Ned Stark (GoT Mystery Mini)

 

I’m one of those people who didn’t read the books before watching Game of Thrones on HBO. The amount of promotional images and media centered around Ned Stark certainly gave the impression that Ned Stark was going to be the main protagonist of the story. The end of season one had a big twist spoiler. (Yes, I mention it near the end.) So, it is only fitting that Funko’s Game of Thrones series 1 Mystery Mini blind boxes included him.

The pose they picked for Sean Bean’s character is one I’m pretty sure was used in one of those above mentioned promo shots. Both hands on the hilt of a sword in front of him. He looks very proud and regal in this pose. The shot is from the first episode where he is about to behead a ne’er do well.

The eyes sell this one of me. The very heavy brow lines give his face a very stern expression. Unlike Jon Snow, Ned’s beard and mustache have a bit of sculpt to them instead of just being painted on. Because of this he doesn’t have a painted mouth, again adding to the stern look.

The hair is sculpted with a part in the middle. His ears are poking from the sides. I thought his ears didn’t show because he has fairly long hair. Looking at the reference photos though, it seems they show some of the time and are visible in the photo this is based on. His little funky pony tail is present on the back, as well.

I thought his cape was a direct repaint of Snow’s, but it’s not. I suspect these might be digitally sculpted and that was tweaked a bit. Ned has both shoulders under it and Jon only has one.

Ned’s hands are gloved and holding on to the sword. The silver and brown look fine. I have two small issues with the sword. It’s really flexible and mine is bent in towards his feet. It’s not a huge deal, and honestly most people wouldn’t notice. However, The tip of the sword is a couple millimeters off the ground. That bugs me more. He’s clearly meant to be leaning on it but it’s floating in the air. It would be really hard to comfortably hold a sword like that. In general,  a little bigger sword would have fit a bit nicer here.

There is a hidden bit of detail behind the sword. His belt end is hanging down in front of him and has been painted brown. I’ve had this figure for a bit, and didn’t notice that until I started writing this!

I’m pretty glad I managed to snag a Ned, even if it took multiple Jon Snows to find one. The fact that people are still are still talking about Ned this long after season one serves as testament to how well poor Sean Bean’s single season portrayal of Ned managed to hook us in. If anything, this set us up for the fact that in the Game of Thrones world, anybody could die at any time. I do have to take off a bit for that sword thing. It just bugs me.

Engineernerd Score: 85/100

 

Tags: Funko, Game of Thrones, GoT, Mystery Mini, Ned Stark, Sean Bean, Winterfell

Category: Featured, Game of Thrones, Toy Reviews