Mezco Commissioner James Gordon and Bat Signal Deluxe Edition Review

The Mezco Commissioner James Gordon figure just makes sense. Let me explain. I know Marvel has strong supporting characters. However, for me, DC’s supporting cast never felt less important than the story lead. Lois Lane, Iris West, Perry White, Jimmy Olson, Carol Ferris, whatever heroine addict Oliver Queen is slapping around, and this guy.

Commissioner Gordon.

In Batman Year One (one of my favorite Batman stories), Gordon plays almost as large a role as Batman does. In it, we see a young cop working against not just the criminal element, but his fellow officers as well. We get to see what difference one man can make.

In The Killing Joke, (another favorite recently made into an animated movie) we see a Gordon brutalized physically and psychologically by The Joker. Still, he sticks to his principles and the rule of law. He demands that Batman brings the clown in by the book.

I’m not saying everything Jimmy has done has been a home run. Granted, it works out ok for Gotham, but as a rule officers usually don’t team up with urban vigilantes. Most of the officers I know in real life almost never end up nude strapped to a carnival ride. I’m guessing the performance review that year was a little awkward. That would be like being a school bus driver, and your shift ends with you, well, nude, strapped to a carnival ride. Schools frown on that, and I bet most police departments do as well.

Jim Gordon has been a resilient force of good against the unrelenting real life nightmares of Gotham for as long as I can remember. That’s why I’m happy to be looking closer at the Mezco Commissioner James Gordon figure.

What ships with the Mezco Commissioner James Gordon figure?

You get a two-layered decorative fancy box:

1st layer of box.
The second layer of the box

He also has a packaged diorama and instructions:

The instructions and diorama come in their own see-through package.
The back, displaying the unfolded pieces of the diorama.

The Mezco Commissioner James Gordon figure comes with a lot of pack-ins, which makes me a happy man child. Obviously, we get the body and a pretty snazzy set of working man’s clothes. No tights for Gordon.

Packaged Bat-Signal.

Trench coat

He ships with two different heads. One is young James Gordon.

“Young” Gordon

And the other, older James Gordon.

The Mezco Commissioner James Gordon figure comes with three sets of hands. He has punching hands.

Pow! Right in the kisser, Ivy.

He has neutral hands.

This right hand seems to exist to throw this lever.
I think this left hand is designed to hold his badge maybe.
Another shot of the badge holdin’ hand.

Finally, he has himself a shooting hand. Top. Shelf.

Pew pew

He comes with a pistol and a holster as well as a blast effect for the pistol.

Badge and holster clipped to belt.
Bullet blast effect
The holster with the gun removed.

Gordon has a walkie talkie and a badge.

Stop! Or my deranged friend in a cape will beat you into paste.
Radio

He has a nicer watch than I do.

His watch.

Jimmy-boy comes with a tactical police vest in case Bruce Wayne has a sock hung on the mansion’s doorknob and a “do not disturb sign” hung over the Batcave.

James Gordon comes with the standard Mezco display base and posing arm.

The last and biggest pack-in is the light-up Bat-Signal and diorama. The piece de la resistance, if you will.

The empty diorama.
Unlit Bat-Signal

What doesn’t work with the Mezco Commissioner James Gordon figure?

The Mezco Commissioner James Gordon figure is a very nice figure, but not perfect. It’s becoming a bit of a flashpoint with collectors (either you want them, or you’re sick of hearing people whine about them), but this figure needed double-jointed elbows. A simple task like bringing his radio to his mouth is impossible.

While I’m wearing my whine cap again, I think butterfly shoulders should be a new normal. Why have his radio on his chest if he can’t reach across and use it like every cop on every piece of news footage, ever.

While I am on the radio, I love the magnetic gimmick on this item. However, I would have liked to have seen some metal placed in the shoulder of the SWAT vest as well. I think when he’s wearing the vest, it only makes sense to attach the radio to the vest.

Speaking of that vest… wow. What a pain in the ass. It looks fantastic, please don’t misunderstand. I finally gave up on getting the damn thing zipped back up. I was 10 minutes in and realized it wasn’t worth the years I was removing from my life due to the stress.

Full on SWAT gear

Having a tactical SWAT vest you can’t zip back up once you have it on is like being excited because your new pants have a pee hole, but once you use it, you can’t put your penis away. Trust me, that makes the 7th grade super awkward.

I have a $10 tactical vest I picked up off the ‘Bay for my Punisher. It has straps, which admittedly, is a different kind of pain in the ass. However, it was not impossible. Maybe next time try straps? It is also worth noting, none of the pouches on the vest are functional. I imagine if they were, I wouldn’t be able to close those back up either.

The holes in his belt to store his badge, radio and holster are frustrating. They constantly leave you with a feeling that you may tear the belt or break off the plastic peg on the back of the item. I can’t think of a better way to do it (magnets maybe?) but I am also not out here running an Action Figure company.

The watch is tiny and unless you’re super careful, you’re going to lose it. I almost lost it twice during a contained photoshoot.

Also non-functional are his pockets on his trench coat. You won’t be getting his hands into the pockets, but you can get creative.

What works with the Mezco Commissioner James Gordon figure?

The Mezco Commissioner James Gordon is the first in what I hope is a trend of important supporting characters for their One:12 line. Right now, aside from the occasional upcoming Mafex, I don’t have a consistent source of good DC 1:12 figures. I’ve decided Mezco will be my main fix. I’m not overly excited about McFarlane having the DC license.

I cannot imagine me needing another James Gordon. The headsculpts have an amazing amount of detail in them. They could have slapped grey paint on the ElderHead and called it a day. They added a lot of wrinkles and his hair looks thinner to me.

When you put him next to the Sovereign Knight, he looks right at home.

“Please tell me that damn clown isn’t back.”

However, if the only fantastic things about this figure were the multitude of accessories and superlative headsculpts, he wouldn’t be packing the Gordon Dynamite in his pants for me.

The pistol, like most Mezco guns, has a working slide. I always want these little touches. If you’re ever like, “I wonder what ol’ JC wants more of,” the answer is always “more little touches.” See? I didn’t even have to make the naughty joke. You made it yourself.

Working pistol slide.

No, I think the title of “Best Piece of the Package” is up for contention. In this instance, the Bat-Signal is vying for “Finally realized childhood birthday wish.” A working Bat-Signal. When I say “working,” I don’t mean you turn it on or off.

No, that’s too simple.

This Bat-Signal has a working lever. If the lever is down, the light is off. If the lever is up, it’s on. The detail on this thing is fairly sick. It looks slightly smaller than I think it should be, but it’s so freakin’ sweet, I don’t even care. Honestly, with my shelf space as limited as it is, I don’t mind that it’s slightly smaller. It looks like metal, its plastic, and not nearly as heavy as one might think.

I don’t expect you to take my word for it; I lie all the time. Sometimes I lie simply to make happy people sad. So I took some pictures of it for you.

Lit!
It throws a pretty mean Bat in the night sky.

Working handle. Handle down, light is off.
Handle is up, light is on.

Should you purchase the Mezco Commissioner James Gordon figure?

If you’re a fan of Batman or the Batman Mythos, you want this figure. If you just want a cool civilian figure, yup, you want it. If you want a cool police officer for your photos, well, guess what, sex-lips? You want it. Here are a few places where you can still pick him up:

Amazon
eBay
Xavier Cal Customs and Collectibles (as of this writing)

If all that fails, here’s the good news… I am announcing my first giveaway! If you want your very own Mezco Commissioner James Gordon figure, here’s all you have to do (or you can just go directly there):