Review of Knightmare Batman - Batman Vs Superman
One:12 Collective Action Figure

Introduction

Once upon a time, Mezco announced an exclusive to their fairly new line of action figures, the One:12 Collective. It was the Knightmare Batman, from the movie Batman V Superman. And it didn't get a lot of love. In fact, orders were so poor, they dropped the idea altogether.

But some collectors were not pleased. They made their desire known, and Mezco said if demand picked up, they'd find a way to produce him. It did, and they did, releasing it as their own exclusive through their own online store. Want irony? This figure sold out and is now hard to get, demanding high prices already on the secondary market.

If you were smart and ordered it when it went up for pre-order, this guy cost you $80. The demand for One:12 figures is going crazy right now, so if something does come up for pre-order and you think you *might* want it, I suggest ordering it. Let it slide, and you'll be paying much more later.

Packaging - ****
I generally like all the One:12 packages, but this one really jumps out at me. It's a combination of the sand themed color palette and the spot gloss printing. It's really an attractive cover, and surprisingly one of my favorites.  They've included a small 'Mezco Exclusive' gold foil sticker as well.

Everything inside is completely collector friendly too, and the figure and accessories are safely packed in a tightly sealed set of double trays.

Sculpting - ***1/2
You get not one but THREE portraits with this figure, always a huge plus both in this category and the Accessories category.

The standard head has him screaming, charging into battle. The thick, stocky head and short ears look great, and there's a nice distinction between the mask and the underlying face. There's even some amazing work on the eyes, buried beneath. Remember, this figure is only 6 1/2" tall, making all the detail that much more impressive.

The second head is calmer, but still masked. The mouth is slightly open and you can see teeth, but he's not in an extreme expression.

The final head is a unmasked Bruce Wayne. It's not a great Ben Affleck, and I'd even be willing to hazard a guess that they didn't have his rights. It's a sort of cosplayer approximation - you know who it's supposed to be, but it's not quite there. From the eyes up, the likeness is decent. I see Ben in the eyes, eyebrows, and certainly in the detailed hair sculpt. But the nose is way off, and there's something about the mouth and chin that just isn't working. Still, having a highly detailed realistic Bruce head in this scale will come in might handy.

The rest of the sculpting on the armored torso, boots, and gloves is excellent, with lots of small details and interesting textures. The chest piece is particularly amazing, and shows off the sort of quality Mezco can produce in this small scale. The hands have a cool, wrapped glove look, and they swap easily but remain in place when posing.

Paint - ****
As with the sculpt, it's important to keep scale in mind when considering the quality of the paint work. These figures are tiny, making the details all the more difficult to nail.

Buried up inside the masked portraits are some excellent eyes, painted with clean lines and sharp definition. The edges between the skin and mask are even, and even the tiny teeth are quite well done. The five o'clock shadow on the unmasked head looks very realistic, and while you can still find an occasional blip here and there in macro photos, in hand he's very impressive.

Articulation - ***1/2
Even with the bulky outfit, this guy has extremely good posability. I was surprised by it in fact, and while a couple of the joints are still restricted, it's not as bad as I anticipated.

The neck has a few issues, due to the thick neck design. We've seen this with their other Batmen from the film, and even the recent Ascending Knight. The stocky, armored neck can make it tough to tilt and lean the head, but you can still add some reasonable personality to most poses.

The coat restricts the shoulders a bit, but not more than it would on a real person. The elbows and wrists work well, and while it's tough to get a lot of two handed gun poses, you can manage one or two.

The torso turns and leans, and remains that way. The hips, knees, and ankles work terrific, making life-like leg poses very easy.  I was very happy to see plenty of rocker movement in the ankles, which means you can keep the feet flat on the floor even in deeper stances.

One additional point of posability is the coat. There's a thin wire in the front edge, and you can create some dynamic looks using it.

Accessories - ****
He has some re-use, but he also has some very original, very character specific extras.

There are five hands in total. He comes wearing fists, and there's a gun gripping right, a wider open right, and a tight grip left.  They swap easily enough, but I would have liked a better gripping left to work with the machine gun.

I already mentioned the three head sculpts, two masked and one bare.  I've gone on enough about the sculpt and paint, but their simple inclusion really boosts this score.

He has two guns - a sweet Colt handgun that fits perfectly in the holster on his hip, and a large machine gun, complete with bandana sculpted around the barrel and a Joker card on the stock. The magazine can be removed from the machine gun as well.

There's a gun blast flame that can be inserted into either gun barrel, and looks pretty sweet in place. You can snag a couple others from the Punisher figures if you'd like to have one on each gun at the same time.

His other important extra is his goggles. These fit over his head and rest on the forehead nicely. While wearing it is the most common look, I added a few photos without as well so you could see the two unmasked heads both ways.

Outfit - ***
My one area where I'm a bit disappointed is the outfit. More specifically, the coat.

The lower levels are fantastic. The sculpted torso looks great, and the pants have a WWII era vibe that works with this character. The cloth belts and holster fit well, and the other sculpted bits - gloves, boots - are extremely well done.

The two pieces that are weaker are the scarf and the coat. I can live with the thin, cheaper scarf, since there's not much more to expect at this scale. But the coat has issues that I wish they'd been able to overcome.

The collar and lapels are much too big, and while the wire helps keep them out of the way, they are simply over sized. The tailoring on the coat itself is excellent, so it's really only the collar and lapels that drive down the score.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
With a ton of accessories, three different portraits, and a much more posable figure than I expected, this is really a fun figure. You can easily come up with natural poses and stances, and then swap them all around for something even better.

Value - **1/2
At $80, this guy came in at the average One:12 Collective price for an exclusive version. He comes loaded up too, which makes the price point even more palatable. Therefore, I'm going with my average score, which won't affect my Overall either up or down.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.  Everything was sturdy, and I had no fear of damaging anything under normal handling.

Overall - ***1/2
I was one of those that was really bummed when this figure was first dropped from the plans. I was thrilled when it went back up for order. And while it has a few nits - those lapels really bug me - overall it's a great release.  It's a very unique look for Batman, yet it seems to fit his overall theme nicely. Getting that third, unmasked Bruce Wayne head sculpt is just a bonus.

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

Where to Buy 
This guy was originally $80 at Mezco's online store. You're best bet now is to search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've covered most of the One:12 figures, including the Toy Fair Ascending Knight Batman, and the regular Spider-Man. Earlier figures include the PX Exclusive Deadpool, the Mezco exclusive Deadpool, the One:12 X-Men Deadpool that was a 'summer' exclusive, as well as the recent Deathstroke, Suicide Squad Harley, the regular Red Skull, classic Superman, and the Morales Spider-Man. I've also covered the 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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