It's not unusual, as a collector, to gravitate towards the particular aesthetic of a series or company. The Dunny line from Kidrobot has seen many iterations but they generally have the same body and head shape, albeit with embellishments which have often seen some fantastic and desirable character results. It seems puzzling that although Kidrobot do have other product lines, that they would suddenly release a few lines which completely shatter the norm and lean towards the unusual and disturbingly unlikeable. Two lines that come to mind immediately have to be the Transformer vs G.I. Joe and the relatively new God of War series.
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| Kidrobot Dunny 2012 series (The dead astronaut) |
Kidrobot Transformer vs G.I. Joe were announced with un-finalised artwork, but sadly upon release they were as they were initially hinted - with a bastardised Playmobil appearance and just some odd embellishments to their character design. For the most part the series wasn't hugely grotesque, as the majority of the Transformer characters turned out to suit the shape, but the G.I. Joe characters looked ridiculous and utterly wrong.
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| Kidrobot Transformers vs GI Joe - Bazooka and Soundwave |
The God of War line has one thing going for it - all the characters are seemingly the same low ratio, making this a VERY rare release from Kidrobot for attainability, but the general appearance of the characters is tantamount to the crayon drawings of a child realised in vinyl. It truly is an unattractive series and the more I (personally) look at them the more I dislike what I see.
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| Kidrobot God of War mini series (2018) |
Titans also changed things up a bit with the Dr. Who Kawaii series, dropping the renowned face and head sculpts they are best known for and opting for cute but proportionate heads - in my opinion though, the biggest and most appreciated change was the more svelte body shape. Don't get me wrong, I do like Titans, but I often find the bodies sorely lacking when so much effort has gone into the facial likeness of a character.
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| Titans Doctor Who - All Eleven Doctors series (Wave 3 - 2013) |
The Dr Who Kawaii series really was a breath of fresh air for Titans and I found myself wishing they would do more series akin to this one. Funnily enough this series was cheaper than the regular Titans vinyls which just made them all the more desirable, but sadly hard to find.
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| Titans Doctor Who - The 13 Doctors Kawaii series |
Funko made themselves a household name globally with Pop! Vinyls but as they went into mass production and over licensed characters the quality control quickly plummeted. When they released Mystery Minis there was an instant appeal to the price and initially, almost bulletproof quality control. Earlier series were easily identifiable characters and series with almost signature hoofed feet and pupil-less eyes. Later series did diversify when licensing required bobble heads, but they were still easily identified and recognisable as Funko.
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| Funko - The Walking Dead Mystery Minis series 3 |
Although hugely anticipated, the pre-release promotional images for the Deadpool Mystery Minis series were an immediate turn off, and once the ratios were confirmed this was solidified for me. The oversized bobble heads and emaciated bodies were instantly unappealing, but compounded with the fact they could barely stand on their own and were easily breakable, it made the awful ratios moot. Overall, they come across poorly conceived and rushed into production without thought.
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| Funko - Marvel Deadpool Mystery Minis series (Target exclusive) |
There have been early changes that have worked well for a company and the first to come to mind has to be The Loyal Subjects, with the best example of this being the dramatic change between wave one and two of G.I. Joe. Series one opted for an odd crossover marriage (and nod to) Kidrobot kind of meets Titans with bizarre macaroni elbow arms and a general unattractive aesthetic. There was resemblance to the characters they were meant to be, but they just weren't anything new or special and with a higher price scale, really not worth collecting. On the other hand, wave two of G.I. Joe found a completely amazing and seemingly out-of-nowhere evolution to their sculpts as well as the welcome addition of action figure style articulation.
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| The Loyal Subjects - G.I.Joe wave one |
By wave two, The Loyal Subjects had clearly thought long and hard on what they personally wanted in a blind boxed toy, obviously while fondly remembering the toys and action figures of their respective youths. With slightly disproportionate heads which were well sculpted and well suited to their equally detailed and fully articulated bodies it was like literally being a kid again and NEEDING to collect the whole set. In fact with figures all coming with a collector card and the majority of characters accompanied by an amazingly diverse array of accessories and weapons I found myself anxious for them to obtain further licenses and give them this treatment (which they have, and continue to do).
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| The Loyal Subjects - G.I.Joe wave two |
Which company has released your most favourite series? Who released your least favourite? Do you agree or disagree? Comment below and let us know!
Check out the Kidrobot range currently available at Mighty Ape here
Check out the Titans range currently available at Mighty Ape here
Check out the Funko range currently available at Mighty Ape here
Check out the The Loyal Subjects range currently available at Mighty Ape here
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