Approximately a thousand years ago in June 2020, I wrote a blog post about a new hobby I started during the quarantine: creating Funko Pop figurines inspired by my favorite book characters. My first project was June and Day, the protagonists of one of my all-time favorite books, Legend by Marie Lu. In that post, I talked about my research, the tools I used, the sources that inspired me, and the process behind each figurine.
When I finally finished those first two figurines, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. I was pleased with how they’d turned out, especially for a first attempt, and I was already looking forward to the next project I’d be working on.
So, naturally, since I’m an overachiever, my next project was much more ambitious: the six main characters from Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows duology.
Since I’ve already gotten into the nitty gritty of my creation process in my first post, I’m going to spend this one focusing more on each character and the choices and challenges for each one. Without further ado, here they all are, in order of creation.
Inej Ghafa
Inej, a.k.a. the Wraith, a.k.a. Knife Wife, a.k.a. the main reason this entire crew doesn’t kill each other by the middle of the book. I knew I had to portray her with at least one of her trademark knives, so I looked for a base figurine that had one. We can assume she has more hidden somewhere…
If I could do this again, I would probably pick a figurine with a braid, but I thought the hood worked just as well (and makes sense for her role in the gang as a spy and assassin). I did take some creative license with the color of her tunic. Inej is way too smart to wear something as noticeable as purple clothes when she’s working, but I’ve seen a lot of fan art that portrays her wearing deep purple, so I followed that idea. I also like that it sets her apart visually from the rest of the crew – you’ll see that everyone else sort of ends up having their own “color” in the group.
Jesper Fahey
Jesper was a lot of fun to work on, and not just because he was one of the easier ones. I’ll admit I paid a little bit more of a premium for the figurine I worked off of, but I don’t regret it one bit. You can’t have Jesper without his pearl-handled revolvers, and so naturally I had to make sure they were included here.
Unlike Kaz, who dresses more like a proper businessman, Jesper strikes me as the kind of person who wants a little more “flash” in his outfits. I decided to give him some more color with his outfit, and while it’s hard to tell from the picture, I used metallic markers to add some shiny details like buckles, buttons, etc.
Kaz Brekker
And the award for edgiest haircut goes to… Kaz.
The biggest conundrum with Kaz was deciding which hand his crow’s-head cane should go in. I ultimately chose this one because it looked better, and it was a little more stable that way. I wish I had made the cane itself stand out a little more, but oh well. I think I would also make his hair color a little lighter if I could. If I remember correctly, his hair is technically brown, but it’s so dark it’s almost black, so that’s what I was going for… but I think it’s still too dark.
But all that being said, I’m really satisfied with how he turned out!
Nina Zenik
Nina was probably the most complicated character, but it was a labor of love because she’s a queen and I adore her. I used the body from a Scarlet Witch figurine I had sitting around (my apologizes to Wanda Maximoff), but it was a bobblehead, so I had to make a few modifications to turn it into a more traditional figurine.
The main challenge came from making the body fit her book description. Nina is very clearly described as being a big person (curvy, fat, plus-size, take your pick), and to absolutely no one’s surprised, most female Funko Pops have small bodies. Part of that is due to the exaggeration proportions, sure, but she was still too small to be Nina. I added a couple layers of clay over top of the original body in order to make her more book-accurate.
Nina doesn’t wear the traditional kefta, the robe-like garment worn by Grisha like her, since she’s living away from home during the plot of Six of Crows. Still, I incorporated the red worn by Heartrenders into her coat, as well as the gold trim her robe is described as having in the book.
Matthias Helvar
Nina might have been complicated, but Matthias gave me a creativity crisis. Before the events of the book, Matthias is a Drüskelle, an elite soldier from the nation of Fjerda tasked with hunting down Grisha and bringing them to trial for crimes against nature or something like that (mm, can you feel the tension in the air?). During that time, Matthias has very distinctive long, blond hair. Through a series of events later on, he ends up in prison in Ketterdam. His hair is cut short, and stays that way for the rest of the duology.
I was torn between Long Hair Matthias and Short Hair Matthias, but I picked the latter because I felt it was more symbolic of his character development over the course of the series, and that’s all I’ll say about that.
(Also, I can’t remember if Matthias ever actually uses a gun in the series, but he looks fully prepared for the harsh Fjerdan winter, so I’m quite pleased with that).
Wylan Van Eck
Last but not least, everyone’s favorite flute-playing demolitions expert, Wylan.
I’ll admit Wylan was a bit of a rush job, but that doesn’t mean I love him any less. I think my favorite thing about him is his hair – I spent a lot of time getting the color just right, and I wanted to make sure it looked curly like it’s described in the book.
The “flute” he’s holding was originally a telescope, actually, but I smoothed over the details with clay. I would probably have given it more attention on another day, but I really don’t like working with clay, so this is probably as good as it was gonna get.
And there you have it! The gang’s all here. My next goal is to finish up the Percy and Annabeth I was working on, then I might take a break for a little while and work on some different creative projects. But we’ll see!
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