I don't consider myself much of a statue collector. I love the look of many of them, but they are often too big for the space I have and too expensive for me to collect in large numbers. That said, I have accumulated a fair few over the years (I'm only referring to polystone-type statues here - I do have my fair share of plastic statues). I only just realized that ALL of them are of female characters. Or were, until just the other day, when my first male statue - Conan the Cimmerian - arrived.
I pre-ordered Mezco's Conan the Cimmerian statue in December of 2020. I had spent much of that year reading the Robert E. Howard works of Conan and Kull, and loved them. Fast forward about 13 months, and my interest had waned a bit. I still love the stories, but had moved on to other interests, as I am wont to do. I was even seriously considering cancelling my pre-order, as my New Year's Resolution to be more selective in my purchases (recurring resolution, it seems) was weighing on my mind. I did pick up the Mezco One:12 Collective Conan figure, and was probably the only person on the planet disappointed in it (but that's a story for a different review). The only thing that kept me from cancelling this pre-order, in fact, was that the statue is sold out everywhere, and I was worried I'd regret not getting it if it turned out to be amazing. Surprise, surprise, I was suddenly and unexpectedly notified that it was ready to ship about a week ago. And, wow, was it fortunate that I declined to cancel, because this is probably the best statue I own, and sets a standard I'd wish every statue could follow...
Mezco's Conan the Cimmerian is a 1/6 scale statue from a new line., called Static Six. Their aim is to offer statues that are so full of options that they are ultimately "customizable" to tons of different looks: "Premium 1:6 scale statue featuring hyper-realistic detailing, interactive mixed-media components, interchangeable parts and accessories to create multiple display options" (from their website's description). They did indeed successfully accomplish each of these mission statement components. With this particular statue, there are 2 head portraits, a cape, a necklace, a harness, something like 6 different hands, a girdle, a loincloth, a sword/scabbard and a dagger/sheathe, all removable or interchangeable. If my math is correct, that means over a hundred different ways to display this statue! And the best part? It looks awesome no matter how you choose to display it! The sculpt is just amazing, with deep crevices, striations in the muscles, and paint work that brings all those details to life. The pose is fantastic, conveying movement, ferocity and power all at once. Everything works well together, with nothing looking out of place or hurried. Even the loincloth and cape (which could look very artificial) are made in such as way as to appear natural.
The girdle and shield, in particular, are spectacular in terms of detail, paint and realism. The metal looks like metal, the leather looks like leather and the fur looks like fur. I think it really comes down to the care that's been put into conveying texture. Even Conan's skin has texture to it. In fact, the only place on the entire statue where the texturing fails a bit, is in the snow, which comes off as too smooth and uniform to really be snow. That said, the base tells a wonderful story in and of itself: there's an enormous clawed footprint in the snow just between Conan's legs, which indicates that his upward gaze, upward angle of the twist of his torso and arm-swing, as well as the half-dozen skulls littering the landscape (nearly all of which have a bashed-in portion on them) involve a huge beast facing off with him mid-battle. That said, I do wonder why we'd have flesh-stripped skulls and bones (meaning they are old) mixed in with fresh snow, blood and a footprint? Without overthinking it, let's just say it looks awesome!
I made the mistake of overlooking that this statue was polystone when I ordered it. I had just assumed that Mezco only worked in plastic, and that this statue would be no different. Conan, however, is a polystone piece, and a heavy one at that. With the attached base (which frames the statue perfectly), the entire statue weighs in at over 9 lbs. That means he may fit in a Detolf display case, but the glass shelf will be hard-pressed to stay intact. The body parts all attach with strong magnets, and fit together snugly, with a bit of finagling. The result is an incredibly satisfying display that will, in fact, promise to be tweaked, adjusted and changed every so often, just to keep itself fresh.
I do have a couple of tiny issues with the statue that ought to be stated. First, the necklace on mine does not sit properly. There's a curve sculpted into it that doesn't quite line up with the curve of the shoulders and chest, causing it to float, rather than sit flat. I'm not sure if this is an issue with warping in the package, or if it was designed this way. I may try heating and re-shaping, but that's the one plastic piece that's given me some issues. My other issue has been with the loincloth. The top portion, at the waist, sticks up a touch higher than the sculpt underneath. When I try to seat the torso piece on top, it's pretty tough to not fold that loincloth down into the part I'm trying to attach. This results in the magnet not seating properly, and the top half of the figure being a tad wiggly. I messed with it for a while, and was finally able to seat the top and bottom halves together, but it did take some work and patience.
Overall, I'm super-impressed with Mezco's Conan the Cimmerian statue! It's gorgeous, assembles well, provides a striking shelf-presence, and offers an absolute ton of useful options. Not only that, but the price is entirely appropriate. Considering that Gaming Heads is asking somewhere around $450 for a Lara Croft Tomb Raider statue in the same scale (which, by the way, killed me collecting that line past the second statue), with much fewer options and average paint-work, the $225 I paid for Conan leaves me smiling and looking forward to more! Mezco really changed the 1:12 action figure game with their One:12 Collective line, and it looks like they are on the cusp of doing the same thing in the world of 1:6 scale statues. Sideshow, Gaming Heads and the rest had better be ready to up their game, because Mezco has just raised the bar!
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| My current Conan shelf... |
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