Review of Captain James T. Kirk - Star Trek
One:12 Collective Action Figure

Introduction

Mezco's new One:12 Collective series (as new as it can be when it's a already more than 18 months old) is a huge hit with collectors and fans, and their original Star Trek line is a particular favorite. With four versions of Spock - Toy Fair exclusive, regular release, Cage variant, and Mirror, Mirror variant - and one Sulu, they've enticed fans with the potential of the line.  But you can't have STOS without Kirk, and collectors have been hotly anticipating his arrival.  The wait is over - he's now shipping to pre-orders.

You should be able to pick up Kirk for around $70, maybe a smidge cheaper depending on the retailer. With Bones, Scotty, and Uhura in the plans for the series, fans of the classic show have a lot to look forward to.  I suspect that now that we have a Kirk head sculpt from them, we can expect our fair share of variants as well.

Packaging - ****
The stock used for the boxes is extremely heavy, much more so than most current packages. It's also all completely collector friendly - there's not even any tape holding the lid on the interior plastic trays.  The secondary tray, which holds just the support rod for the base and the plastic accessory bag - does have some tape, but cutting it is no biggie. Everything is packed safely, and it's all easy to work with.  The outer plastic slip cover looks good, and includes some nice graphics as well.

Sculpting - ***1/2
The best work so far in this series is Spock, no doubt about it. But both Sulu and Kirk are a close second.

There's plenty of good images out there to compare, and I used several from different angles and with different expressions, including this one, this one, and particularly this one. That last one is great to compare side by side with the photo below.

Something that is critical to remember here - this figure is only 6 1/2" tall. This is not a sixth scale figure, not a large statue, but a figure that's comparable to a Star Wars Black or Marvel Legends toy. That means that wrinkles, textures, and details that can be seen in large macro photos like the ones below are not visible in hand. However, even when you might not be able to completely see the textures and wrinkles, they add realism to the in hand product that other more toy-like figures in this scale lack.

I do think they went a little too far with the wrinkles in the forehead on Kirk, but the rest of the work looks great.  He's not quite as dead on accurate to Shatner as the larger sixth scale Qmx version, but it's still much better than many of the other attempts at his likeness we've seen.

You actually get not one but two head sculpts.  The first is shown directly below, with a stern expression that's serious but not over the top. It adds the right amount of emotive quality, and compliments the realism and accuracy quite nicely.

The second head sculpt is pictured in the Paint category further below.  It's not a major change, but they gave him that slightly smirky smile, with a little more squint in the eye, perfect for that moment when McCoy says something snarky to Spock. The heads swap easily, and either work with a variety of poses and displays.

Paint - ***1/2
Like the sculpting details, it's important to realize that while the variation in skin tone looks obvious in a macro photo, in hand it's just enough to add some realistic color to the face.

The eyes look terrific, sharp and straight, and the eyebrows and lips are subtle and clean.  The hair has some slight variation in the brown which looks good, but the hair line is a little more sloppy with this release, particularly on the stern head.

The paint work on the accessories is excellent, much like what we've seen with Sulu and Spock. Even the smallest details on the rifle, phaser, and communicator are clean, consistent, and tight.

Articulation - ***1/2
This is the same underlying body that we saw with past releases, and the overall design provides for natural, flowing stances and poses.

The ball jointed neck worked particularly well this time, and I was able to get some very good tilt and lean action.  The rotating hinge shoulders and elbows have an excellent range of movement (the elbows could get a little tighter bend, but it's a minor nit), and the double rotating hinge wrists allow for easy hand swaps. He can turn, tilt, and lean at the chest, and the double rotating hinge hips, double pin knees, and rotating hinge ankles give him plenty of lower body movement.  He has great rocker movement in the feet too, better than I could get with either Spock or Sulu.

Accessories - ****
I already mentioned the second portrait, and regular readers know that's the way to my heart. It looks great, and it's a valuable add to the mix.

He also has some extra hands of course, including the fists he comes wearing.  He adds in a set of loose gripping hands, as well as a wide gun grip left and tight gun grip right. The wide grip left works fairly well with the larger handle on the large blaster rifle.  The hands swap easily, with no fear of breakage or damage, and they stay in place when attached.

He has his smaller phaser pistol of course, along with the standard issue communicator. The flip top on the communicator opens and closes, and the detail work on both is quite impressive.  There's the usual belt as well, with a pouch for the communicator and a elastic loop for the phaser, but since it's not accurate to the show, I generally don't use it. It's somewhat reminiscent of the old Mego belts though, so some may find the nostalgic factor to their liking.

This figure also has the large rifle, which was only on one episode but clearly made an impression. The sculpt and paint work are great, but the cylinders in the center do not turn, unlike the larger versions we've seen.

Mezco always includes a nifty ziplock bag designed to hold your accessories once you've opened the figure and tossed the box.  Be sure to look for it in the lower tray, since this is also where the belt is located.

Finally, there's a standard display stand with the STOS logo, done in the same yellow as Kirk's shirt.  It comes with a support rod as well, but the figure stands fantastic on his own.

Outfit - ***1/2
The outfit is made up of the shirt and pants.  The boots are merely his sculpted feet, and while they look terrific, I'm not counting them here.

The tailoring on the pants is good, although I did find them bunching up a bit around the knees.  The tailoring on the shirt is terrific, although I suspect it is this shirt that will create the most discussion around this figure.

It's clearly yellow, no doubt about it. Is it too yellow? Should it be more green? What color was his shirt on the show...exactly?  There was quite a bit of variation in the shirts, especially the yellow (the red and blue seem to be a bit more consistent), and various lighting conditions in different scenes doesn't help the debate.

Personally, I think this version is a tad too yellow, and the on screen version was more of a green. You can find examples where it seems like yellow was the accurate color, or at least a muted yellow. But most of the time the nylon Captain tunic looked a bit more on the green side to me. It's a minor nit though, because over the years a more yellow look has been the standard in collectibles, which tends to tell me that it was set lighting that really created the color variation.

Fun Factor - ****
This is a very fun series, thanks to the sturdy, well made body and the potential for tons of poses.  Add in a bunch of cool accessories, and you'll eventually have the perfect bridge set...or the perfect landing party.

Value - ***
Kirk is going for $70, about the average for this line across licenses.  It's a solid value, slightly better than average, thanks to the inclusion of the second head sculpt and the highly specific phaser rifle.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much.  The leather-like belt is fairly soft, and it has a high quality, tight metal snap to hold it together.  While I'm very happy that they went with a metal snap (and not the cheap plastic ones that Hot Toys is using all too often these days), it is important to remember that the snap will be very tight. When you open it, do not pull on the soft belt!  Instead, wedge your finger nail between the two halves of the snap to pop it open.

Overall - ***1/2
The line keeps delivering, and I can't wait for every release.  This Kirk is actually better in hand - at least in terms of likeness - than in the promo photos, and I'm very happy with him next to Spock and Sulu. There's no drop off in quality, and we are well on our way to building the complete bridge crew.  Bones is a no brainer, and I have my fingers crossed that they'll give us at least Uhura, Scotty, and Chekov before they are done with this license.  Of course, I wouldn't complain about a Gorn...he could come with a torn shirt for this Kirk. A Mirror, Mirror Kirk variant would be pretty cheap to do, and a nice addition as well. Mirror Spock is getting lonely...

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth comes in at $70 too.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I looked at the Mirror, Mirror and Cage variants of Spock, Sulu, the Toy Fair exclusive Spock, as well as the regular release version. 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.

And if you're a big ST:TOS fan, but want something a little larger in your figures, check out the superb sixth scale Spock and Kirk from Qmx.

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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