Seeing Mezco’s floor show at SDCC is becoming like losing in Vegas on an IOU. Sure was fun, but it’s gonna cost you later. Disthunder and Canonball discuss the high points and the one real low point of Mezco’s One:12 Collective showing this year.
Disthunder
The high points for me are all cinematic — personal preference, but this is where I feel their skills have shone the most. Aquaman, Thor, and Hulk are all absolutely stunning. The likenesses are fantastic, and the armor — and bodysuit, especially on Aquaman — feel even more impressive than their previous ones. Homecoming Spidey, even in early stage, looks to continue that trend as well. And Micheal Myers! I might not be as excited as Canonball is for that one, but hot damn that’s cool.
The comic showing was maybe a little light in this very comic-movie-heavy era, but Catwoman and Batman Beyond were excellent surprises, and both have become must haves for me in a short period of time. The tech-detail applications on Beyond really grabbed me, and what would have maybe been just another bat-costume variant has been done as a character in its own right, as it should be.
Otherwise, there was a lot of stuff we’ve seen at Toy Fair, making steady progress. I’m not sold on Ghostbusters yet, but seeing Diabolik still on the docket was a good feeling. The Romero Zombies were an unfortunately timely appearance, as I suspect those figures now have extra importance in folk’s collections.
And not to dogpile, but really only Classic Superman was a bit of a letdown, again. There’s been plenty of discussion about it already, and more to come, buuut I’m feeling like it’s time for a fresh start. I think it’s admirable that Mez has tried to “catch up” this figure to newer releases, but I think they’ve come so far, so fast, that no amount of revision is going to bring that figure up to the others’ high standard.
Canonball
Mezco’s booth was what I was most interested in seeing this year. Having visited the Mezco booth at this year’s Toy Fair, I had a pretty good idea of what was coming, but I was still hoping for some surprises and some news. What I most hoped to see was another figure in the One:12 Collective Universal Monsters line, but there was hide nor hair of those monsters to be seen. What we did get a chance to see, however, was the spirit of Halloween himself — Michael Myers. Michael was a complete surprise and gives me hope for more “modern” monsters to see release. But just seeing pics of this Michael was a thrill.
He looks pretty much perfect and I love that he comes with a jack o’ lantern as an accessory. His jumpsuit lends itself perfectly to this format, and I can’t wait to see more. I know Mezco seems to be fond of the Hellraiser franchise, so could a One:12 Collective Pinhead be in the works? I’d freak, so I hope so.
Aside from Michael, I’m still looking forward to The Dawn of the Dead zombies and Ash from the Evil Dead series. I’m hoping pre-orders for each go up before Halloween. Outside these, there wasn’t much “new” stuff outside of Thor and the Hulk that really blew my socks off. What didn’t blow my socks off at all was Superman.
Something about him seems so off. The shiny suit, the teeny tiny red briefs, his muscular build — none of it is really gelling for me. Superman is one they really need to nail because he’s such an iconic character, but so far all the tweaks they’ve made to him aren’t doing it. I was late in preordering him, so I was waitlisted, but after seeing pics from the con, I had to go and cancel my spot in line. I just can’t get on board with what we’re seeing here. Hopefully further tweaks are made and Superman ends up getting a figure on par with the Dark Knight Returns Batman, because that’s what he deserves. If that happens, then I will reinstate my order post-haste.
There is still lots of great suff coming from Mezco later this year and into 2018, like Darkseid, that super-sweet new Batman, and all the new PX exclusives, so even though not a TON of new stuff was shown at SDCC, there is still more than enough new and upcoming releases to keep us occupied and happy.
