Review of Red Skull
One:12 Collective

Introduction

If you've been wondering where the One:12 Collective figures are, prepare yourself for the onslaught. Lots of them are currently shipping, and I have three waiting for reviews right now.

Red Skull is on the top of the pile, and this is the regular release version. I already covered the exclusive old school uniform variant, but it's this black coat version most folks have been pining for. He originally sold for $70 - $80 depending on the retailer, but like with many One:12 figures, if you didn't pre-order you'll probably be paying a premium on the secondary market.

Packaging - ***1/2
I love the sturdy, thick cardboard they use for the regular release boxes. It can handle plenty of handling and shelf wear. The design isn't super exciting, but everything inside is kept safe and sound. The packaging is completely collector friendly too, with no need to damage anything to get the figure and accessories freed.

Sculpting - ****
This figure comes with two head sculpts, and they are the same two we saw earlier with the variant release.  One is a basic frown, while the other is a more serious, gritted teeth, expression. Both are excellent, with a ton of small detail work and sharp edges.

It's important to remember scale here - this guy is only 6 1/4" tall, half the size of a Hot Toys figure. Yet the detail work is amazing, and even in macro photos looks terrific. The heads swap easily, and because there are now two versions on your shelf, each one can have a different portrait.

There's an assortment of hands sculpted to hold the accessories as well. Scale is good, and they work nicely with their intended extras.

Paint - ***1/2
While the sculpts are identical, it does appear that they made a slight change in the expression thanks to the painted eyes.  On the earlier release, he was looking straight forward with both portraits. This time both (but more so the gritted teeth version) are looking off to one side. It adds a little variety, and reduces the annoyance of a straight up re-use.

The paint work is also super clean around the eyes, again considering the scale.  There aren't a ton of operations, but what's here is well done. My only nit is once again with the teeth, which could be a smidge sharper.

Articulation - ***1/2
The underlying body works extremely well, even in the tight fitting coat.

The ball jointed neck has no trouble with all sorts of tilt and lean movement, and you'll see poses in the photos that show off some of that range. While the outer coat is tight (as it should be), you can still get plenty of arm poses out of the wrists, elbows, and shoulders, and he has arm movement similar to a normal person wearing the same clothing.

The torso is more hindered however, so you can't get much turn or tilt in the upper body. The coat has no effect on the hips, knees, or ankles, and the legs can take even deep stances quite easily. The two piece boots allow for much better rocker ankle movement than I've seen with most previous One:12 figures (similar to the variant), a much appreciated improvement.

Accessories - ***1/2
He has a nice assortment, but 80% of them are shared with the earlier release.

There's the two head sculpts, which I've already gushed about. Suffice to say that as long as they keep adding multiple portraits with their figures, I'll be a very happy camper.

There's also six hands in total, all painted in black gloves.  There's a set of fists he comes wearing, two tight grip lefts, a wide grip right for the cube, and a gun grip right. They swapped easily, but stayed in place when posing the figure.

There's the aforementioned Cosmic Cube, done up in a slightly translucent blue plastic. That's a re-use, but the German Luger pistol is new, specific to this figure. It has a great sculpt, and fits neatly in his right hand.

Like with other figures, there's the large circular display base, with both a single foot peg option or the clear plastic support option.  And of course, he has a special plastic bag included, perfect for storing the accessories long term.

Outfit - ***1/2
For such a small figure, he has a very complex outfit. There's the underlying turtleneck shirt, pair of black pants, boots, and super cool long black coat. Over the coat is his belt with holster and chest belt.

The shirt and pants are tailored to allow multiple layers without being too thick or bulky. The long coat fits over them tightly, but you can still pose the arms and legs quite well. The material quality and construction are excellent.

The two piece boots are worth a special note. The uppers don't blend in as well in photos as they do in person. In hand, it looks fantastic, and the two piece design allows for a lot more rocker action. That means the feet can stay flat on the ground even in deeper stances.

The holster has a cover that completely closes, hiding any gun inside. I don't think it's intended to be opened - I tried, but couldn't pop it loose with light force. I didn't want to crank on it, since inserting the gun in the holster would be a moot point - you wouldn't see it anyway.

The belts and buckles look great, especially the main one with the large HYDRA logo. Again, the materials seem very high quality, and I wasn't worried about any damage with normal handling.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
I had some trouble swapping hands on the variant version, but this time it was a breeze. That makes this figure a bit more fun, since swapping hands and heads is a big part of posing and re-posing him over time.

Value - **1/2
At $70 - $80 (originally), this guy was the average market price for a One:12 figure. That also fits in pretty well when compared to the high end 1/12th scale figures coming out of various Asian companies these days. This results in an average score from me in this category, which won't affect my Overall either up or down.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. I didn't have any trouble swapping hands or heads, but if you start trying to take off the costume, good luck to you.

Overall - ***1/2
The One:12 Collective remains my favorite smaller scale series currently in production. I love the designs, I love the quality, and I love the character selection. I wish we'd see some of the other series get some more characters - like Star Trek or Universal Monsters - but I understand the need to produce the figures that result in the most profit. I can't wait to get the Marvel and DC movie figures they have scheduled for 2018, but I hope we see them avoid faling into the same crevasse as Hot Toys.  Once Hot Toys got super popular and managed to get the Marvel, DC, and Star Wars licenses, it is pretty much all they produce. Let's hope the One:12 Collective can manage to mix in some of the lesser properties with the big boys and remain successful.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ***1/2
Outfit - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options are pretty rare now, and you should get in the habit of pre-ordering any One:12 figures you think you'll want. You can still search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
The most recent One:12 review was Harley from Suicide Squad. Before that we had the exclusive Red Skull, classic Superman, the Morales Spider-Man. I've also covered the summer exclusive Deadpool, the exceptional classic Punisher, the regular release Punisher the Toy Fair exclusive version, Shazam, the classic Daredevil, the Flash and Reverse Flash, the BvS Superman, the comic based Joker, Green Arrow, the Frankenstein Monster Diorama, Frankenstein Monster, the BvS Batman, the Bvs Armored Batman, Captain America, Star Trek Kirk, the Mirror, Mirror and Cage variants of Spock, Sulu, the Toy Fair exclusive Spock, and the regular release Spock as well. Other One:12 Collective figures released so far include Dredd and his Lawmaster, the NYCC exclusive Judge Dredd, the DKR Batman and Mutant two pack, the Batman exclusives, and the initial DKR Batman.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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