TORMUND GIANTSBANE

GAME OF THRONES

So, today is, among other things, Rogue Friday, the day when the first wave of all the product for the next Star Wars film, Rogue One, hits retail shelves.  While we’re on the subject of grand, sweeping, fantastical tales of swords, “sorcery,” evil paternal figures, loss of limbs, and incest, here’s something about Game of Thrones! (Hell of a segue, right?)  This past spring, I got into the show pretty hardcore.  I even picked up the whole assortment of Legacy Collection figures that Funko put out a few years ago.  Unfortunately, that line was rather short-lived, leaving a number of important characters unreleased.  Funko still has the license, and decided to give GoT figures another shot, albeit in a different format than before.  The figures have moved to the smaller 3 3/4-inch scale, and, though they haven’t gone quite as “retro” as the ReAction stuff, they’re decidedly more old-school than the last set of figures.  There’s a handful of figures available, but I’ve only picked up one so far: Tormund Giantsbane!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tormund is one of the 9 figures in the first series of Funko’s new Game of Thrones line.  All of the figures in the first series are themed around the Wall (of which there is a playset, due out some time soon), which makes Tormund right at home, being one of the Free Folk and all.  The figure stands a little over 4 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  The articulation is a lot more basic than the Legacy figures, and in the case of the knees, it’s practically not there at all.  Tormund’s good for standing there, but you won’t really be getting much else out of him.  The lack of even some cut joints for the wrists seems like a missed opportunity.  Also, there’s very little attempt to work the movement into the sculpt naturally.  It’s just sort of there, where ever there may be.  Tormund’s sculpt isn’t terrible.  It’s certainly better than Funko’s prior work in this scale.  He’s less detailed than a Legacy figure, but at 2/3 the scale, that’s understandable.  Granted, I think he could be a little better, but he has a suitable amount of detailing for his size.  He does seem a little skinny for Tormund, though, especially around the neck.  The head sculpt exhibits a passable likeness of actor Kiristofer Hivju.  It’s far from spot on, and the hair seems rather tame compared to the show, but you can sort of see who he’s supposed to be.  Likenesses have never been Funko’s thing, and Tormund sort of showcases that.  The paintwork on Tormund is fairly well handled.  He’s got a lot of brown going on, which isn’t terribly exciting, but it’s accurate.  The hair sort of is an issue again; I feel like it should be more stark (heh) red than it is now.  Tormund’s only accessory is a small sword, which he holds alright, but it looks a little loose there.  At least I didn’t have to almost break his fingers to get it there, though, so maybe Funko’s learning.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It was actually this line of figures that got me interested in the whole GoT thing.  That being said, I’ve not had much luck finding them at retail.  I found Tormund at Complete in Box, this really cool game store in PA, while out with my brother on his birthday.  I wasn’t going to get him, but Super Awesome Girlfriend decided to buy him for me (because she’s an enabler and all).  Is Tormund a fantastic figure?  No, not really.  He’s an average figure at best.  Compared to the larger figures, he’s a bit of a letdown.  This whole line seems a bit odd, because it’s hard to tell exactly what audience Funko’s aiming for with these guys.  They’ve got this sort of nostalgic quality to them that doesn’t make much sense for a line based on a show from the last six years.  That being said, if this smaller line takes off and Funko can get us some more of the characters that the larger line never offered, I could see myself picking up a few more of them to go along with Tormund here.