Mezco has been great about producing cool and relevant variants for many of their One:12 Collective releases, and the “Previews Exclusive” avenue has been a key source for these figures. Sometimes the variants feel absolutely essential, as was the case with the Previews Dark Knight Batman, but sometimes they don’t offer enough to make them feel as though they’re worthy of standalone release. When Frankenstein was announced, I was thrilled, but I was also worried that the two releases would not complement one another enough to justify the two purchases. So how does the Previews Exclusive variant compare to the standard release? Let’s take a look.
Since this release is *very* similar to the original figure, I’ll let the previous review do most of the heavy lifting here. This review will focus on what makes this release different.
The packaging is almost identical. There’s a “Previews Exclusive” sticker on the front, and the pics of Franky on the pack are in color (and a couple of the pics are different), but otherwise, the packaging is the same.
As for the figure itself, it’s identical to the standard figure in all respects except for the color. This is a “colorized” Frankenstein with a green skin tone rather than the grayscale of the standard release. The classic movies were, of course, black and white, so the standard reflects what we saw on the screen. The character was always intended to be green of complexion, so that’s what we basically seeing here. The suit and boots are exactly the same when comparing the two figures, so there are no surprises here.
Now, I expected the green to be even better and more striking than the standard figure, but I’m really not liking it as much. Maybe it’s too pale or something, but it’s really not doing much for me, at least not as much as I anticipated. Your mileage may vary here, of course, and it may be a case where my expectations were unreasonable, but I can’t help but feel deflated here.
There are elements that do look cool, though. His hands with the sliver and “bloody cut” details do stand out nicely, and the blackened fingertips work nicely.
As far as accessories go, they’re exactly the same as the standard. He comes with a stand and a pair of shackles.
I’m just not sure what it is. The standard impressed me with how nuanced and “lifelike” the grays were, but the green is having the exact opposite effect on me. The green just compromises the authenticity of his sculpt too much for me. It’s still such a strong sculpt, but the green doesn’t enhance that; it makes it look somewhat “flat.”
So I’m feeling a little bit of the ol’ buyer’s remorse with this purchase. I feel only one of these is really necessary for the collection, and for me the standard release is the winner by far. It’s difficult to justify picking up both of these at full price (at many retailers this version is actually more expensive) when the green bits could easily have been packed-in accessories with the standard, and then we’d have the option to switch back and forth between the two. But, on the other hand, I want more Universal Monsters in this series, so if my buying the two will help that happen, then I’ll just consider this as taking one for the team.
This version of Frankenstein can be had here: