Walking Dead Mystery Minis: Merle Dixon review

Funko, the company known for licensing every pop culture property that's even vaguely well-known for their "Pop!" vinyl line of figures, is getting into the blind-boxed toy craze with Mystery Minis. They started with Disney, DC and Domo, and have now moved on to The Walking Dead. They're sold in 24-box counter dumps, with the most common figures being packed 1-in-12, and the rarity moving up from there. I picked up a bunch at the comicshop, so we're going to have "Walking Dead Wednesdays" for Horror Month!

My first purchase is the dirty meth-head redneck everybody loves to hate, Merle Dixon. Left for dead in Season 1 by Rick and the rest of the survivors, Merle makes his full return in Season 3, and that's what this figure represents: you can tell by the number of hands he has.

Merle is played by Michael Rooker in his first comicbook role (he's also going to be Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy). Although technically Merle isn't a "comicbook" character, since he was invented for the show - Funko's license for these doesn't let them do anyone who's appeared in the comics, even if they've been drastically changed. This is possibly because of a scale conflict with Art Asylum's Walking Dead Minimates: Minimates are 2⅛" tall, and the Mystery Minis are 2½", which would put them in the same bracket. But on the other hand, there's no articulation, so they may count as a different product category. We don't know.

The toy's smooth head can't do Merle's haggard looks justice, so it's a good thing he's sculpted with his bayonet arm. It's impressively detailed, from the tip of the knife to the strap around his bicep. His clothes are all dull earthtones - black shoes and undershirt, tan pants, khaki shirt - so with his pink skin and dirty blonde hair, he looks very monochromatic. He's holding a silver pistol in his left hand, but since there's no articulation, he can't aim it at anyone.

Merle is one of the 1:12 figures, so he's among the easiest to find. There's also a blood-spattered variant of him, but it's packed at the same ratio. But so far, they haven't done the other variant that you're probably expecting - maybe they're waiting for Series 2.

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5 Responses to Walking Dead Mystery Minis: Merle Dixon review

  1. Mysterious Stranger says:

    Wait... they CAN'T do any characters from the comics? So who does that leave for this line? Merle and a bunch of generic zombies?

    • yo go re says:

      So far, yeah. But if the show introduces more of its own characters, they're up for grabs...

      • Mysterious Stranger says:

        Wow... that just seems like bad business. I mean sure, Merle is a badass on the show but it's not like he's a main character. And if you don't at least have a Rick or even Glenn to pair him up against then he's just a generic zombie killer. I'm all for cool stuff from the shows we love but this line just seems like a failure waiting to happen.

        • yo go re says:

          Well the good news is Series 2 has lifted that restriction - it's got Rick, Carl, Michonne and the Governor, so clearly the comic-based characters are now available...

  2. Taruan says:

    From a quick glance it seems that you also get Daryl http://plasticandplush.com/images/2013/05/21/Funko-Walking-Dead-Minis-1.jpg and then a bunch of generic zombies

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