Jaime Lannister

The first series of Game of Thrones figures was not without its problems. So-so likenesses, lots of breakage... and yet they still won Best Line in the 2014 ToY Awards. How? By addressing all those problems and improving, fast. Squired for Barristan Selmy against the Kingswood Outlaws. Knighted and named to the Kingsguard in his 16th year for valor in the field. At the Sack of King's Landing murdered his king, Aerys the second, at the foot of the Iron Throne. Pardoned by King Robert Baratheon. Thereafter known as the Kingslayer. That really underplays what a massive betrayal Jaime killing the king was: the Kingsguard takes a holy vow to defend the Iron Throne no matter what, so it's kind of the equivalent of a member of the Swiss Guard killing the pope. It takes a while before we learn just why he would do such a thing, but suffice to say he had a good reason. And yet Ned Stark judged him guilty without even asking why. Dick. Jaime is played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, a name so complex that we just copied and pasted it rather than trying to type it. The likeness is definitely better than many of the Series 1 figures, but it's still not perfect - from certain angles, it looks great, but then there are others where it just looks like some generic face. He's wearing the standard Kingsguard armor - even though he's Lord Commander, all the members wear the exact same thing, so if you want to buy seven Jaimes, you could swap alternate heads onto the body and build your whole guard. They wear golden plate armor with intricate inlays and white accents on the shoulders. Diamond-scale mail covers the upper arms, and hangs from the waist. He seems to be wearing a natural linen outfit beneath that, then armored vambraces benath simple leather gloves, and plain boots with unadorned golden greaves over the front. His white cape is so long that it drags the ground behind him. Make sure you pose it far away from the body, or it will push him over. The Kingsguard emblem changed between seasons 3 and 4 of the show - originally it was a three-pointed crown, but then it was replaced with a pattern featuring three swords. Why? Because reasons, probably. This toy gets the original design, just in case you had any question that this figure was based on one of the earlier seasons. Jimmy Whisper, here, is armed with his sword - it doesn't have a specific name, as far as we can tell, but it is quite ornate. There's a golden band wrapped around the cross-guard, and the hilt is a stylized lion head. The sword slides easily into the scabbard that hangs from his belt. And unlike some previous releases, the sword didn't break trying to get it into the scabbard, nor did the scabbard fall off the figure at the slightest touch. And speaking of things that didn't break, Jaime's articulation is as plentiful as any other figure in this line. He has swivel/hinge ankles, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, balljointed torso, swivel/hinge wrists, elbows, and shoulders, and a balljointed neck. Some of the joints were a little bit stiff, but none broke and everything got moving with just a little bit of force - no boiling or freezing required. Jaime Lannister is a good figure, and demonstrates why Game of Thrones won Best Line: none of the problems present in Series 1 continued to Series 2, meaning you can buy with confidence. -- 01/04/15

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