Marvel Legends Black Winter Thor review – BAF Zabu wave
Black Winter Thor might exist as a Marvel Legends figure solely because Hasbro already made the mold for Herald Thor. With a few tweaks and a lot less paint this was a relatively easy new figure to crank out.
My interests here lies solely with the fact that he comes with the head of the BAF Zabu. But I got him for a good deal, which certainly softens the blow. Let’s see if (Black) Winter is coming or if the heat is too much with this review.
Packaging: In an ironic twist, the Herald Thor figure was part of the last wave to have window packaging in 2023. Now that well-meaning idea has long passed.
We’re back to a nice and clean presentation of the figure with art on either side and a bio on the back. This time the bio was very helpful as I had no insight into the character at all.
Likeness: Black Winter Thor is more than a direct repaint of Herald Thor. He’s got much higher and wilder hair and a tattered, battle-damaged cape.
The high hair plays a bit of an optical illusion with the reused head sculpt, which somehow looks more sinister and confident. Hasbro’s sculptors did a nice job getting a dynamic floating hair sculpt. In this context it gives the sense that Black Winter is just so full of power that it constantly generates from him.
While I didn’t care about Herald Thor, the figure sported some impressive detail. Naturally that’s the case here as well from the outstanding textured work on his tunic, the sculpted stripes along his chest and the with the white stripes on his chest actually sculpted and the spiked boots and gauntlets protecting the armored chainmail.
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Scale: Black Winter Thor gets a height boost thanks to the hair but otherwise is the same as the Herald Thor, which matches up well with the 80th Anniversary Thor.
Paint: To play into the Dark Thor nature of the character, all of the color from the Herald figure is gone replaced by an icy blue throughout.
His visible skin sections have a brighter blue with black shading. The white stripes have been replaced by a flat, matte black. has a nice amount of various colors with this attire.
For the armor plating section, it’s painted with more of a blue-tinged silver. The paint job is pretty cool for a dark reflection of Thor and I dig it.
Articulation: Like the Herald Thor figure, Black Winter’s head/neck doesn’t have great range although it’s better due to the hair being positioned above his shoulders.
During this run, Black Winter is more about posturing and posing than straight up battling Thor so the articulation isn’t as essential as it might be for an updated Wrecking Crew or Absorbing Man that we still need Hasbro (nudge nudge).
Black Winter has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- bicep
- elbow
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist
- hip
- thigh
- knee (double-jointed)
- ankle
Accessories: Black Winter really doesn’t need a slew of accessories since again this is just a mirror of Thor and not the actual form of Black Winter.
He gets a swappable set of open hands, which are very useful for gesturing.
The cooler accessory though is his dark version of Mjolnir, which has a really cool energy power surge.
Finally, he’s got the head for the Build-A-Figure Zabu.
Worth it? I was able to get Black Winter thanks to an Amazon sale, which dropped the price of most of the BAF Zabu wave down to $15.99. For that price I was happy to get him for this price point.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Herald Thor might not have been a figure I needed for my collection, but it’s admittedly a fun variant and a smart reuse for a different character.
Where to get it? Outside of GameStop, I didn’t see this wave in stores. To track him down, just head online. Amazon and Entertainment Earth are probably the easiest options.
As an Amazon and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.