Even among other collectible figures and merchandise, Funko POPs stand out. They have tiny bodies, short arms and legs, enormous heads, and circular, usually single-colored, eyes over nonexistent mouths. This posed a challenge to 10:10 Games, developer of the upcoming action-adventure title Funko Fusion, which wished to preserve the POPs' unique anatomy in the game. During a recent game Rant interview, 10:10 co-founder Arthur Parsons explained that the studio's dedication to the Funko anatomy proved beneficial, as it allowed for Funko Fusion to include several humorous moments and an offbeat approach to scenes of blood, guts, and horror.
Funko Fusion is an action-adventure mash-up featuring Funko POP versions of characters from over 20 different properties. An initial teaser trailer for the game, released last week, revealed that the game will include characters from Jurassic World, The Umbrella Academy, Shaun of the Dead, The Thing, and more. The decision to portray these characters with proper Funko anatomy led to some difficulties in creating the game but also opened the door to including characters and scenes from horror properties which might otherwise have been left out.
Funko Anatomy Led to Tasteful Horror
10:10 Games describes their approach to the game's horror elements as "tasteful," as the cartoonish design of Funko POPs allows them to present scary and bloody moments in a unique, unrealistic way. By nature, Parsons explained, Funko POPs are not realistic due primarily to the size of their heads relative to their bodies. This makes violent scenes featuring Funko POPs less intense because of the characters' features and anatomy. Some examples of this are shown in the trailer, including Shaun whacking a zombie to permanent death and a recreation of the infamous scene where a dog becomes possessed by the titular creature in The Thing. When asked how 10:10 Games approached these slight horror elements, Parson said,
We saw it as an opportunity! We're doing what we call "tasteful horror" - even if it's gory or bloody, it doesn't come across that way because the Funko are so cute. Plus we're going for a T rating, not an R, but it allows us to do these iconic horror scenes, these moments, in a new way.
Additionally, the game's developers were able to play around with interpretations of violent scenes featuring characters being dismembered, as these moments become comical instead of terrifying because of the Funkos' large heads and small bodies. In the trailer, Klaus from The Umbrella Academy is shown quite literally losing his head when fleeing from dinosaurs, due to the enormous cranium getting stuck in a sliding door. Parsons has additionally confirmed that the full game will feature headless bodies wandering around attempting to recover their lost body parts, bringing to mind the violent-yet comical deaths in games like Among Us and Totally Accurate Battle Simulator.
The Large Heads Will Bring A Unique Flavor To Funko Fusion
Parsons explained that adapting the Funko anatomy led to a lot of challenges in translating even the smallest movements and gestures into an animated format. He cited such tasks as removing a hat or scratching the top of their heads, which Funkos cannot perform because their short arms cannot reach the top of their heads. One particular iconic pose that needed revision was Prince Adam raising his staff about his head to transform into He-Man - the poor Funko POP version of the prince could not raise his arm high enough to complete the motion!
10:10 Games promises that players can expect plenty of humorous moments based around the Funko POPs' body shapes. One in-game example Parsons shared dealt with Funkos on a helicopter, detailing it as
"[A] scene where some characters are in one of the helicopters from Jurassic World and their bodies fit, but their heads don't. So they're having a conversation but all of their heads are tilted and twisted at these weird angles."
While little combat was shown off in the original trailer, Parsons did state that he found the game's combat to be "hilarious" and expected players to get plenty of laughs from the game's "zany" fight scenes. More trailers revealing more characters and scenes from Funko Fusion are planned to be released prior to the game's 2024 debut. Hopefully, these will feature even more instances of Funko Pops' quite distinct anatomy being used in both humorous and horrifying ways.
Funko Fusion is currently in development and scheduled to release in 2024.