Review of Space Ghost - Glow in the Dark Variant
One:12 Collective action figure

Introduction

Last week I reviewed the latest release in the One:12 Collective series of action figures: Space Ghost.  The same week, the variant figure shipped, and I pondered to my readers "would you like a review of him as well?". The overwhelming response was "Hell yes!".

Many of the aspects of these two figures are the same, but there's some pretty key, critical differences. This review will be more of a comparison, and I'll discuss how this guy stacks up against the regular in all the usual categories.

As I said, he's currently shipping, and you can pick him up for around $80 at most online retailers.

Packaging - ***1/2
Just like the regular release, the box is made from very sturdy, heavy stock cardboard, with a similar look and feel to the design. The photos are updated though, showing the GITD version instead, and there's the exclusive label.

Sculpting - ****
When I reviewed the regular release, I discussed in detail the two heads he came with: regular, stern Space Ghost; and gritted teeth, ass kicking Space Ghost. I said I liked the stern look quite a bit, but the battling version left me cold, pulling down the score slightly.

This guy only has one head, and it's the better of the two. This definitely boosts him back up, and I'm quite willing to go the full four stars. Add in the same well sculpted, properly scaled hands (and some great work on the other various accessories as well), and there's no doubt he deserves full marks.

I will say the one area of weirdness here is Blip.  Just like before, he's wildly out of scale, but he's also a lot more creepy looking with the GITD paint job. I'll attack both those issues in later categories.

I know what you're saying: "It's not fair - this guy has fewer portraits yet he gets a better score!" Have no fear, the loss of the one head will be a chicken that comes home to roost in the Accessories section.

Paint - ***
The work on the one head sculpt is excellent, with clean lines all around. The black and red areas of the outfit, like the belt and emblem, look terrific, and the only area where I have a nit is those power buttons on the gauntlets. Again, they went for a slightly worn look, and I'm not sure it's working for me.

But that's the same minor nit I had before.  This guy has a huge change in this category - he glows in the dark. Not only him, but Blip, all the extra hands, and even all the energy blasts.  It's all glow in the dark (GITD).

This makes sense as a variant of this character, as well as Blip. But going with this feature required some changes to the costume and materials, and I'm less than thrilled with the majority of the concessions.

The glowing paint does look good in a very dark room. The interior of the cape has a slight glow, but the exterior is very bright. The costume itself shows the funky pattern quite clearly, but that's to be expected.  The hands are the weakest area, with poorer coverage on the plastic than the cloth areas.

The early ads showed Blip still painted in various muted colors with the GITD effect over it. Instead the final version went with a translucent plastic, with a light GITD paint sprayed on top. I'm not digging this look, largely because it loses all the detail of the sculpt itself, and Blip ends up looking mighty creepy.

My biggest issue is that the glow effect leaves the head completely out of the picture, literally. It looks like the eyes have a *little* glow to them, but not nearly enough to compete with the brighter costume and cape. A good glow on the eyes would have looked fantastic, but instead, he tends to appear headless even in hand when you're in a dark room.

Articulation - ***
The articulation is exactly the same here, and I have the same pros and cons.  The joints work well, they are all tight and mobile, but getting his key pose - pressing the buttons on his wrist bands - requires some serious contortions and camera angles. I also really wish the rocker movement worked a little better, a nit I'm not sure I pointed out with the earlier release.

Blip's articulation is good as well, and he's much more articulated than you might expect. The many rotating hinge joints - shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, wrists, and ankles - are more obvious in the translucent plastic though, and creates some variation in the clarity of the plastic. He also has the ball jointed neck, and I think I forgot to mention his cut joint at the top of the tail in the previous review.

Accessories - ***1/2
This guy has a subset of the same goodies as the previous release, which means everything is a re-use.

He doesn't have the second head, which is a big loss.  It might not be the best expression, but I always prefer getting choices.

He does have all the same hands, eight individuals and three more attached to energy bolts. The translucent bolts are all here as well, but the lack of color does hurt them. There's something about the vivid reds, blues, and greens that really makes them pop, and the white-ish color is less appealing.

I've kinda bashed on Blip already, due to the creep factor. He's over sized, as he was with the regular figure, but without the paint detail he's a less impressive figure.

There's the display stand and support as well, which can be used for flying or jumping poses. While it's less useful for some characters - like the Flash for example - it's much more useful with someone like Space Ghost, who spent a lot of his time air born.

Outfit - ***
The biggest difference between the regular and the variant is in the costume. Clearly the glow in the dark paint that's applied is the driver, but this paint also requires a different material for both the costume and the cape.

The costume has a much more obvious, deep pattern. It reminds me of Cottenelle. I'm assuming this funky weave was necessary to get the paint to work correctly, and it does, but when you're not using the GITD feature (in other words, 99.99% of the time), this pattern can be a deal breaker.  It's much more obvious, and for many people - me included - far less attractive than the regular suit.

The cape is slightly different as well. The material is stiffer, although that might be caused by the application of the GITD paint. It's also a much paler yellow, another feature I'm not particularly keen about.  To my eye, there's a green tinge too, which I'm blaming on the GITD paint. It has the same heavy duty wire running through the entire outside edge though, making it just as poseable as the regular.

Fun Factor - ***
This guy is fun - just not quite as much fun as the regular version. I found the feel of the paint a bit off-putting, and was worried about damaging it (or creating wrinkles, like in the cape) by posing and handling. It's a pretty minor worry on the scale of all things to worry about, but it does make me less likely to pose and re-pose this guy.  Besides, Blip is just so damn creepy...

Value - **
This guy is generally $80, the standard price point for all 'exclusive' One:12 figures. I'm grading him at that price point, and let's be honest - you get fewer accessories, and what's here is all re-used.  Charging more is solely based on lower availability, but it's the regular that's now scarce as hen's teeth, and this guy is still an option.

I do have one sponsor in the Where to Buy section that's just charging $70, same as the regular release. That's the way to go if you can swing it.

Things to Watch Out For -
Nothing new. While I was a little worried about handling the GITD covered cloth too much, particularly the cape, I didn't actually witness any problems. Swapping hands was easy, and the underlying body and joints are high quality.

Overall - ***
As a stand alone figure, this is a solid release.  As a variant, it was well chosen, since it isn't a crucial figure to own, but nice to have if you have the space and money.

But if you're looking to buy only one, choosing between the regular and the variant, it's no contest for me - the regular wins.  I like the softer, smaller weave pattern on the suit better, I like the feel and color of the cape better, I like the varied color of the energy blasts better, I like getting the second portrait, even if it isn't the best...so yea, it's an open and shut case for me.

The variant has two big things going for it - the GITD feature, and its availability. While the GITD is nifty, you'll only see it once when you test it out, and then every time you wander into your toy room at 2am in the dark and it freaks you out because you don't remember having it there.

It's really the availability that I expect will be the big selling point. The regular release is largely sold out now, and going for bigger bucks on the secondary market. This guy can still be had at retailers, making it an attractive option. You'll have to decide if you're willing to take a step down to this figure, or spend the extra money just to have the regular release.

And of course, start pre-ordering these figures to avoid this problem in the future.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has a solid deal at just $70.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Obviously, you'll want to check out my review of the regular release Space Ghost as well. Then there's my favorite figure in the One:12 Collective - the Classic Punisher. There's also the regular release Punisher as well as their Toy Fair exclusive version of course. Other One:12 Collective reviews include 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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