This is a long read from a Thor collectible enthusiast. Thanks for your patience.
I'm not gonna lie, I've wasted a ton of money on Thor collectibles over the years. Bowen, Koto, Sideshow, XM, Windlass, eFX, Diamond, Hard Hero, Hot Toys etc. If it's Thor related and not a custom or short print, I've probably owned it. I also own every Thor comic ever printed.
The first Sideshow Thor statue, especially the EX, is one of a kind. It was an incredible piece for it's time and almost as tall as this piece is! Back in the original Sideshow days they really made their stuff larger than life to try and portray the characters in their most classic forms. These days you here critiques that the statue was too thick, some even say too fat. I think with the fabric, muscle tone was often hidden. Still this Thor is Thicker than a Snicker, it's true. But back then, opening that massive statue and revealing the biggest best Thor statue to date was a life changing experience. The level of detail had never happened in a statue so seeing it was like meeting Thor for the first time. It will always have a very very special place in my heart.
The Bowen statues did the biggest favor to the comics. They were so comic accurate. They got off to a bit of a rusty start, but as you watched Randy progress you saw others join in and help him create so many dynamic as well as museum statues that were affordable and felt like you were creating a new style of action figure. Nothing ever stopped me in my tracks like seeing the Bowen Action Thor with spinning hammer. It's the statue that made me decide to go absolutely all in on Thor statues. For everything the Sideshow Thor PF was, this was something different. It wasn't large or stylish. It wasn't mixed media fabric. It was a comic book come to life and on your shelf. And odin bless whomever is on the opposite end of that display because they are about to get a mouthful of hammer justice. And to add to that piece, you could get Odin, Loki, Beta Ray Bill, Valkyrie etc for the first time as a collectible.
I was retired. No more statues. I had enough and had one hell of a collection. I was running out of room and about to get married.
Then Sideshow revealed during 12 Days of Sideshow the Thor: Breaker of Brimstone statue. I couldn't believe it. Sideshow had gotten a little stale. They don't do dynamic poses and, when they do, they're glorified Captain Morgan dynamic poses. And here is my guy. Thor. Odinson. He's not Captain Morganing. He's leaping. Over. The. Head. Of. A. Freaking. Flaming. Fire. Demon. From. Muspelheim!
Get out of here. Take my money! When it arrived it was smaller than the origjnal 1:4 scale PF's I had but I kind of forgave it. I still can't believe how great it is. Some discredit it for the skin coloring but I think it shades quite well for the setting of a fire battle.
That's it, though. I'm good. I can finally retire. To date it's the most dynamic Sideshow PF, IMO. Let's ride off into the sunset.
XM.... Hold my beer. Here's the Modern Thor vs Destroyer statue.
Now you are F*#$ with me! Now I had the orignal XM statue and sold it. For a loss. Because it just didn't live up to XM's standards. I was ok with it. But it stung. Not that I gave it up. Just that I wanted to give it up. XM created Magneto on the throne. How could they make a giant Bowen statue ripoff of Thor? So I was happy to accept XM made some great stuff and I was happy that theyt didnt make great Thor stuff lol.
Then Beta Ray Bill came out. I stood firm. Then Beta Ray Bill's price dropped. I stayed firm. Then Beta Ray Bill's price dropped a little... SOLD!!!!! And Bill is a great statue. So much detail. So many options for posing. Still, I was ok with it being my only XM purchase.
And this Thor vs Destroyer A8hole comes out and just MAKES me buy it.
Now let me tell you something about this piece. For everything that is great about the Bowen spinning mjolnir piece, and everything great about the Sideshow Brimstone piece, this piece takes it further. The detail on this piece is SAVAGE. I, to this day, cannot believe it didn't get more love. XM didn't even promote it, much to my chagrin. It is so reminiscent of the Thor vs Dr Doom battle with Destroyer armor in the comic run I was surprised it didn't come with a Doom alternate head for the Destroyer. The flying rocks and the look on Thor's face are SAVAGE and barbaric. The amount of detail make it something that makes me spoiled as a Thor fan at this point. I'm not sure, other than Spidery, there is a Marvel character that has more dynamic, unique, poses than Thor statues.
So it's time to retire again!
Then a buddy of mine send me a link that XM is doing ANOTHER Thor statue. I was living in the woods at this point building a log house to retire in. A helicopter flew down and a bunch of statue salesmen got out.
Salesmen: CF79?
CF79: Who's asking?
Salesmen: Mr CF, you're a very hard man to find.
CF79: Not hard enough, apparently.
Salesmen: The world has.. changed.
CF79: So have I
Salesman: It?s getting bigger. Have you seen the new XM Thor?
Cf79: Don?t need to. I?m retired. I don?t need another 1/4 scale Thor.
Salesman: No? no I can see that you don?t. Problem is? this one is 1:3
CF79: I said I?m?did you say 1:3 scale????
And here we are. This is the definitive piece in my collection, other than Journey Into Mystery 83. It?s the focal point of the room. It?s the new talk piece. It?s massive. The level of detail is phenomenal. You feel like you?re a frost giant when you walk into the room and you look at Thor standing there holding mjolnir and jarnborn and you realize this dude is gonna F you up. The base is the pinnacle of bases in my opinion. The level of detail on the base alone deserves an award. The paint job is absolutely perfect. The level of detail all the way down to the small of his eyes is lifelike. I will mot likely only display the non bearded look but the helmeted beard is equally impressive. The hairline on the non helmet head looks s bit unnatural. But Thor in his classic costume only had a beard in small moments and almost always wore the helmet so it's really not that big a deal. My only other critique is mjolnir. The inscription is comic accurate but the detail of the hammer seems to be more movie driven. The head of the hammer doesn't have the intricate designs laced in the sides in the comics. Mjolnir is alot of things in the lore of the books, but it's not meant to be pretty. But I can live with it.
In closing, all the past statues have their own charm and I love them, but nothing prepared me for this. You would think my body would have been ready.
My body wasn't ready. Bravo XM. This is the best Thor statue of all time.
