Marvel Legends - Loki

In keeping with my current obsession with action figures and toys, here is the lowdown on a new figure I just got in the mail. I'm home sick from work today and I need something to write about so I don't end up laying on the couch all day watching Oprah or whatnot. Once again, the photo credit goes to ComicFigs.net , an awesome site that I browse regularly in my search for pointless things to spend my time and money on. If you aren't into comic books or action figures, then you should probably just tune in next time.

Loki

The Norse God of Mischief, God of Evil, the Prince of Lies, adopted son of Odin and brother of Thor, God of Thunder. Contender for the Marvel Universe's Most Cumbersome Headgear award (tied with Galactus). His figure comes with a cool rune-carved sword, though Loki detests physical combat and prefers to use his magic and cunning to battle his foes. The figure looks great, but I wish his cape and Horn Helmet were removeable so he'd be easier to work with in terms of photo shoots. At least they didn't make him look like he did in the 60's and 70's Thor comics, in his bright green form-fitting jumpsuit (still with outrageous horns). Loki is from the Onslaught series of Marvel Legends figurines, in the 6' scale.

He's one of the oldest recurring villains in the Marvel Universe, with a first appearance dating back to 1949, in Venus #6 (a comic I've never even heard of). Since he's an Asgardian God, he's pretty much immortal, and this makes it really easy for the writers to keep using him over and over again. He's been allied with Doctor Doom, Magneto, the Red Skull, the Kingpin and the Mandarin, and has set in motion a great deal of the wrong-doings in Marvel Comics over the past 40 years or so. Many are the evil pies that Loki has his fingers in.

Although he has the powers and stature of a God, Loki is actually the (relatively diminutive) son of Laufey, King of the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. Odin the All-Father slew Laufey and his kin eons ago, and discovered Loki hidden away after the battle. Taking pity on him, Odin decide to raise him as his own, thus making him half-brother to Thor. During childhood, Loki grew increasingly jealous of Thor, and plotted against him pretty much every chance he got. He is responsible for the Lady Sif  losing her golden hair and Thor's Hammer Mjolnir having a shorterned handle. As remarkeable as it sounds, he mated with the giantess Angerboda, who bore him three evil offspring - the Fenris Wolf, Jormungand the Midgard Serpent (a gargantuan snake that encircles the entire world), and Hela (Norse Goddess of Death). These things are pretty irrelevant in the comics, and don't make a lot of sense, but they're based on the actual Norse Mythology. In the comics, Loki is inadvertantly responsible for the formation of the Avengers - the World's Mightiest Heroes. I'm sure he regrets this. Strangely enough, he shows no regret for being father to a bunch of freaky monster-kids.

He doesn't have a magic hammer like his bro, but Loki is perhaps the most powerful sorceror out there. Like Thor, he can travel between worlds and dimensions at will. He is also superhumanly strong and invulnerable, but doesn't like to get his hands dirty. Even though he has tried (and sometimes succeeded) to subjegate and/or destroy Asgard and the Earth countless times, his fellow Asgardian Gods keep him around because he's family. That's not to say that he hasn't been punished, however. He's been imprisoned inside a tree, transformed into a powerless amnesiatic vagrant, been decapitated, had his essence scattered amongst the cosmos, and for his latest transgressions has been turned into a woman. OK, so the last one isn't really a punishment since he/she is still a powerful sorceror/sorceress, and is actually kind of hot in an evil Goth sort of way,  but hey - I don't write this stuff so give me a break. (At this point, we're still waiting for the female Loki action figure to be produced.)

So I guess that's enough about Loki. His above history and description all sounds very Epic in scale, but I'm sure that when I start taking pictures of him, he'll be reduced to riding a stuffed puppy dog and wielding a pink umbrella instead of a sword. Behold! The Norse God of Evil, in all his terrible glory!

Til next time;

May the Force be with you...