I was a late-comer to the Hellboy franchise but now I’m catching up. I rounded out my collection of figures from the second movie but I found myself wanting more. So, I went online and rounded up a handful of Mezco’s figs from the 2004 line for the first Hellboy movie and they do not disappoint! Expand the post for pics and reviews.

Mezco actually released two series of figures for the first movie. There was a series 1 and a series 1.5. Here’s the breakdown:

Series 1 - Hellboy with Plastic Coat & Corpse, Gritting Teeth Hellboy with No Coat, Abe Sapien, Kroenen, Rasputin with Baby Hellboy, Sammael, and several variants. Check out Mezco’s Series 1 Archive for pics of all these figs.

Series 1.5 - Anung un Rama HB, Shirtless Hellboy, Battle Damaged Hellboy, Officer Kroenen, and Battle Damaged Abe. You can see pics of all these figs in Mezco’s Series 1.5 Archive.

Now onto my reviews! I’ve only managed to get a hold of a few of these figures, so just consider this a broad cross-section of the line.

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SDCC 2004 CON EXCLUSIVE HELLBOY W/ CORPSE

I should have saved this guy for last but I just couldn’t wait to start talking about him. This is the SDCC exclusive from 2004. It’s a high-end version of Hellboy that features a cloth pleather coat, a pewter Samaritan hand-gun and a rock-like right hand of doom. This figure is one of the highlights of my entire toy collection and easily one of my favorite action figures of all time.

Sculpt & Detail - I could make this a very simple review by just saying “perfect”. From the head down, there are no flaws and nothing I could see improving upon. HB’s stern grimace in his face sculpt captures the character perfectly. The zipper and collar and texture of his shirt is… um, perfect. His pants, clothing wrinkles, boot cuffs… all… per… fect. And then there’s the right hand of doom - it’s cast in that super-hard plastic like what you see on those really expensive sideshow collectibles. It actually feels like rock and it makes a little “gritting” sound when you turn the wrist. It’s crazy. And the gun is pewter. Yeah. That sucker has some heft to it. Hellboy is sporting an actual metal gun! Awesome! And that’s just Hellboy. Ivan (the reanimated corpse on his back) is equally exquisite. Check the close-up pic of his face. Mezco is sitting on some serious talent in their sculpting department.

Paint - Yeah. Same as above. Flawless. Wash in the RHOD. Dry brush on the pants. Crisp clean lines in the eyes and on the costume details. Tons of gritty detail in the belt and the gun has a grungy wash to it. And then look at Ivan. He really looks like he’s been rotting in the ground for a hundred years. Outstanding.

Articulation - HB’s got all the basics. Ball neck, ball shoulders, single elbows, swivel wrists, ab cruch, waist swivel, ball hips, thigh cuts, single knees, hinge ankles and side-to-side ankle rock. He also has a couple POAs in his tail. And Ivan got some artic too! He has swivel shoulders and a swivel neck. Nice touch, considering he was an accessory that really could have been pre-posed. But the ability to position his head really gives him a lot of character and allows for some really neat poses with these two together.

Accessories - Well, you’ve got Ivan with his little rope noose. And then there’s the coat. (One of the finest pieces of soft goods I’ve ever seen on any figure. It has a liner, double collar, double stitching all around, plastic buttons, feux pockets, and a little burned in stamp of the BPRD logo on the collar.). Plus, of course, the pewter Samaritan!

Value - This fig sold for 25 bucks at the con. And it’s well worth that considering the quality. These days you can still find them on Ebay and I’ve seen him going for around 40 there. If you’re a fan of the character and you want a definitive Hellboy figure, then I’d recommend dropping the money to pick him up. I doubt you’d be disappointed.

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SERIES 1 HELLBOY

Sculpt: The “standard” Hellboy release from the first movie shares the same basic body sculpt as all the other Hellboy figures (from either the first or second movie). And that’s great. Because the sculpt is (still) perfect. This particular version of HB came in four varieties. There were two head sculpts: “calm” face or “angry” face as well as two hand sculpts for the RHOD, either a fist or an open hand. As such, you could have four possible combinations of hands and heads. I got a hold of the “angry” face with the open hand. And I dig it.

Paint: The paint job on the series 1 figs is perfect. When you put this Hellboy up next to any of the Hellboys from the second movie you can really see the difference in paint quality. The airbrushing on his coat is darker and more varied, and he just had tighter and crisper costume detailing than do the newer figs. I think this one is my new favorite Hellboy figure, simply because of the great paint job.

Articulation: Like all the other Hellboys, his articulation is great. He has the same breakdown as the figure listed above - minus the elbow joint on the right arm. All of the figures with plastic trench coats lack this joint. Only the coatless or cloth coat HB’s got the joint on the right side.

Accessories: Hellboy has his Samarian pistol and he also comes with Ivan the Russian corpse. Pretty neat. If you weren’t able to get your hands on that awesome SDCC fig above, then this one is your only other chance to get Ivan. I think he’s a pretty awesome accessory.

Value: This guy can be had online these days for 15-20 bucks if you can find him, and he’s well worth it. Considering you pay that same amount for one of the newer figs from the second movie, then this guy is a great value since his paint job is much better than what’s done on the newer stuff. (Plus he has Ivan!)

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SERIES 1 ABE SAPIEN

I got the Abe figure from the second movie before I got this one from the first movie, and that’s probably a good thing. This one trumps the second movie fig and makes him seem weak by comparison!

Sculpt & Detail - As with the Hellboy above, Mezco really nailed the sculpt on this version of Abe. His proportions, his musculature, the shape of his lats and his gills, and his arm and leg fins are all perfect. And then there’s those head sculpts (yeah, two heads. Two sculpts). The “goggled” head is amazing. So many little intricate details there. And the plain faced head almost looks like it’s alive. It actually sorta creeps me out when I walk by the shelf and see him staring back at me with those soulful little eyes…

Paint - This is where this version of Abe shines above the newer figure from the second movie. Abe spent a lot of time underwater in the first movie and Mezco cleverly gave Abe a glossy finish to his flesh parts to make him look wet and slimy. It works really really well. Beneath that glossy finish is a myriad of greens and blues and beige colors, all perfectly matched and blended to pull out the patterning in his skin. His belt is well detailed with washing and brushing and his breathing apparatus also has lots of nice paint detail. Nice work, Mezco!

Articulation - Yeppers. He has the same basice breakdown as Hellboy. Only Abe gets a second ball joint at the base of his neck so he can bend forward and look around more. Nicely done.

Accesories - Abe has the two heads I mentioned, a two-piece breathing apparatus, and a little baby Sammael larva thing. The tiny Sammael was a neat (creepy) touch.

Value - If you got this guy for 10 bucks at retail a few years ago then you got a steal! He can still be found for relatively cheap. I’ve seen him listed online at several places for around 15 bucks. I’d say he’s worth it. That’s what the new figure costs and the paint job on this one alone makes it worth it to double-up on your Abe-iture.

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SERIES 1 RASPUTIN

Sculpt: Initially, I wasn’t too keen on Rasputin since he just sort of seemed like a lame bad guy, but I found the figure for a good price so I went ahead and picked him up. I’m glad I did. He’s pretty sweet! His sculpt is as good as you’d expect it to be. His face is really well down, with his “ominous” scowl and bushy beard giving him a lot of character. His body is kind of plane, but that’s mostly because he’s just a skinny shirtless dude in trousers. Not much else Mezco could have done with him. Where he shines in his huge coat, which is very ornate with its golden design and many deep folds, and also in his mechanical RHOD, which is sculpted better than pretty much anything else on Rasputin. Heh.

Paint: He’s soft on the paint. Not really any highlighting done on his body overall. His coat and mech hand, however, are blown up with paint apps. The coat has a grungy wash and a lot of gold detailing. The hand has several different shades of paint detailing the little doodads and whatsabobbits all over it. And it has a good silver drybrush to make it look worn and metallic.

Articulation: Rasputin has the same basic breakdown of POAs as most of the other figures from this line, but he’s lacking bicep cuts. It’s not that huge a deal since his coat kind of restricts his arm movement anyway, but it’s still a point I would have liked to have seen Mezco work in.

Accessories: Rasputin has the aformentioned coat and mechanical right hand, as well as what might be the greatest accessory of any Hellboy figure so far… Hellbaby!

Value: Hell… I’d recommend buying this guy just for Hellbaby alone! Heh. If you can find a good price on him (10-12 bucks) I’d say to pick him up. You won’t be disappointed. He’s not a “must have” figure though, so I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to find him if you don’t already have him.

“HELLBABY”

Heh. This guys does sort of deserve his own review, but I’ll be brief. Sculpt, paint and detail are all awesome. He on has a couple POAs - ball shoulders and a ball wrist on his RHOD. Heh. I really like this little guy. He’s way out of scale with the other figs. But who cares? What a neat little pack-in!

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SERIES 1 KROENEN

I didn’t pick up the first version of Kroenen, but lucky for us Wes from Scary-Crayon.com did, and he’s been gracious enough to provide us with a guest review! Thanks again, Wes!

“As SAG’s already noted, there were two versions of Karl Ruprecht Kroenen released among the 7″ action figures for the first Hellboy movie — one clad in his clockwork life-support doodads and another wearing his Nazi uniform. The second is undoubtedly the more sought-after item, but that doesn’t mean that the other one is a bad figure! He’s quite good, really — the only reason he gets less is love because he doesn’t wear his political affiliation on his sleeve.”

Sculpt: At first glance, Kroenen’s sculpt seems pretty simple — he just looks like a skinny gas mask-wearing guy in a bodysuit. Look closer, however, and you’ll see all kinds of nifty details. He’s got dagger sheaths on his arms and legs, complete with sculpted buckles and even unused holes. The gas mask, boots, and gloves are all fairly straightforward, but the detailing on them is appropriate for what they are. They’ve even sculpted the seam down the front of Kroenen’s uniform and slight wrinkles where the bodysuit doesn’t completely hug the body! And then there’s the grotesque unmasked head — yecch (in a good way). But the real winner is the chest harness, which has all kinds of intricate designs and nooks and crannies and gizmos sculpted into it. It’s very impressive, and as far as I can tell from screencaps it’s about as accurate to the film version as one could expect.

Paint: What’s perhaps even more impressive than the intricate little details of Kroenen’s harness is that they managed to do a fantastic job painting the thing. The same goes for the rest of the figure — whereas it would have been easy for them to paint all of the straps, sheaths, and the items held within them a uniform brown, Mezco even bothered to have the tiny buckles painted gold and the non-removable blades painted silver. Granted, gold is a pretty difficult color to stick, so a coat or two more in those spots would probably have been ideal, but that’s just being picky. And again, the face — yecch and well done.

Articulation: In this category, it would probably be easier to list what he doesn’t have… but basically he’s got everything that the Series 1.5 Nazi Kroenen sports (I think) as well as a ball-jointed chest. The only way his articulation could be significantly improved is if he also had double-jointed elbows, hinged wrists, and maybe those nifty pectoral joints that let the shoulders move forward and backward so that he could cross the blades in front of himself.

Accessories: Kroenen admittedly seems kinda sparse in this category. He’s got his removable gas mask and two blades… and, unless I’ve misplaced anything else he came with, that’s it. I’m admittedly not sure what else he could reasonably have come with — perhaps tiny knives to fit in actual sheaths rather than the sculpted on ones? — but an additional weapon or two would have been ideal.

Value: Kroenen is definitely worth what you would have paid for him when he first came out (and I think I got him on clearance for $2, which is a steal!), though I’m inclined to say that the Nazi version would have been an even better value given his abundance of accessories. He’s definitely the better value today, however, as Nazi Kroenen apparently goes for 2-3 times as much as clockwork Kroenen on your average day. So if you’re looking to save a buck — and want the “correct” version of Kroenen to battle your heroes, since Kroenen only wore the Nazi outfit in a flashback — I recommend this one.

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SERIES 1.5 SHIRTLESS HELLBOY

I consider this Hellboy the “light” version of the SDCC HB above. Mostly because he comes with that amazing pleather coat and that made him one of the most sought-after HB’s from the first movie line.

Sculpt & Detail - He shares the same basic body as the other Hellboy, so the sculpt is generally the same except for one huge detail - He’s shirtless! Mezco really blew me away with the sculpting details on HB’s chest and arms. I hope you can see in the pics the fine lines and swirls and grooves that pattern out his hellish tribal glyphs or whatever that’s supposed to be. It’s awesome.

Paint - Again, everything is solid. I keep comparing these to the newer figures from the second movie and the thing that I noticed is that the cigar in this HB’s mouth is painted much better than it is on the newer fig. The cigar itself has a silver dry brush to make it look like it’s been lighted and ashen and, well, it’s just really nicely done.

Articulation - Same as the other HB. All good!

Accessories - Okay, so this guy gets the cloth coat described above, and that’s really his major selling point. He has his gun, a plastic version this time, and it cocks open on a hinge just like the gun does with the figures from the second movie. HB also gets his dumbbell of weights, and it’s well painted and is solid plastic and has some, well, weight to it.

Value - Again, if you got this guy for 10 bucks a few years ago, then you got a bargain on one of the best action figures ever made. If you try to pick one up now, expect to pay at least 20 for him.

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SERIES 1.5 OFFICER KROENEN

This was the second version of Kroenen and I think he got the shaft just because he was the second version released and most people already bought the first version. And Kroenen just wasn’t a significant enough character to warrant having two versions up on the shelf. That’s a shame. Because this “Officer” version is way cooler than the first!

Sculpt & Detail - If there was a “best sculpt” prize to be given to a fig in the HB line, I think this guy would be a shoo in. Check out the last pic. Can you see all that detail in his torso? Those folds of fabric. All those little buttons and insignia. I really like the little nazi pin. And the swastika embossed on his belt buckle. Then take off his mask and check out that gnarly, grizzled face. It’s sculpt-tastic!

Paint - Flawless. He has a ton of detail in his uniform, with lots of nazi insignia and little buttons and rivets and they’re all painted perfectly with no bleed or offset stamping or anything. His face is great, with its bloody wash, and he has silver dry-brushing on his mask. Mezco also hit him with some gloss black on his boots to make them appear shiny and polished. Excellent!

Articulation - Yep. He’s got it. Even more so than Abe and HB. Kroenen has all the key points (minus ab crunch, but his uniform kind of precluded that) and he has double knee joints. Good stuff!

Accessories - Another win! Kroenen has his hat and his face shield, two pairs of hands - a gun holding hand and a fist, as well as his bladed sword-arm hands. He has his Luger that fits in his holster on his belt and he gets his own cloth coat that doesn’t quite rival HB’s big ole trench but is still a very nice piece of soft goods.

Value - Like the others, at 10 bucks this guy was a bargain. I got mine for 12 just recently, so he’s still pretty easy to find at a good price if you just keep your eye on Ebay auctions.

Tags: abe sapien, hellboy, kroenen

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