Review of Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister
Game of Thrones action figures

Introduction

As many fans predicted, the terrific HBO series Game of Thrones is adding in some new content this year, as well as altering some of the constructs from the books. I'm thrilled with what we've seen so far, and this could turn out to be the best season overall.

Funko's first series of action figures has started to become more available, with the entire first wave - Daenerys, Jon Snow, Tyrion, the Hound, a White Walker, and Ned Stark - obtainable at many online resources.

I've already covered Daenerys, and tonight I'll look at two more of my very favorite characters, Jon and Tyrion.  The other three will follow soon.

Expect to pay around $20 each for these, although I have a couple sponsors selling them a few bucks cheaper.

Packaging - ***1/2
The window boxes are growing on me, although I'd like them even better if they dropped the twisties. There's absolutely no reason for them, since you can barely get the figure out of the tight fitting plastic tray. The big window allows you to see the figures on the shelf, which makes getting the best paint job easier, and they are easy to store or display for the MIBers. They are collector friendly too, as long as you ditch the twisty ties and manage to wrestle the figure out of that aforementioned tray.

There's a lot of similarity between these and the boxes in use by the Star Wars Black series, including the figure numbering on the front. That's a good thing, and perhaps we'll see this design drift over to a few other lines as well.

Sculpting - Tyrion ***; Jon **
These figures are done in a 6" scale, with Tyrion coming in at 4.25" and Jon at just under 6". They scale between figures is decent, and they will look reasonable standing next to each other on the shelf.

Tyrion is dressed in his armor, straight from battle. He has clearly not yet gained his scar, however. The head sculpt is reasonable, and you'll recognize the character merely from the head sculpt. It's a little too symmetrical, but that's a minor complaint.

His armor looks terrific, with plenty of small detail work. It also isn't as restrictive as I expected it to be, always a plus with a well articulated figure like this.

I'm not as happy with Jon Snow. While they gave it the old college try, this is definitely not him. There are certainly some tricky aspects, especially the hair. The curly locks have that Dippity Doo look on screen, and that's awfully hard to translate to plastic in this scale. Still, the likeness is off, especially around the jaw and mouth. He looks like he is storing nuts for the winter, or perhaps trying out for the part of Don Corleone in the Black Gate production of the Godfather. There's too much forehead as well, throwing off the shape of the head and face.

The body work is much better though with a lot of attention paid to the details and texturing. The soft rubber cape is a bit restrictive, but overall the costume is far more interesting than the head.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint work is solid, but not outstanding. The eyes and faces are neat, but they lack that certain pop that gives them life. Detail work, like the trim on Tyrion's armor, is very clean and neat, and there's almost no slop there.

Often when there's a weak sculpt, like in the case of Jon Snow, the paint is largely to blame. I don't think that's true this time, and a repaint probably won't effect the final look of the sculpt all that much.

Tyrion does have one weird spot on the front of his bronzed armor, but it looks like the sort of wear you might expect, so I'm less annoyed by it than usual.

Articulation - ***1/2
Funko is keeping the 'fun' in these figures by providing a ton of useful articulation.

The ball jointed neck works great on both figures, with little restriction. There's ball jointed shoulders too, although there is some restriction here, especially with Jon's cape.

Both have ball elbows and cut wrists, and Jon has an ab joint as well. I'm betting Tyrion does, but it's fully blocked by his torso armor.

There's ball hips too, and Tyrion has ball knees. Jon has double pin knees instead, but they work just as well. Both have pin ankles with a rocker joint.

Overall, there's plenty of articulation, it's all well designed to work and yet look good, and the figures can take fairly natural, flowing poses.

Accessories - ***
Each of the figures only has one accessory - a weapon. That's a little light, but thankfully they are well done and appropriate.

Jon Snow has Longclaw, of course. It looks great, especially the hilt. I don't remember any sculpted symbols on the Valyrian steel blade (I know the prop replica from Valyrian Steel doesn't have them), but it's a minor nit. It fits in both his hand and the sheath easily.

Tyrion has his battle ax, which we just saw passed over to Pod this week on the show. While he hasn't seen a lot of battle, Tyrion has proved his bravery with this weapon.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
With the terrific articulation, these are great action figures. I'm a toy collector first, and because of the playability that these possess, I'm much more drawn to them than to statues or busts. It's unlikely that any kids will be playing with these in the sandbox, but because of the quality of the plastic and joints, they certainly could.

Value - **
For twenty bucks a head, you're getting a figure and an accessory. That's pretty light, even for a collector's line. The exceptional articulation helps somewhat, but you'll still feel the sting.

Things to Watch Out For -
The hands have very tight grips, and the small weapons are made from a hard but slightly brittle plastic. When working with the sword and ax, you'll want to take some care.

Overall - Jon Snow **1/2; Tyrion ***
While this is currently my personal favorite line of figures based on the show, that's not to say there aren't issues.

Tyrion is decent work, although I hope we get an updated version in non-battle dress. That would be a fine time to add his scar as well.

Jon is a disappointment, due to the weak likeness. You might have to tell people who he is, lest the confuse him for Rob or Sam. Every line has it's ups and downs - Jon appears to be one of the downs for this first series.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - Tyrion ***; Jon **
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ***
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - **
Overall - Tyrion ***; Jon Snow **1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has them for $20 each.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've covered several of the recent figures, including the Dark Horse Daenerys, as well as Drogo, Ned Stark, and Tyrion Lannister.

On the Funko side, I've looked at Daenerys as well. Other Game of Thrones collectibles I've covered include the Daenerys action figure from Funko, the Daeny bust from Dark Horse, the Hand of the King pin, and the Catspaw Blade from Valyrian Steel.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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