Review of Harley Quinn - Suicide Squad
One:12 Collective action figure

Introduction

The One:12 Collective has been one of my very favorite new lines over the last couple years. Combining the 1/12 scale with the sort of quality normally reserved for high end sixth scale figures, they've created a unique blend.

As much as I love the line, it's been a true sausage fest so far. While they have licenses that include female characters, developing a specific body has taken some extra time.  The first of the two ladies currently announced is now shipping - Suicide Squad Harley Quinn. And in case you were wondering, the other is Wonder Woman. Let's hope we see Uhura some day.

There's only one version of Harley at this point - no exclusives, no specials. She'll run you around $75 at most retailers, and is currently in stock.

Packaging - ***
The box is nice and sturdy, with reasonably good graphics and text. It's all collector friendly, and everything is packed safe and sound. It's not particularly complex or unique, but if follows the general style of both the line and the license.

Sculpting - ***
It's important to remember scale - it's easy to forget how tiny these are and end up comparing them to sixth scale figures in your head. Harley stands just 6 1/4" tall, similar to a Marvel Legends or Star Wars Black figure.

And the overall sculpt quality compared to those lines is light years out in front. There's a realism and a detail that is only found with other more expensive, low run figures from Asia.  The hair detail is particularly impressive, better than some sixth scale figures, but the lips, teeth, and tongue are highlights as well.

There are actually three portraits included with this figure - normal, blowing a gum bubble, and with a wide open mouth.  My three star score here is a compiled score of the three, and there are certainly better and worse likenesses.

I really like the open mouth. It's the closest to the character and the actress, and while super dynamic looks like this can end up silly, it was easily my preferred head sculpt.

I think the worst of the bunch is the one she comes wearing, with the simple smile and expression. It seems very cartoonish, very caricaturish compared to the normal One:12 release. I know who it's supposed to be, but it's off around the jawline and shape of the face. If I were going only with this one, I'd go **1/2 stars here.

But we have the open mouth version to counter it, and I think this one is much less cartoony and much more realistic. It's also much more accurate to Robbie in general, and while it can be tough to find poses for a super dynamic facial expression, this one works great with the character. On it's own, I'd go ***1/2 stars.

Landing in between is the third head, blowing the pink bubble gum. I actually like it quite a bit, and think the expression in the eyes matches with the action of the mouth quite well. It also looks more like Robbie than the basic version, and it's a unique look. But there's a really obvious mold line through the middle of the bubble, right where your eyes are drawn to it, and it hurts what is otherwise a great looking portrait. I'd go *** stars on this one because of that flaw.

The heads swap easily, but remember two things - the choker comes off, so you can lose it if you aren't paying attention, and the soft strands of hair hanging toward the front of the face can get trapped in the neck and damaged.

Paint - ***1/2
One of the outstanding features of the line is the super quality production paint operations. There's not much like it in the 1/12 market today.

Blonde hair is always tricky. It usually ends up too much like paint, but they've done a masterful job here, and the colored tails look great. The skin tone is slightly translucent, giving it some depth, and the eyes, eyebrows, and lips are perfect.

On the open mouth version, the teeth are a little wonky, but the tongue is great, and the rest of the paint work is just as perfect as it is on the other two.

The body has various tattoos, and they look good, with some more aged than others. But there's one that messes it all up, taking this score down a half star. Without this one error, I'd have easily gone four stars in this category.

But the error is a little too obvious to ignore. Notice the heart on her left cheek. It's in the same spot on two of the heads...and then jumps almost to her nose on the third. Maybe you'll get lucky and get one with it properly placed on all three portraits - if you do, you'll have yourself a four star paint job all around.

Articulation - ***1/2
The articulation works extremely well, but I did have a few nits here and there.

The ball jointed neck works great, but just as important are the ball joints on the tails of her hair. This means you can move then over or behind the shoulders, in and out from the head, and allow for much more realistic looking poses.

The shoulders, elbows, and wrists allow for plenty of arm poses. I do wish the elbows had a little more movement to create a tighter bend, but I was able to put the bat on her shoulder, thanks in large part to the mobility of the wrists.

The hands swapped easily, but they pop off occasionally while posing. It wasn't at a frustrating level, but it's worth noting.

There's a waist joint that can be visible if you don't pull the shirt down a little. it's valuable - it allows for natural tilt and turn movement in the torso - but you will want to remember to tug the shirt back down. I did that in most of the poses and it works great, but I left it visible in the shot below.

The hips, knees, and ankles work pretty well, although I had some trouble getting a natural flow.  The knees are rotating hinge joints, which means they look more attractive but are a little harder to work with.  The ankles are restricted by the boots a bit - I wasn't able to get a ton of rocker movement - but the top of the boots are a separate piece that you can move up and down as needed.

Accessories - ****
This score gets a huge boost with the two extra heads. Two!  It's hard to argue when they give you options like this.

Since I've already raved about the sculpt and paint on the extra heads - both better than the one she comes wearing - we'll get on to the other goodies.  There's three extra hands - an open grip left and right, and a gun grip right. She comes wearing tight grips, making it possible to pose with the rest of the accessories. The hands swap easily, but they do tend to pop off when handling and posing her.

She has her handgun, painted and sculpted beautifully for this scale, and it slips inside a shoulder holster. The rig is easy to put in place and fits well, but it does tend to mess with the fit of the jacket. More on that in the Outfit section.

She also has her trademark baseball bat, complete with ornamentation. It's nicely scaled, and works great in a bunch of poses.

There's also a few extras that aren't quite as obvious at first. The Puddin' choker is removable, as is both sets of bracelets.

Finally, she has her display base with adjustable posing support. You can skip the big support too, and just use a foot peg.  There's the usual small plastic bag to hold all these goodies long term, in case you toss the packaging.

Outfit - ***1/2
The outfit is made up of a shirt, jacket, shorts, belt, stockings, and boots.

All the tailoring and materials are great. Again, it's important to remember how small these figures are, and the special considerations to create thin, multiple layers like this.  The jacket is extremely well made, and the material is very high quality.  I do have a note on putting the jacket on: remember to remove both bracelets. They get in the way of the sleeves, and won't be visible when she's wearing it any way.

I also liked the jacket better when the holster wasn't in place. It does work, but it makes the fit a little less natural.

The shirt is just long enough to cover the midriff articulation, and looks great.  The shorts are a little thick, but fit pretty well, and the belt hangs nicely on the hips.

The stockings look great from the front, and feel very sturdy. They do have the obvious lines in back, common when creating these in any reduced scale, even 1/6. It's gotten better though, and I suspect it will continue to improve as companies expand into this scale.

Fun Factor - ***
I wasn't able to get quite the natural poses I always wanted, but it was still fun working with her. No serious quality issues, and I wasn't afraid of anything breaking or getting damaged. We need some more Suicide Squad characters though, to give her some playmates on the shelf.

Value - **1/2
She comes in at a pretty average price for these figures right now, around $75. She hasn't sold out every where yet, but I suspect she will soon, so if you're thinking about picking her up, I'd do it sooner rather than later.

Things to Watch Out For -
I've mentioned a couple things already, both worth mentioning again.

When swapping the heads, the thin hair strands can get trapped in the neck joint.You could damage or break them, so make sure they are out of the way when popping the head in place.

Also, take off those bracelets when putting on the jacket. With the spiky set in place you could snag the material, and with the flat set in place, the wrists of the jacket won't fit properly.

Overall - ***1/2
There's some really terrific things about this figure. The costume is quality stuff, the new female body is well designed, and the addition of three portraits means everyone should get one they like.

Even though her individual category scores are clearly in the ***1/2 range overall, I almost dropped her another half star. I'm not sure why - it's something not quite definable that left me wanting. But I spent a little more time posing and futzing, and in the end I gave her the extra half star.

I do like this female body, even if the legs were a little difficult to work with. I'm looking forward to Wonder Woman, but it's really the unannounced potential that this base body provides that really has me excited.

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

Where to Buy 
Mezco is on a wait list for her right now at their online store, but fear not - other options exist. Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth appears to be sold out...hmmm.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've covered lots of One:12 figures, including the exclusive Red Skull (regular coming soon), classic Superman, the Morales Spider-Man. I've also covered the summer exclusive Deadpool, the exceptional classic Punisher, the regular release Punisher the Toy Fair exclusive version, Shazam, the classic Daredevil, the Flash and Reverse Flash, the BvS Superman, the comic based Joker, Green Arrow, the Frankenstein Monster Diorama, Frankenstein Monster, the BvS Batman, the Bvs Armored Batman, Captain America, Star Trek 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.

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

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

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