I kicked off my SDCC 2017 Exclusives reviews yesterday with my Marvel Legends Ulik review, but Hasbro wasn’t the only company with exclusive Marvel 6″ figures at San Diego Comic-Con! Mezco brought along two exclusives of their own, and one of them is the first release in a trio of Deadpools! The sold out SDCC 2017 ONE:12 Collective X-Men Deadpool figure is selling for $140+ online now–but does this figure really warrant such a hefty investment…?

The Right:

Last year’s Mezco Toyz San Diego Comic Con ONE:12 Collective Exclusive Captain America figure was a bit of a bust in that most people called it overpriced (because of the tin it came in) and the leftover stock ended up sitting around for months and months.

This year, Mezco wised up and chose two variants certain to be super-popular as their Marvel exclusives, and priced both of them at the usual $80 MSRP: blue X-Men Deadpool and Miles Morales Spider-Man. I’ll talk about Miles another time, but today, let’s check out the most high-end Deadpool X-Men costume figure ever made.

Though Wade only wears this costume briefly in a single issue of Cable & Deadpool, it’s my personal favorite costume for the character (followed closely by X-Force grey), so I was delighted to see Mezco taking a crack at him.

Hasbro made a Marvel Legends Blue Deadpool years ago, but the Mezco version has noticeably better sculpted parts than that old Hasbro iteration. The treads and kick pads on ONE:12 Deadpool’s boots, the forearm protects and beautifully-sculpted gloves on this new version are all highlights.

I especially like that unlike the X-Men Legends Deadpool, we get two different masked heads here: the goofy asymmetrical look (that I admittedly love) and also a serious, deadly-eyed head. The paint lines on the mask are very well-done and really help accentuate the excellent sculpting detail.

While there’s no unmasked head included with Mezco’s version (a genuine shortcoming), I really appreciate getting a less dopey masked Deadpool head for a change instead. Many folks will probably be grumpy about no Wade Wilson head, but personally I’m okay with two different masked looks.

Ordinarily, we see Deadpool action figures come with two swords and a sheath to hold both on his back. In this case, there’s only one sword–but also a really nice sheath. Both the sword and the sheath have superb sculpting details and paint deco, and while I’d still prefer dual swords (especially at the price of this line), it’s hard to be grumpy when the sword and sheath look as good as this.

Articulation-wise, the X-Men Deadpool ONE:12 Collective figure is almost on par with Hasbro’s recent Marvel Legends figures. It’s tough to count out articulation points because of the fabric costume, but any kind of chest articulation, all of “the usual” super-articulation is present, including ankle rockers, double-jointed knees and elbows, and swivel thighs and biceps.

There’s ample articulation to get the SDCC exclusive Deadpool into a ton of dynamic poses, and the included stand allows you to even pop Wade into crazy jumping and upside-down poses. The figure stand is sturdy and stable and works outstanding (as we’ve come to expect from the ONE:12 Collective stands).

While he doesn’t quite have the diverse arsenal of the ML version, we do get some nifty weapons with this figure: a finely-detailed pistol and grenade launcher, along with several well-decorated grenades and the aforementioned katana sword (and hands to perfectly hold them all).

I do miss some of the more zany accessories that Hasbro gave us, but all of the weapons and interchangeable hands that we do get here are flat-out fantastic.

It’s also worth mentioning that I love the packaging for this figure, which has a blue-and-yellow Deadpool on one side of the box and an X-Men logo on the other.

It’s easy to slide the bubble in and out of the box without damaging the  package, and I heart Mezco Toyz for giving us that little ziplock bag to store all of the accessories in for quick and easy access.

The Wrong:

I was having a ton of fun posing this Mezco X-Men Deadpool figure in lots of interesting ways, and was ready to laud him as the superior 1/12 Deadpool figure… right up until I pulled out my Hasbro Marvel Legends version for comparison.

Once I got the two rival companies’ iterations of Wade Wilson side-by-side, I saw a weakness in this ONE:12 Collective Blue Deadpool figure that I’m having a really hard time getting past: the soft goods costume just doesn’t look all that great.

While the Hasbro 6″ Deadpool is ripped muscle-wise–just as the character looks in the comics–the Mezco version looks more like I did as a kid: skinny and formless without a muscle to be found. After comparing the two versions, I just can’t get out of my head that the bright blue costume looks like a pair of loose-fitting pajamas.

Now, the aesthetic of the soft foods is not necessarily a deal breaker–but for a lot of folks, the price will be. While I really dig this figure aside from the soft goods, I have to ask myself: is this Deadpool really more than 400% as good as Hasbro’s? Because he cost over $90 after shipping to begin with, and he’s selling for $140+ on the aftermarket right now.

And to be totally honest: I don’t think he is. I think the sculpted parts of the figure look great and the accessories are really solid and I dig the figure stand–but you lose so much detail thanks to the pajamas that I feel like this figure does not look as good as the $20 Hasbro version, and is also lacking a lot of the fun accessories such as the taco and unmasked head and second katana.

This is a solid figure, but the “value” just does not feel like it’s there to me in this instance at the original price–and certainly not at the inflated aftermarket prices.

Overall: I’m sure I’m going to get raked over the coals by many readers for the review grade on this figure, but ultimately I’m not convinced that this ONE:12 Collective Deadpool is better than Hasbro’s Marvel Legends figure at all–much less quadruple the cost better.

I love the sculpting on Deadpool’s boots and heads, as well as the nicely-detailed weapons and excellent articulation scheme. Even so, the pajamas-looking costume with zero musculature showing leaves Wade looking shapeless compared to the Hasbro version.

This is a nice X-Men Deadpool figure and I don’t really regret buying it, but at the $90+ shipped it cost retail–and the even higher prices it’s selling for on the aftermarket–I just don’t feel that it’s worth it. Mezco Toyz did many wonderful things with this toy, but the soft goods just let down the aesthetic and the figure overall.

GRADE: B-