“This should be agony. I should be a mass of aching muscle– broken, spent, unable to move. And, were I an older man, I surely would…
“But I’m a man of thirty— of twenty again. The rain on my chest is a baptism— I’m born again…”
Mezco’s hostile takeover of 1/12 scale has officially begun. As the early in-hand reports began to light up, like a GCPD squad-car radio blaring sightings of an 8-foot tall man dressed like Dracula, there were some phrases that just kept coming up. A phrase in particular, one that I’m not fond of due to it’s buzz-word overuse status, has dragged behind this figure with a death grip on his cape. That phrase is game changer.
Sure, there’s other ways to say it, but none so simple and to-the-point. That’s what this figure is.
Standing at just about 6 3/4″ to the top of his ears, and weighing over 5 oz, Batman is an imposing figure even before you get him out of his presentation-quality packaging. If you weren’t aware of his existence before seeing in on a shelf the first time, the box alone would easily command your money.
Once opened, it only takes a few seconds to recognize what a unique experience this figure is. Veebee and Matt K have done proper due diligence as far as what to expect in terms of articulation breakdown, but here’s Mezco’s own blowup diagram, in case there’s any pertinent questions.
As a personal note, it’s not just the quantity of the joints that impresses me here, it’s the quality. The first few minutes of breaking him loose were a little nerve-wracking, because I didn’t want to be the first sunovabitch to snap a shoulder peg or something, but that quickly proved groundless. All the joints are thick, tight and just feel tough to me. Reminds me a little of the way the bigger SOTA Street Fighter figures felt. The range is even better than I expected, particularly in the knees and shoulders. One thing I have noticed in pictures is that his shoulders seem to ride a little high- that’s because there is a socket joint, like some of the PAK figures, that lets you position the shoulder ball itself up/down and a little in/out. Fantastic.
The accessories with the black & gray version are up a couple notches from the gray-scale one (from the pre-sale description):
The most obvious is the alternate boot and revolver. As used briefly in Book 3, Batman carries the Webley-style break-action revolver in a boot holster in the climactic Joker showdown at the County Fair, so it’s inclusion with this color variant makes good sense. I’m not sure if the gray-scale included the display stand and cape armature, but they are present here. I actually think they are excellent additions, but I haven’t put him down long enough to warrant a display stand. As it sits right now, I haven’t been able to decide a favorite alternate head or hands combination, I just keep cycling through them. The little One:12 Collective plastic baggy has certainly earned it’s keep already.
So, as a stand-alone piece, this figure is nothing short or remarkable. But how about as part of your collection at large? That’s a tough one. Having just a sense of what I was in for, I had begun working up some complimentary figures to join Batman some time before. I was somewhat surprised at how well he did fit in with some of the better conventionally styled 1/12 figures, particularly in scale terms, but the excellent fitment of the cloth uniform put just about everything to shame, including my customs. As for me, I intend to now adjust my collection around this figure, not the other way around, but if you’re not looking into that kind of dramatic upheaval, he may be an army of one for a while.
Veebee summed up a lot of this figure in one word for me– game changer‘s two words, so not that– and the more time I’ve had to play with him, the more it fits: Legit.
Unlike many figures I’ve owned, or been hyped on, O:12C Batman lived up to his press, owns his claims of being 1:6 scale quality, deserves his price point, and effectively adjusted the way I think of my collection, going forward. He walks the walk. He’s the definitive article. He is legit.
Fwoosh Sponsor BigBadToyStore does have him and the Previews EX versions still open for pre-order, and I understand that now Amazon sellers and Walmart.com are getting in the game. I would recommend ordering soon– “We haven’t got all night, boy.”
