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Funko Blue Harvest Family Guy Bobble Heads

When I was a kid, back when men first walked on the moon, we had these things called bobbleheads.  Oh, they'd been around for a hundred years, made of plaster in the 19th century.  But the licensed bobbleheads we know today got their start in the 50'sm and were huge in the 60's.  While baseball players were the most common, everyone from the Beatles to Count Chockula had their own before the craze pretty much died out in the following decade.

Back then, they were made of an odd plaster/fabric sort of material, much like common character banks.  But in the 1990's, they made a resurgence with the use of cheap plastic and rotocasting.  While lots of companies have dabbled in bobble heads over the last decade, Funko and their Wacky Wobblers have dominated the market.

I have a few, mostly from their Simpsons series.  But when I heard they were doing some of the Family Guy characters from the Star Wars spoof episode Blue Harvest, I knew I had to have them.

They've done three so far, and I certainly hope we see some more.  There's Chewbrian, Quag-3PO, and the very cool Darth Stewie.  I wish Mezco had managed to pick up this license for the action figures, but I'm happy to get these as well.

They cost around $13 or so, and you can find them in stock at a number of retailers.

 






Packaging - ***
These packages aren't exactly sturdy, but they are fairly collector friendly by my definition.  You can easily remove these from the package and return them without any sort of damage.  However, if you do that too many times, you may find that the package starts showing wear.  Like I said, it's not the sturdiest.

There's some good text on the back, although it's not character specific.  There are also photos of the three figures in this first wave.

Sculpting - Stewie, Quag-3PO ***1/2; Chewbrian ***
Bobbleheads have a very specific look to them.  The heads are generally oversized, with very straight bodies.  The  long neck allows for the spring inside to bounce the head around quite a bit.

Stewie already has a huge head in comparison to his body, so the character looks like a bobblehead to start.   That means that this version doesn't look all that different from just a regular Stewie sculpt, and they've done a terrific job capturing his look from the show.  There's not a ton of detail here, but I was pleasantly surprised by the work on the chest panel and clothing.  Stewie stands just under 4 inches tall, separate from the base and Death Star that he's standing on.

Quagmire also has a pretty serious bobblehead as a character, so his appearance as C-3PO is pretty close to reality, or the reality defined by the cartoon anyway.  The detail work on his body is surprisingly good considering the medium, and I love the sculpted expression.  Quagmire stands 6 1/4" tall without the base.

Brian doesn't really have the bobble head thing going on as a character, so his slightly bigger head does look a little odd.  Of course, if you're a bobblehead collector, that's the point.  But if you were looking for a perfect representation of Brian as Chewbacca, this one is not quite it due what I'll call the 'bobblehead effect'.

Still, there's some reasonable detailing in his fur, and the expression is good.  He's my least favorite sculpt of the three, but he still looks decent with the other two. He stands about 4 1/4" tall without the base.

And while I said 'without the base' when giving their heights, don't let that confuse you.  The figures are NOT removable from the bases.

I've included a photo at the end of the review showing Stewie and Brian with a Mezco Peter and Stewie.  As you can see, the scale isn't that far off, certainly not as much as I had expected.  They are a smidge big, but I think they'll incorporate with the Mezco line pretty well when they're all on the shelf together.  They certainly look better together than I expected!

Paint - Stewie, Brian ***; Quagmire **1/2
None of the three have serious paint issues, but they don't have the kind of exceptional work that some specialty market action figures do.

Stewie does the best of the three in this category, with a very clean job on his face, and a nice even black over the outfit and helmet.  He also has the best detail work on the front of his costume, although there's still a bit more slop than I'd like.

Quagmire could actually use a little more detailing in the wiring colors around his waist, and there's also more slop there than on the other figures.  The gold metallic paint has a nice bright shine, but it's a bit inconsistent in the coverage on some places on the body.  The work on the head is much better though, and much more consistent.

Brian suffers from the least amount of detail, and the consistent brown is rather dull.  He needed something to punch him up a bit more, but what's here is relatively clean.

Articulation - *
This really isn't a category for bobbleheads, and it won't effect my overall in a negative way.  But I wanted to mention that the neck joint CAN be used to pose the head a bit.  If you notice in my Stewie photos, I have him looking in a couple different directions.  The spring can be twisted and bent a bit to get the look you want, although I wouldn't recommend over doing it or doing it too often.

Fun Factor - **1/2
These are collectibles, not toys.  They were never intended as toys, even fifty years ago.  Still, kids have always had fun with them, and adults that remember them from their youth will have the nostalgic factor as well.

Value - **1/2
These aren't as complicated as action figures.  They don't sport the articulation or accessories that action figures of the same size and price point do. But they are an expensive license, of that I have no dobut, AND they tend to be produced in very low quantities.  Those two factors end up getting these an average value score.

Things to Watch Out For - 
Not a thing.

Overall - Darth Stewie ***1/2; Quag-3PO, Chewbrian ***
These are great fun for the desk or cubicle, and fans of Family Guy and Star Wars are likely to snag them up.  Even casual fans are going to love Stewie, and I certainly hope that Funko produces more in this series.  I'd love Lois as Leia, Peter as Han and Chris and Luke for the next wave.

Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - Stewie, Quagmire ***1/2; Brian ***
Paint - ***
Articulation - *
Fun Factor - **1/2
Value -  **1/2
Overall - Darth Stewie ***1/2; Quag-3PO, Chewbrian ***

Where to Buy -
Check your favorite e-tailer, since that's your best bet for finding these:

- Alter Ego Comics has them for $12 each.

- Related Links -
I've covered plenty of Family Guy items:

- Here's my reviews of wave 1, wave 2, wave 3, wave 4, wave 5, wave 6, wave 7, and wave 8.

- there's the boxed sets, including the Peter and Lois two pack, series 1.5 family boxed set, and the Peter and Chicken two pack.

- Finally, there's the review of the large talking Stewie, and the deluxe Evil Monkey.

 

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Figure from the collection of Michael Crawford.

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