Gorr

This is a better look. Wielding the dreaded Necrosword, the being known only as Gorr sets out on a path of vengeance across time and space, and only Thor can stop him! Yes he did, and in the comics, we actually got to see some of it. Say what you will about Love and Thunder, its Gorr was less "the God Butcher" and more "the Child Detainer." The flipside of the dad-ification of fiction is an increased importance of dumbass kids in stories that don't require it. Imagine if Thor 4 had Christian Bale running around doing stuff instead of sitting in a cave eating bleu cheese. Maybe there's a reason we don't adapt comic storylines until well after the fact, so we can fully appreciate the impact they had and show those kinds of consequences in our films rather than just their surface trappings, hmm? One thing live-action Gorr did better than his comic counterpart is his physique. Thor is a big, muscular guy, so when designing him an enemy, you can either do someone large enough to match him, or someone small enough to contrast against him. Considering Gorr is from a famine world and now has magic-sword powers, there's no reason for him to be a massive block of muscle, but that's what the comics made him. This is a new body, because none of the existing ones this size have had a barbell neck. Knowing how Hasbro loves its re-uses, though, this likely isn't the last appearance it will make. probably not the feet, though, since those are decidedly inhuman. Maybe if they want to make an X-Men First Class movie Beast? Another major difference is the head. Gorr has been, since his first appearance, a fully alien creature, lacking a prominent and recognizable nose. For whatever reason, the movie declined to go the full Davy Jones/Voldemort route (quite possibly because that's exactly the first-pass comparison every commentator would make). [also, they'd just done that with Ebony Maw, which probably didn't help --ed.] Of course, that could have been avoided if they hadn't also ignored his other alien cranial feature, a long pair of spiky head-tentacles, like a Star Wars Twi'lek but with pointy barbs at the ends. He's got his hood off for 90% of the movie anyway, might as well use those to head off any Voldemort comparisons. But no, just a bald human. This toy doesn't shy away from things, giving both a head concealed by his black hood, and one bare, with the lekku falling down around his shoulders. When you pop the hooded head off, you can also take that opportunity to remove the black robe/cape thing, since that's all supposed to be one cohesive garment. Where's he put those things when the hood is on, anyway? The cape is actually kind of cool, because while it mostly hangs like cloth, there are little bits near the edges that seem to swirl around randomly, which helps connect him to Knull's symbiotes, which is fitting. Also it's black, rather than white, giving the character some visual contrast rather than being a big white spot. His skin is pale gray, with some flat tendrils of black painted on the limbs. The black lines flow from (or into?) red spots on his forearms and thighs, making it feel like these shadows are an internal part of him, some sort of inherent sickness that's flowing through him. The toy's back is bare, which looks odd when the robe is removed. Logically, Gorr includes All-Black the Necrosword. And since 616 Hela doesn't preemptively steal the design, it actually looks the way it should this time. Rather than being a separate accessory, the sword is permanently molded as part of an alternate hand, because he doesn't hold it and wield it like a normal sword, but more as an extension of his arm, bleeding out of his fingers. The shadows/symbiote material swirl around the base of the weapon, melding with his hand nicely. We do lose a wrist hinge with this hand in place, but the rest of the articulation remains plentiful. There's no reason Gorr needed to be an exclusive - I didn't even know he was one until last December, but fortunately prices haven't gone up. He's a lot better than Amazon's other recent unexpected exclusive, that's for sure. -- 04/10/23

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