Brienne of Tarth is the 8th figure in Funko's Legacy range of 6 inch figures from Game of Thrones. She is part of the second series of figures, released in 2014, and made up of 5 other figures including Robb Stark and Jamie Lanister.
Like all Funko GoT figures, Brienne comes in a display box with the box colour scheme of each box being aligned to a faction or house from Westeros. Brienne's box is a grey colour with the Westeros map in the bottom left insert. The rear of the box shows a screen image of Brienne, as played by Gwendoline Christie, and a listing of all 6 figures that make up series 2.
Out of the box and Brienne stands an impressive 6 1/2 inches high, a tad taller when scaled up than the reported with the 6'2 height of Christie herself. It is also nice, although not really relevant, that this figure is a similar height to Hasbro's Captain Phasma from Star Wars - also played by Christie.
I haven't found a GoT figure from Funko as yet who does not have a stunning sculpt, as you would expect when being delivered from Gentle Giant. Brienne's headsculpt captures the stern and determined look that Christie potrays on screen. The armour is beautifully detailed and decorated with varying panels from a bronze chestplate across overlaying shoulder pieces, elbows and bracers. Brienne sports two belts down into a chequered texture skirt piece. Beneath this are plain trousers which tuck into knee height armoured boots. Everything is crisp and well detailed, and my only criticism would be the lack of a helmet which I think would have been nice as a display option.
I usually find that Funko figures are painted to a good standard, but then let down with some sloppy finishing on certain areas. This thankfully is not the case with Brienne. From the head the eyes are neatly picked out and the lips done in subtle tone rather than going with a brighter red that we seem to find on many female figures. The hair is painted blonde, with a darker brown wash which not only adds depth, but gives Brienne that bedraggled look she sports in battle.
The armour is bronze in the main, but has been washed in a black to bring out the lines and joints of the armour. The arms have a blue metallic armour under the bronze and this is also washed and in cases dry-brushed on the edges to add a touch of bronze. The skirt is a plain green, but with the chequered sculpt it captures the light well enough to bring out the definition. The trousers, most of which are hidden under the skirt, are painted and then dry-brushed in a lighter grey tone which in reality wouldn't have been missed. Like the armour, the boot shin armour are bronze painted and washed and the final boots underneath a green leather. All the belts and fastenings are neatly painted with buckles trimmed out in a dull gold. The Sword sheath is a lighter brown with darker brown leather wraps and the sword is then decorated with a silver blade and a two colour hilt.
All good so far. So let's look at the final element, articulation.
Like all Funko figures I have handled so far, the figure still feels a little weak in the joints and I would recommend heating them up with a hair-dryer prior to moving them about too much. Although Series 2 seems to be more robust than the earlier Series 1 figures I still think there is a risk. The head is sat on a ball joint (I am told can also be easily popped off and swapped onto the Hasbro Phasma figure) and rotates the full way around the body, it does however lack any significant up and down movement due to the high collar of the armour.
Both arms are jointed at the shoulder, and the armour panels here are done in a flexible rubber to aid movement. This means that Brienne can get her arms out to 90 degrees to her body, you won't however get any further than this without potentially ripping off the armoured shoulder panels. The elbow is jointed just under the larger elbow armour and the wrist is neatly done with a pivot and swivel with the hand armour moving with the joint - although this armour does stick out in a weird way with certain hand positions. You can feel a waist joint, but it does not move, so the next points of articulation are at the hips. These feel to have a good range of movement, but you are blocked by the skirt in all directions. That leaves you with simply getting Brienne into wider leg stance rather than a one legged kneel or sitting position. The knees are double jointed, and with the two joints you can get Brienne to a double kneel - but the rigid sheath stops this being of any use. The leg articulation ends with rocker ankle joints.
To sum up, there is very little wrong at all with Brienne of Tarth. I have mentioned the lack of a helmet, which may have been nice, but isn't a deal breaker as she only really wore this in one scene in Season 2. I have also spoken about the fragility of the figures - but I have had nothing break on Brienne and this issue is certainly not exclusive to Funko, with NECA figures needing a similar treatment. The sculpt is beautifully realised and enhanced with some fantastic paint applications considering this is a £20 figure. If you want to niggle about articulation, a two handed sword stance would have been nice. Considering all that, there is not quite enough for a perfect 5, but Brienne walks away with a very high 4 out of 5.
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