Review of the Crow
One:12 Collective Action Figure

Introduction

Mezco has been doing the fast and furious - not the license, the behavior - with their releases. All that pent up production, all that backed up supply chain, all that has started flowing again and the shipments are starting to hit just about every week. Keeping up is going to be an effort for every wallet, at least for the next couple months.

One of these is the Crow, a figure I've been anticipating for quite some time. This is a license that hasn't gotten a lot of love over the years - there's a few figures, including the great Hot Toys release, but not a ton - and it's one that really lends itself to the style of the One:12 Collective.

It was originally $100 at the Mezco site, and there's a couple places online that have it currently in stock.

Packaging - ***
This is the standard One:12 box, with the art slip cover. Everything is held inside plastic trays in a very collector friendly manner, and you can remove the many extras without any damage to the package. It's attractive, but fairly basic for a One:12 release.

Sculpting - ***1/2
There are four - count 'em, FOUR - head sculpts with this figure. You should have no trouble finding an expression you like.

These are macro photos of course - remember, this guy is only about 6 1/2" tall, making these portraits quite tiny. The amount of detail is pretty extreme considering the scale.

The portrait he comes wearing is my least favorite, because the blank expression is the least emotive. The hair is the least disheveled, and he's a bit too calm for my tastes. However, the detailing and likeness are excellent, so it is a great addition for those looking for something less dynamic.

My favorite is the smiling head. Oh, he's smiling - those straight white teeth are pretty obvious - but the smile doesn't extend into the eyes. The eyes tell you he's about to tear you up. The hair is wild, with some locks in his face, and it's a great expression for any fighting pose.

Next up, the real fighting face - angry, showing both the upper and lower teeth in a grimace. The anger in the eyes is more extreme, with the proper wrinkles and texture. The hair is flying, as if he's right in the middle of a beat down.

The final look is more surprised, or perhaps thoughtful. The eyes are wider, the mouth slightly open, barely exposing the upper teeth. He's thinking about something, looking past you or through you, lost in his own world.

All of these have excellent sculpting detail in the hair and skin texture. The likeness is also solid, although with the white makeup it was always harder to see the features of the person underneath, almost a better mask than Batman's cowl. If I had one complaint, it would be the detailing on some of the hair strands could be a bit thinner, but it's a pretty minor nit at this scale. Fans of the actor and the character should both be very pleased.

Paint - ****
The paint work on these portraits is critical, since the white skin, darkened eyes, and colored lips are such an important aspect of the appearance. Everything is clean and sharp, with an excellent realism.

The dark hair has a little shadowing between the highlights and deeper cuts, making the strands stand out nicely. The bright white of the faces is consistent, and the lips and teeth are very clean, with sharp lines and edges.

This attention to detail extends to the accessories as well, where even the smallest item (like the ignited lighter) is carefully painted.

Articulation - ***1/2
The underlying body is the more articulated in their stable of choices, with plenty of joints and lots of mobility.

While the heads all have long hair, it's made from a softer material, and the ball jointed neck has plenty of tilt and lean. You can add some great personality to any pose with this joint.

The shoulders, elbows, and wrists all work great, and the elbows can get to very shallow angles. You can create some nice arm poses, and the torso can bend and tilt as well, breaking up those unnatural straight lines in the upper body.

The hips, knees, and ankles can manage narrow to deep stances, although the boots are a bit restrictive on the ankles. The 'leather' pants are stretchy, and you can get sitting poses out of them.

There are thin wires in the edges and belts on the coat, which allows for some dynamic posing with the clothing as well. It's a nice touch, since this is clearly a character begging for a pose with movement.

Accessories - ****
While the price point on this guy is a bit higher than normal, that extra cash goes into a lot of extras.

There's the three additional heads I mentioned earlier, and of course that goes a long way to boosting this score. They swap easily, and stay in place while posing.

The same is true of the hands. There are eight more to go with the two he comes wearing, in various poses designed to work with the other accessories. There's even a bloody 'bullet hole' hand, for a very scene specific look.

He has some very large extras, including his tombstone, which stands upright on its own, and the large, burning outline of the crow which lays on the ground. These will add to any display.

There's some pieces of his past as well, including the engagement ring on a wire, his guitar, and the theater mask. The wire for the ring, rather than a string, is an unusual choice, but you can adjust it this way.

He has plenty of weapons - knife, sword, shotgun, two handguns, the rooftop weather vane - which all have excellent sculpts and paint work. The various weapons can be held in the appropriate hands. There's an extra clip for one of the guns as well.

He also has one of the itty bitty extras, a lighted lighter. Take care not to drop it in the shag carpeting. And he has a few animal friends, including his cat and two versions of a crow, one flying and one resting. Both have small holes in the back, and can be attached to the display base with wires.

Which leaves the display base, the usual round base with the foot peg or the translucent support rod. This time there are additional pieces to attach the crows, if you so choose.

That's a lot of stuff!

Outfit - ****
The outfit consists of a shirt/pants/boots/coat combo that is truly unique to this character, although each piece is pretty standard.

The boots are sculpted untied with the big tongues hanging out. It's a great look, and the scale and design are excellent.

The shirt has the appropriate rips and damage, more noticeable without the coat. They've matched the on screen look, and both the pants and shirt include the wrapped cords.

The pants are always a concern, especially for those of us who own the Mutant Leader, and have watched his pants disintegrate. These seem more vinyl than pleather, so I'm hopeful. The tailoring is great, and they are stretchy enough to manage deeper stances.

The coat is the winner, although I do have a couple quibbles. The wired edges and belts allow for some dynamic posing, and even for some simple adjustments to make the coat hang and flow more naturally. I do think the lapels are a little big, but it's a pretty minor nit.

Fun Factor - ****
With all these head sculpts, all these accessories, and a very posable body, you should have lots of fun finding your favorite pose and changing it up regularly. Add in the crows, cat, tombstone, and flaming crow logo, and you'll have a bunch of ways to create the perfect display on the shelf.

Value - **
Most One:12 figures are in the $80 range these days, but when they add various electronic features they tend to be closer to $100 or even more.

While this figure does not have any lights or sounds, it does have a ton of accessories, including some fairly large ones. I'm not surprised at the higher price tag, but it might be a deal breaker for some.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. I did manage to break the wire holding the ring around his neck, although it was simple enough to twist it together again, making it just a little smaller than before. Otherwise, there was no worries about damage or breakage.

Overall - ***1/2
While it might be easy to miss this release among the flood of stuff coming out in the One:12 line right now, you shouldn't sleep on this one. This is one of the nicest Crow collectibles I've seen, in either figure or statue form. They really loaded him up on extras, and clearly are fans of the license themselves. The style of the One:12 series lends itself well to this character, and fans should be very happy with the final result.

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

Where to Buy 
You can still join the waitlist at Mezco's site, where he's $100. Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has him for $100. Use my link and get an additional 10% off, plus free shipping!

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
The only other Crow figure I own is the sixth scale version from Hot Toys.

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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