Tag Archives: Legacy

#0972: Robb Stark

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

ROBB STARK

GAME OF THRONES: LEGACY COLLECTION

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

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

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

#0701: Rocketeer

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

THE ROCKETEER

THE ROCKETEER: LEGACY COLLECTION (FUNKO)

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

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

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

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