In the world of 1/12 scale collecting, MAFEX is a bit of an enigma. They have such fine sculpts, but the joints can be terribly weak. Their quality control is inconsistent: some figures are just fine as advertised, while some almost feel like bootlegs.
But there are few alternatives when it comes to having a John Wick figure without breaking the bank (looking at YOU Mezco One:12). There’s no other alternative, period. Plus, the first MAFEX John Wick figure garnered fairly positive results, so there’s no harm in trying, right?
Potato-quality pics incoming…..
If there is something I learned from handling other MAFEX products is that you always have to watch the joints, especially the wrists. They are almost always the weakest parts of a MAFEX figure, and John Wick from John Wick 2 is no exception. I have heard of stories of wrists breaking out of the box, and it added to my anxiety when I finally opened it.
Now, maybe I lucked out, but while the wrists do look like they will break should I decide to hurriedly swap hands, the rest of the figure looked and felt solid. While articulated, MAFEX isn’t as flexible nor as adaptable as FIGMA and Revoltech, but you can make the figure do the standard John Wick poses, most especially the tacticool ones.
The two heads (one neutral, the other after he killed about two dozen men) replicate Keannu Reeves’ likeness very well (probably the best Keannu toy along with the MAFEX John Wick 1). The alternate hands are also very practical in that they have a specific use. There is even one fist with a pencil which is a nice touch because the character is known for killing with a pencil.
An “extra” is the dog that John adopts during the movie. Recall that in the first movie, the reason why he started all his carnage is because the son of a mobster he used to work for stole his car and killed the dog his late wife gave him. The good boy is finely sculpted, and would be a wonderful diorama piece.
For the weapons, they are one of the best things I like about this figure. Before I tackle what is great about them, I’ll go ahead and point first what I didn’t like: the sling for the AR-15 was glued to one side, instead of having an actual sling. It is probably due to mass-production considerations, but it also means that you will have to pose the figure mostly in one side, not to mention the glue being pretty brittle. Thankfully, the black color of both the rifle and the sling helps to “hide” it.
Anyway, back to the guns, MAFEX really went to the trouble of trying to accurately depict the guns as we saw them in the movie. These are the AR-15, the Benelli M4, and the Glock 34 and 26 handguns. I really like checking them out especially since that scene with the Sommelier has got to be one of my favorite scenes in the film. The two handguns – Glock 34 and 26 are fun to pose with and I had such a great time with them even though I am not usually a handgun guy, but many people do like guns, glocks or even rifles, which with the right scope from this long range scope review can give a better direction when shooting.
The AR-15 is not only finely sculpted, but has the attachments found in the movie. While you obviously can’t tell if it is 11.5 inch barrel, compensated with an iron-bonded bolt-carrier, there’s a Trijicon accupoint with 1-6X24 magnification as well as an RMR on a canted rail. It’s real world counterpart is the TTI TR-1 Ultralight and the likeness is uncanny.
The Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun is equally superb. You can even see the shell that can be ghost-loaded on the weapon. Its real world counterpart is the Benelli M4 Upgrade Package from Taran Tactical. It has good sculpt and looks really good if you want to put John Wick in a breaching position.
That’s four paragraphs now of me gushing over the weapons. It’s just that damn good. So good in fact, that I was thinking that if my John Wick figure did indeed break, the weapons will be bequeathed to my Figma Solid Snake. Heck, maybe even the Mezco One:12 Netflix Punisher once I get enough money to buy one. The figure is good, yes, but so was the first one, and frankly, they look like the same figure except for a few details and a different alternate head.
The MAFEX John Wick 2 figure is highly recommended, both if you love the film, or if you love characters with guns in general. As long as you don’t lose sight of its weak points, you won’t have much of a problem. It’s a great figure to add to my collection. Special thanks to Backstreet Toys where I bought this outstanding figure.
