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Captain Toy/Michael's Review of the Week

Review of Pink Skulls Chaos Club - Gig From Hell
One:12 Collective action figures

Mezco Toyz
Date Published: 2022-07-25
Written By: Michael Crawford
Overall Average Rating: 4 out of 4

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Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

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Introduction

In the eighties, the conventional wisdom of the toy and collectibles industry was this - you couldn't have a successful line of action figures without a movie or TV tie-in. The age of creating an in house property that could stand on its own, like G.I. Joe, Major Matt Mason, or Barbie was over. By the nineties this concept had gone one step further, asserting that the property had to be a success in another medium first, and creating lines like Masters of the Universe, Transformers, or relaunching G.I. Joe via cartoon was over. If you were going to do action figures, you better get a licensed property...and it better be a hot one.

Mezco has never played by the rules. They have proven this conventional wisdom wrong, creating the Rumble Society, based on characters of their own design, and created a universe for them without any other media tie-in. It's been tremendously successful, further cementing the overall One:12 Collective as their premiere line.

The latest release is a new set of the Pink Skulls. These three wacky dudes were first seen as a set a few years ago, and it was a huge hit. They're back, as a band in the Gig From Hell set. This set of three was originally $285 at the Mezco online store.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

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Packaging - ****
At first glance, the box for this trio might not seem as impressive as some of their other packages. They've done some amazing tin containers with fantastic, colorful graphics...and this one is a cardboard box. Oh, it still has great graphics, but it doesn't have the same immediate effect.

Ah, but there's more to this box than meets the eye. The top flap opens up of course, forming a back wall to their stage, and inside is a cardboard 'floor', which this back flap can attach to. This allows you to create an elevated stage, perfect for displaying the band.

Of course it's all collector friendly, and you can take all the figures and accessories out without any damage.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

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Sculpting - ****
This set includes nine heads. They come wearing the three I'm going to be using in my display, with painted eyes inside black sockets. These three heads have unique expressions, and each jaw is articulated.

The other six heads all have empty black sockets. Three of these have un-articulated jaws, sculpted as a solid piece and an identical expression. These are nice for folks who are looking for consistency in the figures in the display. They provide some options to create consistent outfits too, if that's the look you're going for.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

The other three heads have articulated jaws and different expressions. One of these match the three heads with the solid jaws, while the other two are completely different. Again, all this versatility gives you a tremendous number of options in how your final three figures will look on the shelf.

These guys are about 6 1/2" tall, fitting in nicely with the rest of the series in terms of scale.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

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Paint - ***1/2
One of the areas where Mezco has excelled in this scale is the paint operations. They are working hard to bring the sort of quality we see in sixth scale down to 1/12 scale.

These aren't quite like the human figures, however. Here, colors are more broad, less nuanced, with greater definition. Edges are sharp for the most part, with just a little misalignment on some of the teeth. The pink varies slightly between heads, but that gives each character a bit of his own personality.

The paint work on the accessories is impeccable, and creates a realistic appearance to the instruments and extras.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

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Articulation - ***1/2
The underlying body has all the usual joints, from ball jointed neck to rocker ankles. You can get great stances out of these, including plenty of wild rocker poses. The legs can handle deep to shallow stances, and the arms can manage poses with the various instruments.

The costume doesn't restrict much of the movement, and the torso is particularly useful this time around, with plenty of lean, tilt, and crunch. You can create some excellent guitar playing poses with this upper body articulation.

There's two points worth calling out, one positive, one negative. The positive is the hinged jaws, which add a lot to creating different looks in their band poses. The negative is one you've heard before, the single joint elbows. They can't get as tight of a bend as I'd like for some arm poses.

Overall, it's pretty much what you expect, and it works well with the band concept.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

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Accessories - ****
There's three trays of extras inside that box - it's a plethora of goodies!

I already mentioned the nine heads, three they come wearing and six more come as extras. They swap easily and will give you plenty of options for your display.

There's also a lot of hands. And that's an understatement. There's 41 total, and I counted 23 unique versions. The others are duplicates of the most important grips and styles. Like the heads, these swap easily, but stayed attached as I was working with the figures.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

The key extras are the musical instruments. There's a lead guitar, a bass guitar, and a set of drums, including a cymbal, snare, and bass. The drums are pretty easy to assemble, with two wrenches you attach to act as side legs, and there is a foot pedal (with a rubber attachment, so pushing the pedal will actually move the mallet!) and a milk crate, designed to be the drummer's seat.

The drummer can't play the drums without sticks, and there's three pairs in case you break or lose them. To complete the ensemble, there's a microphone, microphone stand, and base designed like a manhole cover. I didn't love the microphone stand - it doesn't stay in the manhole cover very well, and the articulation points (which there are several) don't bend far enough to really make it useful. I went with having the microphone detached in one hand, while he's holding the stand off to the side in the other.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

There's also plenty of costume pieces. I'll get more into the specifics of the outfit in the next section, but here I wanted to mention the extras. They included the striped shirts, similar to the first set of Pink Skulls, along with the three bandanas and a boa scarf. One of the three characters comes wearing a hoodie, and they included an extra black shirt as well, in case you want him to match the other two.

To go with the various costumes, you have hats. And more hats.

Similar to the first set of Pink Skulls, you get a set of three 'Johnny' caps. These will again create some consistency with the earlier set, if that's what you're looking for. They also fit great and look fantastic.

There's a kepi cap too, but that one didn't do much for me. Think American Civil War. It didn't fit on the heads quite as well as the other options.

My favorite was the bowler, but there's also a vintage football helmet, an aviator helmet, and a crown fit for a king. Sort of a hat, but not really, is the bloody hockey mask. They can wear it as a mask, or they can tilt it back on top of their head, more like a hat. Again, you'll have plenty of ways to make this display your own.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

Then there's the weapons. They don't have a ton, but I'm sure you have a few extras from your many other One:12 figures if you're looking to turn them into aggressors. They do have one machine gun with an extra magazine, a bomb with two fuses (one lit, one not), a cricket bat, and a broken bottle. The last one you can use as a weapon, or you can flip it around in their hand and hide the broken end, using it as another beer bottle.

I almost forgot the eye wear! You have choices there too, with three sets of aviator sunglasses, and two pair of motorcycle goggles. These goggles go nicely with the Johnny hats and leather jackets to get that Marlon Brando look.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

If you thought that was all, you're way off the mark. Then we have all the oddball extras, starting with some cigarettes. There's six lit, six not lit, in case you loose them. They're tiny, so it's not hard to do. They just picked up a six pack, and all six cans are here. There are beer foam effects too, two each of some foam just spilling over the side of the can, and two of some foam shooting out.

To go along with the drinking theme, there's two more bottles, a 40 and a whisky bottle. I wish there were better hands for holding some of these, but you can get a couple of the grips to work.

There are two necklaces for them to wear as well. One is silver with a padlock on it, while the other is gold with a large disk. The latter is perfect to go with the crown I mentioned earlier.

If all that isn't enough, there's three sticker sheets (repeating stickers) that you can use to decorate them and the equipment.

As always, there's three display stands with an appropriate logo on them. You can use these with a simple foot peg, or you can use the more complex clear plastic support rod.

*whew* I think I hit it all, and if you love accessories, this set is definitely for you!

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

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Outfit - ****
Two of the three characters have matching outfits - black shirt, leather jacket, jeans.

The third figure has the leather jacket, but a hoodie and leather pants. Each of the three also has different sculpted footwear, with one wearing high tops, one wearing combat boots, and one wearing bovver boots.

Add in all the other extra costume pieces I mentioned earlier, and you have way more options for dressing these guys than you will ever use. The jeans, pants, and boots aren't removable, but the jackets and shirts are, and you can add in the bandanas, various hats, and other goodies to create unique looks.

The tailoring on this clothing is perfect, with an excellent fit from head to toe. Nothing is out of scale, and nothing looks silly. My one concern is with the 'leather', especially the pants. While I haven't yet had any trouble with the other jackets like this from Mezco, I have seen another pair of similar pants (on the Mutant Leader) fall apart. I'm hoping that won't be the situation here.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

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Fun Factor - ****
There's a ton of potential here, and you'll be able to create different looks any time the mood strikes. With the diorama made from the box and the wide range of extras, you'll have more fun with this set than any human should be allowed.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

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Value - **1/2
It's a pretty steep price tag - $285. But an average One:12 figure is around $85 these days. That's $265 for three...and you're getting far more accessories than any average figure. It's sometimes hard to spend the kind of money necessary for multiples, but this is one of those cases where you're getting what you're paying for.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

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Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. None of the accessories or outfit pieces seem fragile, although some are small enough to easily lose.

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

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Overall - ****
If you aren't into the various aspects of the Rumble Society, then these probably aren't for you. Mezco has created their own unique concept, and ran with it - you're either along for the ride or you're not.

For those of us buckled in, this is a terrific set. It combines some very cool characters with a great concept, and adds a multitude of extras to the accessory bin, ready for use with these guys or with others. Using the box to create the band diorama was a terrific idea, and once again they've shown their commitment to quality and design.

That doesn't mean that I, just like you, don't want them to get those licensed characters rolling out again. But there's no reason we can't have both, and hopefully we'll get back to consistent shipping of all their product soon.

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

Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures by Mezco

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Where to Buy 
Like all the Rumble Society, these were originally only available through the Mezco Store. You can still jump on the wait list there, or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other recent One:12 figures include the Golden Age Batman and Two-Face, Atticus Doom, and Captain Nemo.

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!

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Pink Skulls Chaos Club Gig from Hell One:12 Collective Action Figures 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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