Review of Darkseid
One:12 Collective Action Figure

Introduction

Thanks to the MCU, and in particular Avengers: Infinity War, pretty much everyone in the world now knows who Thanos is. The God-like villain is one of the most powerful in all the comic universe...and yet, there is one perhaps more powerful, who certainly came first and influenced the look and design of Thanos.

That would be Darkseid, his cousin in the DC comics. Darkseid debuted in 1970, a villain unmatched in power up to that point. Thanos was introduced into the Marvel universe in 1973, and about five minutes later nerds had their first Thanos vs. Darkseid argument.

Mezo is bringing the big bad DC villain to life in their One:12 Collective series of action figures. He sports a couple interesting features, with a light up feature for his eyes, and some polystone and metal body parts. A light up feature isn't unique of course, but it's still relatively uncommon in the series, and while the polystone parts are unique, we have seen metal parts with the Iron Man figure.

He's a big boy, and there's a hefty price to go with the hefty figure - around $180 at most retailers. He just started shipping, and some places are still listing him as a pre-order.

Packaging - ****
This guy isn't a Previews or Mezco exclusive, but he got the fancy metal tin treatment just the same. It makes a lot of sense because he's a very heavy figure, and with the metal tin they went with the solid foam cut out trays, rather than the plastic. This keeps him uber-safe in transit and in storage, and far less likely to get damaged before he gets to you.

I really like these metal boxes too, and they look fantastic. This is one of the few packages you could empty out and keep for other things, like general accessory storage. It reminds me of when my grampa kept his tobacco tins to store bolts and nails out in the garage...

Sculpting - ****
This figure is a unique blend of multiple materials - cloth, metal, poystone, and plastic - and they all come together to create a fantastic looking end result.

What's what? Well, I can tell you the tunic and cape are cloth. The marketing materials say they used metal in the helmet, belt, feet, shoulders (of the cape), and chest. I can pretty much confirm that. I believe much of the arms, legs, and face plates are polystone, but I think the hands are plastic, and of course some of the joints themselves (like the wrists, and I'm betting the ankles) use plastic rotating hinge joints.

This guy is *heavy*. Really heavy. I don't know if you could break an arm or a leg by dropping him (on the figure, not you, although breaking your own toe would be possible), but I wouldn't recommend trying. The polystone doesn't feel fragile, and when I was posing him I had zero worries about anything breaking.

There are four different face plates in total. One is stern, but not extreme. One has a sly grin. One is more extreme, with a wide, evil grin and battle damage. The final version has two red beams permanently attached to the eyes. All four have excellent, sharp detail, and look just like the stone exterior you expect.

This hard stone look translates to the arms and legs, and the various bits of armor are extremely detailed. The gloves and boots look fantastic, and the use of multiple materials has allowed them to up the realism of the final product considerably.

He's a tall dude too, coming in at 8" overall.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint work in general looks great, improving on the overall realism of the sculpt, and enhancing it in several places. The gray stone has a wash to bring out the craggy personality, and the highlights on the metal armor pieces are clean and sharp. The printed cloth on both the tunic and the cape looks great, and once again the boots and gloves are a highlight.

I did have a minor blip here and there that held them back from a perfect score, with some of the faces looking better than others. All four plates are designed to allow the light feature to shine through the translucent red eyes, and the battle damaged version extends this light into the wound.

Articulation - ***
One common concern with this figure was articulation - if it's polystone and metal, how articulated can it be? No worries there.

He starts with a fantastic ball jointed neck. I had no trouble getting lots of tilt and lean, and the helmet was not as restrictive as I feared.

The shoulders are simple rotating hinge joints, and they work fine. The arms aren't so heavy to cause the arms to droop, and you can keep them posed in pretty much any position. There's no cut bicep though, reducing the movement of the arm across the body. The elbows and wrists are the usual rotating hinges, so while you can't turn the arm inward and outward at the bicep, you can do it at the elbow. The hands swapped cleanly but remained in place as I was working with him.

There are One:12 figures when the torso crunch and twist is restricted by the costume, and I assumed that would be true here. It is to some extent, but I was able to get more movement out of the chest and waist than I expected.

The hips, knees, and ankles are about what you'd expect. He can take a lot of good standing poses, but the hips aren't going to allow him to sit naturally, and the ankles could use a bit more rocker movement.

Overall, I found him to be better than I expected in this category, and was pleasantly surprised to find no negative effect due to the heavier materials.

Accessories - ***1/2
While they like to load up their figures, this guy was a little - but just a little - less packed than some of their other recent releases.

He still has plenty of goodies. There's a total of five hands - he comes wearing fists, and there's a second set of grasping hands, and one medium grip left, perfect for holding the Mother Box. As I mentioned, they swap cleanly, and stay in place when handling.

There are a total of four face plates as well. He comes with a stern, serious look, but you can swap in a sly grin, a gritty damaged face, or one with two red beams shooting from the eyes. These are held in place with a magnet, and are easy to swap.

He has the Mother Box as well, which can attach to the back of the belt, again thanks to a very strong magnet. The detail on this is very nice, with a very clean, realistic sculpt.

An extra piece of costume is also included. He comes with his large cape, which I'll discuss in greater detail in the Outfit section.

Finally, he has the usual display stand. You really won't need it, but it's nice for consistency.

Light Feature - ***1/2
Inside the head are two tiny LED lights. Under the face plate is the battery compartment. Pop off the face, unscrew the cover, and slip the two included batteries into the slot, easy peasy. The switch is not located here, however. Instead, they placed it up under the helmet. To access it, you must pop off the head. This is a bit of an annoyance, but fortunately popping the head on and off is fairly easy and painless.

The lights are nice and bright, enough so to see them in a well lit room. It's a nice effect you'll use often when showing off the figure.

Outfit - ***1/2
I've already mentioned the sculpted pieces of his outfit, particularly the terrific boots and gloves. But there's at least three other areas that need further discussion.

Those are his cape, his tunic, and his belt. Let's start easy - the belt. It's metal (at least in some spots), and the magnetic Mother Box attaches to the back. Great sculpt, great fit, it's a solid piece of work.

The cape also includes metal. The large shoulder pads are all metal, and very heavy. They fit down tightly over the shoulders, creating a great look every time. The cloth cape hangs straight, and posing the arms underneath the armor can be tricky, but it is possible to raise the arms with the cape in place and it not look weird.  Check out the final photo for an example.

Finally, there's the tight fitting tunic. It's a little short, and will tend to ride up the thighs when you're working with him. But the overall appearance is great, and you can stretch it down a bit when that happens.

I ended up with my own personal issue, however. Because it rides up, it can get caught in the hip joint. I nicked a small tear in mine, due to this. Be particularly careful when posing the legs to ensure the tunic isn't caught.

Fun Factor - ***
Good articulation, nice assortment of useful accessories, and a classy light up feature all add to the fun of posing and re-posing this guy.

Value - **
This one is a really hard call. If you compare him to other One:12 figures, he seems awfully expensive. They normally run $80 these days, with characters with something super special - like a light up feature - coming in around $100 most of the time. At $180, he blows that away.

But he's also incorporating both metal and polystone, along with a light up feature and a nice assortment of extras. He's much bigger than the usual figure, more in line with their recent Hulk release that cost $125 with no lights or other special features.

I ended up dinging them slightly (**1/2 is an average value) because $150 - $160 *felt* like a price most consumers would find appropriate, but man, it's a hard call. There's nothing else quite like this guy to compare too, making this category super personal this time around.

Things to Watch Out For -
My only issue was with getting the tunic caught in the hip joint.  Don't do that. I'd also avoid dropping him, although that's a pretty good idea with any figure you pay this much for.

Overall - ***1/2
I had some concerns about this one. New techniques, new materials, high price...it could spell disaster. But not for Mezco, who came through with flying colors on their Darkseid. He looks fantastic, poses well, and has plenty of extras.

The price is the one area where you might hesitate, and I understand. It doesn't have a lot out there to compare it to, so making a value judgement is tough, and is sure to be a very case by case situation. But if you decide to spend the funds, you won't be disappointed with the end result.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has him for $180, but with free shipping.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
It's been a little while since I reviewed a DC One:12 figure. The last was the Justice League Aquaman, and before that we had the Wonder Woman, Batman, Armored Batman, Knightmare Batman, and Superman from the recent films. Other recent cool Marvel releases include Iron Man, Thor Ragnarok, and Hulk Ragnarok.

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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