Disney Afternoon DuckTales
Huey, Dewey, and Louie
Well, life has certainly been like a hurricane, here in Duckburg. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief when I learned that Scrooge’s nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie were coming to Funko’s Disney Afternoon line. Then I gasped because they where being released as exclusives to the 2019 Emerald City Comic Con. Then I sighed in relief again when I learned that Target would also have them. It has been a rollercoaster ride worthy of an episode of DuctTales already, but I am certainly glad to have these boys.
See, you cannot have a successful DuckTales line without the nephews. Along with Scrooge, they have always been the anchors of the DuckTales franchise, and some of my all-time favorite Disney characters in general. Huey, Dewey (especially Dewey), and Louie are characters that I collect just about everything released that is based on them. I have lots of toys, books, etc., because I have always had a particular fondness for them (have you seen the new LEGO mini figures?!?).
So, I was really after these three as both a part of my Funko Disney Afternoon collection, but also as entries to my wider HD&L collection in general. I have been on edge a bit about the future of the Afternoon line (and Funko’s action figures in general) after not seeing or hearing much about any future releases at Toy Fair back in February. I hope that is just them being coy, because I am really into the DA line (and Mega Man, too!).
Anyway, as I said, this three-pack, and I am REALLY glad it is a three-pack so we get all the boys in one shot, was at ECCC last weekend, and it popped up on Target’s website last Friday. I was lucky enough to be able to swoop in a grab a set, and it arrived a lot faster than I expected, so for an experience I was initially dreading due to FOMO, this has been an easy acquisition for sure. Now that we have them, and Scrooge, and Launchpad, and Gizmo Duck, I would say Webby is probably the most outstanding yet-do-be-released character, so we will have to wait and see how it goes.
Like I said, I am glad to have these three, but I feel they are not quite as good as the rest of the Disney Afternoon line in terms of overall execution. They certainly are not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but their articulation is a bit more limited than most of the figures in the line, and the paint on my set has a few issues. Yes, they are instantly recognizable due to their outfits and color schemes, but their likenesses aren’t as quite as strong, either.
For articulation, what they have is very functional in their partial ball shoulders, waist twist, hip twists, and (very nice) ball joint necks. However, they are missing the elbow joints that have become rather common in this series, and while at first I thought I was being a stickler about that due to the small size of these figures, Chip and Dale have the elbows, and they are essentially the same size. The missing movement doesn’t ruin them or anything, but some natural poses you might want to achieve aren’t really possible without that movement.
The likenesses are not as good here either, as say Scrooge, Launchpad, Gadget, and Chip and Dale. Yes, they are all three identical and exactly the same sculpt, which is fine by me, but there is something about the eyebrows and the eyes themselves that is throwing me off. The brows are very pronounced, which puts heavier black lines on their face than I am used to seeing, and the eyes are missing the white reflection in them or something, and I think the size and position of the pupils are off. They have a bit of a “thousand yard” or dead stare and I think one more paint application would have done a lot to add some better personality.
Nitpicks aside, though, these do fit in quite well with the rest of the DuckTales figures from this line and they certainly button up my “must haves” for essential characters. I would really like to see the line continue on and get us the aforementioned Webby, but also Magica, the Beagle Boys, Gyro, and others to round out a strong line for a show that I really love. Other characters like Monterrey Jack from Rescue Rangers, and a whole rogues gallery from Darkwing Duck are still out there, so let’s see it happen.
If you missed this set at the Con or Target, eBay looks to be your only bet at this point, but if you are a fan of the line, or DuckTales in general, you will definitely want to add these to your collection.