The man with the hat (and the whip) is back, but does he have a worthy new toy? Let’s dig into the recently released Mezco One:12 Collective Indiana Jones: Temple Edition figure.
Though announced back in 2023, during the theatrical release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, this figure is very firmly based on Indy as depicted in the film that started it all, 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. Though if you’re a purist like me, you’ll roll your eyes at both the packaging and the figure stand both using the longer Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark title that’s been used for marketing the film going back to the late 1990s (though they’ve thankfully never retitled it within the actual movie).
Generally speaking, this figure is a really terrific one. We’ve gotten a number of new Indiana Jones figures in the past couple of years, including the entire Adventure Series Hasbro made that pulled from all the movies (well, unless they had Crystal Skull in the title). Yet still, this one may be the best one of the batch, even surpassing the strong one released by S.H.Figuarts.
The costume detail is very strong, including all of the pockets and buckles on his shirt, jacket, and pants, and happily, it doesn’t have an issue I was worried about, which is an oversized, bulky jacket – something that can often occur when making clothed figures at this smaller scale. Though I initially was annoyed that you couldn’t simply put a hat on his head and needed to remove the top of his hair to do so – something that’s oddly/amusingly also true of most of the other recent Indy figures, regardless of who made it – once you properly get the hat piece into place, it looks great, and both the hair and hat are interchangeable with the four different head sculpts included.
As for the “Does this toy look like Harrison Ford?” test, both the standard/”normal” face and the smirking expression face are spot on in capturing the oh-so famous Mr. Ford. The more exaggerated “angry” face and especially the shocked “uh oh” expression don’t look quite as good, but honestly, those are two I’d be far less likely to display the figure with anyway, which I suspect is the case for many.
Oh, also, while you can’t just plop the head onto his head, over his hair, he can at least hold the hat just fine, which means you have some nice alternate posing possibilities added there as well.
When it comes to the accessories, there are two definite trouble spots though, both involving Indiana Jones’ most familiar weapons, his whip and his pistol. There are three versions of the whip, including one rolled up and two in elongated action poses – but those latter two poses are quite similar. Beyond that, it’s incredibly odd that they didn’t simply offer one version of the whip that was wired and could be posed in any way you wished. This is a high end, expensive item and this sort of accessory isn’t unusual at this point, so it’s frustrating it wasn’t included here.
However, the most frustrating element involves the pistol – or, more specifically, the pistol holster. Because the pistol itself looks just good, but the holster has some glaring issues. First off, it looks a bit oversize for the figure and slightly out of proportion. But more importantly, it simply can’t be closed properly. The top of the holster is not wired, or even all that malleable like one might think, and what appears to be a button to close it is just ornamental. Going back years now, action figures at this size have either used functioning buttons/pegs or magnets to close a holster of this type, but neither is offered here, meaning there’s this one part of the figure that almost always looks off. It’s also weird because on Indy’s belt is a strap and peg to attach his rolled up whip and that looks great and works just fine, and Indy’s satchel has a wired opening, so it makes little sense the holster was released as is.
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The rest of the accessories are excellent. This figure is named the “Temple Edition” not because of Indy’s adventures in the Temple of Doom but because it’s specifically modeled after the iconic opening temple sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark, so all of the accessories come from that scene. That includes a torch Indy can use to block a booby trap mini-arrow and, of course, the famous Fertility Idol that stands out as the first artifact we ever saw Indiana Jones go looking for. But wait, there’s more, since the idol comes with the entire pedestal Indy found it resting upon, and you can give him the bag of sand he used to swap out for the idol (which didn’t work out as well as he hoped).
The figure’s array of poses mixed with the various hands provided mean you can recreate many of the memorable moments from this scene – and yes, I was especially happy that you can have 1:12 Indy touch his face as he ponders his next step, just like anyone who’s ever acted out that scene makes sure to do.
Oh, there’s also a spider-web accessory piece you can place over Indy’s back to recreate that moment too, which is fun to have, even though I can’t see myself ever actually posing him with it, so perhaps it’s also a bit extraneous. But hey, maybe this is the moment some people will want to recreate more than any other!
The high quality detail of the figures and of their soft good costumes and accessories have made Mezco’s One:12 Collective line a compelling, smaller scale alternative to collecting Hot Toys – still quite pricey to be sure, yet also far less than the sixth scale Hot Toys figures go for. At $130.00 though, the Indiana Jones figure is one of the more expensive ones. The “ Temple Edition” name implied there might be a non-Temple Edition (without, one assumes, the Fertility Idol and pedestal and some of the other accessories) that might be a bit cheaper, but so far, no such figure has been announced.
Presently, Mezco is Waitlist-only for the Indiana Jones figure, so it’s not 100% certain you’d be able to easily get one, but even with those issues with the whip and especially the gun holster, I think this is a pretty spectacular figure for Indy fans wanting a spotlight figure in their collection. There is a Hot Toys Indiana Jones figure on the way, but given that figure is the older, Dial of Destiny version, if you’re looking for a classic Raiders-era Indy, especially in the 1:12 scale arena, this one is likely hard to beat.
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