Threezero MDLX Mega Man + Mega Man X - Review and Thoughts
Finally got the Threezero Mega Man X and Classic Mega Man. I'm extremely excited to talk about these two figures and what they represent to the future of the Mega Man franchise. I bought these with my money so I'm going to give my honest thoughts. Both figures are made to pair with figures of the 1/12 scale, have a high range of articulation, come with a small number of accessories (two pairs of hands, a buster, extra face and a buster shot), have diecast metal on some of the parts and are approximately 50 dollars. These figures are from the MDLX line which primarily includes figures from the Transformers franchise. If the pictures don't do them justice, I just can assure you these figures really feel extremely premium when you hold them in your hands, they're really well detailed with great painting and sculpting.
I want to start off with the packaging since I'm really a huge fan of these designs, I like that they display pictures of the figures instead of artwork, it really does make them more special. While the Classic one has a look inspired by the 8-bit NES era with the use of color, fonts and some sprites for the borders, the X one uses font akin to his first game and a design more inspired by X Legacy Collection's menus. Overall excellent packaging and graphic design, and for the size of these boxes I can't complain to the fact that the window can be a bit tiny, maybe I'd like it more if the figures were to the left instead of the right, so that way they're not blocked by the promotional image at the front.
Now it's time for the figures! Here is Rock himself, I was really interested on this particular figure since it was first announced, even more than the X one. He's very small! I'm a huge fan of his proportions, I'd say in terms of look he's a mix of Ryuji Higarashi and Hideki Ishikawa takes on Mega Man, so I guess he's the perfect Mega Man if you want the Rockman Complete Works version (which is ironic since Jada uses the Complete Works artwork yet they are more akin to the NES era of artwork in terms of proportions). I think this is the perfect figure to have for a Marvel Vs Capcom display since the D-Arts one is extremely hard to find. Now the colors might be a point of discussion for some people, I've seen a lot of people disliking the fact that they look softer than most other offerings, but I think they look perfect, they're not saturated and have a yellow-ish hue, I think somehow it makes him feel more real, and it really does remind me of Ishikawa's artwork. Now, I have an issue with this figure and it's a pretty important one, while he has a great range of articulation, especially for a figure of his size, one of the joints on his right arm pops out a lot, and that's pretty much a constant, not just with my figure. So, you have to be careful when you pose him, you can still put him back with no problem but it's an oversight that should be fixed. Also, the bottom of the feet are made of diecast, so paint chipping might become a huge problem. I think depending on your favorite version of Mega Man you might get to want this or not, personally I really don't like the short and tubby look of the NES era that much but if you prefer that look you will have to the get the Jada one which is also great.
X looks straight out of his Rockman X DiVE model, the proportions are a perfect balance of X1-X2 and X5-X7, he's not too short like the 4-inch Nel, yet at the same time he's not that tall like the D-Arts. I really think it's perfect in terms of accuracy and look, he articulates really well and has very vibrant colors that reminds me of Keisuke Mizuno's artwork and it really contrasts to Classic's more softer colors, if they do figures of the other Mega Man like Volnutt or Megaman.Exe, I also hope that they have different tones of blue. My only complains are that the interior of his shoulder pads are painted black, while they're supposed to be blue, and that's something that even the promo images corrected. While it's not a huge deal breaker it's something I wish they at least corrected. The shoulder pads pop off when you try to articulate the arms, but honestly, I really don't mind that because at least they can be put back easily and don't hinder the articulation. Until the Hiya figure comes out, I think this is the best X figure ever, the 4 inch Nel is extremely expensive, and the D-Arts not only is expensive, but also outdated and fragile in terms of articulation. I still love both of those lines and what they've produced.
These two figures really mark the beggining of something special, since we're going to get Cutman, Protoman, Bass, Zero and Fourth Armor X. I really hope they do more characters in the future, probably Sigma, Vile, Duo, Axl, or characters from other franchises that desperately need figures like ZX, Legends, etc. I think this current year (ignoring stuff like, you know, tariffs and adult responsibilities) is a pretty great one to start collecting Mega Man figures. There are a lot of options for most Mega Man and Mega Man X fans in all sizes and designs, for not just Japan, but all over the world too at reasonable prices.
Let's just say you don't like Threezero. Are you a classic fan, are in a budget and want a Mega Man figure? You have Jada's offerings that are almost on par with Threezero's with half the price. Are you a MMX fan that doesn't like how these figures look? You have Hiya's offerings, which are also 1/12, come with more accesories and are just a tad bit more expensive. I think Threezero pretty much covers a middle ground for me, a balance between those other two companies and they're worth for the price if that's something to consider. While I'll try to collect all of the characters they make, i'm interested to get Hiya's Sigma and some of Jada's robot masters like Guts Man or Wood Man. Thanks for reading!