Review of Thanos - One:12 Collective
Action Figure

Introduction

Thanks to the MCU, Thanos is the most popular big bad of the Marvel villains. This was pretty apparent by how quickly the pre-orders for the new One:12 Collective version sold out, even at a whopping price point of $155.

Why is he $75 more than an average release? Well, clearly part of it is his size. He's bigger than the average bear, coming in at 8 1/4 inches tall with the bulk to back it up. Then there's the three heads, which is one more than standard. And of course, there's the light up feature on the gauntlet, which always pushes a One:12 figure another $20 - $30.

He just started shipping, and those who pre-ordered should be seeing their figure any day now.

Packaging - ***
The standard packaging is in force with this release, and the cardboard is thick enough to handle the bulk of this figure. There's two plastic trays inside, although the second just contains the display stand. It's all collector friendly of course - no reason to keep these figures in their package.

Sculpting - ****
The detail work on all three portraits is excellent, with a skin texture that is different than the helmet texture. Thanos is a craggy dude, with a rock like skin, and it's done to perfection here, especially on the stony chin.

The armor bits, from the shoulder pad to the gauntlets (including the Infinity Gauntlet), continue this attention to detail and sharp cuts.

The heads all have very distinct expressions. The standard head has a closed mouth, serious and stoic, lacking in emotion. The other two have open mouths - one a gritted, angry expression, the other a smiling, pleased with himself look.

All three look great, but it's the two open mouth portraits that really shine thanks to the amazing work on the teeth. Considering the scale, the realism is amazing.

The heads swap easily, with no worries.

There is one issue that some folks may have. Because the body is wide and thick, the legs can look short and stubby. This isn't an unusual design for Thanos, and I'm good with the final appearance, but others may not be as generous.

Paint - ****
Great sculpts deserve - and require - great paint applications. You get some excellent work here, with clean consistent colors, appropriate shading, and sharp lines. There's not a ton of detail work, but what's here, especially the aforementioned teeth, is really exceptional. Mezco has nailed the paint operations in this scale, setting the standard.

Articulation - **
This guy is big and bulky, and the joints are quite restricted by either the suit, or the underlying body design itself.

The ball jointed neck works well, even inside the big collar. The suit restricts the shoulders a bit, and the design of the body itself (with a single joint elbow and thick arms) makes the elbow articulation less useful. The gauntlets, especially the extra Infinity Gauntlet, gum up the wrists as well.

The torso has the usual articulation, but the suit doesn't allow for much twist, turn, or crunch. The hips, knees, and ankles are also quite restricted by the suit design. He won't be sitting down in a throne.

Add all that up, and you get a very limited number of poses. What's worse, the Infinity Gauntlet design is terrible. The glove is made up of three pieces - the cuff, the hand, and the interior light up mechanism. This interior piece is designed to attach to a short post just below the elbow. It does not do this very well. The fit is poor, and trying to use the elbow, which is so close to this attach point, tends to pop the glove off. The glove is also designed to attach to this light box, and this design doesn't work great either. Most people will want to display him with the Infinity Gauntlet, yet using it makes him even less posable and more frustrating.

Accessories - ***
He doesn't have a ton, although he's not a character that lends himself to a plethora of extras.

There's the two extra heads to go with the standard version, and these look fantastic and swap easily.

There's also two extra left and two extra right hands to go with the pair he comes wearing. Again, these swap easily and look good.

But for the left hand, it's really the Infinity Gauntlet you want. There's one light box and cuff, with two different hands you can use - open and closed. I've already pointed out how frustrating I found this design to be.

There's a small cube as well, the Cosmic Cube. He can hold it in a palm.

Finally, there's the usual display stand, with a base specific to the character and either the simple foot peg or the larger clear plastic support rod.

Light Feature - **
The biggest reason this guy is so expensive is the light up feature. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped.

As I mentioned, the gauntlet comes in three pieces - the cuff, hand, and battery or light box inside. This box attaches to the arm and the other two pieces fit over it. As usual, the batteries are included.

THe three pieces don't work well together. The box has a hard time staying attached to the arm, and the hand itself tends to fall off. The light does a good job illuminating the stones on the hand, but there's some gaps where the pieces joint allowing the light to come through. Worse, you'll have to remove the entire thing - making it necessary to fight it back on again and raising your frustration level - to reach the switch to turn it off and on.

Outfit - ***
The outfit has plenty of sculpted bits, with nice, sharp edges and clean lines. The underlying body suit is made from a stretchy material, but it tends to bag a bit too much.

It also has some of the cut vinyl pieces as decoration, and these look great. Mezco has really perfected the use of this material to highlight and enhance their costumes.

If it wasn't for some of the bagginess on the legs and arms, this score would be much higher. It isn't a deal breaker for me, but it does drag down the score a bit.

Fun Factor - **
Most of the One:12 figures are a lot of fun to pose and re-pose. This guy is an outlier. You should be able to find one or two poses that please you, but he's going to stay that way for a long time.

Value - **
I get that this light up feature was complicated. The license can't be cheap, and the figure is much larger than usual. But the jump in price to $155 is still very hard to figure out.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - ***
This is a figure completely saved by the sculpting and paint work. Those two factors make him still look great on the shelf, even with some additional issues.

Personally, the big problem here is the wonky light up feature. I really want to use the Infinity Gauntlet, and I'd really like to be able to turn it on without a lot of swearing. That doesn't seem likely.

For me, the slightly loose fit to the suit and the proportions on the body are not a big issue in hand, but I can certainly understand where others may find them distracting, and their personal Overall will take a hit because of it.

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

Where to Buy 
Most online retailers pre-sold out on this guy, even at $155. You can still get on the wait list at Mezco's site, or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other recent One:12 Marvel figures include Iron Fist, Gambit, and Captain Marvel.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands more just like it!