Tag Archives: Game of Thrones

#3309: Jon Snow

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

JON SNOW

GAME OF THRONES (FUNKO)

Wait, a Game of Thrones review….What year is this?  If it’s anything later than 2019, this just doesn’t seem to track.  Huh, I’m getting reports that it’s later than 2019.  Yeah.  Not tracking.  Look, guys, I haven’t bought anything since Game of Thrones went off the air, and I’ve honestly moved past it, but, the thing is, I’ve had this one item just sort of lingering for a while and I feel like I just need to get it done and out of the way finally, so it can just, like, stop staring at me and making me feel bad about my life choices.  Just…okay?  So, please enjoy this Jon Snow review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jon Snow was one of the 9 figures that made up the first (and only) series of the ill-fated smaller Game of Thrones line from Funko, which came and went in the last chunk of 2016.  All of the figures were centered on the Wall, for which they also did a playset.  It was, perhaps not the best choice, seeing as the two seasons that surrounded this set’s release moved the action away from The Wall for the most part, but planning and production times on toys being what they are, I suppose there was only so much Funko could do.  Jon is unquestionably the biggest name of the single carded figures, rivaled only by Tyrion overall, but he was stuck with the big, expensive playset.  Jon was based on his mid-run Night’s Watch look, in the Seasons 2-4 area.  It’s a definitive look for him, and one that tied well with the overall theming of the line.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Of the four figures I own from this line, Jon’s the best articulated, just in terms of proper clearances and stuff on the joints.  It’s not anything crazy or anything, but he poses well enough for what you’re getting.  His sculpt’s a pretty basic one.  This whole line was sporting much more dialed back sculpts, which honestly felt like an odd choice for a property like GoT, but I myself didn’t hate the concept.  Admittedly, Jon’s got a look that works alright with the style.  The body captures his outfit pretty well, and it’s even got a removable cloak, which gives him some more options.  The head’s certainly got one of the weaker likenesses, though.  The other three all had some sort of distinctive trait of their actors present, but there’s really really not a lot of it Harrington coming through here.  Like his larger counterpart, however, it’s possible this might be more of a paint thing.  The paint on the face is certainly an improvement on the larger figure, but it’s still a little off; those eyebrows are still not Harrington’s.  Otherwise, things are generally okay.  The detailing on the fur of his cloak in particular is quite nice.  Jon’s packed with his sword Longclaw, which is a decent enough little piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked this figure up back in 2017, when he was roughly a year old.  I’d gotten Ygritte, Tormund, and the Wall, and I kind of wanted a Jon to go with them.  So, when I found him at a small game store in College Park called Pandora’s Cube, I went for it.  Now, you’re probably asking yourself “Why wait this many years to actually review him, Ethan?”  Valid question.  Ummm, I forgot about him.  No, really.  I took photos of him, and had actually planned on reviewing him to coincide with the series finale in 2019.  But, in the two years of waiting, and the ensuing excitement surrounding Avengers Endgame and it’s tie-in product around the same time as the GoT finale (to say nothing of my own diminishing interest in the show as the season wrapped up), I just forgot to review him, and post-finale, I had little calling me back.  But, I had the photos, and he was sitting there, and it’s honestly been nagging at me for a bit.  So, you know, there it is.  Yay.  Review done.  Boy, I sure hope there aren’t any other items I’ve been putting off lingering somewhere…

#1363: Tyrion Lannister

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

TYRION LANNISTER

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION (FUNKO)

Bet you weren’t expecting to see another Game of Thrones review.  Or maybe you were, given my tendency to time reviews up with current happenings, like, for instance the season premier of a TV show.    When it comes to GoT, the best figures are still those from Funko’s sadly short-lived Legacy Collection.  I’ve looked at one of each of the characters presented by that line, but I hadn’t yet tackled the handful of variants offered for both Dany and Tyrion.  Today, I take a look at another Tyrion, because you can never have too many Tyrions!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tyrion was part of Series 1 of Funko’s Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection.  He’s figure 2 in the set, a number he shares with the prior Tyrion I reviewed.  The last Tyrion I looked at was the Walgreens-exclusive Hand of the King version of Tyrion; this figure is the basic Series 1 release, which depicts him in his armor he’s seen wearing towards the ends of Seasons 1 and 2.  I don’t find it to be quite as essential a look for Tyrion as the prior figure, but it’s still an important version of the character, I suppose.  Like the prior figure, this figure stands roughly 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  On the plus side of things, the articulation, particularly the elbows, of this figure offers a better range than the Hand of the King figure.  Given he’s supposed to be more “battle-ready” than his counterpart, this is pretty sensible.  As with the other Tyrion, this figure sports one of the best sculpts in the line.  The head is the same one used on the Hand of the King figure, meaning it has a solid Dinklage likeness.  The body is unique, and has some tremendous detail work, especially on the armor.  It’s a shame that we never got any other characters in the King’s Landing armor, because it really would have been nice to see this detail at a larger scale.  Regardless, it’s a truly impressive sculpt.  The paintwork on the figure is largely pretty solid work overall, with one small set of issues.  The work on the armor is really sharp, with the base colors being super clean, and the weathering and the like on top of them offering a nice bit of realism.  The only real issue is with the head; for whatever reason, the color choices for his hair, skin, and stubble make this figure look less like Peter Dinklage than the Walgreens variant.  Minor changes that make for a rather different look.  It’s amazing what effect a color palette can have on something.  Tyrion is packed with a battle axe, which is a slightly more impressive extra than the small dagger included with the last figure.  That being said, it’s really a shame that the regular release didn’t also include the helmet that came with the SDCC variant, since it was already tooled and everything.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After picking up the Hand of the King Tyrion, I really hadn’t planned on getting this guy.  I was really trying to just go with one of each character for this line, as I had high hopes for the smaller-scale line Funko launched last year.  Sadly, that line was middling at best, and it doesn’t appear it will be moving any further forward.  So, I was kind of jonesing for some more GoT stuff.  When I found this guy at Half-Priced Books just outside of Seattle earlier this summer, he was enough to tide me over, I suppose.  The other Tyrion is still my preferred version of the character, but there’s no denying that this guy’s a super fun figure.

#1253: Game of Thrones “Legos”

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

TYRION, JAIME, & BRIENNE

GAME OF THRONES BOOTLEGOS

Most of the stuff I review on this site is totally legit, and totally on the up and up.  That being said, most toy collectors will run into at least a few bootleg action figures throughout their collecting career.  I myself have always been pretty fascinated by bootlegs, but I think the most fascinating thing is just how far they’ve come.  Back when I first learned of them, they tended to just be cheap re-molds of official products, with a pure focus on producing the cheapest item possible in the hopes of ensnaring an unsuspecting buyer.  While that sort of Bootleg still exists, there’s been a serious upswing in Bootlegs that can well and truly pass as an official product.  Sometimes it offers collectors a chance at a cheaper version of an expensive figure (as seen with the knock-off Ninja Turtles I looked at last summer), but with increasing frequency, they’ve started expanding collections by offering things you wouldn’t be able to get through legitimate means.  Like, say, if you wanted a set of Legos based on the characters from Game of Thrones…

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The three Minifigures presented here are based on Brienne of Tarth and Tyrion & Jaimie Lannister, as seen on HBO’s Game of Thrones.  From what I’ve been able to find online, there’s twelve of these figures out there, with Jon, Joffery, a White Walker, Drogo, Daenerys, Ygritte, Varys, Melisandra, and Arya all also being represented.  I’ve seen a number of different company names attached to them, which is pretty typical with these sorts of lines, since they aren’t strictly legal.  It looks like they’ve just started showing up in the last year or so.

Tyrion is kind of a lock with any GoT merch, even the illegitimate stuff.  He’s seen here in this season 1/season 2 attire, and his lack of a scar shows he predates the Battle of Blackwater.  His base body is a good mimic of the standard Lego faire, to the point the most people would be unlikely to notice.  There’s a little more give to the plastic than there would be on a real Lego product, but that’s about it.  He uses the smaller leg piece, to help make him shorter than the others, as well as the surfer dude hair, which is actually a pretty good fit.  Like his construction, his paint is a pretty good mock of the actual Lego stuff; you can clearly make out the important details on his vest, and his face is a halfway decent Lego-ization of Dinklage.  His scuff is a bit dark I think, but that’s about it.  Tyrion’s gimmick is drinking and knowing things; knowing things is a bit hard to indicate through accessories, so he has to settle for just the drinking bit, with the included golden goblet.  It’s half as tall as he is, which is more than a little amusing.

Jaimie may not be GoT’s most pivotal character, but he’s one of the more intriguing ones (for me anyway).  He’s had a diverse selection of looks throughout the show’s run, but this figure goes for his Kingsguard look from season 1, just like his Funko figure did.  It’s probably his most distinctive look, even if he didn’t spend a ton of time in it.  He uses the Snape hair, which is a reasonable fit for the character, I suppose.  He’s also got the standard knight’s armor piece, and a cloth cape.  The cape I think is the piece that most gives this away as inauthentic; it’s just not the same quality as the usual Lego capes.  It’s not awful, but it also hangs a bit weird.  Jaime’s paint is decent enough, and I really like the chainmail details on the arms and legs.  That being said, the decision to mold his body in all white feels slightly off to me.  Maybe more of a cream color would have worked better?  He’s packed with a fairly standard broadsword, which suits him well enough.

Brienne is one of my favorite parts of Game of Thrones.  She’s one of the few noble characters to have stuck around, and I continue to enjoy her in every appearance.  Here’s hoping she gets more to do next season!  This figure appears to be based on her early appearances, back when she was lugging Jaime around.  I think.  The cape is throwing me.  She uses the generic hairpiece used for the likes of Cyclops and Hal Jordan, along with the same armor piece used for Jaime, which captures her general look pretty well.  She also gets a cloth cape and skirting under her armor.  The cloth pieces are a little more convincing here, but still a little off.  Her paint isn’t quite as finely detailed as Jaime’s, but it looks like her to me, so I’m satisfied.  In particular, I really like that look of determination on her face; it’s so Brienne!  Like Jaime, she includes a basic broadsword.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked these up from one of the venders at this year’s Farpiont.  I was just wandering through the dealer’s room, and I casually looked over at the Lego table, when a Drogo caught my eye.  They had the whole set of twelve, but I ended up going with the characters that looked the best, which were these three.  It’s so odd to have Legos of this sort of property, but I’m certainly not complaining.  I think Brienne’s my favorite of the set, with Tyrion not far behind.  Jaime’s okay, but seems the most off of the bunch.  Still, all three are solid little figures.  Now, I just need to avoid falling down the bootlego rabbit hole completely.  That would be bad.

#1179: The Wall (w/ Tyrion)

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

THE WALL DISPLAY (w/ TYRION LANNISTER)

GAME OF THRONES (FUNKO)

thewall1

Oh no!  It’s Friday AND it’s Day 13 of the post-Christmas reviews.  Someone’s probably gonna die.  Well, as long as I review something safe and—Game of Thrones you say?  Someone’s *definitely* gonna die!

Yes dear readers, Winter has officially arrived here, and I’m taking a look at yet another Game of Thrones item.  But this time, it’s something slightly different.  I’ve looked at two figures from Funko’s new Game of Thrones line and had a so-so reaction to them.  However, the cornerstone of this new line isn’t the figures, but rather Funko’s ability to take advantage of the line’s smaller scale to provide some playsets—sorry, displays— to go with the figures.  The first series of figures were all based around The Wall, so it’s not a huge surprise that the first large scale display is the aforementioned Wall, which I’ll be looking at today!

THE PLAYSET ITSELF

thewall4The Wall hit stores a couple of months after the first series of smaller-scale Game of Thrones figures. It was initially supposed to hit at the same time, but had a few delays, which pushed it back to mid-November.  The Wall comes disassembled in the package, but when put together, it’s about 15 inches tall, 11 1/2 inches wide, and is about 10 inches deep.  Right off the bat, I need to note that, while you are expected to assemble this set yourself, there are no instructions included.  Usually, this isn’t an issue, but there’s a very specific order to how the structure at the top goes together, which meant I had to assemble, take apart, and re-assemble it several times before getting it right.  And even then, the stability of the structure is a little iffy, which can definitely lead to some doubts about whether you assembled it correctly.  For what it’s worth, you want to place the two beam sets closest to the outside wall first, with the straight beam to the back.  Then place the rafters in, followed by the reverse beam sets, one side at a time.  Then, once everything is properly popped into place, slide in the floors, and you should be could to go.  Be careful if you move the set, though, as the beams have a tendency to pop out of place, and they’re a real pain to get popped back the right way.  Assembly aside, how is the actual set?  Well, clearly it’s not the entire Wall, just a chunk of it.  It’s not really a direct match for any particular section of the Wall either, but more of an approximation of several elements.  It’s also filtered through a sort of an ‘80s playset sort of style, which sort of matches with the style of the smaller figures, but is definitely an acquired taste.  The front of the Wall is designed to offer little ledges to stand figures on.  There are eight leveled off spots, each with their own foot peg.  The effect isn’t awful, and the rock/ice detailing on the Wall helps the ledges blend in a bit.  There are another 11 pegs on the base of the wall, which are a bit more obvious, and also quite a bit more randomly placed.  In an effort to thewall3camouflage them a bit, Funko’s added several arrows and a pair of swords buried in the snow.  It’s definitely a nice touch, and one that adds a little bit of extra pizzaz to the set.  There are another six foot pegs up at the top of the Wall on the wooden floors, which brings the total count of foot pegs up to 25 (the back of the package states “displays up to 25 3 3/4” action figures!,” but it’s really just referring to how many pegs there are; you’d have quite a bit of difficulty getting a figure on every one of those pegs).  The wood sections have some nice grain and texturing, though, as noted above, still passed through that ‘80s playset filter, so nothing hyper-realistic.  The actual wooden structure feels a bit under-scaled; while Tyrion looks fine standing up there, Tormund and Ygritte’s heads get cut off by the top.  Not a big deal, but slightly frustrating.  The back of the Wall is hollowed out, and if I’m totally honest, this feels like a big missed opportunity.  About half of the space taken up by this set is completely unused.  If they were just going for a vague approximation of the Wall anyway, it would have been cool to get a scaled down version of the elevator or even a small section of Castle Black.  That would have given this set a lot more play value.  On the plus side, the clear blue plastic and slight misting of white paint over it makes for an interesting looking set, and approximates ice very well.  The Wall includes three barrels, which are nice little set pieces, as well as…

TYRION LANNISTER

thewall8…Tyrion!  Tyrion is this set’s exclusive figure.  He’s sort of an odd choice, since Tyrion didn’t spend a whole lot of time at Castle Black, and even less time on the Wall.  There would probably be a number of other more appropriate characters, but, let’s be honest, Funko’s counting on Tyrion to help move this set, and he’s a big enough character that if the line continues we’re sure to see him again.  The figure stands 3 1/2 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation.  He’s based on Tyrion’s Season 1 appearance, which is sensible, since that’s when he visited the Wall.  Tyrion is easily the best sculpted of the three figures I’ve gotten from this line.  He’s still a little goofy, but there’s a definite resemblance to Peter Dinklage on the head, and the body’s a fair bit better proportioned than Tormund and Ygritte. The cape is removable; pop the figure’s head off and is slides right off, revealing a pretty standard Season 1/Season 2 Tyrion, which is certainly much appreciated.  Tyrion’s paintwork is passable; nothing amazing, but it’s a bit more lively than the other two.  The gold leafing on his shoulders is a very nice touch, especially since it’s completely covered by the straps of the cloak.  Despite being essentially an accessory himself, Tyrion includes his own extra; a goblet.  This was easily the most glaring omission from his larger figure, so it’s nice to finally have a Tyrion who can drink and know things.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this set from my parents.  It’s certainly the largest item I received (as evidenced by the non-standard backdrop).  I won’t lie, there’s a lot that this set could have done better.  It’s really not much more than a glorified figure stand.  The audience for this set is pretty much limited to people like me who enjoy both fun, goofy toys and Game of Thrones, which is, admittedly, not the largest audience.  Like the rest of this line, it’s hard to tell who this set is aiming to please.  That being said, I can’t help but enjoy it.  There’s a sort of Kenner-style flare to it that makes me all nostalgic, and if I’m completely honest, I’m just happy to get a playset in this day and age.

#1139: Ygritte

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

YGRITTE

GAME OF THRONES (FUNKO)

ygritte1

When I got into Game of Thrones this past spring, I got into the accompanying toys pretty hardcore (such a shock, right?)  Unfortunately, I caught up with all of the Legacy Collection figures available in just a few months, leaving me with pretty much nothing new to buy.  Just before I started collecting, Funko announced they would be moving Game of Thrones to their smaller 3 3/4-inch scale, and thus restarting the line.  I’m always a bit iffy about starting another scale (especially when it comes to Funko; I’ve got an incomplete Serenity crew in three different scales from them.  It makes them hard to trust), so I’ve been holding out to see what else they’d be offering.  So far I’ve picked up two figures from the new line: Tormund, who I reviewed a couple of months ago, and Ygritte, who I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ygritte2Ygritte is the second of the 9 figures that make up the first series of the smaller Game of Thrones line.  As I noted in my Tormund review, all of the figures in this first set are themed around The Wall (which is the first playset from the line).  Ygritte was one of the more demanded figures back when Funko was still doing The Legacy Collection, so it’s not a huge surprise to see her here as one of the anchor figures for the new line.  She stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation.  Ygritte’s movement is a little improved over Tormund, but still not anything near what we were getting from the Legacy figures.  There’s no way you’re getting her to hold her bow properly, that’s for sure.  Also like Tormund, Ygritte’s joints aren’t really worked into her sculpt in any real organic way; they’re just thrown wherever they may land, exposed, for the whole world to see.  In some ways, her sculpt is an improvement over Tormund, but in other ways it lags behind a bit.  The detailing on her clothes is a bit sharper, which is good.  She’s also got a better likeness on the head than Tormund.  It’s not perfect, but you can tell who she’s supposed to be.  Unfortunately, the head’s far too large for the body, which makes her look rather like a bobble-head, and drags the whole figure down a bit.  Ygritte’s paintwork is passable, I guess.  The basic details are all pretty decent, and the work on the clothing is definitely the standout work.  My figure has a slight mark on her forehead, which is slightly annoying, but not so bad that it totally ruined the figure.  Like Tormund, I do feel her hair could be a brighter red.  Ygritte includes a bow, but no separate arrows to hold.  The bow’s fine, but seems a little under-scaled, truth be told.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After picking up Tormund, I wasn’t really sure I was going to get into this line.  And, if I’m totally honest, I can’t say Ygritte is one of my favorite characters from the show, so I wasn’t exactly expecting to pick this figure up.  But, then I ended up finding her at Goodwill for like $2 (the box was smashed to heck, but the figures was fine), and that was enough to push me into getting her.  I’m still not totally sold on this line, but Ygritte is a slight improvement over Tormund.  Perhaps future figures might pick up a bit?

ygritte3

#1074: Tormund Giantsbane

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

TORMUND GIANTSBANE

GAME OF THRONES

tormund1

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

tormund2Tormund 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.

tormund3

#1025 – Addendum: Jon Snow Quick Fix

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

 

In my review of the Jon Snow Legacy Collection figure, I touched on how much of an effect a bad paint job can have on a figure. My initial opinion of Jon was rather low, given his almost complete lack of resemblance to Kitt Harrington (Tim and Jill pointed out that he actually looked a fair bit like Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham, an assertion I agree with). While writing the review for the figure, I noticed that the paint on the eyebrows and beard didn’t at all follow what was sculpted, so I did a quick photoshop just to see what the figure was supposed to look like. And that made me realize that the figure could be better than the final product ended up.

JonFixed1

As I showed with my Aliens customs post, I used to do a fair bit of customizing (though, I’ve sadly gotten away from it in recent years). So, I dusted off my old paints and set my sites on improving this guy. A quick skin tone touch-up and some new eyebrows later, I can’t help but feel that this guy is, like, *a lot* better. The whole shape of his face is different, the likeness is better, and his proportions even look a bit less out of whack. He’s not a perfect figure, but he’s certainly much improved from where he started. Imagine what someone with more talent than mine could do!

JonFixed2

#1027: Khal Drogo

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

KHAL DROGO

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

Drogo1

For the final day of Westeros Week, I’ll be heading back over to the Essos side of things, and taking a look at the Dothraki, once one of the most feared factions in the series. Oh how the mighty have fallen. They were set up as this great threat; an unstoppable army under the control of the last Targaryen. But, by the end of the third season, they’ve been pretty much entirely replaced by the Unsullied and the Second Sons as Daenerys’s forces. Their exit from the series can best be attributed to the loss of their leader Khal Drogo, a warrior undefeated by anyone. Well, apart from an untreated infection. That killed him real good. Despite only being in the first season of the show, Drogo made an undeniable impact, and still has quite a few fans even six seasons later. So, it’s not a huge shock that he got an action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Drogo2Khal Drogo was released in the second series of Funko’s Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection. He was figure number 10 in the set, which places him right smack dab in the middle of Robb and Arya Stark. Drogo is the last figure I’ll be looking at from this particular series (though he’s not the last figure I haven’t covered. There’s a Daenerys variant that I don’t see myself getting). The figure stands about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation. Drogo really only had the one look in the first season of the show, though he was seen both with and without the war paint. This figure opts to give him the war paint, which is good, because that makes him a bit more visually exciting. Drogo isn’t the most posable action figure, due to his design being a bit on the constricting side of things. That being said, Drogo wasn’t the most agile guy on the show, seeing as his bit was to be the person equivalent of a wall. Drogo has one of the better sculpts from the line. The proportions are nicely balanced, and the detail work on his clothing is up to the same great standards as the rest of the line. The likeness to Jason Mamoa is pretty decent, if not spot-on. You can definitely tell at a glance who it’s supposed to be, which is the important thing. The hair and beard braids are a bit in the fragile side (one of the beard braids has already had to be repaired), but that’s not a huge surprise, given the intricate nature of the design. Drogo’s paintwork is pretty well handled overall. In particular, the fact that the war paint actually looks like body paint is pretty impressive, since just getting decent coverage in the first place can be difficult. The figure includes two larger sickle-style swords and two smaller blades that can be stowed in the sheaths on his belt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Drogo is another of the Game of Thrones figures I got as a birthday present from my parents. After getting Dany, Drogo definitely was high on my list. He’s a fun character with a fun design, and he translates quite nicely into action figure form.

And that marks the end of my Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection reviews. The line isn’t without its flaws, but it has overall been a very fun little subset of my collection. Honestly, the biggest flaw the line has is its limited run. What I wouldn’t give for a Catelyn or Sansa, or even Ceresi and Joffery. Heck a Season 6 Jon would be awesome too. I’d love for Funko to come back to this line, but the recent move to a smaller scale indicates that won’t be happening. And that’s a shame.

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#1026: The Hound

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

THE HOUND

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

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It’s really hard to start up a review of the Hound without using any obscenities. Like really hard. Because obscenities are sort of his thing. Yes, for day 6 of Westeros Week, I’ll be taking at Sandor Clegane, better known as The Hound. He’s a character who starts off rather unlikeable, and, well, I can’t say he becomes likeable, but the audience starts to like him. Greater evil and all that. It also helps that he’s the least evil Clegane we’ve met (though being less evil than the Mountain doesn’t take much doing). He was popular enough to get himself an action figure, which I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hound2The Hound is another figure from the first series of Funko’s Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection. He’s figure 3 in the line, and he’s also the last figure from Series 1 that I haven’t reviewed. He’s based on Clegane’s look during Seasons 3 and 4 of the show, when he’s off on his own and then later when he’s Arya’s captor. The figure stands 6 ¾ inches tall (making him the tallest figure in the line) and he has 25 points of articulation. He lacks any sort of waist movement, which is rather restrictive, but his articulation is otherwise pretty decent. His sculpt is overall pretty good. The armor is very nicely detailed, and he chainmail is handled surprisingly well. The build and size of the figure looks appropriate to Rory McCann’s appearance on the show, which is good. The weakest piece is definitely the head. The likeness to McCann is there, but the likeness to the Hound is not, if that makes any sense to anyone. One of the distinctive traits of the Hound is the rather grisly burn on the right side of his face. Here, it’s little more than a slight bump on his forehead. Now, like Jon, it’s hard to tell Hound4how much of this is the fault of the sculpt and how much of it’s just poor paint. There’s definitely some texture on the face that the paint just sort of ignores. The worst offense of the paint is the right eyebrow. Going by the show, it shouldn’t even be there, but on this figure, they’ve given him a pair of matching, perfectly intact eyebrows. It throws the likeness way off, and he looks much better with the right one removed. The rest of the paint’s actually pretty good, especially the wear and tear on the armor. The Hound includes his distinctive helmet (with a moving visor), as well as two different broad swords. One of the swords can be stowed in the permanently affixed sheath on his back, while the other goes in the removable sheath on his left side. The side sheath is held in place by slipping it into a little loop on Clegane’s belt, which, it should be noted, tore right off the first time I tried to use it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s figure, the Hound was a birthday present from my always supportive parents. He’s not one of my must-have figures, but rather just someone who fills out the set. That said, eyebrow issue aside, this is a pretty solid figure, on par with the rest of the line.

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#1025: Jon Snow

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

JON SNOW

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

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Welcome back to Westeros Week everybody! In any long-running series, there are inevitably the breakaway hit characters. Characters who start off as just a member of the ensemble, but become slowly more and more prominent, until they’re a major character. While he was certainly set up as an important player from the very start of the series, Jon Snow wasn’t one of the leads. He’s off on his own, with hardly any input during the show’s first season. Heck, Kit Harington was ninth billed during the first season (and he didn’t even get a credit all to himself; he shared with Harry Lloyd). In season 6, he was fifth billed, and he had a number of episodes devoted primarily to his story. Not bad for a bastard! Now, let’s look at a one of his action figures, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

JonSnow2Jon Snow was released in the first series of Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection. He was figure number 1 in the line, because Funko knows what’s up! Jon Snow is seen here in his standard garb following his acceptance into the Night’s Watch, which is a good look for him. The figure is 5 ¾ inches tall (which is about right for Harington), and he has 26 points of articulation. Jon Snow has some of the better articulation in the line. Everything is pretty smooth and solid. Unfortunately, the articulation comes at the price of the sculpt. Jon Snow has easily the weakest sculpt in the line. The body is the worst offender yet in terms of the narrow shoulder issue that plagued these guys. Jon Snow’s not a huge guy, but with the big fur collared cape and everything, he should definitely be a lot bigger than he is here. Most of this line has stood out for its attention to detail on the costumes, but Jon Snow doesn’t quite live up to the rest of the line. Most of his clothes are rather plain and untextured, and the fur on the cape in particular just looks too even and artificial. Also, while just about every other figure in the line has managed to do a decent job of hiding the mid-torso joint within the clothes, Jon Snow’s joint is just there, for the whole world to see. It honestly looks a bit like he’s wearing a belly shirt over another shirt. Not ideal. The last part of the sculpt is the head. It really doesn’t look much like Kitt Harington. That being said, it’s hard to say how much of the issue is the JonSnow4actual sculpt and how much is just poor paint choices.  It definitely feels a bit on the large side, though. The paint on Jon Snow is…well, it could definitely be better. The face is the worst part. The beard and whole mouth area are just really odd looking, but the most annoying part is the eyebrows. Those aren’t Kitt Harington’s eyebrows, and if you look closely, you can see that they were sculpted correctly, but the paint just totally ignored it, which throws the entire likeness off (it improves quite a bit if you fix them). The body fairs a bit better, since it’s mostly just straight black with a few details here and there. It looks like they tried to do an effect similar to what we saw on Robb’s cape, but it didn’t work quite as well this time. Jon Snow is packed with his sword Longclaw, which is one of the cooler swords the line gave us.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was a birthday present from my parents, who helped me complete my GoT set. Jon is one of my favorite characters on the show, so I definitely wanted to get a figure of him. However, I purposefully held off because I knew this wasn’t one of the line’s stronger figures. It’s kind of a shame, because the rest of the line is pretty strong, and I’d love to have a Jon Snow of an equivalent quality. Purely looking at the quality of this guy just as a cool action figure, he’s not bad. The poseability makes him one of the more amusing figures from the set to play with. However, he kind of fails as a figure of Jon, and he almost feels like he’s from an entirely different line than the rest of the figures.

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