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Introduction
Mezco's One:12 Collective series of high end 1/12 scale action figures has been hugely successful. They've covered a lot of licenses, from the smaller and more obscure (Popeye) to the big dogs (the MCU). But these licensed products are restraining when it comes to creativity, and one of the things often complained about by modern toy enthusiasts is the severe lack of independent concepts.
Back in the day - and we're talking 60's and 70's here - many, many toy lines were developed simply to be toys, and not based on some other licensed property. G.I. Joe, Best of the West, Major Matt Mason, Barbie, Micronauts, Colorform Aliens, etc. etc. were new, unique brands unto themselves. Licensing was there with properties like Batman or the Flintstones, but it was fairly limited, that is until the franchise Planet of the Apes. Then came Star Wars and Star Trek, and with it the shift in the 80's and 90's to almost entirely licensed product was complete.
By the turn of the century, it was unheard of to get a non-licensed character off the ground. It wasn't even considered. But a few companies have always kept the dream alive.
As part of the One:12 Collective, it appears Mezco has made the dream a reality. A couple years ago, they developed their mascot - Gomez - as a character with a back story and a life, and began a successful series of figures as part of their One:12 line. This broadened into a villainous society as his nemesis - think KAOS, Cobra, Mister Nimbus, or the Legion of Doom - called the Rumble Society. And this led to a smaller subset called Hoodz, which gets us to today's review.
The first card carrying member of Hoodz is Vapor, a tagger of great repute. Okay, so he's probably more of a writer than a tagger, but let's not get too bogged down in the graffitti slang, since I'm an old man and likely to make a complete fool of myself.
Like most of the non-licensed figures, Vapor went up for sale and
shipped almost immediately. They kept this one available for
pre-order for a couple days, at a price of $112, giving folks time
to get him, but once he was gone, he's most likely gone. However, I
suspect we'll see more of his crew in time.
Packaging - ****
Like many of the special exclusives, Vapor comes in a tin lunch box
package. It's a great container, and this one has the advantage of
having fantastic, colorful graphics. Of course it's all collector
friendly, and there's no reason to not remove the figure and
accessories and get posing. You can easily put it all back later if
you'd like, and the tin can also make for a great backdrop and
storage container.
Sculpting - ****
Vapor has a whopping four head sculpts, each with their own very
unique expression. The style will remind you of other designer and
vinyl art, but it's also very much its own design.
One of the most striking things about these portraits is the hair - it's flocked! It's also green, but the flocking will be the truly amazing surprise. The flocking is extremely well done, very sturdy with a realistic hairline. Of course, initially I was worried about rubbing it off with the hat or the headphones, but as I was working with him for the photos I had fewer concerns.
The various heads include a concentrating expression, an angry expression, a smiling expression, and one that is best described as 'should have been wearing his respirator' expression. They all stand out from each other, and provide a tremendous range of potential with the different outfits for lots of poses.
The heads swap easily, as do the many uniquely sculpted hands. The sculpting work on the accessories is good as well, and follow the same somewhat cartoony but still realistic appearance. Vapor stands about 6 1/4 inches tall.
Paint - ****
As always with the One:12, the paint operations are super clean,
with no slop, no weird edges, and no erroneous marks.
The faces are particularly well done. He has a blue skin tone, which is consistent between the body and the faces. The green hair sets off nicely against this blue background, and the teeth on the angry and happy heads look fantastic. All the small details on the accessories, whether painted (like on the shoes) or applied (like the labels on the paint cans) are just about perfect.
An example of the attention to detail are those paint cans. Pop off one of the lids, and you'll see there's some spray residue on the can and nozzle!
As I mentioned earlier, one of the heads has an expression that reminds me of the old 'Brain Freeze Bart' from Playmates, with eyes that clearly indicate he's been sniffing a little too much of the paint vapors.
Articulation - ***1/2
This is about as articulated as One:12 figures get, but I did dock
them slightly this time, simply because there were a few poses I
wanted to achieve that were slightly out of reach for this body.
The ball jointed neck works great, and the rotating hinge shoulders, double pin elbows, and rotating hinge wrists will give you most of the arm poses you're looking for. He can't quite cross his arms, but almost no action figure can. You can get something close though.
The torso has the crunch and twist movement, and the hips, knees, and ankles can take most natural stances, including kneeling and sitting. It was a little tougher swapping the feet than the hands and head (this is the first time a One:12 figure has come with swappable feet), but it wasn't unreasonable.
Accessories - ****
One of the nice things about these independent concepts - with no
licensing fees, the company can put more money into the figure
itself, and the number of accessories reflects that.
As I mentioned, there's three extra heads to go with the one he comes wearing, and they are all terrific. They swap easily as well.
There's also plenty of hands - ten in all! There's everything from fists to open, with several key poses for holding the paint cans and other accessories. Like the heads, these swap easily. While he comes wearing some white sneakers, there's also a set of work boots, which I personally prefer. The sneakers are the oversized, slightly clown-like yet popular size, while the boots are more in scale.
He can't do much without paint, and he has six varieties. There are three spray cans, and again, the attention to detail is amazing. Like I said, you can remove the cap, and the can fits perfectly in the appropriate hand, with spray staining right below the nozzle. But that's not all - shake them and you will hear the rattle!
The other three are 'mops', homemade markers. Again, there are specific hands that work great with these.
There's several other tools of the trade - bolt cutters that can open and close, a pair of headphones, and a full face respirator. The respirator works best with the non-smiling face. It's also worth noting that there's a right way to put on the head phones to get them to fit over the ears. Since there's only two ways, and one works better than the other, you'll figure it out.
A great artist needs a book to keep his concepts within, and Vapor has his. It doesn't open, but the cover art is nicely done. Pretty much all of these goodies can be stored in his bright red backpack.
There's a ton of extra clothes, which I'll discuss more in detail in the costume section. Here it's important to note their inclusion, however. There's a blue baseball cap with NYC on the front, a black hood (balaclava), a red hoodie with working drawstring, an orange bubble (down) vest, a brown hooded coat, and the aforementioned work boots. The number of combinations these pieces of clothing provide, in combination or individually, is simply huge.
In case you'd like to decorate a wall with Vapor's art, there's a large sticker sheet with a number of choices.
Finally, he comes with the usual base (with cool graffiti) and
either the foot peg or the large, clear plastic support rod.
Outfit - ***1/2
The basic outfit is his white shoes, jeans, boxer shorts, and a blue
t-shirt. You can add from there.
I swapped in the brown work boots, and I suspect I'll stick with those. The scale works better for me visually.
The shirt and jeans fit extremely well, with great tailoring and quality manufacturing. Having the boxers means you can work the jeans down a bit and have him sagging.
Over this basic outfit, you can add a number of extras. There's a terrific red hoodie, which I really liked. The drawstring works, and the fit is excellent. There's also a down vest (or bubble vest), and this can be worn over the shirt or you can put it over the hoodie - the options are endless. I didn't love the zipper on the vest, because while it was in scale, it was also very tough to work with, but your mileage may vary.
Finally, there's a brown jacket with a hood, and the hood has s thin wire along the edge for posing. This coat is big enough to wear over the shirt or hoodie, and looks terrific in any combination.
And that's really the key - combinations. You can add a hoodie, wear the hood up, over the headphones or not, over the hat or not, hood down, vest on, vest off, coat on, coat zipped up or open, hat with headphones, hat by itself, headphones by themselves, hat forward, hat backward, etc. etc. etc. The variety of looks and poses you can create with this figure really is just limited by your imagination and taste.
Fun Factor - ****
Because of all that tremendous variety, this is a figure you can
pose and re-pose over and over and over again, coming up with new
dioramas and concepts. This is one of the most versatile figures
I've seen in a long time.
Value - **1/2
Vapor wasn't cheap at $112, but the extra cash (a regular One:12
release is generally in the $80 - $85 range) clearly went into a lot
of extras.
Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. Everything was sturdy and well made, and I had no
worries about breakage or damage as I was working with the figure.
The feet are a little tougher to pop on and off than the hands
usually are, but a little patience pays off. Also make sure you're
using consistent pressure, and not jerking or pulling the foot to
the side when removing it.
Overall - ****
Mezco has explored characters in what you'd call an 'urban' setting
before, sometimes with success, sometimes not so much (remember Gangsta Babies? And
why did I use Donald Trump in a photo with them?). But it looks like
they have a winner on their hands with Vapor, and I suspect we'll
see the Hoodz line expand over the coming months.
Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ****
Outfit - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ****
Value - **1/2
Overall - ****
Where to Buy
This was a Mezco store exclusive, like most of the Rumble Society.
He was $112 there initially, and you can still get on the Wait List. Of course, you can always search
ebay for a deal.
Related Links -
This is the first Vapor we've seen, but he is very much in line with
their Gomez figures.
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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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer. Photos and
text by Michael Crawford.