Notice: This figure was sent to me to review. Receiving review products does not affect the score a product receives. Please read my review information for all the details about what each token means.
The Blackwatch Agent is an extremely important part of the ever-growing Operation: Monster Force. If you want to read more about why, please be sure to visit the Operation: Monster Force Collection. For now, what you need to know is that this figure is nailed from head to toe; you can really feel the Men in black vibes that ooze through every detail of this figure. So, let’s break it down and get to the review.
Packaging
The packaging for this figure is just where I want it to be. Nothing is loose, nothing moved out of place during shipping. Getting the figure out of the package wasn’t a hassle at all. On the first layer, you’ll have the extra head, hands, and gun. You’ll also have the main figure, of course, and behind that is the stand that the figure comes with and a baggie of extra hands, a pistol, and a whole lot of hands.
Opening the package gives you a comic strip, which is beautifully done and provides lore context. You can close the package easily because I believe there is a magnet in the box that keeps the book portion closed. All in all, I am extremely happy with how I studied the inner and outer packaging.
Paint and Sculpt
The paint application did not blow me away at first. On the surface, the Blackwatch Agent is just a secret agent guy. However, a few details make this figure stand out from the rest. There is an earpiece painted into his left ear, which I love.
The sunglasses are not something that you can remove. However, I didn’t notice any paint spilling off the sunglasses. The suit application is great, and no, it’s not all painted on. You can see some of the applications in the image below.
The top of the tie is completely pinned down, but you can flip and bend the bottom of the tie, though I wouldn’t really recommend doing that because it will hold the bend. The suit and tie are both made out of what feels like a rubber material, but it doesn’t get in the way of any of the articulation. The jacket is not removable, and you can tell the moment you lift the jacket up.
The sculpt on the shoes is among some of my favorite bits of detail on the figure. There are details sculpted out for the buttons on the jacket and details for the pockets, but the shoes have the most detail, and they look great close up. The face and ears are also fantastic. The ears are because of how the detail comes through on the side of his head. The face, because the serious expression has a way of popping. I do wish that he came with a face that showed some teeth or provided a different facial expression.
The back of the jacket is great. There are some sculpted wrinkles that I think add a lot of flavor to the overall figure. One other thing that I have to call out here is how good each of the hand sculptures looks. I love that they don’t look like sausages. You get fists, pointing fingers, normal grabby hands, open hands, and hands that are made to shoot the guns.
Articulation
The Blackwatch Agent has great legs and knees. The knees were so smooth that I thought something had to have been wrong with him when I started playing with him. But no, they just bend back and forth easily. His leg is not going to bend all the way back to his back, which I am fine with. The rotation on his hip is great, but do not expect to twist the leg completely backward.
The Blackwatch Agent is not going to be doing any splits because his legs don’t go out that far. You can twist him starting at the belt, but he will not twist all the way around, which again doesn’t bother me at all. Forward motion is a different story. The Blackwatch Agent has the absolute minimum for forward and backward motion. I do wish he had just a bit more going on in the way of how his torso moves forward and backward.
You can twist his head all the way around, and it has fantastic range when moving it side to side. His head and neck are removable, but I could only get his neck off once after using some hot water. If you run into this issue, try to heat the figure, but not too much; too much heat can ruin it. The joint holding the neck is very tight.
The Blackwatch Agent stands just fine on his own. I had no issues with his balance when both of his legs were planted. I couldn’t get him to balance on one foot without the included stand. It’s not a negative, at least for me. The hands have beautiful movement and can be bent back and forth with ease. They’re also extremely easy to pop back into place, and they support the weight of the figure. I have not had any issues moving his wrists at all. His feet can move side to side and bend down a bit, but you won’t get much movement trying to bend them up.
The arm movement is extremely smooth. You can get the figure into a T-pose with no issue at all, or bring the arms closer to the body. They will not get close enough to allow the Blackwatch figure to hold the rifle with both hands, though. It bothers me because the gun just doesn’t look good to me, only being held by one hand.
Accessories and Final Thoughts
The Blackwatch Agent comes with a rifle and a pistol. They don’t have anything crazy in the way of detail, but the rifle does have a removable magazine (might be the wrong word, I do not know guns). I do like the sculpt on both of the weapons, though I wish there was more color, maybe some more silver going on. Something to make them pop, especially the pistol.
You also get some beautiful blasting sculpts and a smoking gun sculpt, which I am obsessed with. To go along with all of that, we also get an Operation: Monster Force stand for the Blackwatch Agent, which I think looks great and has great detailing.
I like the Blackwatch Agent a lot. Yes, it is just a normal guy in a suit, but he looks great with other figures, which you will see in my other reviews. For world-building purposes, I think this figure makes sense and will work with any other 1/12 scale figure. What stands out to me is the fair amount of detailing this figure has, despite being a little on the generic side. Finally, I appreciate the number of accessories and hands that come with this figure. I certainly wasn’t expecting a bag of goodies behind the plastic.
Score
Fantastic detailing on the headsculp and shoes.
Great range of flexibility in the joints. The knees and elbows bend with a surprising amount of ease, and the jacket doesn’t get in the way of the range of motion.
Comes with plenty of accessories.
The painting is well done. I couldn’t find any paint spilling over into the other colors.
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