Loki

How is it this is the first time there's been a normal Marvel Legends Loki? A devilish trickster, Loki uses whatever means necessary to give himself power and has little regard for what side of so-called justice he stands on. ToyBiz made a Loki in ML13, but that one was wearing a tunic and cape; Hasbro made one for the first Thor movie, but he was old and wearing furs; then they did another in the A-Force box set, but that was Lady Loki. So as far as the retro Kirby-designed Loki, all we had was a 4" Marvel Universe version, which... well, Loki is a shapeshifter, so there's nothing saying he couldn't have some mischievous reason to interact with everyone while being 33% smaller than them, but it wouldn't really look great, now would it? We needed him in the 6" scale. Surprisingly, Loki uses one of the larger bodies. He's a wiry little snake, so you'd think the Spidey-body would have suited him, but instead, he gets a bigger one. Somebody's been bulking up to fight his brother! In all fairnes, Kirby did draw him more or less this size (sometimes), and John Buscema, who drew that famous panel of Loki lounging on a throne and spilling his wine, definitely drew him like this, so it works. The only new pieces below the neck are a thin, undetailed belt, and his pointy Kermit the Frog collar. The head is very smiley, suggesting he's at least having fun with whatever it is he's doing. The eyes are set a bit wide apart, proving it isn't just the female figures who suffer from that. He's got the curly horns that reach up above the 7" mark, and the ponytail (which is part of the helmet, not his hair) swirling around behind him. Unfortunately, the head sits a little too high on the neck joint - the socket for the balljoint isn't set far enough into the mold, leaving the head looking like it's floating slightly. It's possible Hasbro did this in an effort to offset the added bulk of his collar, but that's a very thin piece and they over-corrected. The other joints are all standard stuff: shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, chest, waist, hips, thighs, knees, boots, and ankles. The colors used really suit Loki. The green is a nice dark shade, while the yellow of his boots, gloves, belt, and collar/cowl is bright and metallic - easily contrasted against the flat yellow of his ponytail. The armored bits on his bodice and briefs are done in gold, with thin black lines to create the scales. It looks great! The metallic-style plastic doesn't even seem as swirly as similar things normally do. Loki even gets an accessory. While a goblet would have been fun, he gets a sword. Is it one he used in the comics? Probably, he's been in a lot of stories over the years. It's not Laevateinn, his ancestral sword, and it's not Gram, the Sword of Truth, but it could easily have come from somewhere in the books. The yellow hilt matches his clothes, and there's a green gem in the middle of the winged crossguard. He also gets some of this series' Hulk Build-A-Figure. The right leg. Loki is not the most thrilling figure in this series, but we've somehow never had this costume before, so that counts for a lot. Even counts for enough to let us overlook his floating head. -- 08/11/19

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