Toy OTD: Funko Wacky Wobbler: Bazooka Joe

Funko always treats us to dozens of pop-culture bobbleheads, ranging from very high-profile characters to quite obscure ones. It's great for a couple of reasons - we get to have toys of ad mascots that have rarely seen the light of merchandising day, and we get to enjoy them they way they were when 'we' (i.e, forty-somethings and older) were kids!

Take Bazooka Joe, for example - he hasn't looked like the nodder in quite a while. Almost every advertising character you can think of has gotten a makeover in the eighties, the nineties, or both. Joe's all but disappeared from the Bazooka website, even though it's named after him. He's been utterly eclipsed by Tha Heights, a bubble-rap group singing an admittedly catchy jingle. But I digress.

Funko's Joe may not be spot-on - the proportions of a bobblehead makes that pretty much impossible - but it's still an appealing sculpt that sufficiently captures the spirit of old-school Joe. The paint job supports the comic-strip simplicity of his design. Ideally, I'd like the pose to be a little less symmetrical, but it's a minor quibble. For the most part, I'm just happy there's an affordable Bazooka Joe figure out in the world!

This nodder isn't very old, so it's very easy to get. You can buy one for $14.95 + shipping at collectorsparadisetoys.com, or bargain hunters can get a 'nick and dent' version for $5.99 + shipping at tfaw.com. Bubble gum! Ba-zooka-zooka bubble gum! Ba-zooka-zooka...

Toy OTD: Funko Wacky Wobbler SDCC Exclusive: Scooby-Dum (2007)

I can feel your respect for me as a collector slipping away, and I'm not sure that I blame you. Scooby-Doo wasn't exactly Hanna-Barbera's creative zenith, and the show was wearing pretty thin by the time that Scooby-Dum came along. So why did I buy this?

I'm a big-time sucker for merchandise of obscure cartoon characters, and I do like how this was made. It's not perfect - the eye paint is a little weak, and it does have a(n arguably more necessary) label on it. But I like the fact that the pose is well-balanced, and that the base has been kept to a minimum (making it monochromatric - with the name sculpted on it, and not painted - might've been nice. Placing the nodder pivot at the collar is a good call, too.

This was an exclusive at the Funko booth last summer at San Diego Comic-Con. It's still for sale at toywiz.com for $69.99 + shipping (!!), a far cry from the under-$20 price that I paid. Surprisingly, eBay is the far saner option, selling there for $11.50 + $8.00 shipping. Phew! That's much better - Scooby-Dum's not that interesting a curio!

Toy OTD: Funko Sugar Bear Wacky Wobbler

Funko's primary lure (at least for me) has been their Hanna-Barbera and cereal character licenses. They're great at picking characters that few have merchandised, or at least haven't been for a good twenty-five or thirty years! Not surprisingly, Sugar Bear - the mascot for Super Sugar Crisp (now Post Honey Crisp, even though it's the same cereal) - is one of them.

Even though the cereal has undergone a name change, Funko still printed "Sugar Bear" on his sweater, a nice retro touch. The pose is a little symmetrical, but overall it's a good sculpt, nicely on-model. The paint work is fine, though quality can be a little inconsistent, so you may want to look at the toy in person (or peruse several if you can still find them in a store) to make sure you get a good paint job. The proportions are good for a nodder, so you probably won't have to worry about the head sagging or listing in a few months.

It's still easy to get this toy - in fact, it's been marked down, so you can get it reduced at cherrygames.com for $8.99 + shipping.