Tag: Legacy Collection

Funko says Legacy QC issues will be addressed

Just an update on my earlier post regarding the quality control issues on Funko’s Game of Thrones Legacy Collection: in a comment, Funko’s Shawndra Illingworth wrote,

Funko has been made aware of these QC issues and our factory has been informed of what changes need to be made on future waves of Legacy. Thanks so much!

Great news, provided politely and in a timely fashion on a blog that didn’t even contact them directly about it. That’s great collector relations. And while I won’t be collecting the Game of Thrones line myself, I can’t wait to see their Firefly line in the fall. Hopefully we’ll see some prototype photos during Toy Fair.

Poe’s Point > Frequent QC issues with Legacy Collection Game of Thrones?

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Quality control issues are nothing new in the action figure hobby over the last ten years. The reasons for this are obvious. The most significant problems are rising production costs. The cost of almost everything involved in producing action figures is on a continual and precipitous rise – the petroleum for the plastic, the petroleum for transportation, tooling costs, the labor costs for the factory. Thanks to a few high-profile toy safety crises, safety testing has become more expensive. Moreover, the most successful action figure lines today are licensed from large media properties which are increasingly expensive to obtain.

Legacy Collection Game of Thrones Official Pics & Wave 2 Line-up

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UPDATE: By the way, you can order these on BN.com.

Funko president Brian Mariotti posted official photos of the first wave of the Legacy Collection Game of Thrones figures, along with the following note:

Funko is proud to announce of first ever line of premium action figures.

It’s a shame we could not release this information the correct way, but things happen.

I will let you all in on a scoop, that is series 2 will be shown for the first time at Toy Fair. So you will see a New Daenerys(mother of dragons outfit), Khal Drago, Jamie Lannister, Robb Stark, Arya and Brienne!

For the next 30 day[s] only Series 1 will be exclusively at B & N.

Funko Legacy 6″ Game of Thrones release date – Saturday the 15th?

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So user punksraven at the Funko Fanatic forum did some research:

Hey guys, I’m new here. After those ebay pics surfaced, I did some investigating. Got a UPC off the Hound’s box in the ebay pics. It’s 849803039127. They’re in TRUs system but no stores in my area have them yet. I’ve also called three barnes and noble stores in my area. They all are telling me that these aren’t in stock in those specific stores (or any in my area) YET, but they have all said they have a very strict RELEASE date of 2/15, which is Saturday. They told me they will probably get them later in the week, but wouldn’t be able to sell them until then. Of course, if the shipping boxes aren’t labeled, or a worker just happens to miss that date, they’ll obviously get put on accidentally. Judging by others finding/buying them, it doesn’t seem like the registers are flagging them with the release date, so if they’re on the shelf, shouldn’t have any issue purchasing them. Hope this helps guys!

That makes sense and matches with Brian M.’s comment that the figures would hit the exact same time as Toy Fair. I think the idea was to have a big flashy reveal of the figures at Toy Fair and then be able to say, “And these are on sale RIGHT NOW!” – which, you have to admit, is rather awesome and practically unheard of in this day and age (and still is, of course, thanks to the leaked photos).

I still wonder if BBTS and EE and perhaps Amazon are sitting on these things in their warehouses, waiting for the release date. But it’s quite possible B&N has some sort of temporary exclusive deal. We just don’t know.

Funko Legacy Game of Thrones Revealed (via eBay)

UPDATE: Looks like these may be already on shelves at retail! Check your local Barnes and Noble!

Trust old eBay to provide us with the first photos of Funko’s 6″, super-articulated Game of Thrones figures. These were going to be revealed in about a week anyway, so really they did a pretty good job of hiding them until the last minute. These should hit stores within a month or two (maybe even sooner). The auction states that Tyrion Lannister is also part of the wave, but not available for sale.

I think they look pretty good. The likenesses aren’t perfect, but they’re as good as SWB 6″. This makes me even more excited for Firefly.

What do you think?

(Thanks to Preternia for the heads-up.)

Gentle Giant to work on Funko Legacy 6″?

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As you may know, Hasbro has partnered with Gentle Giant in producing the Star Wars Black 6″ (confirmation of this can be found in this interview with Gentle Giant).

In an encouraging sign, it appears that Funko may be working with Gentle Giant as well for their 6″ line, which is scheduled to include figures from Game of Thrones and Firefly. In reply to a post on the Funko Fanatic forums (a post started by yours truly, actually, speculating as to who would sculpt the line), Brian Mariotti of Funko writes, “I think Gentle Giant is incredible….hmmmmmmmm.”

So I think it’s safe to say Gentle Giant will be helping to produce Funko Legacy. That doesn’t automatically mean Mal Reynolds will have the same quality of sculpting or articulation as SWB6″ Han Solo, of course; different decisions could be made regarding articulation and how much to spend on paint applications, quality of plastic, and so forth. But Gentle Giant’s involvement is a positive development – at least for those of us who are hoping for something close to SWB6″.

UPDATE: On a related topic, Brian is also promising SWB6″-like articulation on Legacy.

Perhaps this will be a situation similar to Legendary Comic Book Heroes, where two lines were worked on by the same people (ToyBiz making Marvel Legends, and later Marvel Toys making LCBH), which ensured the lines were completely compatible.

Firefly confirmed for Funko Legacy 6″ line (and ReAction as well)

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I’m still not willing to upgrade my expectations beyond “cautiously optimistic” for Funko’s super-articulated 6″ Legacy line, which has been described by Funko as “very much similar in style and accuracy and points of articulation as the Hasbro 6” Black Series of Star Wars.” I’m cautious in my optimism because Funko has never made products of this degree of complexity, and are currently best known for bobbleheads and its POP figures (and those are often the subject of quality control complaints, particularly the paint work, which is obviously far simpler than what you get on a 6″ realistic-style action figure).

Nonetheless, I remain hopeful that the line is good, particularly since Funko just confirmed Firefly for the Legacy line in late 2014. I really, really want to put a Star Wars Black Han Solo next to a Mal Reynolds for reasons I can’t even articulate (despite my website’s title). Admittedly, it’s probably a long shot those figures will be commensurate in style and scale, even if the Legacy figures turn out great – very few 6″ figure lines have been genuinely compatible with one another.

Firefly will also get POP and ReAction (vintage Kenner SW-style) figures in the spring. Buffy the Vampire Slayer will be getting ReAction figures as well.

I’m curious to see how well the ReAction stuff ends up selling. As Nemo Eight mentioned to me over the weekend, a big part of the appeal of the Alien line is the novelty of the fact that they’re resurrected prototypes from the late 1970s. I’m not sure if that vintage style will have much appeal to collectors beyond that. My hunch is that it will, especially if Funko can work in some small vehicles or playsets, but we’ll just have to see.

 

Game of Thrones for Funko Legacy…confirmed?

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Happy Thanksgiving, all!

I’m heading out to celebrate with my family, but before I leave I thought I’d mention this little news tidbit. As I mentioned yesterday, Game of Thrones has been rumored as one of the licenses in Funko’s upcoming 6″, realistically-style “Legacy” action figure line. But I hadn’t found any hints of official confirmation…until now. And it is a hint, but given that it comes from the president of Funko, it seems pretty promising.

From the Funko Fanatic forums:

Blanka wrote:
Can we get some hints as to what’s going to be happening with the Legacy line? I mean, those two major licenses can’t just wait until February! Build the anticipation now! 🙂

Look, Winter is Coming…so maybe more hints then!

It seems pretty safe for GoT fans to get excited. Personally, I’d recommend waiting to see the figures. Funko has a lot of fun products out there, but no track record on realistically-sculpted articulated figures, whose collectors are notoriously hard to please. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Odds ‘n Ends > Glyos & Power Lords drops, Funko Legacy rumors

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  • The final Glyos wave of 2013 is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, December 1st at 9:30PM EST.
  • The Four Horsemen’s sale of the Power Lords: Slate Zone Soldier & Slate Zone Elite will begin on Monday, December 2nd at 3pm EST on Store Horsemen and for the first 48 hours it will ONLY be open to Power Lords Fan Club members. Sales for non-Power Lords Fan Club members will begin at 3pm on December 4th IF any stock remains after the first 48 hours.
  • I’m working with NoisyDvL5 of ItsAllTrue on a fun holiday project. It’s a bit last-minute, so hopefully we’ll be able to pull it together. If we do, I think you’ll like it.
  • Rumored licenses for Funko’s 6″ Legacy Line: Game of Thrones, a Whedonverse line or two, and The X-Files (although only The X-Files has been “officially” hinted at by someone at Funko). The GoT hint allegedly came from Popcultcha, who – again, allegedly – had the following figures up for pre-order, according to Funko Fanatic poster arjybarjy: “The Hound, White Walker, Tyrion Lannister, Ned Stark, Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow up for preorder, due in February 2014. They vary in size from 5″ for Tyrion to 8″ for The Hound and White Walker figs.” I couldn’t find them on Popcultcha, so either they got pulled or were never there in the first place (or…I just couldn’t find them). So like that Star Wars Black list from a couple of weeks back, consider this pure rumor-mongering for now.

BIG NEWS: Funko to produce 6″ scale “Legacy” action figure line

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I was going to add this to today’s Odds ‘n Ends, but it deserves its own post.

Via Brian Marriotti, president of Funko, on the Funko Fanatic:

Dear Funatics:

Freddy Funko has been a busy be lately. We announced our Re-Action line of Alien figures which should be shipping from Funko’s warehouses in the next 2-3 weeks!

We also dropped some hints on some pretty cool licenses like Firefly, Universal Monsters, Back to the Future, Goonies, Terminator 1 & 2, Predator, The Rocketeer, Nightmare B4 Christmas, Escape from New York, Pulp Fiction, Buffy the Vampire Slayers(TV), Star Trek Classic and many many more.

But what you don’t know is that Funko is also announcing a 6″ Premium line called Legacy that will be revealed at Toy Fair NYC with 2 Major license announcements and a few cult classics as well. I mean 2 MAJOR license announcements!

This line will be very much similar in style and accuracy and points of articulation as the Hasbro 6″ Black Series of Star Wars. Some fun eclectic lines will be produced as well like my personal favorite Fantastic Mr Fox!

So keep an eyed peeled for our announcements soon..as you this section of the Funko Funatic Forum to discuss the two new action figure series!

So – WOW. This is, potentially, huge news. It’s like if Shocker Toys was real. A new 6″ toy line based on some of those licenses listed above? Does this mean I might have a Star Wars Black-style Mal Reynolds to hang out with Han Solo? Could that really happen?

I suppose the question hinges on what “some fun eclectic lines” turns out to mean. Some of these licences have current action figure lines at other companies, such as Universal Monsters (Diamond Select), Terminator (NECA), Predator (NECA), and Star Trek Classic (Diamond Select). Still, one can hope. A realistic 6″ Rocketeer? Dare we dream?

(Hat tip to Action Figure Fury.)

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