Review of Blade - One:12 Collective
Action Figure

Introduction

Wesley Snipes has been in plenty of great movies, including one of my favorite Stallone flicks, Demolition Man. But his turn as Blade was the highlight of his career for me, and was the first real example of a serious R rated take on a comic book character, proving it could be done and could be successful. Much of that was due to Snipes' performance.

Mezco is doing Blade as part of their terrific One:12 Collective series. We already got a Toy Fair exclusive version, but with only 100 of those produced, not too many collectors were able to get their hands on it. Now their regular release version is shipping, and gives a greater number of people the chance to own this character in this format.

This guy is now shipping, and will run you around $80 at most retailers.

Packaging - ***
Nothing unique, but the package is attractive while maintaining the clean, spartan design of past releases. Inside, the double plastic trays keep the figure and accessories safe and sound, and it's relatively collector friendly. I never love the extra wrapping on the included soft goods - this time it's the coat - because it's a bit harder to work with, but that's a pretty minor nit overall.

Sculpting - ***1/2
While I might have discussed Snipes' Blade in the intro, please remember that this is not a Snipes' Blade. This is a Mezco Blade, not directly related to any particular version. It's a combination of several concepts, including some liberties taken by the Mezco team.

There are two portraits, the norm for One:12 figures. We saw both of these heads with the Toy Fair release as well, making them straight up re-uses. He comes wearing the calmer yet serious portrait, with the vamped out head as an option. Both have excellent sculpts, with a ton of detail for something this size. Remember, these figures are only 6 1/2" tall.

While this isn't Snipes, there's a lot about the hair style and facial hair that is reminiscent of his version. Pop the sunglasses on, and you'll be pretty damn close to a movie release. The heads swap easily too, but stay in place while you're posing him.

The various hand sculpts work well with the plethora of accessories, and they also swap easily without fear of breakage.

Paint - ***1/2
Mezco is going for top quality production paint work with every release, and they are certainly altering the market as they go.

The two portraits have very detailed paint work, and the work on the open mouth and teeth on the snarling head is particularly noteworthy. The skin tone matches with the neck and body as well, and the eyes, eyebrows, and facial hair are clean and realistic.

My one nit is with the hair line this time. There's a slight amount of over spray down onto the forehead. You won't notice it easily, and it's definitely minor, but considering where they've set the bar with some of their other releases, it's worth noting.

Articulation - ****
No real issues here. Of course, if he's wearing the leather coat, the arms will be slightly less mobile, but not any more than when a real person wears a heavy leather coat.

The ball neck works great, and you can get a ton of personality with the right tilt of the head. The shoulders, elbows, and wrists allow for just about any weapon wielding pose, and the clothing is not too restrictive on the torso and waist.  The pleather pants are more stretchy than you might expect, and I was able to get some pretty deep stances out of the hips, knees, and ankles. The two piece boot construction looks great and gives the ankles all the movement you expect.

Accessories - ***1/2
Let's be honest - this guy can't compete with the heavily loaded Toy Fair exclusive in this category. But he's still well above average when it comes to extras.

There's plenty of hands, twelve in total.  He comes wearing fists, and there's five more sets of various gripping and gesturing hands to swap in. The swap easily, and stay put when you're working with him.

He has the two portraits, re-used from the earlier release. They're both great, although I think I'll be going with the vamped look on the shelf. I found I liked the glasses on him when he was wearing the coat, but no glasses when he wasn't. Obviously your mileage may vary.

And yes, he has glasses. This time there are four pairs, and they all have black lens. You get four because these things are so damn tiny that losing them is a pretty safe bet. You also get six silver stakes, and three of these can be inserted into the 'holster' on his left hip.

He has one sword, again very much like Snipes' version. This sword fits neatly in a large scabbard, and this scabbard then pops into a small magnetic holder for his back. The holder works really well without the coat on, snapping tight to a piece of metal in his back. But I was concerned the extra layer of thick material added by the coat would cause issues. It did not. Get the holder in the right spot, and it should remain while you're handling the figure.

Along with the sword and stakes, he has two of the silver throwing blades. These fold up and can fit into holsters on his belt.

It's not all about the bladed weapons though. He also comes with a pump action shotgun and a machine gun. There's a clip for the latter, and a nice cloth strap on the former. The sculpts and paint work on these are excellent, especially for the scale. Yes, they are also re-used from the Toy Fair release, but that's not a big issue for me.

There are two firing effects for the guns, which can be inserted into tiny holes in the barrels. It's a great look to go with the screaming vamp head.

Finally, he has the display stand, with the large translucent post that works great with leaping and jumping poses, or a simple foot peg for standing poses.

Outfit - ***1/2
There's an extra piece I didn't mention in the previous category - I was saving it for here.

The costume consists of his shirt, pants, belt, boots, and coat. Yes, the coat is technically an extra, but it's such an important part of the outfit I felt it was better discussed here.

But let's start with the lower layers. The shirt is extremely well tailored and fitted, and the leather pants work better here than they do in real life. Trust me. The boot sculpt is excellent, and the two piece design looks almost seamless yet allows for plenty of ankle movement.

The belt was a bit annoying - it tends to ride up his torso as you're working with him. I thought I was being good and working it back down around the top of his pants each time, but I noticed when I was editing the photos that I wasn't as perfect as I thought. Still, it's a great sculpt, and I love the holsters for the throwing blades.

Speaking of holsters, there's also the one on the left hip for the spikes. It stays in place and works great, but take some care when inserting them to avoid stabbing a hole in the pants.

Which brings us to the coat, my favorite and least favorite part of the outfit at the same time. The pluses far outweigh the minuses, but there are a couple minuses.

I love the fit, and even though the collar is a smidge large, the wire inside allows for excellent posing. There's also a wire that runs along the outside edge on the bottom, making it possible to pose the coat in dynamic ways to match the body stance.

So what's my issue? The zipper. It's a little too big, and it thickens up the coat along that front edge.  If I thought anyone was ever going to use the zipper to close the coat, it might be different, but no one is. It's attached on a completely separate piece of material too, so leaving it off (or removing it if you're adventurous) wouldn't have been difficult.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
With plenty of extras, great articulation, and two different head sculpts, you'll have lots and lots of options for posing and re-posing this guy on the shelf. We just need a few vampires in this scale for him to hunt down!

Value - **1/2
At $80, he's at the average current price for a One:12 figure, which is reasonable considering the high end market right now. As long as they keep up the extra portraits and lots of accessories, I'm good with the current cost.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. I'd take care putting the stakes in the loops on the thigh, since you could stab the pants. Otherwise you should be good to go!

Overall - ***1/2
Another terrific release in the series, particularly for fans of this character. When comparing it to the Toy Fair exclusive, I have to say this costume is my preference. I prefer the simple black shirt and long coat, even with my few nits.

However, the Toy Fair version definitely has this one beat on accessories. I hope we eventually see the other two portraits in some fashion at least.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ****
Accessories - ***1/2
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 also at $80.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
The most recent Marvel One:12 review covered the Toy Fair Blade. Other recent ones include Iron Man, Ragnarok Hulk, the Ronin Wolverine, the Special Ops Punisher, and Doctor Strange.

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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