Review of Captain America - One:12 Collective Action Figure

Introduction

A couple months ago, collectors were complaining that the One:12 Collective series seemed to be slowing down - maybe missing dates.  But we've seen the release schedule cranking for the last month, with the expectation of several more releases in very short order. In fact, Daredevil is sitting here already, staring at me with serious intent.

Part of this new influx is the modern Captain America.  Mezco actually has several versions of this guy, with the cool SDCC release already in hand and a Steve Rogers coming soon. This modern version just started to ship, and will run you around $80 depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***
Mezco must have blown their Cap packaging budget on the uber-cool all metal package that we got with the SDCC release.  Here they went pretty basic, with a simple slip cover over a standard box.  Graphics are minimal, but everything is collector friendly and the figure and accessories are held safely inside a double set of plastic trays.

Sculpting - ***1/2
The figure comes with two head sculpts, masked and unmasked. The heroic jawline, sharp detailing, and clean lines look fantastic.  The blonde short hair on the uncovered portrait is a little soft, with less detail in the strands than I'd like, but it's a fairly minor nit considering the scale.

Remember - there's a reason these are called the 'One:12' Collective. They are 1/12th scale, although they are pushing that just a bit with most of the figures standing around 6 1/2" tall. Cap comes in at about that height.

There's some 'sculpting' on the costume as well, with the cool suit detailing across the shoulders and upper arms. There's also some great work on the belt, pouches, boots, and various gloved hands, providing a ton of minutiae overall.

Paint - ***
There's a fair amount of paint work here, but I'm not quite as thrilled with this release as most of the previous in this category.

The hairline isn't quite as neat, and the eyes look just a smidge off.  The eyebrows and lips look great, and the skin tone is even and clean. The white edges on the emblems and decos are good, but there's a few marks within the white areas.

The color and coverage on the shield is good, with a very bright finish, but again, I had a couple small nicks.

None of the issues are major, but there's enough of the small ones to pull things down this time around.

Articulation - ***1/2
Cap is a big guy, so the underlying muscle body looks good and works even better. The neck articulation is unencumbered by the helmet or suit, and even the shoulders, elbows, chest, waist, and wrist joints are more mobile than you'd expect, considering the suit design. The hips are little restricted, but less so by the normal cloth pants than spandex. Same for the knees, and the ankles have reasonable forward and backward movement, with some decent rocker action.

The hands and heads swap easily, and the joints are tight enough to hold any pose long term.

Accessories - ***1/2
As I mentioned earlier, one of the big extras here is the additional head sculpt of Steve Rogers, which looks great and swaps easily.

There's a TON of extra hands, with 11 in total if you include the pair he comes wearing.  There's various gestures, shield holding hands, fists, and more. They all look great, and are properly scaled.

Obviously, he has his shield. and the arm attachment is unique.  There's a handle for the hand which folds in and out, but only one. To attach to the arm, rather than a handle then used a magnet protruding from the center. This magnet can line up with a magnet in the cuff, hidden inside a small sculpted pack. This works on either arm, and is an excellent solution.

This same magnet on the shield works with the harness, allowing him to carry the shield on his back. Getting the harness on can be a little tricky, but once it's in place, it fits tight and looks great.

He doesn't have a ton of weapons - other than the shield - but there is a small knife that fits in a sheath on his left boot, and a pair of grenades that can be hooked to the back of his belt.

There's also a canteen that can be swapped with the largest pack on his belt. I've included a shot of the canteen in place instead of the pack, but to be honest the pack fits better. The canteen is taller, which means the upper body tends to pop it off the post.

Finally, there's the basic Mezco stand. This has the Cap logo, and a clear plastic support post. There's a small baggie to store all the accessories as well.

Outfit - ***
I like the outfit design, and I really like the soft pants, rather than an all spandex look. Something about it just seems more...military to me.

The tailoring is great, but there are some stitches that aren't particularly straight, and a couple that look like they could come loose over time.  There's a little pilling on mine as well around the waist, where the softer material was used for the striped section.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
One of the very best things about every One:12 Collective figure is that they are toys first - collectibles second. They carry the DNA of true action figures, with excellent play features and articulation. This guy is fun, from the posing to the accessories, with lots of potential for coming up with different looks for the display over time.

Value - **
At $80, this guy is on the higher side for the series.  While most run around $70, the extra $10 went toward a ton of extra hands.  This $80 price point seems to be the norm for the Marvel characters, but that slightly higher cost might be an issue for collectors.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. The figure is sturdy, although you will want to take a little care with the paint job on the shield.

If you aren't going to use the canteen long term, I'd keep the smaller pack in place. In other words, don't just swap them to see if you can.  Once you swap, neither stays in place as well.

Overall - ***
No doubt about it - I love the One:12 Collective series.  These bring to the 1/12th scale the sort of detailing that we see in high end 1/6th scale figures, but at a fraction of the cost. There are other high end i.e. just as expensive figures in this scale, but they are figures, exposed joints and all. There are other clothed figures, reminiscent of the Mego of yore, but those are done in old school style, with nothing like the sort of quality we see here. The One:12 Collective is a perfect blend of action figure and collectible, making them one of my few completist lines these days.

That being said, Cap here didn't wow me quite as much as I'd expected. While he's a solid release overall, there's enough small nits to make the price point a bigger concern than usual, dragging him down a bit for me.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has him for $80 as well.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
The most recent One:12 Collective figure review was the Frankenstein Monster, but before that we had Kirk, the Mirror, Mirror and Cage variants of Spock, Sulu, the Toy Fair exclusive Spock, and the regular release Spock as well. 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. They just got things rolling with their Batman V Superman series as well, releasing the Armored Batman.

If you're looking for something a bit less pricey, there's the recent Marvel Legends version that you can find on the pegs at the local store right now.

If you'd like to go the other way and spend bigger bucks, there's the Hot Toys Age of Ultron Cap, the Cap/Steve Rogers two pack, as well as the first release of Cap from Hot Toys.

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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