Review – Zombie Mez-Itz

I mentioned this Zombie Mez-Itz toy last month and, once it was available, ordered one for myself. Well, he’s here now and he’s ready for some Halloween action. Limited to 108 pieces, and priced at just $25, as of this writing the toy is still available at the Mezco shop. If you’re a fan of designer toys, love zombies, and like the photos you see here, rush over and grab this guy right now. Don’t even bother reading the rest of this review; by the time you get to the end there may not be any of these left. And this review, unlike the toy, isn’t limited to it’s gonna be available to read for a long time to come.

Packaging

Very nice! This grayscale box is professionally printed and shows off the Zombie Mez-Itz toy with a close shot on one side, full body on the other, and a cute “arm punching through the ground” on the sides of the box. At first I thought the graphics were applied with a sticker — printing 108 boxes can’t be cheap — but no, this is an actual printed box.

I think this might be one of the few boxes that I actually keep. It may look nice displayed with some zombie toys stacked on it and shambling around it.

Mez-Itz Platform

Even though there have been a few different designs released already, this is my first Mez-Itz platform toy. For those of you unfamiliar with designer vinyl toys, the idea behind a “platform” toy is that it’s a basic body design that is then decorated with paint to give it its character and differentiate it from other toys in the series. This is a popular process for toy companies because they can get a lot of mileage out of a single mold; Kidrobot has turned this into a science with their Dunny line and now many other companies (including Hasbro) are following the same idea. I don’t mind, though, because each new platform is just another tool that artists can use to create their own designs.

The Mez-Itz is an articulated platform, with a ball-jointed head and basic articulation at the arms and hips. The arm and head articulation work great, but the leg articulation is completely unnecessary since changing the legs from their default position causes the toy to be a bit unbalanced. It’s not terrible, but the leg articulation doesn’t add anything to the toy’s play value (or poseability).

Wait a Minute, is This a Custom?

The first thing I noticed when I pulled the toy out of the box is that it almost looks like it was painted by hand. The lines are rough, the colors are less than smooth, and overall the entire piece looks like someone went at it with some brushes, markers, and several hours of time. That can’t be, though, because hand customizing 108 toys and then selling them for $25 each can’t be a way to make a living. This is either an extremely impressive factory job — I love the rough look of the design — or someone over at Mezco has gone insane and is spending their days hand decorating 108 Mez-Itz toys. Either way, I got myself an awesome-looking toy at a great price.

Update: Mezco informs me that this is a factory paint app and not a custom job. They intentionally went with a paint app that made the toy look hand-made. Awesome idea.

Wiry Hair

And as cool as the paint job looks, the designer took the toy one step further and gave the toy plastic bits of wire stuck into its head to represent hair. Every bit of plastic wire is clipped short and feels pretty secure; I don’t know what was used to mount the wire to the plastic but it feels like it’s going to hold in even when my clumsy hands are playing with the toy.

Closing Thoughts

Even though I can’t figure out how this was made — a factory job or a hand-decorated custom? — this makes a great addition to my toy collection. Surrounded by other zombie and monster toys, the Zombie Mez-Itz is gonna look like the king of toyland. Maybe I can even get him to fight with my Shadow Zomb (review here).

I know that action figure fans aren’t going to get all that excited about this guy, but those of you who collect vinyl toys — and those of you who enjoy grabbing Mighty Muggs — should consider trying a Mez-Itz; and what better place to start than with a limited run toy? The grayscale design looks cool, the wiry hair is a great touch, and at a run of 108 pieces this is sure to become one of those toys that zombie fans are searching for in a few years.

Philip Reed is gonna have to keep his eyes open and maybe grab another Mez-Itz toy. A Hellboy sounds like a good idea.