Review – Pop! Vinyl Michael Jackson (Smooth Criminal)

I have been looking at the Funko Pop! Vinyl series (Amazon.com search*) Michael Jackson toys for a little too long now, but it wasn’t until I shot photos of the Funko display at New York Toy Fair last week (post here) that I finally broke down and bought the three toys that are available. First up is Smooth Criminal, Michael Jackson as he appeared in the 1988 video.

Articulation

The Pop! Vinyl series is not known for its articulation, and Michael Jackson here lives up to the other toys in the series with only a single point of articulation — the neck — which means that no matter how you choose to display Michael in your collection he can look straight ahead with his body twisted left or right. I’d still rather see a little more in the way of articulation on this series, but for this particular piece I can say that the addition of a waist joint would be good enough for me.

Sculpt

Fantastic work by Funko at creating this cute, stylized Michael Jackson. Anyone who remembers the “Smooth Criminal” video should immediately recognize this Smooth Criminal toy . . . and that’s about the best we can ask for when talking about super-deformed toy designs. All of the lines are smooth and support the cute design, while there’s actually a little more sculpted detail in the suit and shoes than you would first expect. Click the photos to get a closer look at Michael.

Paint

The toy is mostly white plastic, as you can tell, with just a few paint apps added. For the most part the paint is functional but not masterful; look at the edges around the colors and you’ll see that almost every painted line is jagged and bleeds over into the white. If Funko would sink just a little more effort into the paint apps on the Pop! Vinyl series (Amazon.com search*) I’d be overjoyed. As it is, though, each one of the toys in this series that I’ve bought has sloppier paintwork than I like to see on my toys.

Closing Thoughts

I’ve said it before and the more of these I buy the more I stand by the concept that you should never buy just one Pop! Vinyl series (Amazon.com search*) toy. These are really incredible as a group with each toy added dramatically increasing the sheer fun look of the others already on the shelf. I suggest exploring the entire series because there’s a good chance you’ll spot a subline or two in the series that interests you; collect that subline! Seriously, toy collectors who are into the vinyl scene could do a lot worse than building a run of Michael Jackson, Monster Cereals, or Star Wars Funko toys.

Philip Reed promises to review the other two Michael Jackson Pop! Vinyl toys that he now owns . . . and he will be buying the others as they are released.