"Omnia vincit amor et nos cedamus amori!"
- Virgil
Hi guys,
some time ago I was able to add the Thanos - The Infinity Gauntlet FS by Art Asylum.Marvel Milestones to my collection and I have been very happy with it ever since.
I have always had a weak spot for the Mad Titan and this particular statue is a very impressive rendition of one of the most defining moments in the Marvel Universe when Thanos extinguished half of all life on all of the countless worlds with nothing more than a snap of his fingers.
Thanos has relentlessly sought ways to become an omnipotent being but this horrifying deed did not come from his lust for power and glory, no, the killing was caused by love.
The love of Thanos for his mistress Death, a mistress whose love Thanos could not win no matter how hard he had tried before.
As such Thanos did the unthinkable in an ultimate effort to prove his worth to Death and find the key to her stonecold heart.
Thanos' hope and anxiety are captured masterfully in his grim expression. His incredible strength and near limitless power because of the Infinity Gauntlet are sculpted just as impressively. Thanos' heavily muscled body, the fact that Thanos seems to hover over the base, the awe-inspiring Infinity Gems Power, Mind, Space, Reality, Time, and Soul on Thanos' raised left fist, they all add to the appeal of this statue.
Love can push somebody to do things unheard of before and for Thanos it was not any different.
The most powerful of all Eternals is shown here in all of his impressive might, with all of his strength, doing something what no one had done before because of all of his love.
Thanos is strong and vulnerable at the same time in his quest for love and recognition and this statue manages to show all that. Thanos wipes out half of all living beings without a second thought but the fear of being rejected again by Death is enough to break him up inside and let the rage and pain show on his face.
Of course nothing is more personal than pointing out the merits and flaws of a statue but I will give it a shot nevertheless. This is the verdict of the jury ladies and gentlemen:
Sculpt:
9/10
The sculpt itself is very impressive and awe-inspiring.
Thanos' heavily muscled body, the grim and determined expression on Thanos' face and the beautifully sculpted Infinity Gauntlet all contribute to the masterfully captured power and might of Thanos.
The base and the fact that the scuptor managed to create the illusion that Thanos is hovering above the base make it very easy to picture the powerful Eternal floating in deep space while using the Infinity Gems in all of their destructive power.
Thanos is a force to reckon with and he is the Master of Life and Death wearing the Infinity Gauntlet.
At the same time he is a man in love with a broken heart since his beloved Mistress keeps refusing to let him get close to her.
The power and fragility of Thanos are portrayed in this statue and that I believe is a very impressive feat of the sculptor.
Paint & Mixed Media:
10/10
The paintjob of the statue is truly impeccable.
I love the deep blue paint and gold colors used for Thanos' uniform and believe the uniform is painted in a neat and clean way.
I furthermore love the material used for the six Infinity Gems on Thanos' glove. They immediately attract your attention and with a bit of fantasy you can imagine the gems come alive to follow the willpower of their bearer whether good or bad.
Design:
9/10
The statue has a clean and 'simple' design with Thanos reaching for the stars and using the Infinity Gauntlet in a way no one could have ever imagined before.
As an added bonus there is a switch out left hand which shows Thanos snapping his fingers just before he made half of all existing life vanish after nothing but a mere thought.
The base is simple but for me it works since it gives me the impression of Thanos being on a moon in deep space reaching for the stars to do the unthinkable.
This is a straightforward and appealing statue which impresses not because of its frills but because of the power of its sculpt and design.
Production & Build Quality:
9/10
The statue has a nice heft to it and feels reassuringly solid.
The weight of a statue has never been very important to me but on the other hand this statue gives you the impression that you will need the awesome power of the Infinity Gauntlet itself to break or damage it.
Besides that Thanos' left fist easily but securely fits on his left forearm.
Overall rating: 9.25/10 - Not to be missed and highly recommended!
Since pictures always say more than a thousand words I have taken some pictures which I will post below.
But before I do that I would like to thank my buddy GiLaTeK for allowing me to add this awesome statue to my collection; thanks GT you are a '
goodfella' in my book!
Alright then, brace yourselves for a meet & greet sessions with the incredibly powerful and unpredictable Mad Titan... For the sake of us all please keep in mind however not to start a discussion about love or the fact that love can hurt sometimes. After all we have to be careful and try to avoid at all costs that Thanos will try to impress Mistress Death one final time by wiping out the remaining half of the Universe...
Have fun!
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Background information
On Saturn's moon of Titan lived a colony of Eternals, and Thanos was born as one of the last sons of the original colonists, Mentor and Sui-San.
However, he was born misshapen and monstrous in comparison to the other Eternals, particularly his handsome and carefree brother, Starfox, and Thanos grew into a melancholy, brooding individual, consumed with the concept of death.
More than any of his people, Thanos sought out personal power and increased strength, endowing himself with cybernetic implants until he became more powerful than any of his brethren.
At some point, he was exiled from his community, although the accounts differ as to its cause. Some say it was because he committed a crime by being the first to create a weapon.
Thanos himself once claimed that he vivisected his own mother in an attempt to investigate how someone consumed with death such as himself could have come into being.
Growing in power and infamy as he traveled the universe, Thanos once met Death itself, as it appeared to him embodied in a female form.
Thanos was infatuated with the being, and endeavored to make himself worthy in order to earn her love in return.
After being turned into immobile stone Death did in fact come to visit Thanos.
Death revived him and endowed him with even more power, leading him to believe the universe was unbalanced in terms of life and death and that Thanos was needed to restore that balance.
Thanos then proceeded to reassemble the Infinity Gems, and created the powerful Infinity Gauntlet. With a mere thought, Thanos was able to wipe out half of the universe's population of living beings, and once again he had enough power to make himself an omnipotent being.
Many of Earth's heroes and heroes from around the galaxy came to oppose him, and they were joined by other abstract entities who knew Thanos' new powers made him a threat to all existence.
Thanos defeated them all. Ultimately, however, Death spurned him, as Thanos' powers had placed him at a level beyond.
Real Name: Thanos
Physical Attributes:
Height: 6'7"
Weight: 985 lbs.
Eyes: Red
Hair: None
Powers:
Thanos possesses the superhuman physiology of all Eternals, granting him superhuman strength, endurance, reflexes, and agility. His skin in nearly invulnerable, particulary against heat, cold, electricity, radiation, toxins, aging, and disease, and he can survive indefinitely without food or water even before his "curse" from Death left him immortal, unable to die.
His mind is also invulnerable to most forms of psychic attack, and can project a psionic blast of energy as well as blasts of plasma/cosmic energy from his eyes and hands.
Abilities:
Master strategist, adept in sciences far beyond Earth technology, some mystical knowledge.
Weapons:
None, although he has at times employed a hovering chair with additional offensive weapons and the ability to teleport galaxy-wide distances.
One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come, he to justify
One man to overthrow
In the name of love
What more in the name of love?
In the name of love
What more in the name of love?
- U2: Pride (In The Name Of Love)
"
Prepare yourselves. For now, I summon...the end."
- Thanos
Rainer
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Nothing can stop The Juggernaut... NOTHING!
