Funko POP! RoboCop

Company: Funko
Year: 2013
Series: Movies

BACKGROUND

Well, Funko Week comes to a close with RoboCop. I’ve spoken previously about my deep love of RoboCop, and what an amazing film it is. Really, if you’re a regular reader of this blog it probably doesn’t need a whole lot of introduction. So let’s just say that if you haven’t seen it yet, you should definitely do yourself a favour and go check it out ASAP. The second one, not so much. And I’ve not watched the entirety of the third one…but I certainly wasn’t sold on it based on what I’ve seen of it. Which is about 15 minutes.

This particular POP! was presumably released on the back of the hype around the 2014 remake, which was predictably okay, but not spectacular film. Funko doesn’t seem to have done a “new” RoboCop to match, but perhaps they only had the license for the original film.

THE POP

RoboCop’s condition is actually pretty horrible if you think too much about it. The original film is pretty vague about what’s left of his human body, but you get the strong impression there’s not much more than his face and part of his brain. And when he takes off that mask, it’s pretty horrifying. I’ve watched a huge amount of horror films, but one image that has stuck with me more than just about anything from those days is RoboCop’s unmasked face.  

Of course, the Funko POP! version doesn’t really convey the horror of his existence so well – he’s just a cutesy cyborg, rendered in the distinctive POP! style. And I must say, it’s turned out pretty well. All of the main details are intact and present – his chestpiece, the screws on the side of his head and his separate big toe. Held in his left hand is his signature Auto-9, the ridiculously powerful handgun that deals out justice on numerous occasions during the film.   

Now for the paint. Oh Funko…you do so many fun sculpts and then do such an average job on paint!

RoboCop is painted primarily in silver, to match his appearance in the first movie – as opposed to the blue-tinged armour he’d later get. In theory, this shouldn’t be a problem, considering that they did a great job on the Silver Surfer, but in practice it’s little thicker and goopier than it should be.

This is forgivable – but the main thing that bugs me here is that RoboCop’s skin-tone paint is not properly aligned with where it should be on his face. It might be fixable, but it shouldn’t really have to be. Funko isn’t at the same level as Kidrobot when it comes to making this stuff, and to be fair I don’t think they’re trying to be, but it can be extremely frustrating nonetheless. So if you pick one of your own up, check it out closely.    

 

OVERALL

Like many of my Funko POP! figures, the paint is disappointing but the figure is overall great fun. As a big fan of RoboCop, I’m very pleased to have him as part of the collection. Though it seems unlikely, it would be great to see Funko produce figures of Clarence Boddicker, this guy and a variant based on this figure.  Now that would be a line to see!

POP! Heroes – Martian Manhunter

 

Company: Funko

Series: Heroes

Year: 2011

RRP: $15.95

THE BACKGROUND

First appearing in “The Manhunter from Mars” in Detective Comics, all the way back in 1955, Martian Manhunter has gone on to become one of the better-known B-listers of the DC Universe. He was a founding member of the Justice League of America, and has gone on to be a member of most of its various incarnations. He pretty much has all of Superman’s powers, but can also shapeshift, turn intangible and has telepathy/telekinesis. The only real downside is that he’s vulnerable to fire -- but then again, pretty much any normal person is too. I'd say it's an okay trade off.

Though it changes from time to time, Martian Manhunter generally works by day as a policeman or PI, calling himself "John Jones", the earth equivalent of his Martian name, "J'onn J'onnz" (yes, it's silly, but it was the 1950s). Naturally, his superpowers give him quite the edge in tracking down criminals.

Martian Manhunter has never quite broken through to true mainstream popularity, he’s still got a cult following, and it’s always a pleasure to see him turn up in a title. Hopefully if/when the Justice League movie eventuates, we’ll see him appear in a prominent role.

THE POP

Martian Manhunter uses the basic POP! body, though it’s been slightly retooled to accommodate his chest harness and belts. Similarly, the forehead on his head has been retooled to approximate his distinctive brow, though it’s not quite as prominent as it is in the comics.

The picture on the back of his box depicts him in his 1950-1990s style – namely, just cape, trunks and boots. However, the actual POP! has depicted him in a more contemporary style, with full pants. This a look I tend to prefer myself – the old-school strongman/pro-wrestling look is not one that I’m a huge fan of, though I appreciate that it’s a product of its time.  Still, it’s a slightly odd choice, as it’s not really an iconic look for the character.

Martian Manhunter is actually the best-painted POP! I own. Most of him seems to be cast in blue, with his arms and chest painted in his distinctive bright green. There’s a bit of gold slop on the harness, but nothing to get too worked up about. This is even more impressive when you consider that this was originally released back in 2011, and Funko were not doing particularly great paint work at the time.  

OVERALL

In my collection, Martian Manhunter fulfils much the same role that he does in the comics. He’s not the most prominent member, and he probably doesn’t get as much attention as she should, but he’s good to have around nonetheless. Highly recommended to Martian Manhunter and JLA fans alike. I just hope that in the future we'll eventually get a more Martian-looking version, and a John Jones.

POP! Heroes – Wonder Woman

 

Company: Funko
Series: Heroes
Year: 2011
THE BACKGROUND

And so we come to the first female POP! of Funko Week – Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman is one of my favourite superheroes. One of the first females to join what is still a very heavily male-dominated crowd, she’s been in the game for more than 70 years now, appearing in her own title and serving as one of the early members of the Justice Society and a founding member of the Justice League of America.

Yet despite having some good runs (e.g. Lynda Carter in the 70s TV show, George Perez in the 1980s comics) she’s often been poorly handled by creators who aren’t quite sure what to do with her. One case in point was her 2006 relaunch, which regularly had issues delayed, a revolving door of writers and artists and dull stories that tested the brand loyalty of the fans (myself included). The only consistently good thing was the covers.   

Still, the New 52 seems to be writing some of these wrongs and the upcoming Superman vs Batman: Dawn of Justice looks to be featuring her prominently, with Gal Gadot in the role. Hopefully the future holds good things for her – but now, onto the POP!

THE POP

Wonder Woman wears her best-known outfit of red bustier, blue trunks and red boots, complete with tiara and bullet-deflecting gauntlets. It's a classic look, that could fit just about any era between the 1960s and now, though at a guess it's based on the standard Jose Luis Garcia-Lopes or George Perez depiction of her.

She uses the basic female body, which is okay, but I don’t think it looks quite feminine enough. I commented earlier this week that a lot of the early POP!s used the same basic body – and the female one kind of looks like it’s just been retooled from the male body, with minor variation. The arms are fine, but the legs seem a little off.

In her right hand, she clutches her signature weapon, the Lasso of Truth. While she whips out a sword from time to time, the Lasso is easily her best-known accessory and it would have been remiss of Funko not to include it in some form. If they ever decide to do a variant, she should have her throwable tiara off and held in her other hand.

Wonder Woman was one of Funko’s earlier POP!s, so her paint is on the questionable side. I picked her up last year at Supanova, and while I looked for a good one in among the pile they had, I don’t recall seeing any that were better. The tiara is sloppy, the earrings  have bleed and there's just lots of rough edges around the whole thing. It's disappointing, but pretty typical of the older POP!s – they're not at A-grade level these days, but they have definitely improved.

AVAILABILITY

This same sculpt of Wonder Woman has since been re-released in her New 52 outfit, which is similar but different. The reds and blues are darker, the yellow areas are now rendered in silver, and she’s got fewer stars on her trunks. I like what I’ve read of her characterisation in the New 52 (namely, a few issues of Justice League), but I don’t love the changes to the outfit. While it looks okay on the page, it doesn’t translate well to POP! form; the colours are too muted on what is an inherently brightly coloured and cutesy toy. Both versions are reasonably easy to track down though, so you should be free to take your pick.

OVERALL

While I’m happy with the broad strokes of the figures, the paint issues made her ultimately disappointing. I’d like to see this figure get a re-release with better paint, but in the meantime she’s still an essential part of the Funko Justice League – and most of her compatriots are in a similar (paint) boat.  

What’s more disappointing is that there have been very few females released as part of the Funko Heroes or Marvel lines. Raven and Starfire from the Teen Titans cartoon have both been released, as have Harley Quinn and a couple of variations of Catwoman. Marvel has had Jean Grey, Black Widow and Gamora, but that’s been about it.

Both Marvel and DC have a lot of cool female characters that would be likely to sell, so it’s disappointing that they’re being overlooked in favour of numerous re-releases of Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man and Captain America. Even Hulk has had two or three figures by now!  These are all cool characters and I understand that they are big drawcards for more casual fans of the lines, but it’s time to go deeper.

POP! Marvel – SILVER SURFER

Company: Funko

Series: Marvel

Year: 2013

RRP: $15.95AUD

THE BACKGROUND

Jack Kirby was a creative guy, and without his efforts the world of comics – and by extension, pop culture – would be substantially poorer. My favourite creation of his is the Silver Surfer. Originally appearing in the pages of Fantastic Four (who are probably my least favourite Jack Kirby creations), the Silver Surfer was originally the herald of Galactus, a cosmic entity who roams the (Marvel) universe in search of planets to devour. Also, before he became the Silver Surfer his name was Norrin Radd. Sounds weird? It is. But hey, it was the 1960s.   

THE POP

When this guy was released, he was one of the first Comic POP!s I’d seen that deviated from the “standard” POP body that was so commonplace – a lot of the early DC guys are essentially just repaints of the same base body, with new heads subbed in, and many of the Marvel guys weren’t miles away from it either.   

I think the results were a little mixed. If they had gone with the same body as Superman and just painted it silver, it probably would have looked a little too plain. But they’ve gone with a Michael Turner-style ultra-buff body, complete with buttocks. It works well in the comics, but looks a little too detailed in comparison to the other POPs. Though I’m not really a fan of his 1960s “trunks” look, I think it might have been the right approach on this occasion. Kudos to Funko for trying to mix it up a little though.

 

 

Still, taken purely on his own merits, Silver Surfer is definitely a success. His surfboard is included, attached permanently to his feet, to complement his surfing pose. They’ve even etched grooves into the surface, rather than leaving it blank, which would surely have been the easier option.    

Norrin Radd is entirely silver, so in theory it should be pretty easy to get it right. Yet the figure still had a couple of problems -- on removing him from the packet, some of the silver paint on his head tore a little, as it seemed to have stuck to the plastic tray. Not a lot you can do there, really.

However, aside from these minor flaws, he’s fine. The paint is nice and even, and the tears on his head aren’t super noticeable.

OVERALL

The Silver Surfer is a great addition to the collection. I’ve only bought a handful of Marvel POPs (though some of the Guardians of the Galaxy are tempting me) and I tend to have high expectations of them as I’ll only pick up characters I care about a lot. Paint tearing aside, the Surfer turned out very, very well and has been one of my most satisfying purchases.   

I don’t much care about getting a set of the Avengers in POP! form, but I would like to get some of the Infinity Gauntlet gang. Presumably Funko will bring out a Galactus sooner or later (and they already have in their Marvel blind-boxes), and hopefully also a Thanos, Adam Warlock, Dr Strange…the list goes on! Then the Surfer will be able to share the shelf with some worthy Marvel companions.