Review of the Green Arrow Action Figure
One:12 Collective

Introduction

It's Toy Fair time, and one of the hottest announcements so far is the new figures planned for Mezco's One:12 Collective. The series really took off in 2016, and things are looking mighty good for 2017.  I have four sitting here I could review - Steve Rogers, Daredevil, Punisher...and the one I picked to go first, Green Arrow. I promise I'll get to the others shortly, and I promise I'll include some photos with Marvel Legends figures as well (some readers have requested it). Sadly, I completely blanked when I was working on this review, but the next one will include at least one size comparison photo. Of course, you can also use the LifeSizer feature with the photo below and do your own comparisons.

Green Arrow just recently started to ship, and will run you around $75 at most retailers, and there's no exclusives or special versions...yet.

Packaging - ***
This is one of the more basic One:12 boxes so far, but it's attractive with a clean design. The cardboard is nice and heavy, making for a much sturdier package.  Inside, everything is collector friendly, and they even skipped the annoying sticky clear plastic with the smaller accessories.  There's a double tray design, with the lower tray holding the display support and small plastic bag.

Sculpting - ***1/2
This is a comic based Green Arrow, with Van Dyke and blonde hair. It's important to remember that this guy is not sixth scale - he's much tinier than that, coming in at just 6 1/2" tall. The amount of detail work, particularly in the hair and beard, is quite impressive for this scale.

He has a stern but not ridiculous expression, perfect for most poses.  The eyes are narrowed in concentration, and the jaw is set tight. There's enough skin texture to create a realistic look without losing the comic book feel.

The proportions within the body - head to torso, limbs to torso, hands to body - are all very good. The cloak itself is a little large, a problem with working in cloth at this size, but I'll discuss that further in the costume section.

Paint - ***
As has been the standard for this line, everything is clean and sharp, with very little slop. There's a slip here or there, but nothing major or disappointing.

The hairline is excellent, and the skin has a slight translucent appearance, giving it depth.  The edges of the mask are good, and the whites of the eyes are quite clean.

The edges on the bands on the upper arms aren't quite as good, however. There's little slop here and there, and it isn't quite as even as I expect. Still, it's a minor nit in an otherwise high quality paint job.

In fact, my biggest complaint is just the blonde color of the hair and beard. It's more along the lines of the shade and tone we usually see with true 'toys', and takes away some of the usual realism. It's another minor nit, and probably more of an aesthetic issue for me than other collectors, but it's the problem that pulls him down slightly in this category.

Articulation - ***1/2
The One:12 body is as articulated as most sixth scale figures on the market, at half the size. The rotating hinge shoulders, double pin elbows, cut biceps, and rotating hinge wrists allow for lots of arm poses, and as you can see, you can get a reasonable bow drawing stance. That's hard to do, and in fact most high end sixth scale figures can't get the hand up near the ear and cheek. No problem here, although the bow string isn't quite long enough to work...more on that in the Accessories section.

The ball neck allows for plenty of tilt and lean in every direction, and while the torso and waist are a little restricted by the tight fitting hooded vest, there's more mobility there than I expected. The ball hips and pin knees work well, but my one issue is with the ankles. Between the restrictive uppers on the boots and the design of the joint, there's very little forward tilt in the foot. It made it very difficult to find a proper center of gravity in some stances, and was a little frustrating. I was able to get what I wanted out of him, but a little more mobility in every direction on the ankles would be useful.

Accessories - ****
Green Arrow is a guy who loves his extra goodies, and Mezco has done him up right.

There are ten hands in all, including the fists he comes wearing.  These swap easily, although a little heat applied to the hands, either from hot water or a hair dryer, will make it all the simpler. The hands are sculpted to work with the weapons and a number of different gestures.

Speaking of weapons, he has his bow, of course, as well as a bunch of different arrow options. There is a set of six arrows permanently attached to a green block. These can slip inside the quiver on his back and look great all the time, without a lot of futzing.

But those are just for looks - he has four other single arrows that can be put in the quiver loose, or can be used with the bow. Each has a different tip.  And to top it off, there's a set of three attached to each other, for when he needs to take out multiple bad guys with a single draw.

Speaking of the bow, it's a great looking sculpt and paint job. The scale is good as well, and it fits neatly in the supplied hands.  The bow string is quite tight though, so you won't be able to draw it back very far.

The bow isn't his only weapon. There's a small knife that fits inside a sheath on his lower back.  One of the hands is sculpted perfectly for holding it as well.

Finally, there's a GA display base, with the clear plastic support post and clamp.  There's also a small plastic baggy to store all these cool goodies once you have him out of the box.

Outfit - ***1/2
The outfit consists of both sculpted and fabric pieces.

The sculpted pieces include the gauntlets, greaves, and boots, which have some interesting wear and damage. The sculpt and paint work is excellent, as is the work on the plastic harness/belt that also holds the quiver in place in back.  None of this looks easily removable, and I wasn't about to try, since the fit is about perfect out of the box.

The fabric bits include the black pants and his cool hooded vest, with a zipper in front and a faux leather finish.  The inside has a black lining, and the hood itself has a stiff wire along the outer edge, making posing the hood much easier.

The vest itself is extremely well tailored, as are the tight pants. The vest fits snug to the body, and looks great, but the zipper does have a slightly large pull at the top. The zipper itself looks good, but keeping the pull covered by the chest strap improves the overall appearance.

The hood is a little thick, more so than the rest of the vest. Getting those couple layers of material, plus the wire, all to lay flat around the shoulders can be tricky. Thanks to the wire, you can smash it down and it will stay put, but I think the hood looks much better up than down. That's a rarity - usually hoods look weird and bulky when you put them up over a figure's head, but here it works well.

In photos it will look a little more out of scale than it does in hand. That's due to the magnification of the photos - remember, this figure is only 1/12 scale, and the photos will make it appear closer to a 1/6th scale figure.  This magnifies any slight variation in the size of the hood, but in hand it looks even better.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
This figure is a lot of fun, thanks to the posability of the figure itself as well as the hood. You should be able to find a great look for him on the shelf, and you'll have no fear or trepidation when working with him.

Value - **1/2
I'd love to see these hang around the $70 mark, but the reality is that he's loaded with extras. The $75 price tag is a bit more reasonable considering the number of accessories and the complexity of the overall outfit.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. This is a sturdy, well made figure, and I didn't have any worries when working with him, his hands, or his accessories.

Overall - ***1/2
While my favorite of the One:!2 figures are usually part of certain licenses (Universal Monsters, Star Trek, Ghostbusters), I can't deny how cool the various comic themed super hero figures are. We have a classic Superman coming soon along with the Flash, and we already have both Daredevil and Punisher.  From what we've seen at Toy Fair this week, there will be plenty more to join them.  I'm not a huge fan of the character Green Arrow, but I have to say that this version is easily the favorite in my collection now. And that's saying a lot, because there's a couple DCUC versions that I really love as well. It may take a bit of futzing to get the hood in just the position you like, but once you do it's well worth it. Add in plenty of arrows and other extras, and you'll be able to get a great looking pose on the shelf.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth is at $75 too.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other One:12 Collective reviews include 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.

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