Good and evil is a never-ending black & white struggle in Disney movies and, to apparently commemorate that struggle, Funko has a Mystery Minis series devoted to some of Disney's most iconic heroes and villains.
The series (which we saw at NY Toy Fair 2015) features Ursula and Ariel (The Little Mermaid), a snow monster Marshmallow and Anna (Frozen; which still need to see), Captain Hook and Peter Pan (Peter Pan), Jafar and Jasmine (Aladdin; why they couldn't just do Aladdin himself is beyond me), Hopper and Heimlich (A Bug's Life, which I saw but still needed to Google to remember who these guys were; I did think Antz was better, though), and finally Captain Gantu and Lilo (Lilo & Stitch, which I never saw).
The rivalries seen here are somewhat interesting. Ursula (being one of Disney's big 3 or 4 villains) and Ariel was something of a no-brainer. Jafar, of course, ranks right up there with Ursula (but I *STILL* don't understand picking Jasmine over Aladdin or even Genie). However, there's ALREADY a Frozen Mystery Minis series at retail now which makes those two a little redundant and I can't imagine A Bug's Life having the same prestige as a lot of other series (such a grown Simba vs Scar from The Lion King, for instance).
The figures themselves are... different. The sculpting is solid as usual, but each character has a slanted eye effect which I'm assuming is them giving their opponents the evil eye. Ariel, for whatever reason, breaks this trend because she's actually looking away (although I love her huffy expression).
For most of these characters, this is their first time in the Mystery Minis line. The exceptions are the Frozen characters (which, again, are STILL at retail right now. Yes, I know Frozen is popular, but this is overkill!), Ariel (who had 3 figures in the Hot Topic exclusive version of Disney series 2), and Lilo (who appeared in Disney series 1 which opted for a different style).
The figures are individually blind-boxed with an equal 1/12 rarity (and, with any luck, I'll get the Ursula and Ariel... and maybe also Jafar). The series is slated to release in April and I'm curious as to whether it may have a Hot Topic version as well.
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