Tag Archives: Funko

#0989: Jaime Lannister

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

JAIME LANNISTER

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

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What’s this? Four Game of Thrones figures? Yikes, this is getting bad. Three’s company, but four’s a crowd. Or something like that. So far, I’ve looked at two Starks and Brienne, who’s worked for both the Starks and their main antagonists the Lannisters. Today, I’ll be looking at a member of the latter house, and one who’s even had lots of direct interaction with Brienne. Yes, it’s the Kingslayer himself, Jaime Lannister!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

JaimeLann2Jaime was released in Series 2 of Funko’s Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection. He’s figure number 7, which makes him numerically the first figure in Series 2. The figure stands right about 6 inches tall (he’s just a smidge shorter than Brienne, as he should be) and he has 26 points of articulation. In terms of joint movement, Jaime’s much more similar to Robb than to Brienne. No stuck joints on this one! Yay! Jaime is presented here in his Kingsguard attire. He’s clearly meant to be a Season 1 Jaime, which we can tell due to the length of Jaime’s hair. Oh yeah, and there’s one other tell, but I can’t remember what it is. Can anyone give me a hand? Well, Jaime sure can’t, since he lost his dominant one in Season 3, which was before he re-donned his Kingsguard armor again. Jaime’s sculpt is incredibly detailed, and it’s a pretty fantastic recreation of the Kingsguard armor from the show. I particularly like the level of depth to all of the details and layers, which make him look like he’s wearing all of the different pieces of armor and such. In terms of facial likeness, I think Jaime is the best work I’ve seen on one of these figures. There’s absolutely no denying that this is Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, through and through. It’s also worth noting, that, unlike the other three figures I’ve looked at from this line, Jaime’s hair has very fine detailing and is nowhere near as chunky as the others. The only real flaw with the figure’s sculpt is actually just with my figure: my figure has two right forearms. It’s not a super major issue (and, in fact, it took me a little while to notice it at all), but it does sort of highlight Funko’s consistent problems with quality control.  As detailed as Jaime’s sculpt is, he needs a paint job to match. Fortunately, this figure has such a paint job. All of the details of the armor and clothing are painted the right colors, and each bit has its own very nice accent work, to help give Jaime that sufficiently worn-in look (but not quite as worn-in as the likes of Robb and Brienne). The head gets a very nice paint job as well, with eyebrows that aren’t too large, eyes that aren’t off-center, and probably the most successful attempt at five o’clock shadow that I’ve seen on a smaller scale figure. He also has just the slightest bit of gloss on his hair, which is surprisingly good at making it look like actual hair. Jaime includes his sword, which can be stowed in his scabbard, or held in his hand, provided you’re willing to do a bit of modding work to separate his thumb and forefinger. It would be nice not to have to do that, but I suppose it’s simple enough.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jaime was picked up at the same time as Brienne, which I felt was appropriate. As with Brienne, he was slightly marked down, due to MovieStop being in the process of closing. On the show, Jaime is a surprisingly likeable character. Likewise, his figure is a surprisingly enjoyable one, and is certainly a lot more fun than I’d expected him to be based on the pictures I’d seen. I’m very happy to have picked up this guy.

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#0988: Brienne of Tarth

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

BRIENNE OF TARTH

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

Brienne1

Okay, guys, I gotta confess: I’ve been roped in by this whole Game of Thrones thing. Action figures and all. I get one action figure, it’s no big deal. Two? Well, maybe they’re keeping each other company. A third? That’s when I’m in trouble. So far, the two GoT figures I’ve looked at have both been members of House Stark, my personal favorite side in the great game. While today’s figure isn’t strictly from House Stark, Brienne of Tarth has quite a few ties to the Starks, and she’s even currently in the service of Sansa Stark in the show. She’s also genuinely one of the coolest characters on the show, and who can turn down an action figure of a character like that? Not me. Never me. That’s kind of why the site exists….

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Brienne2Brienne is from the second series of Funko’s Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection, where she’s officially number 8 in the line (which places her second in the second series line-up). The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 26 points of articulation. Or, she’s supposed to have 26 points of articulation, anyway. Yep, though I managed to avoid the notorious stuck joints of the Legacy Collection on my first two GoT figures, I was not quite so lucky with Brienne. Her neck, left shoulder, and waist joints were all totally seized right out of the box. Through use of alternating freezing and heating, I was eventually able to free up the neck and shoulder (the shoulder actually finally freed up while I was writing this review, two weeks after I purchased the figure), but I’ve had no luck with the waist joint, and I don’t want to force it for fear of it snapping. On the plus side, the only joint that is truly stuck isn’t one that ruins the figure’s playability, but it’s still annoying that this was such a common thing with the line. Brienne is based on her early appearance on the show, when she was serving under Renly Baratheon and then when she was tasked with getting Jaime Lannister to King’s Landing. It’s not quite as cool a look as her more recent armor, but it was still current at the time of this figure’s release, and it is admittedly more colorful. The sculpt on this figure is a bit frustrating. While her height is correct for the 6’3” Gwendolin Christie, her build is somewhat off. She’s definitely a bit scrawny for Brienne, but I think the biggest issue is with her shoulders. They’re too narrow (in fact, the torso as a whole seems rather undersized), which creates an optical illusion that makes her head look too big and by extension makes the rest of her body look too small. I genuinely thought she was just too small in general until I stood her next to my Captain Phasma and determined that they were in fact the same height, so I really think it’s those shoulders. So, issues with the proportions aside, how’s the rest of the sculpting? Actually not bad. While I’m not she’s quite on par with Robb, the detailing on her armor is very sharp, and the face bears more than a passing resemblance to Christie as Brienne. The hair’s a little thick, but not too terribly so. Brienne’s paintwork is generally pretty good. The armor in particular gets the best work, with some nice solid colors and some tremendous accent work to offset them. Sadly, some of the areas of her clothing are without any accenting, which looks a little out of place. There are a few spots of slop here and there, most noticeably at the bottom of her jaw, but her paintwork is very clean otherwise. Brienne is armed with a broadsword. Since this is a season 2/season 3 Brienne, it’s just a nameless sword, not Oathkeeper. It’s still a cool sword, even if it doesn’t have some fancy name.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ever since getting Robb and Arya, I’ve been eyeing up the other figures in the line, with Brienne being right at the top of the list. I ended up finding Brienne at my local MovieStop, which, thanks to Hastings filing for bankruptcy, is currently having a sale to clear out their inventory. This allowed me to get Brienne for a reasonable (if not amazing) price, rather than a slightly marked up price. If I’m honest, Brienne’s the weakest of the GoT figures I’ve picked up. It’s mostly the shoulder thing. However, she’s not a bad figure at all, and the coolness of the character certainly helps to make up for some of the figure’s shortcomings.

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#0973: Arya Stark

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

ARYA STARK

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

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A reviewer believes it is time to right a review of a figure of a girl. Wait, that doesn’t sound quite right. Sorry, I was trying to be clever and topical, but I’m not sure it worked. Anyway, I’m continuing the Game of Thrones bit from yesterday, looking at another figure from Funko’s Legacy Collection. Today, I’ll looking at No One. Wait, scratch that, I’m actually looking at Arya Stark, the youngest Stark daughter. Thought she was No One, but I just got the notification of the change! Sorry, it’s hard enough keeping up with everyone’s initial names, and that’s without throwing name changes into the mix. Let’s just look at the Arya figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Arya2Like her brother Robb, Arya was released in the second series of the Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection. She’s figure #9, which puts her right in the middle of the second series. The figure stands about 5 ¼ inches tall and has 26 points of articulation. She seems a bit tall when compared to Robb. There’s only about a half-inch difference between the two, which going by the actor’s heights isn’t incredibly off, but it’s enough off that it bugs me slightly. I found the articulation on Arya to be a bit stiffer than on Robb, but I still haven’t run into any impossibly tight joints or breakage just yet. That being said, I’m a bit leery of the wrist joints; they seem a bit spongey on my figure. I also really wish she could get her knees into a straighter position.  As it is, she’s always got a slight crouch going on. Arya is depicted here in the look she started sporting following her father’s death, when she was attempting to pass herself off as a boy (not that she fooled that many people). It’s a good look for the character, and it was pretty much her only look for a good three seasons of the show’s run, so it was pretty well chosen. Though it appears Gentle Giant Studios put a lot of effort into this figure’s sculpt, Arya didn’t turn out quite as well as her brother. Her head definitely feels a bit too big, and the proportions of the body seem a bit too elongated for Arya. The likeness on the head is also a bit weird. From a head-on view, it’s a pretty good Maisie Williams likeness. However, from certain angles, the sculpt becomes rather cartoony, and begins to look more like a caricature than a real person. The hair doesn’t really help matters, being far thicker than it should be, and sitting rather far back on the head. On the plus side, the level of detailing on the rest of the figure is superb. I especially love the texture and stitching of the vest, which genuinely looks like a real piece of clothing.  Arya’s paintwork isn’t bad, but there are a few issues. Like Robb, the best work is one the clothing, which has some very nice accent work, and it looks appropriately grimy. The same can’t be said of her face and hands, which are surprisingly un-grimed. The paint on those bits isn’t awful, but there are some spots (most notably the eyebrows) which could have been handled a bit better, and end up hiding some of the strengths of the sculpts. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the big chunk of oddly misapplied paint on the left side of Arya’s neck. Obviously, this is a one off issue with my figure, but it’s definitely very annoying and makes poor Arya look like she’s got the plague or something. Arya’s one accessory is her sword Needle (given to her by her half-brother Jon Snow). It’s a pretty good recreation of the prop on the show (some people have complained about the color of the handle; it’s a bit bright, but it doesn’t bug me). On the show, Arya is left-handed, and that’s definitely the hand that’s meant to hold the sword. It’s not as easy to get her to hold it as it was to get Robb holding his, but I managed alright.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Arya at the same time as Robb. Arya’s been one of my favorite characters since the very first episode of the show, and I definitely wanted her in action figure form (the uncertainty of her inclusion in the upcoming 3 ¾ inch line is a big part of why I’m still not sold on those figures). Arya’s not quite as strong a figure as Robb. That said, Robb was a fantastic figure, which not every figure can be. Even with her flaws, Arya is still a pretty good figure, and she’s a nice representation of one of the show’s best characters.

Starks

#0972: Robb Stark

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

ROBB STARK

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

Robb1

Hey guys! Ethan’s found a new thing! Yep, after hemming and hawing and doing my best to steer clear of the Game of Thrones craze for the last six years, I finally gave in and started watching the show two months ago. It’s been a bumpy ride, but I’m all caught up, and I’ve overall really enjoyed the show. Now, if you’re even slightly familiar with this site, you probably already know what that means: I had to have action figures. Fortunately for me, there are a few different options. I opted to go for a couple of figures from Funko’s Legacy Collection. By far, my favorite corner of the Game of Thrones mythos is the Stark house (it’s probably the familiarity of the name. Hard to break out of old habits, right?). Today, I’ll be looking at the sadly ill-fated King of the North, Robb Stark!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robb2Robb Stark was released as part of the second (and it would appear final) series of the Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection. He’s figure #11, making him the second to last figure in the line chronologically. The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall (making him just about the right height to be a 1:12 version of the 5’10” Richard Madden) and he has 26 points of articulation. The Legacy Collection was somewhat notorious for stuck joints, but I seem to have lucked out with my Robb. None of his joints were stuck out of the package, and the range of motion on all of his various joints is pretty decent. This figure depicts Robb in his battlefield garb from after he becomes the King of the North. While it’s far from Robb’s only look from the show, it’s probably the one he spent the most time in, and it’s certainly his coolest.  The sculpts for all of the Legacy figures were handled by the fine folks at Gentle Giant Studios, who are known for producing some high-quality work. Robb is no exception, sporting a pretty phenomenal sculpt. The level of detail on the clothing is particularly amazing. Every article is full of a whole tone of texture work, and the cape, straps, belt, and several pieces of his armor are all (non-removable) add-on parts, which allow the figure to have a really great sense of depth. The head is probably the weakest point of the sculpt. Not that it’s bad, but the details aren’t quite as sharp as the rest of the figure, and there’s something just slightly off about the likeness. He definitely resembles Madden, but he’s not spot-on. The paintwork on Robb kind of matches up with what we saw on the sculpt. The work on the body is really strong, with lots of really cool small detail work to help accent the sculpt. In particular, I really love the splattering of mud along the bottom of Robb’s cape; it really adds a fun touch of realism. The head is where things fall down again. Once again, it’s not horrible. There’s some pretty decent accent work on the hair, which is certainly nice. However, the skin tone is a little flat, the eyes are just the slightest bit off, and his beard and lips are incredibly sloppy. None of it’s enough to ruin the figure, but it is a bit frustrating. Robb was packed with his sword (which, unlike some of the swords on the show, is nameless). It fits very nicely in either of his hands, and can also be stored in his scabbard, though the fit is a bit loose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Robb was ordered from Amazon, making use of a gift card I got for graduation (hey, he’s a sound investment. Dude was the King of the North. The whole cardinal direction!) I actually almost picked up Robb a few weeks ago at a Walmart, but ended up talking myself out of it. Good thing too, since I ended up getting him for half of his original price. Given the quality of this figure, that’s a pretty fantastic deal. When I started watching Game of Thrones, I was already aware of Robb’s fate. As such, I swore I wouldn’t get attached to him. That didn’t really work, because he was just too cool not to like. In fact, he became one of my favorites, which is why he was one of the first figures I picked up. This figure does a great job of capturing the coolness of the character, and he’s just a really fun figure all-around.

#0817: Malcolm Reynolds

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

MALCOLM REYNOLDS

FIREFLY REACTION! (FUNKO)

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Today is day 16 of the Post-Christmas gift reviews, the penultimate review of this particular sub-set of reviews.  For today’s review, I’ll be looking at a figure from a line I haven’t looked at in a fair bit of time, Funko’s ReAction line. Yes, today I’ll be looking at Captain Malcolm Reynolds, from their Firefly ReAction line. But, wait, didn’t I already review him with the rest of the first series? Yes, I did, but this one’s got a new hat—I mean, this one’s shirt is blue!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MalBlue2Mal is technically part of the first series of Firefly ReAction figures, though he was released a fair bit after the original selection of figures. He was exclusive to “go!”. For those of you who have no clue what that is (like me!), you know those mall kiosks that sell calendars? Yeah, those are owned by go!. Mal was, in fact, a calendar store exclusive. Funko will literally give anyone an exclusive. And, honestly, I can’t really see a problem with that. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. His sculpt is 100% identical to the regular, red-shirted Mal figure, reviewed here. It’s not one of Funko’s stronger sculpts. That said, I certainly wouldn’t want an improved Mal sculpt to be implemented on a weird, out of nowhere exclusive. The key difference here is paint. Instead of red, his shirt is now a light blue. It’s not a signature look for Mal, but it actually is kind of appealing. The application is a bit sloppy, especially at the hairline, but he looks okay as a whole. The other main change to this figure is his included weapon. The regular release had Mal’s signature revolver. In its place, this figure includes a shotgun, which is the same as the one included with Zoe.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mal was given to me by my friends Cindy and Lance, who are pretty good at finding me harder-to-get items as gifts. I had no clue this figure even existed until I opened it. It’s not often that I’m surprised like that. It was actually a nice change of pace. He’s not super different from the regular release, but he’s a fun little variant.

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#0804: Holiday Dancing Groot

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

HOLIDAY DANCING GROOT

FUNKO POP!

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Okay, here we are on Day 3 of the Post-Christmas gift reviews. This time around, I’m actually taking a look at something that’s in keeping with the holiday spirit! That’s a bit of a change, right?

Truth be told, the actual subject of the review is not so much a change as it is something of a repeat. See, last year, Funko released a Pop! figure of Groot from the mid-credits scene from Guardians of the Galaxy. I, as someone who loved Groot, the movie, and that particular scene, bought said Pop! figure. And it was pretty awesome! Why am I reviewing it again? Well, I’m not! This year, in honor of the holiday season, Funko released a variant of that figure, only this time in holiday colors, which is what I’ll be reviewing today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HolidayGroot2Holiday Dancing Groot is figure #101 in the Pop! Marvel line, and he was released as an exclusive to Hot Topic. What’s interesting is that, unlike most variant Pop!s, he doesn’t share his number with his regular release; he gets his own. The figure is about 3 ½ inches tall and, due to contractual issues, has no actual articulation. He does have a bobble head, so you can get some movement out of the neck if you want, but he is legally NOT an action figure. This figure is like 90% re-use from the previous Dancing Groot. That’s fine, since that’s the idea, and that sculpt was pretty good to begin with. The one difference in the sculpt is the pot, which now sports a fancy holiday bow. It’s a nicely sculpted piece, and it actually adds a nice bit of flair to the otherwise completely detail-less pot. The paint on this figure is also a bit different from the previous figure. The basic work on the main Groot is pretty much the same, but he’s now been given a slight misting of snow on his head, hands, and the base of his body. It looks pretty good, though I would assume there’s some variance from figure to figure. The pot has also changed from white to green, and the bow is a nice bright red. There’s just a bit of bleed over on the edge of the bow’s ribbon, but it’s nothing super noticeable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This version of Groot was given to me by my friend Jill. She has wanted to get into the whole “buying Ethan action figures” bit before, but was a bit nervous about what to get me. I actually didn’t know about this figure’s existence until she gave it to me, so kudos to her! He’s not wildly different from the prior Groot, but I actually really like this figure a lot, and the extra bits give him a nice bit of pop (heh!), which make him just as exciting as the original!

#0776: Gorn

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

GORN

STAR TREK REACTION (FUNKO)

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Remember how Funko holds the license to literally everything you love? Well, you can add Star Trek to that list. Unlike a lot of the stuff Funko’s added to their various lines over the years, Trek is hardly new to the world of licensed toys. Seriously, they’ve been getting toys since the 70s! In fact, they aren’t new to 3 ¾ inch figures either. Mego did some for The Motion Picture, Ertl had a few for Star Trek III, and Galoob’s Next Generation line was that scale. Playmates’ 2009 figures were also in that scale, but the less said about them, the better. To be fair to Funko, we’ve never gotten the Classic Trek characters in the smaller scale, so their ReAction stuff is new on that count. Plus, Classic Trek is also one of the better fits for the style, especially today’s entry, the Gorn!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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The Gorn is part of the second series of Funko’s Star Trek ReAction line, alongside Kirk, Scotty, and Vina. He’s based on the Gorn Captain’s appearance in the Star Trek: TOS episode “Arena.” The figure is 3 ¾ inches tall and he has the usual 5 points of articulation. He may not have a lot of articulation, but he can sit, which is something the las Gorn I looked at couldn’t. Unsurprisingly, the Gorn got an all-new sculpt. The Gorn’s somewhat goofy, guy in a rubber suit look is right up the ReAction line’s alley, and the sculpt ends up conveying the design quite nicely. He’ obviously more simplistic than the Playmates or Art Asylum versions of the character, but he’s actually got a lot of detailing for a ReAction figure. His skin has some great texture work, the crosshatch pattern on his eyes looks really great, and the detailing in his clothing is pretty sharp. I will say, the sculpt is a little odd when viewed straight on, especially the head. He ends up looking just a bit off. With a slight rotation, however, the sculpt looks pretty spot on to the design from the show. The Gorn exhibits the cleanest paintwork I’ve seen yet on a Funko figure. Pretty much all of the detail work is right where it’s supposed to be, and everything looks pretty sharp. There isn’t any slop or bleed over, or anything. Very solid work all around. ReAction figures tend to be light on accessories, and the Gorn is no exception. He’s got a stone spike, which he can hold reasonably well, and that’s it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I reviewed the Playmates version of this guy, I mentioned how much I love the Gorn as a character. When Funko announced the Star Trek ReAction figures, I wasn’t overly anxious to pick them up, but as soon as I heard they were making the Gorn, I was on board. I ended up finding this guy at a Barnes and Noble on the way to North Carolina. I’m genuinely impressed by this guy. I’ve enjoyed all the ReAction figures I’ve gotten so far, but they all felt a bit behind the figures they were attempting to mimic. I think the Gorn fixes that. He’s definitely my favorite ReAction figure to date, and a pretty fun figure in general!

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#0701: Rocketeer

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

THE ROCKETEER

THE ROCKETEER: LEGACY COLLECTION (FUNKO)

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I love 1990’s The Rocketeer. It’s legit one of my favorite comicbook movies ever.  Just everything about it is so much fun, and it’s lead character, Cliff Secord, aka The Rocketeer, has a really, really cool design.  Unfortunately, the movie was a box office flop, so rather than being yet another entry in the Disney merchandising giant, and getting tons of cool toys, it was instead buried for many years.  However, it’s built up quite a cult following in the last few years, which seems to have made it marketable again.  Funko, masters of getting every license ever, have released him in just about every style of figure they offer, including their 6-inch Legacy line, designed to compete with Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RocketeerL2The Rocketeer is figure 1 in the The Rocketeer: Legacy Collection.  I’d place pretty good money on him being the only figure this line sees, but maybe Funko will pull a surprise out of their hats.  Time will tell.  Though the line was designed to compete with The Black Series, the figure is actually at a slightly larger scale, standing just shy of 6 ½ inches tall.  The figure also features 26 points of articulation.  Some of the joints are a little tougher to move than others, but movement is decent overall.  Structurally, this guy’s an all-new sculpt.  It’s a pretty good one, to be fair, though it isn’t perfect.  For one thing, the sculpt seems to favor the appearance of the basic standing over any other pose, meaning he looks slightly off in certain poses.  Also, I’m not sure what’s going on with the cut joints at the hips, but man do they look weird.  Like, I feel like Funko was trying to hide the joints a bit, but they ended up being more obvious than they would have been if they’d just been straight cuts.  The biggest issue is the helmet, though.  It’s not bad; in fact, it’s really good; but there’s something about it that seems just a bit off-kilter, almost like someone leaned on the mold while it was cooling.  It’s really close, but just shy of being right.  Those assorted issues aside, the sculpt actually shows off some very nice work, especially in terms of proportions and finer detailing.  The signature rocket is handled exquisitely, and is a near-perfect match for the prop from the movie. The paintwork on the Rocketeer is pretty decently handled.  There’s no real slop to speak of, and there’s even a nice wash on the pants to help bring out the details.  The figure includes his signature Mauser C96, as well as an un-helmeted head.  The head is a decent enough sculpt, with more than a passing resemblance to actor Billy Campbell (who was himself the near spitting image of the comics version of Cliff).  The paint is a little basic, but it’s not bad. Also, while some of the promo pics show the front of the jacket and the jetpack as removable, they don’t appear to be so on the final figure.  Not a big deal for me, but just worthy of noting.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ended up snagging this guy at a somewhat out of the way Toys R Us, after a few weeks of searching.  Seems there was a fair bit of demand for this guy.  I’m really glad I found one.  The figure certainly isn’t without issue, but I’m just glad to have an awesome Rocketeer figure after all these years!

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#0669: Vision

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

VISION

MARVEL POP! ICONS

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Well, the summer is almost done, and we’ve more or less moved away from the movies that kicked off the summer movie season. It hit early, but Avengers: Age of Ultron remained one of my favorites throughout the summer. It may not have been perfect, but it was enough fun that I really didn’t care. One of my favorite parts of the movie was the live action debut of the Vision, who was a excessively cool. Unfortunately, he was absent from a lot of the early merchandise for a the movie, so there was a bit of a wait for toys. Funko was at the head of the charge, though, offering Vision in the first selection of their Pop! Figures from the movie.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

VisionPop2Vision is figure #71 in Funko’s Marvel Pop! Heroes line, which puts him in the same number sequence as the other Age of Ultron figures. Obviously, he’s based on Vision’s film appearance. This is the first time that Vision’s been done in the Pop! style, but here’s hoping a comic version’s not too far behind. The figure stands about 3 ½ inches tall. As a Marvel Pop!, he is legally a bobble head, not an action figure, so he has no actual articulation. You can reposition his head a bit if you really want to, but that’s really it. As far as the sculpt goes, Vision is pretty standard Pop! faire. Squared head, creepy round eyes, pointy nose, and no mouth. It’s a well-established formula, so it’s not surprising to see the figure stick to it. He also keeps the rather standard squatting pose, which is a tad disappointing after getting several Pop! figures that changed the pose up a bit. Of course, it’s far from the worst pose they could have chosen, so it doesn’t hold him back or anything. Moving past the basic Pop! stuff, it’s worth noting that the figure has some very nice texturing and fine detail work, especially on the body suit. He’s definitely one of the more detailed Pop! figures. The paint on Vision is a little off. The colors were clearly based on early designs of the character, as they’re far more washed out than those of the final design. The Hasbro 2 ½ inch figure had a similar issue, so it would seem that Marvel changed Vision’s colors after distributing materials to the licensees. Oh well. It’s not horribly off, just a little. On the plus side, the paint is all pretty cleanly applied, without a lot of the usual bleed over issues of the typical Funko product.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Vision was another figure added to my collection by the insanely awesome Super Awesome Girlfriend. After seeing the movie, I had made mention of really wanting a Vision figure of some sort and lamented the fact that there really weren’t any available to buy. So, the next time she came to visit, she gave me this guy. The Marvel Pop! figures can sometimes be a slight letdown, due to the whole bobble-head thing, but Vision is actually pretty nifty. I’m happy to have him!

#0616: T1000 – Patrolman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

T1000 – PATROLMAN

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY REACTION

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Hey! It’s Funko’s ReAction brand! I actually haven’t looked at one of these in like six months. That doesn’t mean they haven’t been releasing a steady stream of the little guys, though. They’re making figures from just about every license under the sun, which is cool, but it also means that not every figure is going to appeal to every collector. So, the last few licenses haven’t really been my thing. However, Terminator 2 is totally my thing, and that’s one of their most recent licenses. Score for me! Let’s have a look at one of the film’s two Terminators, the T-1000, in his Patrolman gear!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

T1000MotorCop2The T1000 is part of the first set of Terminator 2: Judgement Day ReAction figures. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has the basic 5 points of articulation sported by all the figures in the line. He’s based on the T1000’s second major look in the film, after he steals a motorbike cop’s cycle and assimilates his look. It ends up being the look he has for the huge chase scene leading up to the final battle, which makes it somewhat distinctive, though it’s probably not quite as distinctive as his more basic cop look. That said, it’s still a pretty cool, important look, and it checks a few more of the standard “terminator” boxes than the other look. The figure features a new sculpt, done in the Kenner-style which ReAction replicates. Generally, the sculpt does a pretty good job of replicating the look of one of those figures. It’s not perfect; the torso still suffers from a little flatness, and the arms feel a tad too straight. However, it fits in pretty well with Kenner stuff, and it goes well with the Terminator ReAction figures from last year. The details of the sculpt are simple, but what’s there is pretty sharp, and things look pretty clean. Most of the face is covered, so the likeness is fine. What you can see looks close enough to Robert Patrick’s face to work, so that’s good. It’s not really a bad thing, but there’s a part of me that really wishes that one of the arms had a blade at the end in place of the hand, just to make the figure a little more clearly the T1000. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Paint-wise, the figure is decent, but there’s some room for improvement. The body is generally pretty good, with no real issues with bleed over or slop. The head’s a different story, with the silver of the glasses bleeding onto the nose and the left side of his helmet. Also, the silver band on the visor is really sloppy. Both of these issues are rather distracting, and were present on both samples of the figure that I looked at in the store. The T1000 is packed with an MP5K submachine gun. It’s the gun he’s carrying while flying the helicopter in the chase scene, so it’s a good choice. I do wish he could hold it a bit better, but oh well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These figures really ended up sneaking up on me. I think I might have heard about them somewhere along the line, but they weren’t really present on my mind until I came across this guy at a slightly out of the way Toys R Us. They didn’t have anything else I wanted and I certainly wasn’t walking out empty handed, so I got this guy. That makes it sound like I didn’t really want him, but I did. I love the T1000, so my Terminator ReAction stuff just wasn’t complete without this guy. He’s not a perfect figure, and I’d like to see more in the way of actual T1000 stuff, but this guy’s fairly entertaining, and he’s a lot better than Funko’s early output from this line.

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