Sometimes, the road to Ragnarok is paved with good intentions.
It’s been well over a year since the release of the film Thor Ragnarok, and along with it the solicitations for the Mezco One:12 figures. At the time of their showings ( I think our first look was at SDCC 2017), these figures were, well…hot. The property was hot, the buzz was building, and even though legions of companies solicited figures of their own, at the time of the preorder, these were still pretty cutting edge.
But as is the danger of needing to solicit figures ahead of the game, the year between preorder and release brought a LOT of other figures to choose from. And many of those figures hit pretty quickly, some even ahead of the movie.
And honestly, that’s no big deal. If you collect Mezco, it’s expected that you can hold your water and wait it out, even as other very good lookin options come your way. And the reason being, of course, is because we anticipate getting something inherently quality and unique from the line.
But does the Hulk fit that criteria?
Huuuuuuh. Man, the intentions were definitely there. So, I’m going to just break this down hard and fast, give you the pros, and tell you where we went off the path.
So Hulk is an excellent piece of eye candy, for starters. Paint is really incredible, and some of the details are easily lost on a figure this size. There are two options, one yelling and helmeted, and one more standard, stoic and hatless. Both are excellent, with great paint matching and detailing. The silver warpaint on the chest, the changes in material- I mean, this is some high quality paint.
Add that to a really slick mix of soft goods and plastic armor, and you have some super clean transitions and textures. Basically, any leather or blue not on the hands or feet is cloth, and Mezco has continued to excel at matching these elements so that it can be difficult to tell where one starts and the other begins. Its also very flexible, and the armor and dressing do surprisingly little to hinder articulation. The components all came out really good, no doubt.
In addition to the extra head, you get a pair of relaxed, gripping and fist hands, and the axe and murder hammer. Like I said, the hands have great sculpt and paint, and that’s true of the weapons as well. It’s tough toreally draw a distinction between these and most other weapons the competing Hulks have, but they are good and solid.
The base body is equally solid, which gives him an advantage over some competition- he can easily hold his weapons up with no drooping. At a touch, he almost feels rotocast, but the heft corrects that notion. As witht he armor and accessories, it’s a great sculpt, well painted, and I really like the scale, not only with One:12, but even with other big Select and Legends figures.
No, the only real problem you get into on this figure is the articulation. Hulk has ball shoulders and hips, hinge-swivel elbows and knees, ball jointed waist, neck, ankles, and the double pegged wrists. And while my first complaint would have been the lack of double jointed knees or bicep cut and seperate elbow joints the competitors used, but that wasn’t really the issue. I honestly don’t beef with larger figures having single joints, but those joints need the range- and that’s really the issue with this big guy. He has roughly the outlined needed articulation points, and parts like the shouders and hips have good range, but the shallow knees and elbows hurt the poseablity. I even like the ball jointed lower waist joint, it has some good motion, but without a ribcage joint, it just doesn’t quite get it done.
And that is a damn shame. The figure is so solid, and the build is of such quality, that with about 30% more range or articulation, it would have been a kiler. And while it wouldn’t be exactly earned, had there been a few less competing Hulks, it may lead the pack. But with the domestic and import versions bringing very comperable figures- some at a considerably lower price- well, that gets kinda tough.
So, I sadly have to keep my reccomendation limited the hardcore Hulk or Mezco fans. The aesthetics don’t dissappoint, but if you just need a good Ragnarok Hulk, you are truly spoiled for choice.
