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Jedi Order
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Habs Nation
Posts: 28,139
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XM STUDIOS – THOR STATUE – StatueForum Review
The team behind the design and development of this remarkable ΒΌ scale statue are as follows: Erick Sosa (sculptor), Stanley Lau (co-designer) and the XM Collectibles Design and Development Team. As always, the Ang brothers deserve an extra special mention here as they take the time to survey the integrity of the production experience and inspect every painted piece on the assembly line before it’s shipped out to fans throughout the globe. The cold cast porcelain statue stands approximately 24 inches tall, 19 inches wide (i.e., tip of the base to the outer tip of the cape), 13 inches deep, and weighs approximately 21 pounds.
Sculpture: Erick Sosa did an absolutely fabulous job capturing the godlike and omnipresent persona of the Odinson, Thor. The sculpture epitomises the character’s majesty, splendour and indomitable prowess. He stands ever brave and defiant. This is a definitive Thor – earnest, valiant, bold, and heroic.
The extraordinary statue ships with three distinct portraits, i.e., one with and without a beard, and one without his traditional Asgardian war helmet. All three portraits were so superbly rendered, it makes it very difficult to choose which portrait to display. I opted for the bearded portrait, if only because it best resembled my favorite comics era of the God of Thunder, the Simonson era, which I highly recommend reading.
As is typically the case, XM provides fans with multiple display options, i.e., one where Thor points Mjolnir towards his enemy, another where he points his battle-raged finger towards his oncoming foe while holding Mjolnir in his right hand, and finally, one where he wields a spinning hammer. While each has its display strengths, I prefer the pose where Thor points Mjolnir towards his enemy because it strikes me as making the most sense with the pose. The spinning hammer, as impressive as the piece looks, it appears a bit awkward in a standing-still pose. Whenever Thor wielded his spinning hammer in the comics, it was typically presented in a more movement-oriented action-type stance. Of course, that’s not to say the spinning hammer doesn't work. It looks good. It’s more to say that I think that there were other, more ideal poses for it. One other point perhaps worth mentioning from a critique standpoint is with the size of the eyes on the portraits; they’re small. I think I would have preferred Thor’s eyes to be a bit bigger. From an aesthetic point of view, I generally think the best statues are the one you can maintain some kind of eye contact with. However, that’s just a personal choice.
The large bulky base features what appears to be the rubbled remains of a great battle, likely somewhere on Earth. Thor stands ever poised and ready to defeat whatever formidable enemy may lie in wait as if he were the last man standing. While perhaps not representative of XM’s usually elaborate bases, this statue didn’t seem to need it. This is about Thor, and in this regard, it’s a near perfect piece.
The piece ships in 17 pieces (wow!), i.e., 3 portraits, 2 sets of helmet wings, 2 interchangeable left hands (i.e., pointing finger, hand wielding Mjolnir), 3 interchangeable right hands (i.e., wielding Mjolnir, right hand wielding spinning Mjolnir, closed fist), a brick resting piece for the spinning hammer, the body, the cape, the base, and a print designed by Hive Studios.
Rating: 9.5/10
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Paint/Mixed media: The paint applications on the polystone are incredible. The colors really pop. This is a beautifully painted piece. It literally looks like he popped right out of a comic book on to my display shelf. While it may not have been the most challenging piece to paint, it didn’t need to be either. High marks all around.
Rating 9.5/10
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Production and Build quality: This is a strong and sturdy piece and again, in line with XM’s reputation for producing the heaviest and most durable statues in the market. While the pieces required some effort to fit into place (i.e., tight-fitting pegs), they all eventually fit perfectly. There’s no tilting or imbalance to the piece or cause to be concerned about long term leaning issues. The magnets work well. While it was a bit of a challenge positioning the spinning hammer, it fits well once you find your spot -- just don't forget to place that little concrete block on the base in that spot right below the spinning hammer. It provides a "just on case" buffer for the weighty spinning hammer.
Rating 9.5/10
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Design: While XM may sometimes be criticized for taking a few too many creative and design liberties with the comics source material, I think they really hit a homerun here. It’s as close to the source material as they have ever been. Whether this is because of Erick Sosa’s influence, I cannot say, however, his presence is certainly felt and appreciated as this turned out to be, in my humble opinion, the best Thor statue I have ever seen produced by any statue company. Bravo XM. That’s three stellar releases in a row in 2016.
Rating: 9.5/10
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I’d like to thank all of you for reading the review, and chiming in and sharing your thoughts on this latest XM release. If you haven’t secured one for yourself yet, I strongly recommend you chase one down as I have a feeling that once word gets out of how well this came out, it will likely rise in value quite quickly.
P.S. Lastly, please do not forget to register your statue’s serial number on the XM website. Join the fight against recasters who continue to plague our industry in growing numbers.
Overall rating: 9.5/10 – A+
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