrist swivel, torso pivot, peg hips, swivel hinge knees and ankle swivel and hinge. Her hair hinders neck articulation.

Click on images to enlarge.

I wish the parts from various lines were more easily interchangeable. Lol.

Here's how she compares with some other characters.

This is a nice figure. From what I hear she should be bought on sight. Thanks for viewing!