Somehow the Fwoosh managed not to review Odin from the Marvel Legends Odin Series back at the beginning of 2015. This is an unforgivable sin and one that I’ve personally decided to fix. In fact, Fwoosh never reviewed Thor and old man Thor as far as records indicate. Consider that fixed!
Odin was the Build-A-Figure (BAF) and perhaps one of the most demanded Marvel Legends in all the Fwoosh polling to occur over the years. In fact, there were a couple of times that the forum members threatened revolt, revolution, chaos, using Surtur’s Big Flaming Sword to tear down the walls of both ToyBiz and Hasbro. Finally, finally, after all these decades, we got Odin. And as a BAF, which means that he would be big and tall — over 6 inches tall. Towering over all other Marvel Legends. Almost. Maybe not.
Odin is big, close to 8 inches, but somehow not towering, menacing, or even brightly colored as he as in the days of Kirby and Simonsen. In fact, he seems kind of small, grungy looking, and underwhelming. Personally I love it, but I’ve been in love with Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic’s run on Thor, it was dark, realistic, and grungy, and Odin fits that theme perfectly. And while he doesn’t “tower” over the rest of my Marvel Legends, he is taller than them.
Odin is a shared BAF with old man, or “All-Father,” Thor from the same Aaron/Ribic comic book ark. This means that his costume is All-Father Thor’s and not the traditional Odin armor. It makes for an easy, quick and dirty two-In-one BAF for collectors that want both. There is an Odin head, spear, unarmored arm, and blue cape for collectors to piece together Odin. I’ve seen some customizers repaint this figure in traditional Odin colors and the figure does pop.
The articulation is excellent on this figure and it has all the joints and movement that you expect. However, the hips are hindered by the armored skirt; it’s made from a stiff plastic that doesn’t give very much, reducing his legs to vanilla poses. The cape is also made of a stiffer plastic, so if you can figure out how to make the skirt and legs more poseable, then you have to deal with a cape that doesn’t give much. But outside of standing all imposing or sitting on a throne, what kind of action poses do you need Odin to be in?
Gone are the bright golds and blues and shiny metallic that defined Odin for so many years in the comics, which is why many a Marvel Legends collector was unhappy with Odin. Many collectors grew up in the age of Kirby and Simonsen and the expected the bright and shiny, not the dark and gritty. But in sharing the same parts as All-Father Odin, a decision had to be made one way or the other and the son wins this round. I have one complaint that I have with the paint, which is the lack of gold on the helmet and the spear; in fact, the spear is really lackluster. There is a ton of detail on both and a good gold paint or vac-metal application would have sent these over the top. As it is, the “metalized” molded gold look doesn’t pop.
Odin is a good solid figure, and while not a classic look for this character, it is still a solid look. The figure is fun to have on the shelf, and if you have Hela from the SDCC Book of Vishanti set and comic Loki from the last Thor wave, then your Gods of Asgard display is starting to look sharp.
You can still pick the All Father series up at:
BigBadToyStore