Review of Moon Knight - Crescent Edition
One:12 Collective Action Figure

Introduction

For their 'summer exclusives' i.e. stuff they have for conventions, Mezco always does a couple One:12 Collective figures. They tend to be variations on figures otherwise available through more normal means, and tonight's review is a perfect example - Crescent Edition Moon Knight.

Mezco is doing a regular release Moon Knight, of course, in his normal all white uniform. But for this exclusive, they gave him a pretty sweet looking black and white combo, and called it the 'Crescent Edition'. You could order this directly from the Mezco store for $85, or you could pick it up at one of the summer conventions, like SDCC. Your best bet now is either joining the Wait List at the Mezco site, or hitting up Ebay.

Packaging - ***
A nice, simple, black and white box design compliments the character's design. The box is sturdy, and it's entirely collector friendly, requiring no real damage to free the figure or accessories from the double layer plastic trays inside.  There's some plastic wrap here and there, but it's designed to avoid cloth staining and damage during shipment. There are no instructions, but things are relatively self explanatory.

Sculpting - ***1/2
I quite like the sculpt on both heads, although I do have my nits with the full hood.

As you'd expect, there are two portraits. This is the norm with One:12 figures, and at times there are more heads included than that.  We get a fully masked head with an alternate unmasked face this time. The fully masked face isn't particularly detailed, as you'd expect, but there's enough wrinkles and folds to give him a tough, determined expression. The sculpted white hood fits over this head, but it's on the large side, with a bit too much of a gap between the head and the hood. It's not terrible in hand, where the scale is small (remember, this guy is only about 6 1/2" tall), but in macro photos it becomes more apparent.

The second head has the black mask pulled up off his face, just about to his hair line. Small strands of hair are peeking out, sculpted and not just painted. There's a very realistic skin texture, and some battle damage for good measure.

The full hood might be on the large side, but the texture matches the material texture of the cape extremely well, making the two look seamless in hand. The dropped hood works great with either head, and I suspect it's the way I'm going to have this guy on the shelf. Any gap between the head and face on the full white suit will be even less noticeable, thanks to the matching color.

He also has several pieces of hard plastic armor, like the gauntlets and boots. These have nice, sharp, well defined edges, and look terrific. The chest armor and belt look good as well, but the 'C' emblem isn't quite as tightly affixed to the chest as I'd like. You could snag something on the top point, so take some care. I'll be discussing this more in the Outfit section.

Paint - ***1/2
f I were grading this figure only on the two heads, I'd go another half star here. The unmasked head is particularly impressive, with a life-like skin tone and super realistic bruising and cuts. Remember, these figures are much, much smaller than sixth scale figures, and yet the production paint work rivals many in the larger size.

But there's some paint work in a couple other places that's not quite as clean. The silver on the belt is a bit wonky in places, and some of the cuts between the white and black on the gloves and boots is a little fuzzy. It's minor, but not quite as clean as their best work.

Articulation - ***
Certain aspects of this costume are a bit more restrictive than usual, and that hood creates some unique issues of its own.

The ball jointed neck works great, if not for the hood. With the 'hood down' version in place, you can do more with the pose of the head than with the hood up. Because of the gap between the head and hood, you'll find getting both to line up with each other tricky at times.

The shoulders, elbows, and wrists allow for decent fighting stances, but the single joint elbows can't get quite as tightly bent as I'd like. The torso works great however, easily the most useful joint on the whole figure, with lots of tilt and lean action. You can break up straight lines in most poses thanks to the articulation in the upper body.

The hips, knees, and ankles work about as you'd expect. The suit is stretchy enough to allow medium depth stances, but the ankles don't have quite as much rocker movement due to the boot design.

Accessories - ***1/2
He comes with a nice assortment, but it's exactly the same set of accessories as the regular release. The only difference here is the color scheme.

There are four sets of hands in total - a set of fists he comes wearing, plus a set of tight grips, a pair of 'grabbing' hands, and a pair of hands holding small blades. These all swap easily, yet remained in place as I was posing him.

There are also three versions of his staff/chuks. One is the solid staff, with pointy dangerous tips. He also has a set of chuks, connected with a short real metal chain. And finally, there's a grappling hook/chuk combo, again connected by a real metal chain, only this time the chain is considerably longer. To finish off his weapons, he has one 'crescent blade'.

As I mentioned earlier, there are two portraits and two styles of hood - up and down. The extra heads always boost this score quite a bit for me.

Outfit - ***
The outfit consists of one of the hoods, the cloth cape, and the body suit with various pieces of attached armor.

The cape is thicker this time, made from a Naugahyde type material. The pattern on the cloth cape matches the pattern in the sculpted hoods quite well. I'm not loving the gap between the masked head and the full hood, but I whined about that already in the Sculpt section.

The cape is permanently attached, so don't go trying to take it off. While it is a bit thicker, it still flows nicely off the shoulders and back. The extra weight gives is a natural hang.

The tight body suit looks good - no saggy crotch - but the crescent moon logo on the chest isn't tightly affixed at the two tips. I have a bad feeling I'm going to damage it by snagging something.

While I really like this color combo, I think the all white costume will hide most of the minor flaws.

Fun Factor - ***
While the articulation is a little restricted, you still have plenty of posing options with the two hoods and two heads. I'm really happy when I can add lesser known characters like this to the shelf.

Value - **1/2
The regular release is $80, while this exclusive version is $85. That's pretty much in line with their normal pricing, and you're getting an average value here.

Things to Watch Out For -
I've already mentioned taking some care with the tips of the crescent moon logo. Don't ignore my warnings.

There's also a nifty hard plastic edge around the collar that creates a 'lip' to attach the hoods. Get the hood over this lip, and it will fit much better and stay in place while you're working with the pose.

Overall - ***
This guy is somewhere between a *** and a ***1/2 Overall for me. I like their take on the character, and the stark color combination works great as a variant of the all white design. But there's a few nits with the costume that hold him back slightly for me.

I suspect the all white costume will end up hiding a few of these nits, and this could result in the regular release getting a slightly higher score. We'll see soon!

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

Where to Buy 
This variant was available at SDCC and the Mezco store, but has long since sold out. You can join the wait list, or hit up ebay. Online options for the regular release include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has the regular for $80 too, and free shipping!

- or you can search ebay for a deal on either version.

Related Links -
Other recent One:12 releases include the deluxe Clown Prince Joker, the Netflix Daredevil, and the rather unique Diabolik! I've reviewed just about every One:12 figure, and you can find them at the Search Reviews Page.

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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