Review of Black Panther action figure
One:12 Collective

Introduction

Superhero movies have come a long way in the last decade, and now we even have one vying for a Best Picture Oscar. Of course, there are still plenty of whiny nerds who can't seem to understand the cultural importance of the feat itself, and focus only on this particular movie - "It's not MY favorite!". Nothing like not seeing the forest for the tree.

Not only is the movie culturally ground breaking on multiple fronts, but it has some kick ass character designs. Mezco has just released their movie based Black Panther, and because it's movie based, there's no Mezco flair this time around. It's straight up screen accurate, or at least as good as it can get in the tiny 1:12 scale.

He'll run you around $80, depending on the retailer, and so far there's only one version.

Packaging - ***1/2
Simple design, but with a very attractive movie themed pattern as a backdrop. Inside, the plastic trays hold the figure and accessories safe, and it's all very, very collector friendly.

Sculpting - ***1/2
Let's remember scale, before we get too far into our discussion. This guy stands just 6 1/2" tall, much smaller than you might assume from the macro photos.

There are two portraits - masked, and unmasked. The masked look has a ton of costume texture, which is well matched to the cloth costume texture on the rest of the body. The scale is great, and tiny details like the crystal eye covers look amazing.

The unmasked portrait is extremely realistic. They've nailed the hair texture, including the facial hair, and the skin texture is subtle and appropriate. If you've seen the film, you'd recognize this head without the body, but there are a couple nits you can still pick. I think the nose is a little off, and there's something about the eyebrows that aren't *quite* there. But man, these are really minor nits on a super realistic, accurate, and very lifelike portrait.

The costume has some sculpted armor pieces as well, and the hands are done in various poses and grips. Both the heads and hands swapped easily, but remained in place as I was posing him.

Paint - ****
Mezco wants to nail the production paint process in the 1/12 market. I'm going to say they've succeeded, and if they can continue on this path, fans will remain quite happy.

The darker skin tone on the unmasked portrait is even and realistic, with sharp eyes, fantastic facial hair, and terrific lips. The masked portrait, as well as the rest of the costume, has difficult to produce silver highlights, all very clean and sharp. There aren't a ton of small details outside the two heads, but what's here is extremely well done.

Articulation - ***1/2
This is their standard super hero body, and it moves and bends in all the expected ways. The two piece head/neck works well, allowing good tilt and lean movement, and the arms can take plenty of natural poses, even in the tight fitting suit. The torso crunch is a little restricted - I think it's those huge lats - but it can turn and swivel properly.

The legs can take shallow to deep stances, and the two piece boots allow the ankles a decent range of movement. There's even enough rocker motion to keep the feet flat on the ground in deeper stances.

Accessories - ***
Unfortunately, this is the one area where this guy comes up a bit short. He's not as heavily outfitted as some of the regular releases, and if you saw the recent Toy Fair Blade or their new Gomez, you'll really feel the accessory shock.

However, he does have the most critical extra - that unmasked head.  One:12 figures generally come with at least two portraits, and with a character like this, it was required.

He also has a decent assortment of hands, including the fists he comes wearing, a tight grip set, a clawing pose set, and a relaxed set. They swap easily, with no fear of breakage.

He has both his short spear weapon, as well as his large shield/staff.  Both have excellent sculpts and paint work, and the shield includes two loops on the back for holding it in various poses.

Finally, he comes with the usual display stand, and you can employ either a simple foot peg or the more intricate clear plastic support rod.

Outfit - ***1/2
The basic outfit looks great in hand, but I did have a couple issues.

It's cloth, not the stretchy leather or rubber type, which means it should hold up better over time. It also gives around the joints, and doesn't bunch up badly at the hips.

The fit is great, but the underlying body creates some odd looks. The lats are very big on this body, and they pooch out the sides of the costume. It also puts pressure on the seams in a way that has me a bit worried, and you can see on the one side I already have a loose thread. I'm hoping it doesn't get worse over time.

The neck of the cowl tends to ride up slightly off the torso, too. In hand it's not a major issue, but in macro photos it's a little more obvious. Both the boot tops and gauntlets are a tighter fit.

Fun Factor - ***
With good articulation and a reasonable number of extras, you'll find quite a few poses you love. He's not going to be one you pose and re-pose a lot, but if we can add a few more BP characters to the display, he'll improve in this area.

Value - **1/2
The usual price for a One:12 figure is $80 - that's where he lands. While he could use a couple more accessories, the MCU movie license can't be cheap. And with an Oscar nomination, it's probably only going to get more expensive for collectibles moving forward.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing!

Overall - ***1/2
Another great looking MCU figure, done really, really well in the 1/12 scale. Mezco is really firing on all cylinders right now, and no one is shipping figures that I anticipate as much these days.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth is also at $80, but they have free shipping.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other recent One:12 reviews include Gomez, the he Toy Fair Blade, Tactical Suit Batman, NOTLD Zombies, and Darkseid.

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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