In ECW, Terry Funk was the crazy old-school vet who wasn’t afraid to get extreme in wars against Shane Douglas, Sabu, and Raven. Funk became a beloved member of the ECW roster, so it was fitting that, for his second figure, Mattel opted to make one in his ECW incarnation. I’m still hoping for a 1989 version to battle Ric Flair, and maybe after that I’d be okay getting a Chainsaw Charlie.
One of the immediately apparent issues with Funk is the lack of opponents. Yes, Mattel released a Cactus Jack, but that was an exclusive. There’s no Raven, Sabu, or Shane Douglas, and we badly need those guys just in general, but especially so Funk isn’t by himself.
I’m optimistic that may be the case given Mattel whipped up an ECW variant of its traditional Elite packaging. Fitting ECW, it features grey accents. Hopefully that suggests more ECW reinforcements are on the way. The bio is even more tailored to Funk’s ECW tenure, although it seemed odd not to include either his ECW TV reign or his NWA World title reign.
The likeness is pretty good for an older Funk. There’s a noticeable difference between this and the Legends 2 figure, but it’s still obviously the same guy, so great job by the Mattel sculptors. I was a little bummed that Mattel didn’t include the “Funk U” T-Shirt or knee pads since that was the rest of Funk’s standard ECW attire.
Given Mattel’s somewhat spotty issues with paint, I was surprised the striped attire turned out so well. There’s barely any black bleeding through the white. It does get faint at points, but it’s overall pretty solid. Naturally that means part of Funk’s hair didn’t have paint applications on the side strands. Mattel found a creative approach in covering Funk’s balding hairstyle with a few neatly arranged lines. It doesn’t hold up great to close inspection, but it gets the job done from a normal distance.
The figure seems to be scaled about right. A 6-foot-1 Funk should be looking up at the 6-foot-9 Kevin Nash and be about eye level with the 6-foot Rob Van Dam.
As usual for an Elite figure, Funk is loaded with articulation. For The Hardcore Legend you won’t find any moves you’ll have trouble simulating.
I already mentioned the lack of T-shirt and knee pads, but Funk does come with his infamous branding iron. Make sure to keep Cactus Jack away from this guy when it’s lit, though. Funk’s headband is a nice, snug fit and won’t slip off at random points when you’re playing with him.
The gem of the accessories though is the ECW title. This one previously came with CM Punk, if I’m not mistaken, and that was an exclusive, making this the first proper time we can get our hands on the ECW strap. It’s a well-done title belt with a nice metallic sheen and sharp paint detail, but I can’t help but want guys more synonymous with the title like Franchise, Sandman, and Raven.
You can find Funk online for $15 to $18. That’s slightly below the $20 retail price. The figure isn’t a ripoff at $20, since you get what you pay for, but saving a few dollars never hurt anyone.
This is a figure that will likely stay cheap and then skyrocket in value once Mattel gets around to expanding its ECW roster.
Wave 41 has been primarily found at Toys R Us and Amazon. With Elite 42 and now 43 on the way, this may be a figure you might want to grab sooner before you miss out and wonder why he’s so costly.
Rating: 9 out of 10
This is a solid figure of The Hardcore Legend that, with the exception of the missing shirt and knee pads, covers everything I’d want from this era of The Funker.
