Review of Blade - One:12 Collective
Toy Fair Exclusive

Introduction

If you know Mezco and Toy Fair, you know they do exclusives for the industry show every year. For the previous three years, their key Toy Fair exclusive has been from the One:12 Collective series, their mega hit. And yes, that means another holy grail for the completists to hunt down. Don't feel too bad - I still don't have the first black and white Batman. And don't even get me started on the recent exclusive Popeye.

This year they actually have not one but TWO One:12 Collective Toy Fair exclusives. They have both a Blade and a Gomez! I'm checking out one today (Blade), and I'll follow up with the second (Gomez) later in the week.

These come as a gift bag to some of the Toy Fair attendees at their press event. They come in a bag, with a lanyard, a couple pins, a nifty catalog of the 2019 releases, and a couple other goodies. I'll include a shot of the whole kit-n-kaboodle with the Gomez review.

Of course there's a regular release Blade as well, and as usual, he's in a more traditional outfit.  This is one of the comic themed characters, with a Mezco slant to the design, keeping some traditional aspects while including their own touch.

Packaging - ***1/2
The only unique aspect to the package is the Toy Fair exclusive sticker. Inside, the double plastic trays keep the myriad of extras and the figure safe and sound, and it's all very collector friendly. No tape, with the smaller accessories held extra safe with their own tiny plastic cover, and you can easily pop it all out and back in again. While most releases have photos of the actual figure, this one does not.

Sculpting - ***1/2
One difference between this release and the regular is the number of portraits. With the regular release you get two, both with hair. One is snarling with an open mouth and bared fangs, while the other has a closed mouth and more reserved expression.

This exclusive has two more heads. It's the same guy, but now he's got a shaved head, and slightly different facial hair. Again, there's a snarling look and a less dynamic expression.

Three of the four look fantastic. I particularly love the two portraits with hair, which is good news - these are the two you'll also get with the regular release. I'm betting we see the other two at some point, however. PX exclusive maybe?

The wide mouth, snarling, battling portrait is my favorite of the four. Great detail work all around, but particularly in the mouth, teeth, and tongue. He also has more wrinkling and creasing, giving him a 'vamped out' look and differentiating it a bit more from the calmer face.

The calmer look comes in number two. Lots of good skin texture, and the high and tight hair cut looks great. Even the facial hair is extremely detailed, and remember - these guys are tiny. These figures are 1:12 scale, and Blade is just a little taller than average for the line, closer to 6 3/4" than 6 1/2". The boots give him this slight height advantage.

Next up is the bald, snarling head sculpt. These teeth are really more gritted than snarling I suppose, and while it's a good fighting expression, it doesn't have quite the detail of the other snarling head.

Finally, there's the calmer bald head. This is my least favorite, because it's slightly boring and lacks any real emotion. He actually has a slight smirk, and rather than make him look like a smart ass, he looks a tad slow on the uptake.

The heads swap easily, and with this much variety, you'll certainly find a look you like.

Paint - ****
All four portraits have impeccable paint jobs for this scale, with lots of tiny detail.

The tattoos on the heads - including on the back of the neck and arms - look great. There's an aging or fade to them that adds to the overall realism. The tiny details, like the facial hair or teeth, are equally impressive.  The skin tone is even and consistent, and matches pretty well between the faces, necks, and arms.

The paint work on the tiny accessories is terrific too, from the red lens' on half of the sunglasses (more on that in the Accessories section), to the silver highlights on the stakes. Great paint is becoming a hallmark of this series, and they continue to impress.

Articulation - ***1/2
If you've worked with previous One:12 figures, you'll have a good idea of what you're getting. The two piece head/neck combo allows for lots of tilt and lean, and the arms and legs can take natural poses. He has the double pin elbows, and the ankles have decent rocker movement thanks to the two piece boot design.

The shirt has some 'armor', restricting some of the torso crunch and waist turn however. I think the arms could be a bit chunkier too, particularly around the elbows, but these are minor nits overall.

Accessories - ****
I already mentioned the four portraits - that's pretty amazing.  The regular release will have two, which is more standard for the line.

He also has 12 hands - six sets. He comes wearing fists, and there are several different gripping and posing hands you can swap around. They work well with the rest of the accessories, and swapping them is easy.

He has two sets of sunglasses, but gets four of each. That's probably in case you lose or break them - they're tiny. One set of four has black lens', the other have red. They fit tightly on any of the four sculpts.

Of course, he also has weapons. There are six stakes, but like the sunglasses, I suspect there are three extra just in case. That's because he only has loops on his costume to hold three at one time.

There are two 'folding blades'. These can be folded down and inserted in holsters on either side of his belt.

He has two more bladed weapons of course - his swords. These thin, deadly looking blades fit neatly in the scabbards. These scabbards can then be placed inside a magnetic holder on his back. The magnet is quite strong, but you can adjust the location of the holder slightly, or skip wearing the scabbards/holder at all. The magnet means there's no outward sign on his back that the holder is missing when it's not in place.

Blade loves guns too. There's a handgun that fits in the holster on his right hip, as well as a small machine gun and a larger pump shotgun. The sculpts are great, and there are two extra clips for the smaller guns. To finish off the look, there are two 'effects'. One is for the smaller guns, with a translucent blast topped off with a bullet. The other, larger effect works well with the shotgun.

Finally, he comes with the usual display stand, including both the simple foot peg and the more complex, translucent support rod for jumping and leaping poses.

Outfit - ***1/2
The other big difference between this release and the regular release is in the outfit. The regular version has a more traditional look, with a simple black t-shirt and a long black trench coat.

This guy doesn't have the coat, but does have a unique shirt with an armored front and back. The red piping on it looks fantastic, and it's a unique look.

The pleather biker pants are well tailored, and the removable belt has the holsters for the folding blades. He has thigh holsters for the handgun and stakes, and the sculpted boots aren't too restrictive on the ankle articulation.

It's a nice looking outfit, but I suspect I'm going to prefer the look of the regular release in this particular category.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
The display and posing potential is unlimited, thanks to the multiple heads and hands and a ton of accessories. You'll be posing and re-posing this guy over and over, at least until your regular release version arrives.

Value - N/A
You can't just buy this figure at retail, so there's no point in giving a score. The regular release is $80, which would garner a **1/2 average score in this category.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. There's some seriously tiny parts here, so be careful when handling to avoid dropping something. You may never find it again, hence the multiple glasses and stakes!

Overall - ***1/2
The regular release Blade is, quite appropriately, the more iconic version of this character. The only collectors who will pine for this release are a) the completists or b) serious Blade aficionados. But seeing the quality of the various items can generate a lot of excitement for the eventual release of the normal edition.

This particular version has a couple minor issues. I wish the arms were a little beefier, and the costume, while nice, is not as cool as the standard issue. But it certainly has me counting the days until that figure hits the doorstep, and makes a great addition to the collection for those fortunate enough to hunt one down.

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

Where to Buy 
This guy was a Toy Fair exclusive. That means the secondary market - like ebay - is your only real chance to get one. However, the regular release is widely available. Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth is also at $80 for the regular, but you get free shipping.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other recent One:12 Marvel figures include Iron Man, Ragnarok Hulk, the Ronin Wolverine, the Special Ops Punisher, and Doctor Strange.

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

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands more just like it!