Review of Batman and Two-Face
One:12 Collective Action Figures

Introduction

It's been awhile since Mezco did a Batman in their One:12 Collective. And for those of us that are Batman addicts, it's been a long wait. Oh, there's been a fair number of them up on pre-order, but when it comes to shipping, they've taken a long time.

The drought has come to an end, and I'm hoping we start to see a lot of older pre-orders finally start making it to our porch. The Golden Age Batman and Two-Face two pack hit this week, and it was definitely worth the wait.

The design for both characters is based on their Golden Age look, and for Harvey, specifically his first appearance. The set ran $190 at Mezco when it first went up for pre-order, but they are on wait list there now, and you'll pay a premium at other sites.

Packaging - ***1/2
There's a large outer box that contains two of the smaller sized One:12 boxes inside, one for each character. That makes it easy for someone that wants only one of the two characters to split them up and sell the other.

The packaging is a little thin, but the graphics are great, capturing the look and feel of the old comics, and everything is as collector friendly as you'd expect. No worries cracking it open and removing everything, since you can easily put it all back later with no damage.

Sculpting - ****
While most One:12 figures come with extra heads, these two come loaded up in ways we don't normally see.

Batman has five heads in total, Two-Face three. They cover a wide range of poses and looks.

Four of the Batman heads are wearing the cowl, while one is a Bruce Wayne. It's important to remember this is a Golden Age version, which means it's a very distinct style. Some people are not going to like this style - that doesn't make it 'bad'. It might not be for you, but for fans of the Golden Age comics, they nailed the look.

All five heads have the extreme jawline. The cowl is short eared, and the face wide with a small nose. Capturing the 2D art style of the period in a three dimensional figure wasn't easy, but I think they pulled it off beautifully.

The Batman expressions aren't extreme, and can blend in unless you pay attention. Obviously the Bruce Wayne stands out, and one of the four other heads has a slightly open mouth with gritted teeth. The other three have slightly different expressions - a slight grin, a slight frown, and a more neutral look.

Two-Face has three heads, with one being the basic Harvey Dent. Again, these are designed based on his first appearance, and the style is unmistakable. The other two heads are scarred and burned, with two slightly different expressions. One is slightly neutral, while the other has an angry look.

The detail work in the hair, especially on the side of the damage, is really impressive, and the skin texture and scarring is excellent. The heads all swap easily, and give you a tremendous amount of flexibility in posing and display.

Both figures stand about 6 1/2" tall, the norm for this line.

Paint - ****
One of the areas Mezco has concentrated on with the One:12 series is the paintwork. They are looking to produce the same sort of high end quality we see in sixth scale, but at half the size.

All eight heads look terrific, with a lot of attention paid to the small details. The teeth on the portraits with open mouths are clean and neat, and the skin pigments, especially on the alter ego heads, are realistic and life-like.

I'm also impressed by the damaged green skin on Two-Face. This is designed to look like the old color comics, and I think they did an excellent job translating the style and look.

The small details on the costumes and accessories are also clean, with no slop and excellent consistency.

Articulation - ***1/2
The underlying bodies have a few restrictions, but are generally easy to pose and can take natural stances.

The ball jointed necks work great, and as I mentioned, the heads were easy to swap. There's plenty of lean and tilt, but the cape on Batman can get in the way a bit.

The shoulders, elbows, and wrists are pretty standard, but I do wish the elbows had a bit more bend. I'm betting they are single joint, although I can't be 100% sure without removing the costumes. You can get some good fighting stances though, and have them battle in interesting ways.

The torsos work particularly well, allowing for good tilt and lean, and you can break up any straight lines in most poses with this joint.

The hips, knees, and ankles can take shallow to deep stances, and the rocker movement in the ankles allow the feet to stay flat on the ground. You can adjust the stances to keep the center of gravity stable, allowing you to create good poses without the use of a stand.

Perhaps the most interesting is the cape on Batman. With a very stiff edge wire, you can create all sorts of really dynamic poses with it, or you can hug it tightly around the shoulders and back.

Accessories - ****
While the price tag on this pair might have scared some folks, you really get your money's worth.

I already discussed the six extra heads to go with the two they come wearing. You'll have some good choices, and you'll find yourself swapping things up over time.

There's also plenty of hands. Batman has four additional sets, while Two-Face has five extra sets, plus one additional hand specifically designed for coin flipping. All these hands swap easily, but remained attached while posing.

Batman also has a variety of three batarangs, covering different styles. I particularly like the more bat-like versions of the early days.

There's also a batarang that's attached to a rope. Actually, there's two versions of this one, designed as a grappling device. One has a regular string rope, while the other has a wire rope, better for certain poses.

They did this same thing with the 'bat-bolas'. This is a bola like weapon with two bat themed balls at either end of a string. Again, one has a regular string rope, while the other was a wire rope between them, better for posing in certain ways.

Batman has a couple more specific items to the early days as well - a rebreather and radio. The rebreather is supposed to fit on one of the cowled heads better than the others, but I found it worked fine with all four. The radio is actually a belt buckle, which can snap over the buckle sculpted on the belt. It looks great either way, and on the inner side there are sculpted radio controls.

Since they provided a Bruce Wayne head, they also provided a cowl that can be held in his hand, or he can wear it around his neck, draped down his back over the cape.

Finally, he has the usual display stand with either the foot peg or the larger, clear plastic support rod. The blue base has a classic Batman logo.

Two-Face includes a number of great extras as well. There are four loose coins, as well as four coins in flipping mode. These are sculpted on translucent plastic trails, which fit inside the specific extra coin flipping right hand. They appear as though they are flying upward, the same way they would in a comic book panel.

There are also four switch blades, sculpted with great detail. The reason for this four, four, four set up with these particular extras is because they are VERY small, and having extras means fewer worries about losing or breaking them.

But that's not all for Two-Face. He also has a large case, and inside there's a sculpted bomb! The work on this case is excellent, and I'll definitely be including it on the shelf.

If you want to mimic his bandaged appearance, there's two strips of cloth bandage you can wrap around his face in any way you like.

And like Batman, he has his own standard display base, compete with classic Two-Face logo.

There are four other extras that work with either figure. There are two punching effects, and two burst effects. The latter can be attached to the former to create cool fight effects. Of course, the punching effects themselves can be attached to the fist hands on either figure.

That's a lot of extras, even for a One:12 figure!

Outfit - Two-Face ***1/2; Batman ****
The costumes are designed to match the Golden Age sculpts, and they do so extremely well.

Batman is in blue and gray of course, with an amazing cape and shorts to match. The black chest symbol is tightly attached, and the two piece boot design allows for the aforementioned excellent ankle articulation.

I've already discussed it, but the cape wire is worth mentioning again. It's a thicker wire than usual, which means the poses can be more extreme and it won't wilt or sag.

It's also worth mentioning the belt, thanks to the innovative way they did the buckle. You can snap the radio on and it looks great, or if you're worried about losing it, you can leave it off and it still looks great.

Two-Face sports a great suit, complete with shirt and tie. It's a dapper 40's look, and what really, really sets it apart is the cool wing tips he's wearing, in two different colors of course.

I have to admit I don't love the tie, however, which is slightly big. It stays in place though, and with some adjusting I was able to get a look I was happy with.

Fun Factor - ****
With a ton of extras, you should have no trouble finding a great pose for these figures. If you're into toy photography, they'll also make a great pair for action poses, fighting each other and other characters.

Value - **1/2
The average One:12 figure is around $85 - $90 these days. You're getting two here, so you'd expect at least $170. The extra $20 might seem excessive, but considering the volume of accessories and the uniqueness of the overall set, I think the price point is pretty much in line.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. Everything was sturdy and well made, and I had no worries while posing or working with the figures.

Overall - ****
I wasn't sure what to expect with this set, but once I had them in hand, I was extremely happy with the outcome. Doing comic book style characters can be tricky, and when you go back decades in style and design, it's even more complicated and difficult. Mezco met the challenge, and succeeded beautifully. This style isn't for everyone. But for fans of the Golden Age characters, this set is just about perfect.

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

Where to Buy 
This set was available through the online Mezco store for $190, but you'll need to get on the wait list at this point. Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other recent One:12 releases include Atticus Doom and Captain Nemo. Also check out their other Two-Face, and any of the many terrific Batman releases.

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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