Mezco Bringing More DC Heroes, Star Trek to One:12 Collective
Mezco's One:12 Collective hasn't been around very long (just one released figure, and one shipping soon), but it's already made a major impression on collectors. Featuring incredible articulation, real fabric costumes and a wealth of accessories, Mezco has seemingly brought the same kind of quality and experience you'd expect from larger, more elaborate (read: expensive) collectibles to an affordable scale that fits in with most other figure lines.
As the first entry in the brand, the Dark Knight Returns Batman may have set an impossible bar for Mezco to meet again, but that doesn't mean the company isn't trying. At San Diego Comic-Con this year, Mezco revealed a partial upcoming slate of figures it has planned for 2016, including more DC heroes, and some interesting surprises. Though only in prototype form, the pieces look to continue what Mezco started, and evolve the One:12 Collective into more than just a flash in the pan.
We'll get to those in a second though. First I want to talk about Space Ghost. Yes, the Hanna Barbera hero-turned-talk show host is getting the One:12 treatment, and it's in the running for the best surprise toy reveal of SDCC. I'm not old enough to have grown up watching the old adventures (though I did catch the reruns), but Space Ghost Coast to Coast was, in the modern parlance, my jam. As such, I've got an incredible affinity for the character that was immediately reignited the moment I laid eyes on the figure (and Blip the Monkey).
Space Ghost joins Flash and Superman as the next of the iconic comic and cartoon heroes to join the One:12 Collective, but these three are also be among the first using Mezco's new body types. For Batman and Judge Dredd, Mezco created unique bodies for each, but moving forward, the company has created a few different body types to use in a wide variety of ways. These standard types will allow Mezco to more easily manufacture the One:12 Collective pieces, and focus on the details that make each character special.
For the Flash and Superman, that means accessories and alternate heads for posing. Flash is planned to include fists, C-grip hands and running hands, along with a head with his cowl down. There also may be yellow lightning streak attachments to include to make it look as if Flash is really speeding along while posing on your shelf. Superman, too, will come with a variety of hands, and Mezco has two additional heads already in the works (one smiling, one heat vision). Oh, and a little thing known as the Bottled City of Kandor. Don't count on another one of those cape posing accessories you saw with DKR Batman being included though. While the final packaging is yet to be determined (the figures aren't due until mid to late 2016), Mezco is likely to shake up what's included with each figure for various editions like it did with DKR Batman and Judge Dredd.
Speaking of which, Mezco revealed the final production samples of Judge Dredd at the show, along with the New York Comic Con exclusive version. If you've been following progress on Judge Dredd at all, you won't be disappointed with the final result. The figure will be just as well-done as the Batman, and looks sharp in the format. The NYCC exclusive version will be identical, save for the black and white paint app to mimic the actual artwork in pages of 2000 AD. I haven't yet ordered a Judge Dredd, and now I'm relatively glad because I'm eying that NYCC version.
The original series of Star Trek was announced at the show, but unfortunately weren't on display. Mezco tried its hardest to make it happen, even having the outfitting for Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock flown in just ahead of the show, but it just wasn't to be. The figures will have likenesses for William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, and they too will come with an array of accessories. As part of Mezco's film/TV licenses, Star Trek will be joined by a Universal Monsters Frankenstein's Monster. It's a sight to behold, and shows what Mezco is capable of with the line. We haven't had a Karloff Frankenstein figure quite like this before, and it gives me great hope for the likes of Creature From the Black Lagoon and Bela Lugosi's Dracula, should they ever happen.