“Maybe I told the Great Stallion to go f**k himself and came back here to wait for you.” – Khal Drogo
Even in a now long-running show like Game of Thrones, it doesn’t take more than a handful of episode appearances for a character to be memorable and quite loved. Oberyn Martell showed this off well last season, and King Robert Baratheon set the standard for drunken, whoring kings from his first appearance to the end of time. Another character that definitely left a mark on viewers is the subject of this feature — Khal Drogo. As one of the many characters that did not make it out of season one alive, he has not been seen in a few years now, but his popularity certainly remains high among the fanbase. Thus, his inclusion in the Funko Legacy line has been highly anticipated since he was announced just before Toy Fair of the this year, and the one-time head of the Dothraki is now ready to sneer and pillage on your toy shelf.
When you are the leader of a band of warrior rapists that plans on invading half the world by taking battalions of horses on boats, you set a very high standard for being a badass, even amongst a cast of badasses. Khal Drogo certain fits one of the many classic archetypes that inhabits the worlds of Westeros and Essos, and this barbarian warlord makes for a great modern take on Conan, a characterization that has been popular for decades. He is strong, imposing, a skilled fighter, and is oozing with machismo, so when it comes down to making a little plastic representation of his character, the Legacy Khal figure already had a list of requirements in order to make it a success. So, how did Funko and Gentle Giant do? Well, let’s just say that none on the GoT shelf are as badass as Drogo.
I know I spoke about this at some length in my look a Jaime Lannister, but Drogo continues the Legacy series two theme of stronger character likenesses than the previous wave. In fact, I think the likeness to character design and Jason Momoa himself is very strong in this figure. This is obviously due to the great sculpt by Gentle Giant, but I think that the Khal also has one of the strongest paint jobs we have seen so far. There is a lot of great detailing on the figure, and even though not all of the applications from the prototype made it over, there is still a lot to like.
The paint on the face has been done pretty well and the likeness to Momoa is close, but not quite 100 percent there yet. I think that all comes from the detailing in the eyes. The “eyeliner” effect is not as prevalent as it is on the show, and the eyes themselves lack a bit of ferocity, but overall, everything is well done. The Khal likeness is certainly represented better than, say, Ned Stark, and Drogo is another example of Funko upping their game in the paint category with this wave. Another strong point with the paint is that, well, there is quite a bit of it since all of the figure’s flesh is painted and not cast in the representative tone. That makes the coloration even from his face to his chest and on to his arms, so I think it looks very nice. That blue tattooing is also very clean, and this is a spot I was concerned about prior to getting the figure.
Drogo did loose a little bit of detailing on his ornate “belt” piece, but it still looks good overall. The horse hair pattern in paints took a bit of hit as well, and the original paint master had the white tones come in more of a traditional spotting pattern, while the final product looks more like shading than anything, more akin to the white on the Jon Snow figure. I am kind of sad at the loss of this as the prototype’s pattern was very striking, but this might have been a budget need more than anything. This Drogo also had frozen elbow joints due to the paint being applied on top of them. It only took a few seconds under the hair dryer to correct, but hopefully this will be something that will be addressed in the eventual third series.
While the paint is continuing to improve on this line, the sculpts are as strong as ever, and I really like the sculpt here. The likeness in the face sculpt is very strong, and the rest of the figure is great and has a lot of detail as well. The belt piece might be sitting a bit high on this final version, but it is not bad. The materials used on the various spots of the figure help to complement the sculpt, and the soft plastic used on his belt and pony tail is very much appreciated. As you can see, Drogo is able to sit on a horse pretty naturally (in this case, a Lord of the Rings Ringwraith steed), and, since he is Dothraki, that is the perfect place for him.
Drogo also comes with the highest accessory count in this assortment, and as you might have guessed, they are all blades. He has two curved knives that fit perfectly in their sheaths on his belt when not in use. I think they actually look more menacing sheathed than anything else, and the curved shape makes them a unique addition to the overall silhouette. He also has his two larger scythe-looking curved blades that were his primary weapons on the show. I am sure they are not really scimitars, but someone will correct me, I am sure. These have been faithfully rendered as well, and they are ready to cut the opposition down on foot or horseback. All of the accessories are made of pretty rigid plastic so they are kind of sharp, but they don’t feel brittle.
I am going to get a little bit nitpicky at the end here because I do have one beef with this figure, and it is the height/scale. I just don’t think the figure is as tall as it should be in comparison to the looming presence of Drogo on screen. Now, perhaps it is a combination of his being a little too short and Jaime being a little too tall, but Momoa is 6’4″ and Coster-Waldau is 6’2″ so the Drogo figure should be at least as tall as Jaime. As it stands, there is a pretty significant size difference and it does not favor the character that should be taller. This makes me nervous for the Brienne figure (it will arrive here on Saturday), but I hope she is taller than the both of them. I know scale is an ongoing battle in the action figure world, but this is the first occurrence of it being noticeably off (to me, anyways) in this line, so I hope that attention is given to getting scale among the different characters/figures down better in the future. I have no problem with Jaime being tall, but Drogo and Brienne should be taller still.
The Game of Thrones Legacy line is quickly cementing itself as one of my favorite action figure properties and Khal Drogo only helps that cause. Slight scale issue aside, I think he turned out great and Thrones fans and barbarian fans and plain old action figure fans alike should welcome this figure. This is a great representation of the character and getting a figure of one of the most memorable guys from the show is always great. It is nice to already have a Dany to go with him, and while his time on HBO was brief, you can now have all kinds of adventures in plastic if you pick him up for your own. Thanks for reading and join us back here tomorrow when the North will certainly remember.
If you’re more of a video review person, check out Robo’s review on FwooshTube, where he also slices on Drogo’s thumbs and alters the positioning of his belt a bit.
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