Funko has recently emerged as a company to watch for in the articulated figure market. Not just for the outstanding product that they’ve been producing in their Legacy Collection, but for the truly unique and interesting properties that they’ve chosen to develop.
When it was announced that Funko would be releasing figures for Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, my jaw hit the floor. I knew I had to have them all. The ravenous toy-nerd instincts fought hard on this one, but I wanted to savor the flavor and buy just one at a time—enjoying each on its own. These have been out for a while, so let’s see if it was worth the wait to complete the set.
For those unfamiliar, Fantastic Mr. Fox is the Wes Anderson adaptation of the Roald Dahl story featuring stop-motion animation, and filled with dark humor and Anderson’s trademark visual flairs. Even if you’re not a fan of his voice as a director, this is a film that can and should be appreciated by every toy collector, customizer, and diorama builder out there. The craftsmanship and work that went into this production is simply astonishing and it’s a film that deserved the action figure treatment.
The series contains four figures—Mr. Fox, his son Ash, the slow yet faithful sidekick Kylie, and the villainous Rat.
Packaging
Funko have been using collector friendly boxes in their Legacy Collection, and this is no different. The boxes are beautifully done, with each character getting a different color with an actual photo of the character from the film on the box. I will always be an opener, but I must say that I felt a little guilty about tossing these boxes into the trash. They look that good.
Sculpt
Getting a great sculpt on a property like this is bit tricky. The characters in the films are essentially fully articulated soft-goods action figures, so Funko needed an all-plastic representation with far less moveable parts. And they did a good job. Translating soft goods into plastic is tough, and while they didn’t quite achieve the level of success that, say, Palisades did with the Muppets, they came pretty close. The overall sculpts look like the intended characters, and each figure has its own tiny sculpted details. Ash has his lapel pin and Kylie has hooks and buttons all over his fishing hat. Little things like that are always appreciated. I do wish that they could have put in a bit more detail in the fur. Everything is just a bit too smooth and you don’t get that homemade and slightly wild look that the characters have in the film. The scale is also a bit off, which would have been alleviated, had Mr. Fox been just a bit bigger. This is most apparent when seen next to his son, Ash—who, being a pup is significantly smaller than his dad in the film. Not just in height but in overall mass as well.
Paint
I’ve been impressed with Funko’s paint apps since my first Game of Thrones figure, and it’s no different here. We’re dealing with a far simpler design, so they can’t really show off their skills that much, but the lines are clean and there is very little slop. The fur is still a little troublesome given the smooth sculpt, but the eyes are really impressive. Not only are they applied neatly (and straight), but they’ve also been given a glossy coat which really adds to the realism.
Articulation
The articulation scheme is essentially the same for each figure, despite their different body types. Each figure has an interesting post and ball jointed head that gives some great range of motion, pin and disc shoulders, single elbows, cut wrists, cut waist, post and ball hips, single knees, cut calves, and single pin ankles. The tails are also articulated with a pin and disc. All of the joints are tight and well hidden. Maybe a little too tight as Rat’s leg snapped off right out of the box. These are made out of an extremely hard plastic, so take care with them. I also had trouble getting any range of motion out of the hips of Kylie, but I’m guessing that’s due to the roundness of the sculpt.
Accessories
As these originally retailed for $24.99, it’s always nice to have a little something extra in the package. Mr. Fox comes with a dead chicken. Ash has an alternate head with genuine bandit mask. Rat comes with a switchblade and jar of Cider, and Kylie is packed with an apple and his credit card. They’re all well done and character specific, so it’s much appreciated. I did have some difficulty in switching out Ash’s head due to the hard plastic. The sock mask is what I’ll be displaying him with and it comes on and off with no issues.
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a niche property for sure. Someone at Funko must be a fan, and I applaud that someone. It’s a wonderful film and they’ve done a great job at turning these characters into the plastic figures that we all love so much. I don’t know what they have planned for this property, but without getting into wishlist territory, there are easily enough characters to reasonably sell a second wave. The flaming pinecone is in your Whackbat court, Funko!
Thanks for reading!
