POP! Rides – Ghost Rider (Glow in the Dark)

Today's review is best enjoyed while listening to Hell Bent for Leather by Judas Priest.

Way back in 2013, Funko released their original Ghost Rider POP. It’s still one of the best Marvel figures they’ve released; though more recent figures are more detailed and include an impressively broad scope of characters*, it has an elegant simplicity which puts many other POPs to shame.

Of course, that POP is now discontinued and outrageously expensive on the secondary market. But never fear! While Funko don’t tend to reissue old POPS very often, they have been pretty good in the last year or so about re-releasing old characters with new moulds. And so today we take a look at Ghost Rider with his bike, courtesy of the POP! Rides range.

Judging by the leather daddy Evel Knievel-style costume, I’m assuming this is the Johnny Blaze iteration of the character. I kind of prefer the Danny Ketch costume that the original POP used, but both are great. As I noted back in my review of the original, Ghost Rider is a character who you can appreciate on a purely visual level; fortunately, it’s something that applies to pretty much all of Ghost Rider’s incarnations over the years.  

He’s an all-new sculpt. I don’t think anyone would have been surprised if he reused the original head sculpt, but instead they’ve opted for something different. I think it’s maybe just a shade big (even by POP standards), but it’s hard to tell without being able to actually take him off the bike.

And on that note…most of the POP Ride range has had removable drivers, and so if you own the original figure I daresay you’ll be wondering if you can yank this new one off and slot the original on. Sadly, the answer is no. This new iteration of Ghost Rider is glued on. That’s maybe understandable from a logistical perspective, but still a bit of a bummer; this one would still look pretty good standing on his own as well.

As for the bike…it’s pretty rad. The flames are well painted and “tastefully” placed, so it provides a good illusion of motion without ever being overpowering. However, it is quite realistic in its scale and proportions. I can’t help but think they maybe should have gone a little cartoonier as they have with some of the vehicles to better fit the aesthetic. With that said, it does match the style Funko established Daryl’s bike back in 2014. I’m not 100% certain, but I’m pretty sure at least some of those pieces have been reused/retooled here.

There are two versions of this Ghost Rider available – regular and glow in the dark. Both are pretty great, but getting the glow version was a must for me. The glow seems to have been selling out more quickly, but I don’t think either is necessarily rarer than the other, which is nice.  

If you have the original, now you have a different iteration of the character on a bike, and if you missed out then you have a much more cost-effective way of adding a Ghost Rider to your collection. Ghost Rider on a bike is a must-buy, no matter how dedicated or casual a fan you are of the character. It has some minor shortcomings, but none are dealbreakers. He’s easily one of the best POP figures I’ve bought all year.

*Let’s be honest, does anyone really know who the Inhumans are?

POP! Movies - The Shining: Jack Torrance

As a general rule, I’m a staunch believer that the book is better than the movie. But every rule has exceptions, and The Shining is one of them. 

I read the novel when I was probably 19 or 20, and reading a huge amount of Stephen King’s stuff in general. I don’t recall it doing a lot for me; it was entertaining, but didn’t leave nearly the same impression that say, IT did. I think that part of that is because I’ve never really believed in ghosts, and so they don’t hold a great deal of terror for me*.

The Stanley Kubrick adaptation, though…that was something else. I don’t remember whether I saw the film or read the book first, but the film has stuck with me for years. So many bizarre images, and so little explanation for them. A lack of exposition can be incredibly infuriating, but it works impressively well in The Shining. 

Much of what I said about the Mystery Mini version of Jack Torrance last year also applies here. The POP does a reasonable job of replicating Jack Nicholson’s “Here's Johnny” look in the film -- the red jacket, jeans and of course the axe. It looks a little more like Jack Nicholson, but it’s not exactly a dead ringer.

I have two main criticisms. The first is that the paint on the shirt is almost completely absent. The check pattern is present on the control art, but on the final POP it’s just plain blue. The other is with the hair. Jack Nicholson has never gone totally bald, but even by the time of The Shining it was looking pretty thin – though this is probably just a side-effect of the aesthetic.

The line also includes Wendy Torrance, Danny Torrance and the Grady Twins**. Funko are to be commended for doing more than one character – but Wendy et al are kind of boring. I feel that they could have gone in some more creative directions, considering the good work they’ve done with horror licenses in the past. The woman from the bath, the butler, the animal suit couple...they all would have been a lot better, though admittedly they’re not as retailer/family-friendly.

There’s also a 1:6 Chase version of Jack available. It’s the same sculpt, but has been given a “frozen” paintjob to depict him as he appears in his final moments alive in the movie. I like it okay, but it’s not essential.

Jack Torrance is ultimately an adequate but imperfect figure. This is one to keep in the box; the details like the carpet patterns, blood spatter and of course REDRUM all help elevate it above its shortcomings.

*Of course, I don’t believe in Jason, Pinhead, Pennywise or the Creature from the Black Lagoon either. But here we are.

**The Grady Twins are a Popcultcha exclusive in Australia. They’ve got a 1:6 bloodied Chase variant.

Guest Review: Deadman #1 at Supanova

Another post over at Supanova from last week. Click here to find out what I thought of issue 1 of Neal Adams' Deadman #1.

POP! Television – Elvira (Mummy)

Elvira has long been a merchandising powerhouse, and I can only assume that her recent partnership with Funko has been as a successful one. Within the space of a year or so we’ve had two POPs, a Rock Candy figure and a Pint-Size Hero. Today, we look at the second of those POPs – Elvira in her Mummy costume.

While Elvira’s best-known look is the split black dress, she’s actually dabbled with a number of looks over the years. You can find them on Google Image search, though I would not suggest doing so on your work computer.

This particular POP, however, is drawn from this image, which is also replicated on the back of the box. I’m not sure if the pic was originally taken for that Fangoria issue, or it’s an older one that was recycled. There are probably more notable secondary costumes Funko could have gone with, but it works well enough.  

Paint is nicely executed for her makeup – but make sure you check her lips. The control art clearly shows that she’s got white “shine” on her lips, but if the tampo isn’t aligned properly then it just makes her look like she has wonky teeth.  

The paint on the body is a little sketchier. The lines on mine are mostly clean and well executed, but the hands and feet are a little sloppy. Additionally, I think the bandages themselves could probably do with a bit of a wash to bring out some more detail.

As well as the regular release, there’s a chase version of this figure, packed at a 1:6 ratio. It’s the same sculpt, but her bandages glow in the dark. Ideally I would’ve got that one – but it’s really the luck of the draw with chases, isn’t it?

Mummy Elvira is a solid POP, but non-essential for the more casual fan. It’s a good look, but not quite as classic as the black dress. Still, it’s good to see a bit more Elvira stuff out and about on the shelves. As a relatively recent fan, I missed the “golden age” of her fame, so it’s nice to see her enjoying a bit of a renaissance.  

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POP! Television: Stranger Things – Max (Costume)

By now most of us have made our way through Stranger Things 2, and what a ride it was. It didn’t take me to quite the same heights as the original, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. As might be expected, quite a few new faces were introduced in season 2. Since Barb seems to be permanently dead, another redhead was required to round out the cast – and thus we have Max, played by Sadie Sink.

Max is much more pivotal to the overall plot than Barb was, but I’m not sure she’ll inspire the same level of obsessive fandom. I had mixed feelings about her as a character; she got on my nerves initially, and though she had an interesting arc she hadn’t quite won me over by the end of the season. Still, I think we can assume she’ll be back for Season 3, and the character definitely has potential. Here’s hoping for good things.  

But though I’m still kind of indifferent on the character, this POP was a definite buy as soon as I knew it was being released. While it’s not my favourite horror series, I do thoroughly enjoy the original Halloween film and it’s nice to see Michael Myers referenced in the show.

 

It’s one of the best scenes in episode two; Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas are out trick-or-treating as Ghostbusters, and Michael Myers suddenly appears on the street in front of them, wielding a knife. But it’s merely Max beneath the mask, who’d earlier been ambiguous about whether she’d come trick or treating with our intrepid heroes. It’s not a scare for the viewer, of course, but it’s a nice moment that shows us something about all of the characters involved.

Sadie Sink herself apparently didn’t really know who Michael Myers was before filming the scene, according to aftershow Beyond Stranger Things. But that’s no real surprise; she’s only 15, and there wasn’t been a new Halloween film in years. There’s a new one on the way for next year, and hopefully it’s a good one; it would be nice to see him regain some of his former pop culture status.  

This is a great figure, but it feels kind of bootlegged. Not in quality or anything; but she’s clearly wearing a Michael Myers costume, but it’s not identified anywhere as such on the box. Additionally, there’s no sign of Halloween in the trademark notices on the box. I get that the appearance on the show could probably be covered under some kind of fair use legislation, but going and making a toy out of it? Funko already have the Halloween license, so maybe they were able to shoehorn things together that way.

Max is a Hot Topic exclusive in the US, but over here she’s a regular release. It’s a good variant of the character for fans, and it’s a fun piece of memorabilia for a memorable scene in the series. 

POP! Games – Scorpion (Flaming Skull)

Mortal Kombat. Holy shit, this game was a big deal when I was a kid. The franchise is still a big seller, but I think kids these days would struggle to grasp the scale of the excitement around the first two Mortal Kombat games. 

They were wildly controversial, featuring an insane level of violence that still has the capacity to take your breath away today.

And of course, the more parents hated it, the more kids loved it. Mortal Kombat had just about every edgy trope from the late 80s and early 90s shoved into one fun package fighting game.

• Horror movie imagery? Yessir.
• Weird monsters? You betcha.
• Over-the-top gore? Check.
• Characters that look like X-Men knock-offs? Can do.
• Martial arts? As many as you want.
• Ninjas? You got ‘em

One of those ninjas was Scorpion. He was one of three ninjas featured in the original game, and at face value he was just a simple palette swap; yellow to Sub-Zero’s blue and Reptile’s green. But all of them had distinct play styles, which helped separate them as characters – a stark contrast to Ryu and Ken from rival game Street Fighter II.  

Scorpion wasn’t the most heavily promoted character, but he rapidly became a fan favourite. He was arguably the easiest character to use, and just to up the ante, when he took his mask off he didn’t even have a face – he had a fucking skull and he spit fire! In a game full of memorable, gruesome characters and extreme violence, Scorpion was still among the best.

This POP depicts Scorpion sans mask, complete with Ghost Rider-esque flaming skull. This version is a Hot Topic exclusive in the US, though it’s a regular release in Australia. Funko certainly haven’t cheaped out; the head and body are totally different to the regular version, and the sculpt is excellent. He’s got his signature spear and chain wrapped around his torso, and all of the little elements of his costume are highly detailed.  

Paint lines could be better, but it’s easily one of the best POPs Funko has put out this year. Normally I’m indifferent to variant takes on characters, but this is almost as essential as the “regular” version of Scorpion.

Mortal Kombat X is fantastic fun... but Funko’s Mortal Kombat X series is quite a mixed bag. All three Scorpions look great, as do both the Sub-Zeroes. Raiden looks adequate, while Liu Kang and Kitana look totally crappy. Hopefully we get a couple more characters down the road, but in the meantime this figure is a solid investment. 

Pint Size Heroes (Horror) – Cthulhu

In the last couple of weeks I’ve taken a look at the Pint Size Heroes versions of Jason Voorhees and Pinhead. But today, we take a look at the biggest and baddest Pint Size Hero of them all – Cthulhu.

I’ve written about Cthulhu collectables a few times on here now, and every time I do the site tends to go a little nuts for a few days. I don’t have much additional material to contribute about H.P. Lovecraft’s as a person since the last article I wrote. So let’s just say the short version is that he was a very flawed man, but since his passing his figurative tentacles have permeated broader pop/geek culture in a way that he never could have anticipated in his lifetime.

Though the Pint Size Heroes aesthetic is quite different, the look is clearly based on his larger POP compatriot – outstretched tentacles, furry loincloth, speckled skin and dragon-style wings. To fake his obvious size advantage over his series companions, Cthulhu’s been made to appear larger by giving him a massive head. For the most part this works well. However, the backside seems to be tampoed with the same design as the front, giving us ample view of Cthulhu’s backside – and inadvertently giving the impression that he’s wearing a g-string. Cthulhu is THICC, apparently.

The only other downside is that his head doesn’t turn particularly well, as the wings kind of block the neck motion. But it’s a small price to pay, on the whole.   

Of the Pint Size Heroes I own, Cthulhu is far and away my favourite. Like virtually every other piece of cutesy piece of Cthulhu merchandise out there, it’s a total violation of H.P. Lovecraft’s original vision. But does he look kind of fun on the shelf? Well, yeah. It’d be better if he glowed in the dark, but he’s definitely a solid addition to my ever-expanding horror merchandise collection. 

POP! Holidays – Krampus

In Australia, we tend to celebrate Christmas in a pretty conventional fashion. It varies a little from family to family and across geography of course, but the broad strokes tend to go something like this:

-Church in the morning
-Visit a relative’s place for a BBQ and prawns
-Open presents
-Off to the beach

Adherence to Christianity is far from mandatory for participation; for many it’s a rather secular affair. It’s not very hard work to trace a lot of the symbols (e.g. the tree, mistletoe) back to pagan Europe, but such is the way that culture shifts over time. But my overall point is that Christmas in Australia is a pretty pedestrian affair; Santa is jolly, gifts are abundant and there is food and drink aplenty.

But in other parts of the world, it’s a little…different. In parts of Europe, a lot more of the pre-Christian culture has survived into modern Christmas celebrations – and some of it is absolutely terrifying. One such example is the Krampus.

I probably first became aware of him a few years ago, when I was putting together an article for my then-day job on unusual Christmas traditions from around the world. Having spent quite a bit of time with Dutch people from childhood, I already knew about (the frequently controversial) Zwarte Piet – but the Krampus was fairly new territory.

Hailing from the Austrian Alps, he’s a half-goat, half-demon, who’s a companion of the holy St. Nicholas. Rather than bringing gifts for good children (St. Nicholas looks after those) he delivers punishments to naughty kids. All fun and games, like getting a lump of coal in your stocking, right? Maybe nowadays, but in ye olden times there were stories of him throwing naughty kids into his bag, dragging them off and either eating them or throwing them into Hell.

How seriously anyone took this is up for debate, but look at him. Imagine getting one of those cards in the mail as a kid. It’s a slightly more intimidating prospect than ending up on Santa’s naughty list, isn’t it? As might be expected, these days he’s a little more sedate, and “only” tends to hit kids with his bundle of birch branches. 

Like many pagan holdovers that got turned into Christmas traditions, Krampus has also generated his share of controversy over the years. Conservative Christians are frequently not fans (perhaps not surprising, given his obvious resemblance to the Medieval depiction of the devil) and the Dolfuss regime tried to stamp out his presence from the 1920s to the 1950s.

Still, these efforts don’t seem to have dulled his popularity; if anything, the last few years have seen him have something of a renaissance, both in Europe and in America. And so we now have a Krampus from Funko.

Funko are staking more than you might expect on this POP – there’s a regular version and a flocked version, both of which also have a chase. There’s also a “frozen” FYE exclusive too, though it doesn’t seem to be out yet. I assume it’ll just be available at Popcultcha in Australia.

For myself, I just went with the regular version. It’s a fantastic POP; a nice, chunky piece of plastic. He’s massive, and bedecked with all the trappings you’d expect; big horns, big tongue, chains around his body and holding a whip. Turn him around and you’ll even see he’s wearing a basket on his back, complete with a naughty kid peeking out, who’s no doubt destined for some kind of terrible punishment.

While the paint lines could definitely be cleaner, this is still a great figure. The only real downside is that there's no Saint Nicholas to accompany him, though Funko did make a Rankin-Bass-style Santa a few years ago. 

I can’t quite see Krampus ever taking off in the same way in Australia that he has in other parts of the world. The climate’s wrong for one thing. But will he garner a cult following? All the signs point to h*ck yes. If you like the macabre, the unusual, or just want a different take on Christmas, this is a must-buy. 

Guest Review: JIGSAW at Supanova

It's already been a busy week for film reviews for me -- today, it's a review of Jigsaw over at Supanova's website, the latest installment in the long-running Saw series. You can read my review in full here. Hope you enjoy it!