Funko Pop Goes to the Races
Get these Pops only if you’re a big fan of TN:TBRB or if you’re one of those collectors that need every single Funko Pop ever made.
Funko Pop has become synonymous with pop culture creations. They’ve created characters from Star Wars, Marvel Comics, Game of Thrones, and The Walking Dead to name a very few. If it’s pop culture, Funko Pop has made a bobble head or figure for it.
You may not automatically think of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby as a candidate for Pop incarnation. However, just in time for its 10th anniversary and the return of NASCAR, Funko Pop has released the first wave of Pops from the now classic Will Ferrell movie.
We should have been more excited about Funk Pop creating Pops from TN:BoRB. It’s one of our favorite movies around the office. Even after a dozen viewings we still laugh and continue to quote the movie. However, the Pops don’t live up to the movie.
What makes Pops so awesome is their distinctiveness and how the figures are caricatures of the characters they’re based on. Unfortunately, there is nothing remotely distinctive about the first wave of Talladega Nights.
I assume Funko couldn’t get the rights to the name brands used on the jumpsuits in the movie. Instead, Funko went with stylized versions of the Old Spice, Wonder Bread, and Perrier logos. The remade logos are actually the best thing about the Pops. You don’t need to see the words “Wonder Bread” on the front of Ricky Bobby’s jumpsuit to know it’s Wonder Bread. Funko did a good job with logos.
It’s actually a good thing they couldn’t get the rights. Unlike other Pops, there isn’t really anything distinguishing or stylized about these Pops. They’re missing the Wow-Factor many other Pops have.
The Ricky Bobby, for lack of anything nice to say, is just average. It could have been any body from the discard pile with any head slapped on top of it. It’s a shame Funko couldn’t have done something more for a character as wild as Ricky Bobby.
The Jean Giraud Pop is only slightly better because of the evil arched eyebrows. However, Sacha Baron Cohen is so distinctive in real life it should have been easy to come up with something more than arched eyebrows.
Cal Naughton Jr. is the best of the first wave. It’s the pornstache that sets the Naughton Pop apart from the other two Pops. It’s just a mustache, but it’s so overdone it makes the Pop stand out. The receding hairline and forehead creases are a nice touch.
Overall, the Talladega Nights Pops are some of the weakest Pops to come out in quite some time. Get these Pops only if you’re a big fan of TN:TBRB or if you’re one of those collectors that need every single Funko Pop ever made.
