Realism vs Stylization

When designing a figure, one of the bigger decisions the artists have to ask themselves is, "Where along the spectrum of Realism vs Stylization will I design for?"  All figures fall somewhere along this spectrum, and none fall squarely on one extreme or the other.  No one side is superior to the other, they are simply aesthetic choices to appeal to one type of collector, or the other.

Stylizing a character removes real world details and replaces them with fun, cool or fierce features.  This moves the figure's representation of the character away from purely physical to something more interpretive.  Take the Power of the Force Luke Skywalker figure.  Hasbro greatly tweaked his physique away from that of Mark Hamill's, to something more demonstrative of Luke Skywalker's inner-heroism.  Collectors of stylized figures appreciate an action figure's ability to deviate from the source material's visuals, while still being recognizable.

Star Wars x He-Man

When an action figure line uses similar stylization throughout the line, it can have several effects.  If can represent deeper themes about the entire world the figures hail from, or create a sense of design cohesion throughout a collection.  Just take the popularity of Funko Pop!s.  There is obviously a desire in collectors for cohesive designs across multiple characters.

This is only a small, small, small sampling of the world of Pop!

Realism is usually a measure of how true-to-life something is, how accurately is portrays the actual world we live in.  In the case of action figures, however, this term can become a bit more complex.  Realism, when referring to action figures, can mean several different things.

The simplest case or realism in action figures is when a figure represents a real life person.  If the figure looks and poses similarly to the person, then it can be considered "realistic".  Figures of live-action TV or movie characters are also straightforward, but in the case of special effects, the designer has a choice between accurately re-creating the effect as seen in the movie, or as it was intended to be interpreted by the audience.  For example, is a figure of Godzilla that includes the zipper in the back of the suit, which can be seen in several of the earlier movies, more or less realistic?  It is more realistic to the Earth we live in, but less to the Earth we are meant to believe in those films.

This Microman Godzilla Final Wars figure has a zipper ... and a fully articulated person inside!

Even more interesting is the relationship of realism to a figure of an already stylized character, such as a cartoon character.  A "screen-accurate" figure of Spongebob Squarepants would have a smooth yellow surface and big, soft eyes.  A "real world-accurate" one would have the surface of an actual sponge with oversized human eyes.  Eerie, indeed, but that's what an anthropomorphized sponge would look like if you bumped into one on the street.  Considering how drastic a change from Spongebob's cartoon appearance it is, one could argue this hypothetical "real world-accurate" Spongebob figure is, itself, stylized.  Not stylized to look different from the real world, but stylized to look different from the world of Spongebob Squarepants the cartoon.

But what if you stylize an already stylized character?!

It is because action figures are an interpretation of an already interpreted character that this double-lens effect can happen.  A character is designed (a form of interpretation) for it's initial medium, then re-designed a second time as a figure.  The different possible levels of realism versus stylization in both of these interpretations leaves lots of room for possibility and interesting figures.