Review: Funko Pop Vinyl Star Wars Series 3: Jabba the Hutt!

The fine folks at Funko are building a bobblehead empire so vast that it is almost threatening. Through their cute and stylised, beady-eyed Pop Vinyl line they appear to have conquered more licenses than any other company, quite possibly because they have the bobble-head monopoly. Their lines to date include: Disney, Pixar, the Muppets, Marvel Heroes, DC Heroes, horror icons, videogame icons, music icons, sports icon, cult film icons, and of course, Star Wars characters. Whether you're fan of V for Vendetta, Mahna Maha, or Joey Ramon, Funko have got you covered!

And ironically, the biggest criticism I hear about this collection is the fact that they ARE bobbleheads and not just figures or statues, but I guess that's Funko's untapped niche and is exactly why they are able to secure this many characters!

Star Wars wave 3 is now hitting the shelves and when I saw this I knew it would be criminal not to add him to my collection:

When Mr. T proudly proclaimed, "Quit yo' jibber jabba, fool!" he clearly wasn't talking about this lil'

 guy. Clearly. To find out what I thought... join me after the jump!

Now, I'm doing my best to jettison the "collect them all" mentality because I've learned with other lines (coughcoughMightyMuggscough) that my favourites are somewhat diluted when surrounded by a bunch of not-so-favourites that I only bought because I didn't have. So I'm getting better, but it's a slow process. I'm healing.

That said, it was a moot point this time around as Jabba was the only one on shelf. But for the record, the back of the package shows everybody else in this wave...

I think Jabba is definitely the star of this wave, in part because of his unique shape. I'd probably grab the Leia if I saw her, not because she's one of the best designed figures, but more because I have a hell of a lot of Leia stuff. As I said... it's a slow process.

I like how these are recommended for 5+ and yet the far more sinister Darth Malgus I reviewed recently was for ages 4+. I can only guess that this is because if you popped off Jabba's head a giant rusty spring would snap into your face like an angry cobra. Although I'm guessing that Funko would deny such spurious claims.

So let's get him out of that box and take a long, hard look at him:

Heh heh heh. This thing just makes me laugh. He's just so - heh heh heh. Excuse me... 

Heh.

It's a pretty fantastic design. They seem to really nail the creature characters especially. I did notice that they've changed him a bit from the picture on the box which has the half-lidded Garfield eyes. The figure itself has wide, black beady eyes. In fact, I would hazard to say that this is the cutest rendition of gangster slug rapist/pervert despot that anyone has ever seen.

But I'm also kind of won over by the fact that Jabba is a character who isn't merchandised very often. We get a billion Vaders and stormtroopers, but it's refreshing to see an old favourite in a new light. As an on-screen creation, Jabba was almost completely responsible for selling Return of the Jedi to me as a kid and I have followed his moves and envied his lifestyle ever since.

Here he is next to two earlier favourites:

Funnily, they are a pain in the ass to photograph because when you move them their heads start bobbling and you have to wait fifteen minutes for them to calm down.

Heh heh heh and look at little Greedo there, captured mere moments before his grisly murder at the hands of gruff space-jock Han the Maniac Solo! These figures have it all. Especially if by "all" I'm referring to copious amounts of dust.

And if you need further selling on the concept, check out these promo pics of:

Pop Vinyl Muppets:

and Pop Vinyl Avengers:

What? No Black Widow! I can't believe how conservative everybody was when it came to merchandising her! Hopefully somebody is going to rectify that. My collection is crying out for another super stylised, deformed Black Widow that looks absolutely nothing like Scarlett Johansson!

What do you think?