I’ll admit it. I have a fairly odd obsession with collecting the cute vinyl POP figures. The minimalist representations of pop culture figures are spread out throughout my house in a decorating scheme that would make Martha Stewart cringe in disgust and burn my house down. These are a few of my most recent acquisitions.

FIREFLY

First up from my wife and I’s favorite show are my wife’s complete set of Firefly figures. Funko did a great job of capturing the essence of the rag tag crew of the Serenity. The costumes are spot on and I love the inclusion of the little props like Wash’s dinosaur, Jayne’s Vera, and Zoe’s blunderbuss. Hopefully they release the rest of the crew in another wave I would even like to have some villains like Adelai Niska, a Reaver, Saffron/Bridget/Yolanda, or the Operative as a later set.

Hannibal

Brian Fuller’s Hannibal has been one of my favorite television watching experiences in the past few years and my nerdy collector instinct kicked into high gear when I heard that Funko was putting out cute little totems to the franchise! The straightjacketed Will Graham is my favorite figure in the set due to the iconic originality of the design that takes a great chunk out of one of the most heart wrenching moments of the show and places it squarely on my desk. The Hannibal Lecter figure is an exemplary representation of Mads Mikkelsons character, he appropriately sits in my kitchen. The Wendigo is also amazingly eerie and rounds out the figure set by adding a dose of the strange nightmare that juxtaposes well against the fairly “normal” looking set.

Though I do love the figures in the set my main problem is that their stances do not allow them to stand up very well. Especially Hannibal and the Wendigo whose very small feet are a little too close together to balance out their giant heads.. I understand that most people don’t even take them out of their boxes but I buy most toys to take them out and display them and these ones are a little too prone to tip over.

Another issue that I have with the set is that three out of the five in the set look a little too much like non descript normal people. The Jack Crawford and basic Will Graham (Not Pictured) just look like regular people that you would see on the street and don’t have a whole lot that really makes them, for lack of a better word, “pop.” Hannibal suffers from this same problem but benefits from having a very recognizable wardrobe along with the original way in which he wields his knife.

*Hannibal Lecter, hanging out in my kitchen*

Ghostbusters!

The Ghostbusters were my favorite movies and cartoons when I was a kid and my two favorite characters were Peter Venkman and Egon Spengler. This is a really great set of figures with a lot of different variants. The Ghostbusters have some very cool and surprisingly well detailed proton packs on their back and each character is instantly recognizable.

My favorite figure is the adorable smiley Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. By far the coolest monster in the series. He stands a little larger than the average figure at 6 inches and is one of the centerpieces of my shelves of toys. For a long time I was on a search to recollect a lot of the classic Ghostbusters toys from my childhood but these POP! figures have helped put off that very expensive urge for a little while.

This series has a lot of cool variant collectible figures as well. The burnt Stay Puft, Shiny Slimer and Slimed Pete Venkman are really cool if you are willing to shell out a bit of a premium collectors price.

Attack on Titan!

The show Attack on Titan is primarily responsible for my new found love of anime and manga. When I saw this big guy in the store I couldn’t help but instantly buy him! Like the Marshmallow Man this figure stands tall at 6 inches and has a ton of detail all the down to his oddly well detailed butt cheeks. He looks really cool next to my Capsule Q Attack on Titan Figures and is probably my favorite POP figure to be realeased to date. I am super excited for the other two figures that I ordered from the set, Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman to arrive. I hope they put out even more Titans and members of the Survey Corps out in later sets!

*Mikasa and Levi can’t stop the Colossal Titan from breaching the wall!*

I couldn't resist...

Like any of these Funko Pops! in this review? Get yours now!

Pop Firefly Kaylee Frye Vinyl Figure - $9.89
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Pop Firefly Zoe Washburne Vinyl Figure - $9.89
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Pop Firefly Hoban Washburne Vinyl Figure - $8.24
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Pop Hannibal Hannibal Lecter Vinyl Figure - $8.79
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Pop Firefly Jayne Cobb Vinyl Figure - $8.24
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Pop Ghostbusters Stay Puft Vinyl Figure 6-inch - $11.99

Pop Ghostbusters Stay Puft Vinyl Figure 6-inch

Posted by: Levi

The Joker Arkham Origins Play Arts Kai Figure was released this month. Square Enix made this figure that takes inspiration from the Arkham Origins game of 2013.

This Joker figure stands at 11 inches tall and is really well proportioned. If you have prior experience with Play Arts Kai figures, you know how well they are made. The Joker figure looks incredible in the packaging and it only gets better once removed from the package, assuming, of course, that you intend to open the figure and display it. By "display," I really mean occasionally taking humorous pictures of them like I do with my figures. If you prefer to leave the figure in the box, it comes with a flap that opens up so you are still able to display the figure.

All Play Arts figures come with a stand, though in the case of the Joker figure it is unnecessary. However, the stand does come in handy when leaving the figure out for display if you are worried about it falling over when left on it's own. I honestly didn't have any issues at all displaying the figure without the stand, and even though I didn't use it, it's a quality stand made of a clear plastic that holds the figure perfectly.

The figure comes with two additional hands, a head, a gun and a knife. On the Joker figure is the standard smiling Joker face and included in the package is a more stern, sinister looking face. Both look great when added to the figure. The paint job and sculpt is impeccably done on this figure, though I do have a complaint and it's incredibly minor: the smiling Joker face ha a little red paint on the jaw. Honestly, this could just be my specific figure or it could be done by design. To me, it looks a bit off, but it doesn't take anything away from the figure. The head has excellent movement as well and you can swivel from side to side and look down without any issues.

The hands come with a set of closed fists and two different sets one which is used for carrying weapons. The weapons are easy to place in the hands and don't fall off easily, which is one of the main things that I lover about this figure. When I slide the knife into The Joker's hand, I know it is going to stay (which helps when taking hilarious pictures). With other figures, it can be a challenge to keep weapons or other additions in a figure's hands, but this is absolutely not the case with this one. The knife and the gun look great and are incredibly well made. The gun looks little large compared to the rest of the figure, though this is The Joker and he's known for being over the top.

The hands and the head are easy to swap out. It can be kind of intimidating to remove the additional pieces for fear of breaking something, but I find that the figure is built so sturdily that it withstands swapping out of the parts easily. There are joints on the back of the coat that can be arrangeed so that the coat appears to be flapping in the wind, which I really think improves the displaying (and photo taking) possibilities.

Overall, I think this figure is great. Especially for the price. It'll run you around $100 which is steep, but if you ccompare it to the Hot Toys line which run well over $200, it's a good buy. For fans of The Joker and Batman this figure will make an exccellent addition to your collection.

Posted by: Jeff @jeff201