Mezco Superman (Classic) Review

The Mezco Superman has arrived. Does anyone remember when Mezco solicited the initial photos of this Superman figure and everyone lost their minds? People were either incensed or found themselves typing the words “It’s a prototype, give them time…” as if trying to convince themselves.

Time passed. Some of us moved on. Some of us continued to have a Pavlovian response anytime the figure was mentioned. I fall in the camp of the latter. He arrived before Christmas and there were no real surprises. The Mezco Superman looked just like he looked in the pictures, so here we go…

What’s in the Mezco Superman box?

You get two heads, three sets of hands, and two cool looking chains for the classic Superman chain busting pose. We get the bottled city of Kandor, what appears to be Kryptonite (or a Fortress of Solitude knowledge crystal), the stand, the stand arm and finally, the worst cape staging idea ever.

I like this face. I do. It’s a nice sculpt. However, I feel I would be remiss if I did not say that for my money, I honestly expected to get both sets of eyebrows.

I don’t hate this suit. Sure, Tony Mei’s custom Superman suit is amazing, but for those of us who don’t have the spare change, this suit works fine.

Everyone was kung-fu fighting…

The chains are a welcomed addition. They are very pliable and remind me of the Superman pictures of my youth.

If you’ve seen or happen to own the BvS Mezco Superman from this same line you’re probably familiar with the heat vision/glow in the dark gimmick. I’m happy to say that not only did this angry, eyebrowless Superman have it, but I’m pretty sure they improved it.

What doesn’t work with the Mezco Superman?

I’m glad you asked. Let’s start here:

I like that Mezco assumes I’m intelligent. It’s obviously misguided since, without instructions, I don’t even know what the hell that thing is on the right. I feel like I have taken crazy pills because people seem to love this manner of staging the cape. I hate, hate, hate those things. Mezco has GOT to come up with a better way to do capes. I like wired capes. I do, God help me, but I do. Every time I’ve attempted to use one of these Mezco systems I get frustrated and punch babies. Literal babies. I’m not even allowed in the hospital near me anymore. Don’t make me punch babies, Mezco. What kind of an animal does that to another person? And babies, Mezco? For shame.

This is a rough figure for me because I love Superman. I think the uniform is too shiny, but that’s nit-picky. A lot of people were upset by the thick S-shield on his chest. At first, I thought it was because it needed to be that big in order to hold the magnet for the bullets. I later learned the magnet is in the chest. While there is no reason to have the shield this thick, again, it doesn’t bother me. I’d prefer it to be half as thick but beggars being choosers and so forth. The 3-D aspects of Brandon Routh’s S-shield really appealed to me, so much so that my Superman tattoo has the raised emblem. Granted, his wasn’t 9 inches thick but it was a departure from the classic, almost sticker or iron on looking logo.

I don’t dislike the classic look. In some instances, I even prefer it. I also feel like if his chest was going to be that exposed up top, they should have put some hair on it. If we learned anything from The Death of Superman arch, other than comic houses are liar liar pants on fires was that Superman’s chest had all the hair on it I’d have if I ever actually grew into a man. I’ll let you know when that changes.

Yet none of these things gets me down. You know why? Let me show you.

These were, by and far, the best Superman figures I had as a kid. If I’m being completely honest, I was too young to have appreciated that Mego. I am certain he was naked and his clothes lost within moments of my parents giving me that figure. The Super Power though, wow. Those and the Secret Wars figures were life to me. It bears repeating, we had very little options growing up.

My point being, these were the absolute BEST Superman figures I had as a kid. I cannot, in good conscience, look at this:

and rush to the Internet, proclaiming that the Mezco Superman is the biggest piece of garbage ever made, an affront to Superman fans everywhere. I know some people will want me to do so, but I can’t.

What works with the Mezco Superman?

I can’t blast the Mezco Superman because it isn’t the worst thing ever. In fact, its darn nice. Is it the best it could have been? No. The shield is too thick. The shorts look odd. The main face is… relaxed. Like he’s Super-High or something. Similar to most of the One:12 line, his articulation is limited. His feet articulation annoys me like the rest of the line. Again, there are aftermarket items you can purchase to improve certain aspects you may not like about the figure. Tony Mei, in addition to the costume, also sculpted a head for him that I DID pick up. Look for it here, soon. (actually, it’s here now, go take a look)

Should you get the Mezco Superman?

The Mezco Superman is a solid figure. He poses well (as well as other Mezcos) and he looks good on my shelf. I did this photoshoot spread out over three days. That’s a lot of time handling him, swapping heads and hands, effects, everything. I do my best to put stuff through the paces in the short amount of time I have with it (I’ve considered doing follow up reviews after I’ve had the figure a while, would you guys be interested in that?) while I take the pictures. It’s a really nice Superman figure with faults. The effects, the extras, all of it make him the best Superman for your buck, in my opinion. It’s icing on the cake to pick up other costumes or heads or capes or whatever, but the base figure is a really solid entry into my Superman Action Figure mythos.

I have no reason to believe that (unlike the Ascending Knight) there will be other prime Supermen put into production so this may be your only shot at a Mezco Superman. Not to be an alarmist, but these are the kinds of things that lead to inanimate objects taking over the world.

I may be wrong about that though…

Here are some shots for scale (because I know you people love scale)!