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?
