THUNDRA – FEARLESS DEFENDERS

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

While Marvel’s various licensors have been “politely discouraged” from releasing any Fantastic Four-related characters, there comes a point where the character is left-field enough that, despite their relation to the team, it doesn’t really give Fant4stic any real publicity. So, let’s talk about Thundra, member of the future-based Femizons (just go with it). Seriously, how many people would look at Thundra here and go: “Better go see that Fantastic Four movie.” No one. Because people who like Thundra have taste and people that actively wanted to see Fant4stic don’t. There’s next to no overlap, though that’s probably because no one seemed to actually *like* Fant4stic. I’m getting off-topic. Sorry, let’s just look at this here Thundra figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thundra is part of the third series of Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series, which is officially dubbed the “Hulkbuster Series.” On the packaging, she is referred to as “Fearless Defenders,” a name she shares with series-mate Valkyrie. Given the two characters sharing the name, I feel like “Lady Liberators” may have been more comic appropriate, but I guess Fearless Defenders is a bit more gender neutral. The figure is a little over 7 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. Thundra is based on the Red She-Hulk body (which we last saw on the SDCC exclusive Hela). It’s a decent sculpt overall, though the hip joints are still out of date. The body does feel just a touch on the skinny side for Thundra, especially on the legs, but it’s a close enough fit that it’s not a huge issue. She gets an all-new head/hair and hands (though, the hands are shared with Valkyrie). I had initially thought she might share some pieces with the un-released She-Hulk Lyra figure, but a quick look at that figure’s prototype shows that isn’t the case. The head is a pretty good sculpt; it’s nice to see a female facial expression that isn’t just vacant, but I wouldn’t have minded them taking her a bit angrier. The hair is certainly well sculpted and accurate to the source material, but it does render her neck movement essentially inert. In addition to the head and hands, Thundra also gets a new belt piece; it’s a fairly standard piece, which was certainly designed with re-use in mind, but it’s nicely sculpted and it sits well on the figure. Technically, to be properly accurate, Thundra should also get a set of cuffed boots, but a whole new set of shins presumably didn’t cost out for a low-tier character like Thundra. It’s honestly not that distracting in person, and some art for the character shows her this way, so it’s not totally inaccurate. Thundra’s paint work is passable. Most of it is pretty cleanly handled, and the colors are nice and vibrant. The gold lightning bolts on the sides of her legs are surprisingly sharp, which is cool, but they don’t match up with the boots, which is less cool. The “collar” of her shirt would probably look better if it were sculpted instead of painted, but it’s handled well enough, so I really can’t complain. One somewhat perplexing issue with the paint: for some reason, she’s got a bunch of red, right around her left elbow joint. No clue how that got there, but it’s kind of annoying. Thundra was packed with her signature “ball and chain” weapon thingy, which is a little awkward for her to hold, but looks pretty good in the right pose. She also has the Hulkbuster’s left arm, which is almost as big as she is!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Vision, I came across Thundra here while at a nearby Walgreens. That was certainly a bit of a surprise. I’ve always liked Thundra in the comics, so I was pleased to see she was getting a figure. Sure, she’s not perfect, but it’s literally the only figure of Thundra ever produced, so I’m more willing to cut them some slack.