Little Thanos — ain’t he cute? He’s awl wittle and cute! I just want to hold him and squeeze him and call him Bob. No, really. I like him that much. Thanos here was part of the 2010 Marvel Universe Series 6 action figures. Of course, he was repainted and put into a two-pack in 2011, but that’s another article for another day.
Good ol’ Thanos appeared in Iron Man in 1973 (the year I was born) and has since violated, humiliated, desecrated, and saved the Marvel Universe a dozen times over. His endless lusting after Death, his mad drive to destroy, and his gotta-have-all-them soul gems continue to make this character absolutely lovable. His appearance at the end of the Avengers movie had collectors screaming like excited teen girls at a Bieber concert.
Thanos here uses the large-scale Marvel Universe sculpt that you can find pics of here and in the recently published Marvel Universe Blastaar review. I’ve covered my love of this figure already, so I don’t have much to say that hasn’t been said; however, Thanos here has some new parts: hands, head, and skirt. The skirt is a great addition and Hasbro managed to get it on there without disrupting the sculpt or the articulation. The hands are new, and as you can clearly see, the open hand (left) is the Infinity Gauntlet — you know, the all-powerful glove with all the soul gems that Thanos has a mad-on about. I love this glove and I love that Thanos is wearing it. Makes him all ’90s disco-cool. Finally, the head-sculpt is really well done. I love looking at this growling, tooth gritting, angry fella; it really personifies the big misanthrope.
The articulation hasn’t changed a bit. It has hinged ankles, swivel calves, double knees, swivel thighs, ball hips, ball abs, ball shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, swivel forearms, a hinged neck, and a swivel head. It’s really good, solid articulation for a large four-inch action figure. After getting three figures with this body type, the only wish that I have is for rocker ankles. That would allow for some really stable action poses. As is, you sometimes land a pose on an insole. My figure does have a little problem in the ab joint — it wants to fall forwards. This isn’t a huge issue since, well, I always like Thanos hunched over all pissy-looking.
Paint is solid on this figure. The gold is really nice looking, and whoever painted the figure, they were able to stay within the lines on the hands and head. There is a good, thick wash on this figure — maybe too much, or it could be that this one bought off eBay is just an oddity. No matter, I’m happy with the result and the figure really pops in my collection.
Go out an get yourself a Thanos for your four-inch collection of toys and action figures. Have him take out some GI Joes; Snake Eyes needs to get his ass kicked. Or maybe Darth Vader and Thanos need to team up. Or better yet, have him invade your Microverse. Whatever it is you do, just make certain that you have a little Thanos to play with.
You can still purchase Thanos on Amazon.com.
And as always you can discuss this figure further on the Fwoosh forums.
My guess is with the Avengers movie next summer we may finally get that chance. Fingers crossed.
As the guy who has been crying out for a ML Thanos since 2000, and here on this site, this little guy is so amazing and yet makes me cry. I just want a Thanos like this for ML. No, not MS, that thing is way too big and let’s just not go down that road. But man, this is just a great beautiful nigh-perfect Thanos, and MU got one and ML didn’t.
At least not yet.
thanks for shining a light on a real gem of MU, and a real sore spot for us ML Thanos fans.