Funko Pop Goes Dark With Black Phillip
Funko Pop brings the most evil Pop in its horror line to toy shelves everywhere. You’ve been warned.
The Funko toy company makes vinyl and plastic figures under the brands Vynl, Vinyl Idolz, Rock Candy, Dorbz, Mystery Minis, Retro (Current comic book and movie characters made to look like action figures from the 80s), Fabrications, Mopeez, Legacy Collections, and Hikari. There most famous toy line, the line responsible for their rise in the toy industry and the one most people know, is the Pop.
The Pop, like most of Funko’s figures and bobbleheads, are cute, stylized versions of the properties they’re based on. Funko has the property licenses for almost every movie, comic book, video game, and cartoon property you can think of and some you have never heard of before. Basically, they have a license for almost everything under the sun and rumor has it they may have the license to the sun too. Be careful, they may buy the license to you next.
It’s not unusual for Funko to make a Pop from properties that weren’t hits or blockbusters, but those properties usually have some sort of nostalgic attachment to them. No one would confuse The Sandlot as a mega blockbuster. However, over the years it has gained quite the following. Pops based on the movie are rolling off the assembly line right now.The Witch: A New England Folktale wasn’t a box office smash. It didn’t gain traction until the movie was released on blu-ray and streaming services.
The Witch was one of the best movies released in 2016. It is also one of the most singularly disturbing, and some would say terrifying, movies to come out in the 21st Century. The Witch is about a family in 17th Century America banished from their colony over religious differences. The family’s life on their new land goes from bad to sinister to evil. The Witch is a story of black magic, witches, paranoia, and selling your soul to Satan. Leading, for the lack of a better word, the way into demonic possession for young Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) is the goat Black Phillip.
There’s no other Funko Pop as evil as Black Phillip. Black Phillip is the Devil. You can call him Satan or any other religious name you want to call him. You could argue Pinhead,an angel of Hell or a demon, from the Hellraiser franchise may have been creepy at one point in time. Somewhere along the way, probably after the second movie, the Hellraiser franchise went from tearing souls apart to adventures in space. It’s not really the thing that strikes fear into anyone.
Even the Pops based on the Halloween, Friday the Thirteenth, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre aren’t creepy or scary. These franchises were scary at one point in time. After countless sequels, ridiculous plot twists, and ridiculous ways to keep the main characters coming back for the next installment (Jason being brought back to life by lightning) no one would consider these movies scary. There’s no immediate reaction to the Michael Myers or Jason Voorhess Pops except for that it may be a cool Pop or you want it to complete a collection.
Black Phillip on the other hand is anything but cute. The Black Phillip Pop brings the movie immiedatly to mind. You can hear Black Phillip say, “Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?” The traditional huge head Funko uses on their Pops only serves to make the Pop more demonic appearing. The yellow eyes aren’t as cute as they are on other Pops because you associate those eyes with the Devil in The Witch.
Why is the Black Phillip Pop more disturbing than the other Pops in the horror line? It could be The Witch hasn’t become a parody of itself like the other Pops in the horror line. When you see the Pop your mind immediately goes to the movie. You not only see the scenes of Black Phillip tempting Thomasin, but you also see the scene of her brother vomiting up an apple and the scene of the witch killing a child. No other Pop can recreate scenes do vividly for the fans.
Get the Black Phillip Pop now. Odds are it’s going to be “vaulted.” Vaulted is Pop collector speak for Funko’s not making it anymore. The price is going to sky rocket when Funko vaults Black Phillip. So, if you want to pay thirty or more dollars plus shipping wait to get the Black Phillip Pop. If you want to spend a reasonable amount of money then buy it now. Either way the Black Phillip Pop will be a wicked cool addition to your collection.
