Sigh . . . that’s the trouble with this hobby. You find enough stuff you don’t need on your own to buy anyway. But then with friends like these . . .
So last month I got a text from fellow Fwoosher Fuzzy Blue Demon. Not unusual, as we generally bounce messages back and forth every couple days. Usually, we talk some Mezco, we talk some customs, or I sucker him into buying Madelman stuff or an obscure vehicle. But this time he had found something of interest that we both needed to own. We just didn’t know it until that very second. In fact, let’s hear him tell it:
I am weak. Not physically, I’m just weak-willed. Marketing works on me, fast food commercials make me want to go eat fast food, and the suggested items listed at the bottom of eBay and Amazon pages might be the bane of my existence. Those links have caused me to spend countless hundreds of dollars on toys I might not otherwise have known existed.
One such toy is this mystery Hulk knockoff. It was a suggested listing at the bottom of the recent KO Iron Man Mk 43 with the Robert Downey Jr head. Listed as a Marvel Select figure, it obviously is not. But the auction pictures definitely intrigued me. When a listing finally appeared around the price of a standard MS figure, I finally bit. After three weeks or so, this oddity arrived at my door from half a world away. Shipped in a sealed plastic bag, he includes an extra set of open hands.
First impressions were positive. The pictures from the auction accurately represented what I received. He’s big, right around 10 inches tall. But more impressively, he’s THICK. Nearly as deep chested as he is wide, he’s just what I want in a Hulk sculpt. Both sculpt and paintwork impress, with detailed musculature highlighted by dark airbrushing to add depth to his physique.
He’s got decent articulation, but there are a few key points that are hindered or missing. Most notably missing are ankles, limiting what you can do with him below the waist. He has no torso articulation, leaving him looking a bit stiff, but his abdomen is so well rendered, I don’t mind.
But the most unusual and interesting part of this figure is his wardrobe. His signature purple pants are cloth! This, of course, brought one thing to mind: Mezco’s stunning One:12 Collective line. Once I had the Hulk in hand, I stood him next to Batman and snapped a few pics. He’s on the tall side next to Frank Miller’s take on the Dark Knight, but he seems to fit in well enough, at least as a stand in, until Mez gets into gear with the Marvel license. I don’t know anyone who’s bought into what Mezco is doing more than DisThunder, so I quickly passed my findings his way . . .
. . . and there’s no bonus points for guessing what I ended up doing.
Bootlegs and KOs are a curious, kinda uncomfortable part of our hobby. They exist, they persist, and while most of the time an inferior product for less money isn’t worth my integrity or my money, I occasionally get something like this. Hulk here has obviously made use of Hot Toys sculpt work, but in order to change the size and the media he’s constructed in, there’s a lot of independent work and effort put in. So where this Hulk is not just a resizing, but a re-engineering of the original figure, it doesn’t come across as blatant as some bootlegs.
So while your mileage may well vary on a purchase like this, I share FBD’s overall sentiments. While it could have benefited much from a little more articulation, his size, paintwork, and overall solid quality make this a pretty decent substitute for a One:12 Collective Hulk, until such as a time as we get a proper one. If you interested, there are still quite a few on eBay for a pretty good price.
