Day 333

  Day 333November 29^th

Review of Marvel wave 42

Thunderstrike and Kronan Stone Man

This is hands down one of my most anticipated waves this year.  I have become such a fan of the Thor part of the Marvel universe that I am over the moon to get these!  I was only able to get 2 out the 4 packs at this time so my review of the other 2 sets will come as soon as I can get them!

            Packaging – Wave 42 uses the new style of packaging which has the new and improved larger window and it still rocks!  The artwork on the front no longer runs the risk of obscuring the minimates inside and is also used on the side flaps, which provides a nice consistent feel to the package.  The back showcases the entire wave along with a small bio/write up box for both characters.

Thunderstrike – One thing that this years Thor movie did was remind me how much I have always enjoyed the character and I embarked on a massive gathering of trade paperbacks to give myself more understanding of the mythos.  I have read Thor comics off and on and always enjoyed them but never kept up with the character.  Well now I have a huge pile of books to read and I love it!  One of my particular standouts in my past of comic collecting was from the 1990’s when they replaced Thor with a more ‘modern’ styled character named Thunderstrike.  I really liked not only the look of this character but also the idea that this was a Thor who was also just a regular guy not a god come to earth.  So when I started gathering up Thor comics I was pretty pumped that they announced a collection of Eric Masterson’s most important comics, starting with his time as Thor proper and also including the first issue of Thunderstrike.  Then on top of that DST blows me away by announcing a Thunderstrike minimate too!  This minimate nails the look so perfectly I don’t know where to start!  The boots look great and they got his vest down pat as well.  Nice clean lines and colours all throughout the minimate especially in his face and beard!  The ponytailed hair piece works great over the collar of the vest.  The mystical mace, Thunderstrike, is dead on to the comics, from the shape to the ‘T’ on the head of it and right down to the chain at the base of the handle!  All Win!  If I had to nitpick a little it would be the lack of his earring, but that would be tough to do, and the missing glove on his left hand, but those really are minor details and can’t obscure how awesome this minimate is! All in all this is another great looking minimate and one that I am very happy to add to the collection, as well as a spare or two for customs/general playing lol!

Kronan Stone Man – This is a great choice for an army builder in a mostly Thor centric waved since they are from a very early part in the Thor comics.  DST goes all out to give us some great looking Stone Men, using many of the new sculpted pieces that they have been working with for various Thing minimates.  They did a great job getting the head shape right and I like that they will not shy away from using fully sculpted heads when needed.  Many fans are pretty excited that the forearms/hands used here were ones that we originally saw on the prototype for one of the newer Thing minimates but the actual production piece did not have these new pieces.  I think these new ones look amazing and look forward to seeing them used on future Thing minimates!  The stone men come with a large and small blaster which is pretty comic accurate.  The one down fall to this minimate is the bulky arms pieces, which can line up to look really seamless but really can restrict the movement of the arms.  This is the catch 22 of the more bulky/sculpted pieces especially in the shoulder/arm and legs; they can sometimes hinder the awesome articulation and possibility of the minimate.  In the end I am happy to have an accurate looking character but it can be a bit frustrating if it limits the playability too much.

This set is a grand slam for DST and the Marvel minimates line!  Thunderstrike is virtually perfect to his comic look and the stone man army builder is a great choice and another nice addition to the collection!  I can’t even let the couple little quibbles I have stop me from giving this set a 5 out of 5!  Go out and get this set as soon as you can!