Frank Castle's peak popularity was 20 years ago when he had 65 different solo titles on shelves every month, but even then we never really got a whole lot of Punisher action figures. This was despite him arguably being as big a comic book star back in the '90s as Deadpool is today. Yet the Punisher just never caught on in action figure form. He's been sprinkled throughout the various toy lines Marvel's had a hand in over the years, but only his recent resurgence has him back on the articulated radar.

Last year, Sideshow unveiled its sixth-scale Punisher figure, and Hasbro has a new Walgreen's exclusive, Jim Lee-era Punisher on the way for Marvel Legends. As nice as they are, Mezco just might have everyone beat with the latest addition to the One:12 Collective.

Big Pun here debuted at Toy Fair 2016, and left a lasting impression on a number of fans. Mezco's been releasing One:12 Collective figures for both Marvel and DC at a steady clip since the line debuted, and Punisher is just the latest in a run of incredibly detailed interpretations of these comic heroes. This version happens to be on the slightly modern side, with an all-black outfit and "realistic" body armor designed to appear like his trademark skull logo. Mezco also had a more '90s Marvel version, with the big white boots and gloves, and a printed skull logo, on display a few months ago, but the core of the figure remains the same.

Punisher will come four different guns of varying automatic firing power, a knife, some grenades, different posing hands, but most importantly, three different head sculpts. The Punisher is a guy who likes to get his hands dirty, and as a guy without powers, that means he takes quite a bit of reciprocal damage as a result. Mezco's including one stoic portrait, one screaming portrait, and one totally battle-damaged portrait. For my money, Frank Castle always looks like he was just put through meat grinder. These heads give you the flexibility to put the Punisher through any number of situations while on display, but if you're not going with beaten-down, broken-nose, bloody-lip Frank, you're doing it wrong.

I'm just playing around. You can do whatever you want. All three of the heads are actually quite impressive and battle-weary. Frank has never looked better despite never looking worse.

Mezco's One:12 Collective Punisher is available for pre-order now for $80, and is expected to arrive around December 2017.

 

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