Alien Funko POP! (The X-Files)

Theme: X-Files

Series: POP! Television

Year: 2015

From a rational perspective, I think it’s very likely that there is life elsewhere in the cosmos. The chances of it visiting earth on a regular basis, however, are substantially lower. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in the possibility and thus I have cheerfully invested a good chunk of my life reading about topics which are (at best) on the fringes of science and outright fraud at worst. Wasted time for some, hours of entertainment for myself. So it goes with just about every hobby, I've found.

This has been going on since I was quite young, so naturally I was interested in The X-Files as a kid. But my parents felt that it would probably give me nightmares – fair enough, considering I was only 8 in 1993. As an adult, I ended up watching the first two seasons, which were great fun but not really compelling enough to make me watch the remaining seven (though I’ll probably give series 3 a go at some point).

From a solely X-Files perspective, this alien is okay but not great. Of the four POPs they’ve released, I think the Cigarette Smoking Man fares the best in comparison with his real-life counterpart. Scully looks the part, but Mulder could be anyone. Likewise, looking at images of the aliens in the series, this guy looks a little off. But don’t think that means I don’t like him – quite the opposite, in fact. The fact that it’s X-Files merchandise is really neither here nor there for me; it’s clearly a Grey and the Funko style renders it generic enough that it’s not tied specifically to that brand. Naturally I hope they do a few variants of this guy – green, glow in the dark, metallic, to name a few. I would happily buy a small army of these guys, were space and finance to permit it. Realistically, I think the smart money’s on the GiTD variant – and if Funko doesn’t do one, I may have to buy a second one and paint it myself.  

Given Funko’s investment in original moulds of late, I suspect we won’t see this piece reused very often, if at all. Though it would be great to see this sculpt reused (and maybe slightly retooled) for a Communion series of Funko POPs. It’s shocking that Christopher Walken doesn’t have his own POP yet -- but Communion seems oddball and obscure enough for it to work.

At any rate, this Alien has been an essential addition to my collection since I first saw him previewed – your own mileage may vary a little, depending on your tolerance for unusual ideas and/or X-Files fandom.