Tag Archives: Lannisters

#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)

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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.

#1023: Tyrion Lannister

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

TYRION LANNISTER

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

Tyrion1

All hail the half-man!  For the third entry in Westeros Week, I’ll be taking a look at everybody’s favorite pint-sized Lannister, Tyrion!  Tyrion is probably as close as the story will ever get to having a clear cut protagonist, being one of the few characters to get a consistent level of screen time throughout the course of the series.  He’s also one of the most consistently enjoyable characters, and one of the few prominent characters to have anything resembling a moral compass.  And he slaps Joffery a lot, which never ceases to amuse.  I’m getting distracted.  Let’s look at the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tyrion2Tyrion Lannister was released in the first series of Funko’s Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection.  He’s figure 2 in the set.  There are actually three different versions of Tyrion, all of which make use of the same number.  The basic Tyrion depicted him in his battle armor from the end of season 1, and the SDCC variant of that gave us Tyrion from the second season’s Battle of Blackwater, which was the same as the basic figure but with a new, scarred head.  The figure I’m looking at today, however, is the Walgreens-exclusive Hand of the King Tyrion, based on his appearance when he took on the role in Season 2.  I prefer Tyrion to be more of a planner and less of a fighter, so this was definitely the look I wanted.  The figure stands about 4 ½ inches tall (Peter Dinklage is 4’ 5”, so the figure seems to have gotten the height down pretty well) and he has 26 points of articulation.  Like Ned, Tyrion’s elbow movement is incredibly limited.  Must be a Hand of the King thing.  Maybe that’s why they all die (well, okay, not all)!  Fortunately, the limitation isn’t quite as big a deal with Tyrion as it was with Ned.  Generally speaking, I think Tyrion may have one of the better sculpts in the Legacy Collection.  The likeness is definitely there (I suppose the hair could be a touch longer to be the appropriate length for Season 2, but that’s super minor).  The detailing on the clothing is once again superb.  Each little crease and stitch is there, and you can even tell the difference between the different types of materials, which is quite impressive.  Also, Tyrion might be the first figure I’ve looked at in this line where his shoulders aren’t too narrow, which is definitely a plus.  Tyrion’s paintwork is pretty solidly handled.  Most of the base color work is pretty clean (excepting the quite noticeable slop on the edge of his collar) and there’s plenty of great accent work to sell all the various layers of the sculpt.  Even his painted stubble doesn’t look too bad.  I do wish the Hand of the King pin looked a bit less gummy, but that’s pretty minor.  Tyrion includes a dagger, which can be held in the sheath on his belt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Tyrion was picked up from Yesterday’s Fun while I was on vacation last month.  This was actually a figure I was planning to get anyway, so when I found him there, I was pretty happy.  Tyrion’s probably one of the best figures that the line had to offer, though I’m not really sure why this version ended up as an exclusive, rather than the default.  But hey, I’ve got the figure, so that’s all that matters.

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#0989: Jaime Lannister

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

JAIME LANNISTER

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

JaimeLann1

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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