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Captain Toy/Michael's Review of the Week

Review of Ascending Knight Batman
One:12 Collective action figure

Mezco Toyz
Date Published: 2018-04-20
Written By: Michael Crawford
Overall Average Rating: 3.5 out of 4

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Ascending Knight Batman One:12 Collective action figure by Mezco

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Introduction

Mezco's new Ascending Knight Batman combines various traditional features of the Caped Crusader with design elements of their own. The first release to see existence was their Toy Fair all black version, and it quickly became a holy grail for many collectors. The regular black and gray release is now available, and while it was sold through many retailers, finding one might be tricky. The price for a regular release like this is at $80, up about $5 from early offerings in the line.

There are two more variations on this figure still to come - the almost all black (with some gold highlights) that is exclusive to the Mezco store, and the blue and gray release that is a PX exclusive.

Ascending Knight Batman One:12 Collective action figure by Mezco

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Packaging - ***1/2
As a standard release figure, it comes in standard release packaging. The slip cover colors match the colors of the figure itself, and the box is sturdy and well made. It's also largely collector friendly, although there is some of that sticky plastic (not quite tape, but almost) covering some of the smaller accessories in the tray.

Ascending Knight Batman One:12 Collective action figure by Mezco

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Sculpting - ****
This figure comes with two portraits, as do most One:12 figures. There's the masked version he comes wearing in the package, and the secondary unmasked Bruce Wayne head. These heads are identical to the ones that came with the Toy Fair release, and they will also be included with the upcoming variants.

The masked portrait, with it's long, very sharp ears (very!) and broad forehead, is quite reminiscent of the triangular head of the Golden Age Batman. It's a terrific design, one which seems to bridge old and new extremely well.

The head and neck is a two piece design of course, and the cowled version blends in perfectly with the covered neck. Sixth scale manufacturers need to take note - this is how a two piece design can look good and have more articulation.

The unmasked head is a very traditional Bruce Wayne, although it's a look that I think is more modern in style. It kinda reminds me of the old Kenner figures that were trying to look like Michael Keaton...sorta. There's some nice detail work in the hair, and the expression is stern and stoic.

It's important to remain aware of scale. The One:12 Collective is approximately 1/12, and Batman comes in at about 6 1/2" without the ears. That makes these portraits small and all the more impressive.

Ascending Knight Batman One:12 Collective action figure by Mezco

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Paint - ***1/2
The majority of the detailed paint work is on the portraits, and both are quite good. Unlike the Toy Fair version, I actually think the unmasked portrait is a bit better than the masked version. The bare face has amazingly sharp eyes considering the scale, and the eyebrows, hairline, and lips are extremely clean. The skin tone is even and has the slightly translucent depth that makes these seem more lifelike than the usual figure in this scale.

The masked head is good, but there's a stray mark or two, and the edges aren't quite as clean this time. Mezco has set an extremely high bar for themselves - and the rest of the market - in this category, and this release is by no means a miss. But it's not quite the perfection we've seen with a handful of other figures in the series.

The paint work on the accessories is minimal, but clean. The gold belt has a nice wash to bring out the details and add a little realism, and the silver highlights on the various extras look good.

Ascending Knight Batman One:12 Collective action figure by Mezco

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Articulation - ***1/2
The underlying body has a ton of mobility, even in the tighter restrictive suit.

The two piece neck allows for lots of tilt and lean, and the shoulders, elbows, and wrists work in concert to create natural arm poses. The torso is particularly useful this time, because while the suit is tight, it doesn't force the upper body back to center. This allows you to better use the torso articulation in creating realistic poses.

The hips and knees are more restricted by the suit, but you can still get fairly deep stances, and the rocker movement in the ankles allows the feet to stay flat on the ground. You should have no trouble getting fluid poses with a natural flow and line to the body.

Ascending Knight Batman One:12 Collective action figure by Mezco

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Accessories - ****
He has the same goodies as the Toy Fair release, with slight color variations.

I mentioned the two portraits of course, and they swap easily. There's also a total of seven hands - the fists he comes wearing, a set of wide grips, a set of tight grips, and one gun grip right. These also swap easily, and I had no fears about breakage or damage with the pegs.  I would be very careful with the softer spikes on the wrists though - don't squeeze them down while swapping hands.

I've only included one of the tiny batarangs in the photo below, but he actually comes with a whopping ten of them! He also has the huge 'bat-brick', which folds at the center.

There's the usual grappling gun of course, with three different tips, all painted in silver this time. There's an open tip, a closed tip, and an open tip with an attached rope. These can be connected to the gun barrel for various poses. The gun itself looks great, and fits in either the specific right hand or a 'holster' on the back of his belt, under the cape.

He also has his tranquilizer dart gun, which can also fit in the gun grip right hand. This tiny crossbow looks terrific, but take some care putting it in the hand.

Finally, there's the standard One:12 Collective display stand, which includes both the foot peg and the larger, clear support rod for jumping poses. Since this figure has a cape, they also include the support extension to hold the edges of the cape out in dynamic poses.

Ascending Knight Batman One:12 Collective action figure by Mezco

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Outfit - ***
I'm not a huge fan of this outfit - which might seem odd, since I loved it on the Toy Fair version. It's surprising what a simple change of color can do.

The quality is certainly not an issue. I love the cape, which has enough weight to hang smoothly over the back or down the shoulders. The tailoring is excellent, and the quality of the materials and construction leave me with no complaints. Even the hard plastic '3D' symbol on his chest is perfectly straight and tightly applied.

But what looked amazing all in black looks less impressive in gray. Perhaps it's just not a color that lends itself to complete top to bottom leotard. Maybe it needs a bit more variation between the smooth sections and the cloth sections. Maybe it just needs to be a little darker. Whatever the reason, I have an aesthetic issue this time, and it's pulling my score down in this category. Your mileage could very well vary based on personal taste.

Ascending Knight Batman One:12 Collective action figure by Mezco

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Fun Factor - ***1/2
The color of the costume certainly does not effect how much fun this figure can be. With plenty of accessories and great articulation, you should have no trouble finding dozens of great poses, swapping them up whenever the mood strikes! This is a sturdy enough figure for kids too, but those super pointy ears could be dangerous.

Ascending Knight Batman One:12 Collective action figure by Mezco

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Value - **1/2
The current average price is $80, and I'm good with that considering the number of accessories and overall quality of the final product. Regular readers know that a **1/2 here means you're getting what you're paying for, and the score won't affect my overall either up or down.

Ascending Knight Batman One:12 Collective action figure by Mezco

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Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. The pointy ears are made from a very hard plastic and are very sharp, so take a little care when swapping heads. Also take some care when swapping hands, because the spikes on his gauntlets are NOT sharp and hard, but soft. That means squeezing them while pushing the hand on could damage them.

Overall - ***1/2
I loved the Toy Fair Ascending Knight Batman, thanks to the all black, military style look. The best parts of that figure - the head sculpts, the cape, the accessories, the articulation - carry over to this standard release. But the outfit doesn't move me quite the same way.

I'm probably not going to jump up and down over the blue and gray PX exclusive either. I can't say that for sure - I've found myself surprised by in-hand results more than a few times - but at this point in time, I think the overall winner of the currently announced or upcoming releases is going to be the Mezco store exclusive.  Done in a black costume but with this gold belt and other gold highlights, I'm betting he's going to be the one that ends up taking center stage on my shelf.

Of course, I wanted all four, and I'm glad I picked this guy up. But if I could have only one, I'm doing a little prognosticating and predicting the black and gold variant will be my personal favorite.

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

Ascending Knight Batman One:12 Collective action figure by Mezco

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Where to Buy 
This guy is sold out at a lot of spots, including Mezco's own store. Online options include these site sponsors:

- still has the pre-order up for $80.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Obviously you'll want to check out the Toy Fair version of this figure, but I've covered almost all of the One:12 line, including the PX Wolverine, the PX exclusive Deathstroke, Knightmare 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.

Discussion:
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Ascending Knight Batman One:12 Collective action figure by Mezco

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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer. Photos and text by Michael Crawford.

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