Funko ReAction: The Dark Crystal: Landstrider and Jen
Today I'll be looking at a 2016 Comic Convention exclusive set of toys. Care to take a guess where I got them?
If you guessed San Diego, you'd be wrong. Actually, you'd be wrong if you said Ebay, too. Turns out, these are now available at Toys R Us for $25, Convention Exclusive sticker and all.
Let's start with some background. Funko is mainly known for their "Pop" figures, a massive line of low-end vinyl figures from damn near every license imaginable. They're quite good for their price point, but that's not a style that interests me all that much.
If you guessed San Diego, you'd be wrong. Actually, you'd be wrong if you said Ebay, too. Turns out, these are now available at Toys R Us for $25, Convention Exclusive sticker and all.
Let's start with some background. Funko is mainly known for their "Pop" figures, a massive line of low-end vinyl figures from damn near every license imaginable. They're quite good for their price point, but that's not a style that interests me all that much.
More recently, they started producing "ReAction" figures, a nostalgic throwback to 70's and 80's era Kenner figures. There are quite a lot of these available for everything from The Flash to Alien and Gremlins.
Before going on, I should probably mention that, by and large, I kind of hate this line. The figures are minuscule with extremely simplistic sculpts. I've passed them up for $2 on clearance on the logic that they're little more than glorified dollar store toys.
That said, there is an exception, and it's the figure I'm looking at today.
Before going on, I should probably mention that, by and large, I kind of hate this line. The figures are minuscule with extremely simplistic sculpts. I've passed them up for $2 on clearance on the logic that they're little more than glorified dollar store toys.
That said, there is an exception, and it's the figure I'm looking at today.
Technically, this is two figures: the Landstrider and Jen, from The Dark Crystal. Jen is pretty comparable to other figures I've seen in this line, which isn't actually a problem. While he's not perfect, he's fine at this scale - the character should only be about three feet tall. His scale fits in pretty well with the Skeksis figure NECA produced about seven years ago.
Same goes for the Landstrider, which is of course the reason to buy this set. It's still a somewhat toyish looking approximation of the movie creatures, but it comes much closer than anything else in this line does to its source. The face is far too simplistic, and the ears don't look remotely right, but the textured arms look great. It conveys the sense of the creature, even if it's not screen accurate, and that's good enough for me.
Same goes for the Landstrider, which is of course the reason to buy this set. It's still a somewhat toyish looking approximation of the movie creatures, but it comes much closer than anything else in this line does to its source. The face is far too simplistic, and the ears don't look remotely right, but the textured arms look great. It conveys the sense of the creature, even if it's not screen accurate, and that's good enough for me.
Really, Jen is an accessory himself, but he's got something small, as well. He comes with his small flute. It's nothing spectacular, but it's nice enough, all things considered.
Articulation on the Landstrider and Jen both is pretty minimalist. The Strider has joints on the shoulders, hips, and neck - about what you'd expect from toys forty years ago. Jen's got the same five joints. And, in case it wasn't obvious, these are all simple pins for the limbs and cuts for the neck.
There are a handful of scrapes on the Lanstrider where the paint's chipped off. I'm not sure if this happened in the factory or while I was pulling it out of its packaging. It's not a huge deal, but you can clearly see these imperfections in the photos.
Overall, this wasn't an awful deal at $25, but it didn't feel like a bargain, either. Still, I'm happy to have another iconic movie creature to compliment my Skeksis on the shelf. If NECA or someone else ever picks up The Dark Crystal licence again and produces a high quality version, I'll swap this out in a heartbeat. But in the meantime, this is better than I ever expected to see out of the ReAction line.
Overall, this wasn't an awful deal at $25, but it didn't feel like a bargain, either. Still, I'm happy to have another iconic movie creature to compliment my Skeksis on the shelf. If NECA or someone else ever picks up The Dark Crystal licence again and produces a high quality version, I'll swap this out in a heartbeat. But in the meantime, this is better than I ever expected to see out of the ReAction line.