Funko Pop Alfred?

It was announced last week that toy company Funko is making an Alfred E. Neuman version of their popular “Pop” toy figures. This is being greeting mostly with disdain from MAD fans because the figure is not “Alfred-like” enough. The face is total symmetrical, the eyes are on the same horizontal, etc. It’s missing many of the trademark elements of Alfred E Neuman.

This is to be expected, however. The entire line of Funko Pop figures do exactly what they do with this Alfred doll. They totally homogenize the look of whoever or whatever character they are supposed to be into the same Pop figure style. They all have the same squat, wide head shape, far apart circles for eyes, tiny nose and mouth, and big head little body. Only the most superficial of elements are added to make it “into” somebody or some character. That’s the whole idea of the Funko Pop line. I’m sure the designers of these toys have a set format they are not allowed to deviate from, and they have to work around those limitations with their designs.

That said, it would have been pretty cool if they’d been able to stray from their basic design to capture Alfred a bit better, with the asymmetrical face and crooked eyes. I’m not disappointed by that because that was probably not ever going to happen. If I’m disappointed by anything, it’s in some of the colors. That they gave him a brown jacket. Alfred’s jacket is black or a very dark, cooler brown. His hair is a darker red/brown also. They did get the roll-cuffed jeans, red high top sneakers, red string tie and “what, me worry” hand pose right, though. I also think they handled the hair (except the color), ears, and eyebrows pretty well. Considering the restraints imposed by the Pop figure style, all in all I think they did a pretty good job. I’m getting one for the studio!