Perhaps the last thing you are thinking about when watching an episode of Game of Thrones is rather cute action figures (In all honesty, isn't it much more likely to be 'I'm never going to trust anyone ever again and, frankly, weddings are riiiiight out!') but if you can avert your eyes from the back-stabbing, duplicitous agendas and general bloody shenanigans for a few seconds, then you'll probably start to notice that there's a fair amount of official tie-ins to be seen for the hit HBO show. And, frankly, Funko's latest range of collectible figures - in this case the Tyrion-sized Mystery Minis - are just the right side of cute that you may finally be able to sleep without a dagger under your pillow. Maybe.
The larger range of Funko's figurines - their POP! range - are now a fairly familiar site at comic-shops and even some book-stores (in the US's Barnes & Noble chain they frequently have their own unit to be displayed in) and the range seems to increase every month with an assortment of officially-licensed tie-ins from television series and feature films. Their big heads and little bodies are pretty unmistakable. The 'mystery-minis' range is a reduced size version, but still every inch (about two to be exact) an obvious cousin to the POP! figurines.
The Game of Thrones range is the latest of the Funko tie-ins with sixteen characters to collect, including rarer glow-in-the-dark White Walkers. The catch is, of course, that the 'mystery' part of the 'Mystery-Minis' means that collectors are going in 'blind' with their purchases, meaning there's no real way to know which of those sixteen you'll end up with. Even multiple orders from the newly-opened HBO shop (which the Game of Thrones range is helping to promote) couldn't absolutely guarantee you wouldn't get duplicates. Will it be Robb Stark, Jon Snow, Arya Stark, King Joffrey, Daenerys Targaryen, Khal Drogo, Jaime Lannister, Tyrion Lannister, Ned Stark, Viserion, Ghost, Shaggy Dog, Drogon, Rhaegal, or a White Walker (normal or glowing)... there's the rub.
Whichever you do get, the quality is pretty high. Take for instance the 'White Walker' variant who comes with a spear as accessory (because, what sensible Game of Thrones character isn't armed these days?). The vinyl figure is meant as a collectible rather than a toy (it's small enough to be a choking hazard) and frankly the show isn't for kids anyway... but it will stand up to a fair amount of handling and its bright colours don't appear to dull with handling. However it's the kind of object you'd probably want on your desk or mantlepiece rather than lost in the depths of the toybox.
It's easy to see how Funko's products have become the success they are and even if there's a temptation to go for the more sure-fire, guaranteed POP! choices and take out the risk factor, there's still the attraction that these smaller variants are slightly cheaper and more likely to 'swap' or 'exhange' with fellow collectors.
So it appears 'Games' has 'Toys'. Now all we need is a throne to let them fight over...
