Review : Khal Drogo Game of Thrones (Funko Legacy) Wave/Series : Collection 2, #10 Released : October 2014
Price : £14.99 - £19.99
Without spoiling the end of this review, I think I may have a new favourite Game of Thrones figure!
Khal Drogo is number 10 in the Funko Legacy Game of Thrones range, landing in late 2014 as part of the section collection of numbers 7 through 12. Drogo, as not aligned with any of the four main houses, arrives in a bronze/brown box and instead of a sigil in the lower left circular insert you get instead a map of Westeros. This same image has been used on other "non aligned" figures such as the White Walker and Brienne of Tarth. As usual the left hand side is drawn up like a book spine with the GoT logo, character name and a repeat of the circular badge - or in this case map. Round the back is an image of Drogo from the TV series as played by Jason Momoa and a text checklist of all 6 figures in this 2nd wave.
Sliding Drogo out of the box, and it is clear that he is possibly the most "geared up" GoT figure to date. In his perspex tray he is surrounded by four varying weapons, that is double what any other figure has had to date in this range. Drogo stands just 6 inches high, and at 1/12 scale that puts him at 6ft high where as Momoa is actually 6ft 4. This isn't a massive variance, but I would have liked Drogo to have a bigger stature on display, something comparable to Brienne or The Hound.
The sculpt on Drogo is insanely good, capturing that stoic facial expression initially and around this the intricate beard and the pony tail which reaches down past his waist and is sculpted in a rubbery material to give it some play. The top half of the chest, the exposed bit, is well defined and that muscle definition carries upwards into the neck and down the arms. Each arm finishes in wrist wraps, and each wrap - left and right - is a different design and texture, a nice touch when they could have used the same on both. The hands are also wrapped in a bandage, and again each hand is different with the right covered fully up the knuckles, while the left is only across half the back of the hand. Back to the torso and just under the chest the outfit starts with the leather girdle (for want of a better word). This is sculpted to include tribal decorations and stitchings front and back, and is inclusive of two straps which will hold some of Drogo's weaponry.
The belt is meant to be an intricate horse design, and it is here that the figure doesn't quite capture the detail, being a little undefined. From the belt hangs a textured skirt piece and then we go down into a pair of flared trousers which are suitably ruffled and folded to match the behaviour of real cloth. The feet are done in leather look boots, and despite being covered by the hem of the trousers, you can still see defined straps and fastenings under the trouser legs.
All of this is painted really well. The face is suitably weathered, with darkened eye sockets and into these extremely sharp white eyes with blue pupil. A scar is delicately painted over the left eye and the beard and hair are drawn out with a base coat and a dry brush in a lighter brown. Across the chest and shoulders are extremely crisp tribal tattoos and they run right round onto the back of the figure. Strappings and bandages are painted and weathered, as is the lower girdle - none of this figure is unnaturally clean and he looks like he has just stepped out of his tent into the desert. The one bit that does let the figure down is that belt, not only is it undefined in sculpt, it seems to be lazily painted in a gold finish, but they haven't painted all the way over the items, so parts of it remain the same brown as the clothing above it. Down into the trousers and thankfully we are back on form with both a darker wash into the folds of the cloth, but some reasonably realistic sand/dust spray around the knees and up the back of the calves and thighs.
Articulation was always going to be better on Drogo. Unlike armoured and cloaked figures like Brienne or Robb Stark, Drogo is free of a lot of the sculpted parts that will restrict movement. To that end he is pretty awesome to pose. His head rotates fully, with the beard and hair subtle enough to flex with the movement of the head. Both shoulder joints are fully moveable up and down and to the side, the only downside is that you lose the lines of the chest tattoo's when the arms are moved away from the neutral stance. If there is a chest or waist joint, it is fully hidden and locked behind the girdle.
Both legs move freely with joints at the hip allowing a full range of movement. Unlike many Funko figures of this type which are stiff and fragile, Drogo feels more robust - and in fact his hips are bordering on being too loose to keep him stood upright. The double jointed knees allow Drogo to kneel fully and pray to the Horse God and even though they are locked in by the sculpted trouser hem there is a rocker on the feet - although it does barely move. My one criticism on the figure I got was the thigh swivels - firstly I think these are unnecessary and secondly on mine there is a huge gap between the top section of the thigh and the bottom. This is a shame as it does detract from a pretty awesome overall figure.
As I said early, Drogo comes with four individual weapons. The first are a pair of curved daggers. These are quite plain in design, and painted a tad sloppily with the gold of the hilt running onto the blade (looks like the person in charge of gold paint in the Funko factory has let us down here). These blades fit in either hand, and then also slot into the sheaths either side of Drogo's chest. The larger curved sickle type blades are a much darker and duller finish. They have been dry-brushed in silver and silver detail painted onto the fastenings. The smaller weapon's dry brush is a bit too heavy handed for my liking but that's only really visible up close. Again, like the daggers, these larger weapons fit neatly into either hand.
I started this review with the bold statement that this may be my new favourite Game of Thrones figure, and after looking at him closely through the review I can safely say I was right. Drogo has very few flaws that have plagued other GoT releases such as breaking joints, poorly or lack of weathering and a lack of accessories. He doesn't quite do enough to get that perfect 5 out of 5. As much as I would love to give him top marks, I think the sloppy gold paint and the dodgy thigh joints do lose him one mark, therefore I score Drogo a very strong 4 out of 5.
