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One:12 Collective Punisher (Part 1)

March 14, 2017 | By Engineernerd More

I think you guys know by now, I’m normally a 3.75″ collector. It’s what I’ve collected since I was a kid. With The Punisher being one of my favorite characters, I’m always tempted by other versions. I had been eyeing the Sideshow Collectibles version of him last year. Being a 12 inch figure, it was outside of my collecting sweet spot and fairly far away from what I normally spend on a figure. Then I saw the One:12 Collective version from Mezco offered on pre-order.

I had heard Scott’s reviews on the Action Figure Blues Podcast of some of the early One:12 releases, so I had an idea on the quality. At about 80 dollars for a six inch figure, this was closer to my collecting habits. The scale was more inline with recent SH Figuarts purchases and the price was only slightly high than SHF. So I hit preorder and waited. Originally, we were suppose to see this figure in December, but we eventually saw him at the end of February. This can be expected, and I’ve waited far longer past original dates.

Now, for this figure, I’m changing things up a bit. There’s a lot here to cover, so there will be three parts to this review. Also, I didn’t use my normal camera, light setup or backdrops. Well, yes we’ve seen the backdrop before, but I wasn’t in my normal place. So if the pictures look different, they are.

Remember when I said I wasn’t in my regular location for taking pictures. The box was. Sorry no pics. If you are an opener like me, this shouldn’t be an issue. I will say that I was pretty impressed. If you have every bought a high end piece of electronics that is what this reminds me of. The 5 panel box is large with a printed slip cover. There’s a nice magnetic catch on the flap to keep it closed. Inside are a number of trays similar to SHF figures. Similar to Scott, I’m perplexed by the need for a small printed ziplock bag with nothing in it. One thing that I did like was the way they used the stand base with his logo behind the figure. I especially thought it was clever how the tray that holds the figure in front of the stand has a small indent to line up with the foot peg to keep it in that position.

If you want to know more about the packaging, let me know.

In this review, I’m going to look at the basic figure just as he pops out of the tray. For those unfamiliar, One:12 Collective figures are essentially high end 6″ scale figures. Instead of just being sculpted they have cloth outfits with a a mixture of materials for the rest of the outfit. I was a bit concerned when first anounced, these would end up looking like the Famous Covers or Mego hero figures. Let me just say, Frank doesn’t.

The shirt and pants. really well tailored for this scale. They are in scale for the figure and honestly, I don’t know how they managed to get soft goods at this scale look quite this good.

This isn’t the white and black gloved version of the Punsiher. Honestly, I’m okay with that. Because this figure is well and truly in the realm of realism, this makes far more sense.

Mr. Castle is wearing black pants and a shirt. He has black combat gloves on as well as some really high laced black boots. Over top of that he has a tactical harness that appears to have been modified with an armor plate of his trademark logo. I know, this is the favorite thing for everybody. Like I said, because this figure leans towards realism, I think it works.

As you move Frank’s arms the sleeves tend to move up like real sleeves. The arm underneath is flesh colored, but the wrist ball joint is black. Since this area is exposed, this is pretty nice camouflage with the gloves. My one small dislike is the patches on his elbows. Not that they are there, but they’re too high. When his arm is bent at the elbow, they tend to be above the elbow joint where they really don’t sever a purpose.

The shirt does not stop movement at all. His harness limits it a bit though. I suspect an ab crunch under there, but I’m not taking all of his gear off to find out. I’m not sure how easy it would be to get back together, and he looks good right now.

I do have to say the paint on the ammo pouches and logo is fantastic. The pouches look like worn leather. The armor plate just doesn’t have a white paint. There are a couple of bullet dents that are painted in a grey that doesn’t match the silver rivets holding it on. There are some other battle scars on it, as well. In addition there is dirt/wear markings painted on. They could have easily went with all brand new looking gear for the harness, but they didn’t. Frank’s rigging looks like it has been with him some time and has the scars to prove it

Now this might be something I have to futz with, but the harness doesn’t always want to sit down on his shoulders.

The boots have the eyelets painted and are very detailed compared to what the white comic version would be. The little silver sparkle are a nice bit of contrast on this figure. They’re not as worn as the chest rig. Which makes sense, boots would be something you would replace. I have to applaud the soles of these boots. This is prety much a Doc Marten’s sole and I’ve worn Docs for 20 yrs and hardly wear anything else. I’m not sure the style of boot matches an of theirs, they don’t seem to offer a mens boot quite that tall, but I’ll let it slide. The peg hole is pretty well hidden in the middle of the heel pattern.

There is a couple small things I don’t like about the boots. They went with the choice not to put toe articulation in. I can probably deal with that, but it combines with a fairly limited amount of articulation in heal to really limit some of the poses you can get his foot in. None, of it limits standing poses, so maybe we can write it off to these boots not being broken in yet. (I’m stretching, I know.)

Mr.Castle just can’t quite pull off that super hero landing. I’m sure he’s okay with that. One thing that does impress about the pant and boots is that they are solid together. The pants have stayed consistently in the boots despite my incessant posing while he’s been on my desk. The pants are just baggy enough to look comfortable and they are well tailored in the crotch to let him move. These pants may be the best engineering work on this figure.

The overall look of this figure is great. There is a sense of realism that you don’t normally get at this scale. If you are looking for a great looking figure, this is it. However, as I’ve mentioned at a few points, the articulation is a bit more limited than I expected. Not terribly, there are double jointed elbows and knees. I do wish he had a bit more shoulder articulation, he can’t quite get his arms as forward as I would like and this would be somewhat hidden by the outfit. I suspect that visual appearance has won out over articulation in most of the design process. I’m okay with this as he will probably stand guard on my desk. However, just be aware, Frank isn’t going to be as super articulated as that super articulated Marvel Legends Spider-Man you might want to pair him off against.

Remember when I mentioned SH Figuarts above? Yeah, he’s a bit taller than them. I wanted to mention that in case you were a collector of those. Mr. Castle falls more in line with modern Marvel Legends figures. I have about a half dozen different “6 inch” figures on my desk at the moment from different lines. I have to say if I was a bigger collector in this scale, I’d be frustrated that all things don’t want to go together. With 3.75″ figures the differences aren’t as noticeable.

Okay. I think I’ve cover the basics of the figure for this time. Come back this weekend when we look at the thing that Frank loves. Weapons. Lots of Weapons.