Mezco Mars Attacks Action Figure Review

Mars Attacks was originally a line of trading cards drawn by the artist Wally Wood. The alien design was funny and frightening at the same time, well not really that frightening but still...i suppose they where perceived as pretty scary when the trading cards where released in 1962. Most people would recognise this figure from Tim Burton's movie Mars Attacks released in 1996.
So Mezco Toys made a action figure out of these cruel aliens. I got mine yesterday, and this is what i think about it.
(Before i say anything else, i would like to excuse the poor quality pictures. My camera doesn't work right now, so I'm using a crappy HTC cellphone camera.)

Packaging
Just like Mezco's Hellboy, here we have yet another case of feeling fuzzy inside when you open the box it's shipped in. The packaging is terrific. You probably can't spot it in the picture on the right, but behind the figure is a lovely collage of sixties horror scenes, you have your killer spiders, killer robots and of course, killer aliens. It really adds to first impression. On the back you have another picture of the figure, and a short synopsis of the Mars Attacks story.
I'm not one for keeping stuff in the box like some collectors do, but when i opened this i still felt like i destroyed something valuable. Ah well, the figure needs it's freedom.



Sculpt
Mezco nailed the sculpt on these figures. I looked at some stills from the movie and it's pretty damn accurate. The head, with it's exposed brain and skull looks amazing. They haven't spared on any details. The only thing i didn't like was that both hands are sculpted with the "gun" grip. They should have gone with one hand for holding a weapon, and the other one should have been a clenched fist or something like that.
The figure feels sturdy and not likely to break easy. Not that i would EVER try out it's endurance more then necessary :)



Paint
Its main palette is sea green, and probably coated with a black wash to articulate the creases and nooks in the figure. Looks fine, but a bit sloppy some places, especially at the joints. Also, some of the parts has spots of wrong colour, a bit of green on your yellow, some grey spots on your black and so on. These are minor faults though, and doesn't really show unless you properly scrutinise the figure.

Articulation:
You have three points of articulation on the legs, three at arms, and the head moves sideways.
It's you standard knee, elbow and wrist articulation. Nothing more nothing less. And I'm fine with it.

Conclusion:
This is one hell of a figure. It's a must have if your into movie memorabilia and sci fi. Even if you haven't any liking for the Mars Attacks stuff, this is still a pretty nice piece to put on your shelf.
Mezco has continued to impress me and i hope the Earthworm Jim figure which is currently on it's way, will do the same.

Rating
9 out of 10