Tag Archives: Legacy

#1098: Zoe Washburne

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

ZOE WASHBURNE

FIREFLY LEGACY COLLECTION

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If Wash is my favorite character in Firefly, then today’s focus, Zoe, is a very close second.  Zoe was one of those amazing female characters who was strong in her own right, but not without a few weaknesses to make her human.  Unrelenting in a fight, but not without compassion.  Deadly serious when she needed to be, but just as funny as any other member of the crew when the moment was right.  She’s probably the most “normal” of Serenity’s crew, but that never made her less interesting.  Zoe was awesome.  And awesome characters deserve awesome action figures.  So, does Zoe have an awesome action figure?  Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

zoeylegacy2Zoe was released as part of Funko’s first (and so far only) series of Firefly Legacy Collection figures.  Of the five figures released, she’s #5.  That seems sort of odd to me, since she’s second in command, and Gina Torres was second billed on the show.  Weird.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall (she’s a fraction of an inch shorter than Wash) and has 26 points of articulation.  Or she should.  My Zoe’s left elbow swivel is frozen, and given the breakage possibilities with these figures, I’m not pushing it.  Her hair also limits the range of motion on her neck joint, but that’s more or less expected, so I can’t really complain.  Zoe gets a brand-new sculpt, which I actually think turned out a fair bit better than Wash’s.  While his was good, there was a sort of cartoony-ness to it, that made him feel a little off.  Zoe, on the other hand, feels a lot closer to the GoT figures in terms of style, which I think is really great.  The likeness on the head isn’t a spot-on Gina Torres, but it’s very close, certainly close enough that you should easily be able to identify who this is supposed to be.  The rest f the body sports some pretty solid detail work from top to bottom, and I especially like how detailed her hair is.    Just all-around, this figure’s sculpt feels like a step up from the Wash figure, which is good.  The paint work on Zoe is pretty solid, too.  The basic application is all pretty clean.  There’s a bit of slop here and there, but it’s reasonable.  Her eyes are a little goofy looking too, but once again, not awfully so.  The clothing all has nice accent work, which does a lot to make the sculpt pop.  Zoe is packed with her faithful shotgun, as well as a smaller pistol, both of which fit nicely in the figure’s hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Zoe at the same time as Wash.  Like Wash, I was sort of putting off picking her up until I had some sort of confirmation of getting the rest of the cast.  When I found them for half price at Think Geek, it was enough to nudge me into getting both of them, since I was essentially getting them both for the price of one.  Zoe is the superior of the two figures, I think.  The sculpt is great, and so is the paint.  Maybe the movement could be a bit better, but she’s a really solid figure.  She is an awesome figure, befitting an awesome character.

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#1097: Hoban “Wash” Washburne

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

HOBAN “WASH” WASHBURNE

FIREFLY LEGACY COLLECTION

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So, last Sunday, I reviewed a K-2SO figure, and the Sunday before that I also reviewed a K-2SO figure.  Well, I’m all out of K-2 figures, but I do have the next best thing.  Yes, it’s that other famous Sci-Fi character played by Alan Tudyk, Hoban “Wash” Washburne!  I’ve already looked at two Wash figures on this site, but there’s one more that I never got around to taking a look at, and he may just be the best one in the lot.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

washlegacy2Wash was released as part of Funko’s Firefly Legacy Collection, their third attempt at launching a Firefly line.  There were five figures released, and Wash was #4 in the set.  The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  While many of the Legacy figures used the same costume designs as their ReAction and Pop! figures, Wash actually got a slightly different look for his Legacy entry (in fact, Wash has gotten a slightly different design for all three of his figures), based on the gear he was wearing in the promotional shots for the series.  In my opinion, it’s the quintessential Wash look, so I’m actually happy to have seen in turn up here.  Wash sports a wholly unique sculpt.  It’s admittedly a little more cartoony than I was expecting, especially after the Game of Thrones and Rocketeer figures, which are more in the style of The Black Series.  There’s a lot of decent work, but there’s definitely a bit of stylization going one here.  This is especially evident when it comes to the likeness on the head, which certainly encapsulates the figure and does bear a resemblance to Alan Tudyk.  That being said, there’s just something off about the look.  Like, they got all the obvious details of the likeness, but missed the more minor bits that really seal the deal.  So, while the figure looks like Wash at first glance, it starts to be less on the nose when you take a closer look.  The figure also feels rather narrow shouldered, but this is actually a common issue with the Legacy figures.  Lastly, there’s the hands, which are rather on the large side, but there’s actually a reason for this, which I’ll touch on in the accessories section.  The paintwork on Wash is pretty good overall, though not perfect.  It’s about on par with prior Legacy figures.  The colors are well chosen, and detailing on the clothes (especially his shirt) is top notch.  The head is alright, but a little messy.  I do like the variation to the skin tone, though; it makes him look more lifelike than, say, the GoT figures.  Wash is packed with a pair of toy dinosaurs (because what else would you give him?).  The hands have been slightly enlarged to better hold the dinos, which they do very well, certainly well enough that it doesn’t bug me how large those hands are.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I took my sweet time getting this guy.  When Funko picked up the Firefly license, I was very excited.  I ended up picking up a full set of the ReAction figures, despite them not necessarily being my preferred style, in the hopes of getting the whole crew at some point.  Then Funko sort of gave up on the ReAction figures, and released the Pop! figures, however, they once again released the same five characters and no one else.  Then they announced the Legacy figures, which was really the style I wanted to begin with.  Problem?  Same. Five. Characters.  As cool as the figures were, I had trouble spending $100 and ending up with yet another incomplete line-up.  Over the summer, I ended up finding this Wash figure at Think Geek’s brick and mortar store in the Westminster Mall, for just half of his original price, which was enough encouragement for me to pick him up.  Wash isn’t bad.  Is he perfect?  No. Is he enough fun that I’m glad I got around to picking him up?  Yes, yes he is.

#1027: Khal Drogo

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

KHAL DROGO

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

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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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#1023: Tyrion Lannister

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

TYRION LANNISTER

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

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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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#1022: White Walker

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

WHITE WALKER

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

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As awful as the characters in Game of Thrones may get, the show likes to devote at least a portion of every season to reminding us that, no matter how bad things may seem, there’s perpetually a greater threat in the horizon in the form of the White Walkers. Whoever may be left standing after after all the warring factions have settled will still have to deal with these ugly suckers. So, for my second entry in Westeros Week, I’ll be taking a look at one of their number. Let’s see how the White Walker fares!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

WhiteWalker2The White Walker was released in the first series of Funko’s Game of Thrones: Legacy Collection. He’s figure 3 in the line-up, which weirds me out for some reason. He feels like a 6 to me, but I don’t know why. There were two versions of the Walker available: regular and glow-in-the-dark. Mine is the regular. We’ve seen a few White Walkers over the course of the show, most of which share a number of common traits (excepting the Night King, of course), but they all have a bit of their own flair. This particular figure is based on the White Walker that attacks Sam in the Season 2 finale, which is probably the closest look we’ve really gotten at one of them. The figure stands 6 ½ inches tall and has 28 points of articulation. Sculpturally, he’s a little skinnier than the Walker we saw on screen, especially in the arms and shoulders, but he’s not terribly far off. The level of detail on this guy is quite impressive, even among the other Legacy figures I’ve looked at. There’s no part of this guy that doesn’t have some bit of sculpted texturing. His skin is rough and decaying and his clothing is worn and decrepit. If there’s one part of this sculpt I’m not 100% sold on, it’s the hair. It’s a separate piece, glued in place, like a lot of the hair in this line. However, this time, it feels like a wig, not just because of the obvious connection, but also because it feels a bit under-detailed and artificial when compared to the rest of the figure. It also flows outward at an odd angle, which makes getting the head into a pose where the hair looks natural quite difficult. The paintwork on the Walker continues the same trends seen with the sculpt. The hair once again sticks out, being rather starkly contrasting, especially right at the edge where it meets the head. The rest of the paint, however, does a wonderful job of highlighting and accenting all of the cool sculpted textures on the sculpt, making the figure look quite lifelike. The White Walker includes a spear, which fits pretty well in his hands. I had a bit of difficulty getting my figure to hold it, and noticed that one of his wrists was almost broken in the process, so be careful there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up the White Walker at the same time as Ned. I really hadn’t intended to get this guy, since the White Walkers don’t really “wow” me on the show, at least in terms of design. But, he was cheap, and I didn’t have him, so there it is. I’m actually pretty happy with this guy, so I’m glad I found one for a deal, or else I never would have gotten him.

(Yes, I know this last picture is off.  Robb never fought a Walker, but I didn’t have Jon, so Robb served as a stand-in)

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#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

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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

Arya1

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.

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