Just When I Thought I Couldn't Hate Toys More... The Gorn Wacky Wobbler!

The Good: It resembles the Gorn.
The Bad: Cheap, Tippable, Ridiculous Look, No posability.
The Basics: A disappointing pseudo-collectible, the Gorn Wacky Wobbler is not worth buying.


Just when I thought I couldn't hate cheap, shoddy merchandising more, I discovered Blammoids. Seriously. A few weekends ago, my wife and I were out at a local comic book shop we've been frequenting of late for Star Wars figures and we discovered the Blammoids toys and I came home ready to righteously pan them only to discover they weren't available for review on the site I used to write on. That stinks. It also left me with some perspective when I pulled the Wacky Wobbler Gorn bobblehead toy out of a box I was going through.

After all, Blammoids are ridiculous, terrible and utterly unworth buying for many reasons, including they bear no real resemblance to the characters they claim to. Funko's Gorn Wacky Wobbler does look like a Gorn. It even has more detail than the Gorn Mini-Mate. But as I sat mulling over how to rate this toy, I realized that's what Funko is hoping. They are hoping that their ridiculous looking toy might not seem quite as ridiculous by comparison and that fans will excuse all of the stuff it doesn't do in favor of a mild rating based upon the fact that it looks pretty much like what it claims. If Blammoids are an argument for a zero out of ten rating, Funko's Wacky Wobbler of the Gorn is still a crappy, low-rated toy.

Basics

For those unfamiliar with the concept and the execution, Funko Wacky Wobblers are a bobblehead style toy which is basically a statue figure that has an abnormally large head set atop a spring. The plastic toy has somewhat distorted features and does not do anything as much as it sits where it is put and reacts mildly to vibrations. The Gorn Wacky Wobbler is part of Funko's Star Trek line which has gone a long way to helping to prove that Trekkers will not just buy anything that says Star Trek on it!

The Gorn was seen in only one episode of Star Trek (the original Series) and it was the prime antagonist in the episode "Arena" (click here for my review of the episode!). Funko has replicated the green lizard creature in Wacky Wobbler form as a 7" tall inaction figure. The figure is a lighter green than the actual Gorn was in "Arena," though it does have the general form and appearance of the Gorn captain including the alien's tunic, clawed hands and the stone knife it used in the episode. The Gorn comes embedded on a pedestal stand which keeps it stable and from tipping over when one whacks the head.

This is a fair toy interpretation of the Gorn, mostly because there is nothing else from "Star Trek" that looks quite like this alien creature.

Accessories

The Gorn comes with no accessories.

Playability

Wacky Wobblers are, by their nature, pretty terrible on the playability front. They are not posable as the feet are molded to the stand they come on and the Gorn is no exception to that. The Gorn has articulation at the shoulders where the arms are on simple swivel joints, but the overall playability is still incredibly low. Sure, the Gorn comes with the stone knife in its left hand, but it is molded in there, so it cannot be removed. Peace never breaks out with the Gorn and the other "Star Trek" Wacky Wobblers!

But, the main function of a Wacky Wobbler is the spring under the head which allows it to move. The Gorn's spring - at least with mine - is surprisingly tight, so it reacts more when hit as opposed to bobbing around like a bobblehead. As such, this becomes a weird stress-reliever as opposed to an exciting, playable toy.

Collectibility

The Wacky Wobblers have sold generally poorly, which tends to point to the idea that they were overproduced in an already saturated collectibles market. It's always nice to know geeks won't buy just anything. Still, the Gorn Wacky Wobbler has done fairly well arguably because it is a recognizable alien and because Bobby Clark, who was the man stuck inside the Gorn costume, does conventions and is happy to autograph virtually any Gorn product, including the Wacky Wobbler.

Overview

Not fun to play with, more recognizable by default (and the nameplate on the base), the Gorn Wacky Wobbler is a novelty toy that quickly loses its novelty. "Star Trek" fans can do better with virtually any other Gorn toy.

For other toys which are quite a bit better, please check out my reviews of:
Dash Rendar's Outrider Shadows Of The Empire Vehicle toy
Wonder Woman Series 1 Circe action figure
Two-Face 1:6 Scale doll

2/10

For other toy reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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