POP! Games – Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel

Company: Funko

Series: POP! Games

Year: 2015

As I mentioned in my Vault Boy review, Fallout 3 got me through some pretty rough times a few years ago. One of the most iconic images from the game, of course, is on the cover itself – a Brotherhood of Steel soldier, bedecked in the game’s most powerful armour.

Joining the mysterious Brotherhood is a key point of the game’s plot, occurring towards the end of the game if I recall correctly, though you can spot them at multiple points prior. The events leading up to the finale are pretty epic, so I won’t spoil them for those who haven’t played the game previously, but suffice to say that it’s great fun – even if the original ending of the game was quite disappointing.   

This POP can serve as a latter-stages player character, or simply a generic NPC character. It does a nice job of replicating the broad strokes of the costume, but doesn’t veer into “overly detailed” territory, which is nice. It’s a good caricature, which is when Funko tends to be at their best. As an example, though I really liked my AoU Captain America POP, I think the level of sculpt detail was kind of unnecessary. For the broader aesthetic Funko is going for, simpler is generally better.    

Paint is nice and even, with some very minor issues on the yellow. This is at least in part to do with him not having a lot of paint – he’s cast in faintly metallic plastic which shows up a nice swirly effect in a couple of parts, particularly the chest.    

There’s a convention exclusive of this guy too, which was released to tie in with New York Comic-Con. It’s basically the BotS body with a (male) Lone Wanderer head chucked on top. It’s a pretty cool idea for a variant, though I’m sure it’s not too hard to create the same effect via a custom. Australian readers will be able to find him at EB Games or Popcultcha.

The Brotherhood of Steel POP is the best of the Fallout series, and naturally enough seems to be quite a bit harder to get hold of. Mine was actually the display – and final – one in Kinokuniya when I picked him up! I’ve only seen a few in person, while others seem readily available. I hope that we see the series expanded, but I have a feeling that the timing was just a little off on these being released. Though certain characters are still selling well, I some have already ended up being functionally peg warmers – particularly both versions of the Vault Boy POP. Supply has far outstripped demand. Funko isn’t quite done with the Fallout license yet though – under their Legacy brand they’ll also be releasing action figures of a male Lone Wanderer and a Brotherhood of Steel soldier. It’ll be interesting to see how they turn out.