Review of Owlman - Lord of Tears
One:12 Collective Action Figure

Introduction

One of the great things about Mezco Toyz is their on-going willingness to do licenses that no one else is even thinking about. Who did Animal House? Mezco. Who did the Goon? Mezco. Who did Popeye? You get the idea.

As part of their terrific long running One:12 Collective, they've produced characters in some big time licenses...and plenty of unique and unusual characters as well. We've gotten Space Ghost, the Warriors, Solomon Kane, and Diabolik - that's a pretty broad group of oddballs. And now they've added to the mix with another really, really unique release - Owlman.

Who the Hell is Owlman? Yea, that's what most people say. In fact, he's a creature - sort of a cryptid turned Babadook - that was first reported in 1976 hanging around an old church in Cornwall. While all the sightings over the next several years seemed to be reported by either friends or relatives of the same guy (or only reported to him first), the legend stuck well enough that a movie was created in 2013 called the Lord of Tears. It is from this appearance that Mezco has licensed the character.

This guy has just started shipping, and will run you around $100, depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***1/2
I love the artwork on this package, although Mezco can't take too much credit. It's from the movie poster and marketing materials, but the creepy hand painted design looks terrific. Of course, it's all completely collector friendly, and there's no reason to keep this guy trapped in his plastic prison.

Sculpting - ***1/2
This dude only has one portrait - a situation as unique with the line as the license is - and that's going to hit him on the Accessories score. But if you've watched the movie, you know he doesn't really get expressive, and this one, rather blank, dead eyed stare is his go to.

Remember, this is not some sort of Mezco creation or in house design - it's based on his look in the film. And they've captured that extremely well, from the huge owl head to the thin body and long, gangly arms.

There's decent texture and detail on the feathers around the face and eyes. The big, dead owl eyes look great, and while the seam around the 'face' is a bit obvious in photos, it's not as distracting in hand. The feathers on the neck could use a bit more detail, but it's reasonable.

The hands, with the terrifying talons, look great. They can actually hold the heads, even with the long fingers, and while there are only four, they can create some different looks.

He stands just over 6 1/2 inches tall, and will look great with Sodcutter on the shelf. I've even included a photo of the pair for comparison.

Paint - ***1/2
There's plenty of variety here in the color palette, even with the dark browns and greens. The various feathers sport differing shades and colors, and even the hands have several different paint operations.

The black eyes are a bit glossy, setting them apart from the matte black feathers around them, and there's some additional use of glossy paint on the hands and neck area, catching the light and contrasting with the matte finish over the rest.

Articulation - ***
This figure has all the usual Mezco articulation, with one obvious difference. Yep, it's the neck, which can turn, but which doesn't have any sort of tilt or lean, thanks to the feathers around and down the neck.

The shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles all work as expected. The elbows are much sturdier than what we saw with Sodcutter - I had no fears of breakage this time. And the long wrists on the hands attach to the usual wrist peg, which has plenty of mobility.

The torso can crunch and twist quite well, which does make up a bit for the neck. You can get some downward and upward looks thanks to this upper body articulation.

Accessories - ***
One area where he comes up a bit short, at least in terms of other One:12 figures, is the extras.

Bucking the norm, he has only the one portrait. It makes sense in the context of this character, but without it - and a $100 price tag - they needed to make up for it a bit in other ways.

There's one extra set of hands to go with the pair he comes wearing. These can be used to hold some of the other accessories, or create interesting poses. They swap pretty easily.

There's a handful of loose feathers - three large black ones, and three small white ones. The white ones look a little weird, more like bones than feathers, but both make sense in context with the movie.

The main character in the film - James Findlay - gets his due here as a severed head. It's a little small, scale-wise, but it's a decent likeness and has a solid paint job. There's a second human skull as well, also a main character in the film, and either can sit on the altar. The inclusion of Findlay's head is interesting, since you never actually see this severed version in the film, but can assume. And while I'm assuming the skull is Evie, it could also be James. If you haven't watched the movie, do so.

There's two blood effects as well, and these attach to the clawing left hand sculpt. You can pose them on the hands as though he's just slashed someone, and the blood trail is flowing. They are made from a translucent red plastic, similar to other One:12 effects.

Along with the tiny feathers, there are two tiny keys. These keys are identical, matching the look of the key used to unlock the basement. Yes, it's a horror movie so there must be a creepy locked basement.

The big extra, which is probably included since there's no additional portraits, is the altar to Moloch. It'll look good on the shelf (I'm using it in my display), and you can rest the head of Findlay on it for greater effect.

Finally, as with all One:12 figures, there's the round display base that can be used with either the simple foot peg, or the large, clear support rod.

Outfit - ***1/2
While the costume is pretty basic, it's extremely well done. The tailoring is excellent, and it looks just like it did in the film, right down to the exposed white shirt under the black tux coat.

The quality of the materials and construction is the usual top notch stuff, and the dress shoe sculpt looks great. There's also just the right amount of dirt and wear, matching the look in the movie.

As I said, while it's a simple costume, they did a terrific job mimicking it here.

Fun Factor - ****
Get your Sodcutter and have these two pose off! And while the long arms and creepy nature will invariably remind folks of the earlier figure, the good news is that the elbows are much sturdier, allowing for less risk when posing.

Value - **1/2
This guy doesn't have any light or sound features, and only one, albeit large, portrait. I'm also betting the licensing rights couldn't have been too extreme, and Mezco was able to offset that with their LDD release of the character as well.

But I'm also betting that demand was quite low for this one, making it a pretty expensive figure to produce. Because of that, I'm going with my average value score here, which regular readers know means the score will neither improve or detract from my final Overall.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. While I'd still take some care with the elbows, I had no problems with them.

Overall - ***1/2
I know a lot of people like to collect the same character over, and over, and over. Hot Toys definitely knows this. And while I have more than my fair share of some characters - I'm looking at you, Batman - I really do love getting odd, unusual, and unique additions to the display.

And that's where Owlman comes in. He's a terrific looking character, and if you've watched the film, you know it has its creepy moments. Oh, it's not a classic by any stretch, but it does create some nice atmosphere, and there's some scenes that will stay with you. Mezco was definitely thinking outside the coffin when they snagged this license, and I hope we see them continue to push the boundaries on the types of characters they produce in the One:12 series.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth is also at $100, and once he is in stock you can use my link and get an additional 10% off, plus free shipping!

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other recent One:12 releases include Red Pyramid Thing, Leatherface, and Ultraman.

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