A review of Mezco’s One:12 Collective Figure of The Joker: Clown Prince of Crime Edition!

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The Joker is easily the most recognizable villains in comics and The Batman’s worst enemy. There have been many iterations of him in the funny books, TV, film, and collectibles. Mezco has added a new version of him to their One:12 Collective and he is very different from the typical take. Here is The Joker: The Clown Prince of Crime.

PACKAGING:

The box is similar to the other releases from Mezco with the lettering in the usual places. The background is striped like the figure’s pants and in the same color scheme. The side has a spray-painted stencil design with a “J” and “HA” behind it. The background is yellow and the paint is bright, lime green. The back has the typical action and accessories displayed. I like the design as it all comes together. It is a slipcover that comes off and has the figure in a plastic window underneath. Inside, the figure is secured in plastic with all of the extras and accessories ready to come out.

LIKENESS:

There is nothing typical in the likeness of the figure. He is more punk rock with the high taper fade haircut, high boots, hanging suspenders, and fingerless gloves. Beginning with the two head sculpts: One has The Joker with his signature, sadistic smile showing teeth, and eyes that look inhuman with his hair pomaded. We will call this one “Slicked Back.” The other has his hair messy and his mouth closed that we will call “Messy Hair”. Both have the same makeup with the all-white face, darkened eyes, and, of course, green hair. Slicked back has more of an attitude that you find from The Joker with the smile of a deviant. The green is bold and contrasts against the white perfectly. Facial lines and the expression, in general, are excellent. The Messy Hair has a smug look and he honestly reminds me of how he would look after beating Jason Todd. The faces match up and don’t look like two different people. There was a little bit of a paint error on mine where the green, stray strand ended up with paint on the forehead. I prefer Slicked Back to the other because it just resonates The Joker to me more than the other. To be fair though, Messy Hair works a bit better when posed with a confrontational Batman. It reminds me of Nicholson’s Joker from Tim Burton’s BATMAN. His clothing is a short-sleeve, button-down shirt that is under a tailored vest. I don’t know if it can be removed because, honestly, I didn’t try. They seem like they’re fitted in a way to be close to being fitted to the body but have enough given to keep him flexible. I do like the duty belt with the knife sheathes. When I first unboxed the figure, the sheathes were in a vertical position so I questioned if they would work with posing. Turns out, they rotate 360° so they will work with any arm position. The knives are snug in the sheathes and stay in the position that you pose them in. The pants have magenta and black stripes with suspenders that hang off. You can put his arms through to make him wear them but because of the vest, it looks like he dressed wrong. The suspenders give some of the punk look that Mezco was going for. They’re tight and tucked into his black work boots. The coloring has some striking hues and everything ties together nicely. They’re bright, vibrant, and feel like the Clown Prince is making a statement.

ACCESSORIES:

The Clown Prince of Crime comes with: the two (2) head-sculpts, seven (7) interchangeable hands, one (1) time bomb teddy bear, two (2) Kukri knives, one (1) skull-handled cane, one (1) submachine gun, one (1) extra magazine, one (1) bullet effect for the gun, a base stand arm for posing, the base stand with the “HAs” in various sizes, and a plastic bag for the accessories. The hands are all fingerless gloves with black-painted fingernails and each is good for the various accessories included. They’re also studded with small silver accents around the wrist and knuckles. The coolest accessory here is the time bomb teddy bear. To have a destructive weapon in something as cute as a teddy bear is a definite Joker move. He stuck him in a little suicide vest with a timer attached. Add the dynamite and the plastique to get a deadly little bear. It is highly detailed with the wire, tape, and weathering to not make him look shiny. He’s worn and loved but not in the same way as Mr. Raspberry Jam. The Kukri knives have nice little grips and are an interesting twist to the smaller knives that The Joker usually carries. One of the things that sets these apart are the posable knife sheaths so that you can easily have him pulling them out in different ways. Another signature accessory that The Clown tends to come with through the many iterations over the years is a cane. This one has a skull for a top handle and looks like if Mezco wants to, they could add another accessory knife-like Alex DeLarge. Would it have been a cool addition? Yes but this isn’t a deal-breaker by any means. The submachine gun is covered in purple and green graffiti as well as in the magazines. The grips are worn so they show the black under the paint. The magazines can be swapped out or posed in a way that makes it look like he is reloading. There is also a shooting effect made from a translucent yellow/white with three bullets attached. The effect goes into the barrel of the gun and makes it look like he is shooting in a sweeping motion. It’s a cool accessory and something that I can see being used for a lot of other figures in the future. My one suggestion is to be very careful with the piece that goes into the barrel. If it breaks or is damaged, I don’t think a repair is an option. Maybe on the next try, Mezco will make a sturdier piece or have it clip on the side of the weapon for some extra support.

ARTICULATION:

The flexibility in the figure is decent for him being just an average person. In the neck, it is a round peg up into the sculpt to make the neck run down into his shirt. The chest has a flex joint past the sternum to have the poses in the torso look natural. It is a subtle bend so don’t overdo it or breakage is guaranteed. There is also a swivel joint at the hips/waist area. The arms have a 360° joint with the elbow able to straighten and bend properly. The wrists are the typical joints that the One:12 Collective uses on most of their figures. The knees are double-jointed and there is a swivel in the thighs to make the legs twist easily. With the pants helping with flexibility. He’s good for doing dynamic posing, posing on the stand or leaning him in a museum pose.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

The Clown Prince is a cool figure and gets high marks in every category. Even though this isn’t the typical design for The Joker, there is something about him that makes me like him the best out of the Mezco releases. I feel like the originality takes him up a notch and if Mezco follows this idea that they have started, there’s no telling what kind of cool designs they might come up with in the future. I would be interested in seeing an aging Joker to go along with the trilogies of Batman releases. I can easily recommend adding this guy to your collection and start terrorizing The Batman. A side note: The submachine gun that he comes with is blacked out in the materials on the website and not listed in the accessories either. I’m going to find out why and update the review accordingly.

About the author

MEDIA JOURNALIST | Michael is a fanatic about all both cinema old and new. He collects anything from 1:6 Scale, 1:12 Scale, and vinyl Collectibles plus Slipcovers and Steelbooks. He loves pop culture, writing, reviewing films & collectibles, and journalism. An avid Batman, The Joker and anything comics junkie, he will also chat it up about pretty much anything. Go ahead and ask...