A The 100 fan expresses her frustration with the recently announced line of Funko Pop!s that fail to accurately represent its diverse cast.

This article was submitted by Hypable reader Yana Grebenyuk.

Earlier this year, The 100 Funko Pop!s finally got concept art and a pre-order option available, the perfect surprise for a very active fandom.

But with the newly released final image of the seven Funko Pop! figures (Clarke, Raven, Bellamy, Octavia, Lincoln, and both versions of Lexa) came a glaring issue: The whitewashing of three specific characters.

Raven Reyes, Bellamy Blake and Lincoln are all persons of color, but for some reason the skin tone on those Pop!s are very heavily lightened compared to the characters that appear in the show.

Lincoln’s skin tone is acknowledged in the design of his Pop!, though he appears lighter than the actor who plays him. Meanwhile Raven and Bellamy are identical to white characters like Clarke Griffin and Octavia Blake.

Whitewashing Raven Reyes, a character played by a Latina, and Bellamy Blake, who is Filipino, is offensive. Funko releasing Raven, Bellamy and Lincoln like this would not only upset a majority of people, it would prove that there is no need to depict the race of the actors these characters are modeled after.

The popularity of the Bellamy, Raven and Lincoln Pop!s will be significantly lower if these inaccurate products get released. Fans will not buy their figures, and sales won’t be as high as they could have been if Funko actually created accurate Pop! dolls. Thus, both Funko and the fandom will suffer.

The representation that these three offer to fans can’t be disregarded, especially when media representation has a direct connection to the way the audience sees and interprets things. It is extremely disrespectful toward the actors who play them and for the fans who see themselves in Bellamy, Lincoln and Raven.

If there could be such attention to detail when it comes to the clothing or the hairstyles, why not the skin tone of these three characters?

With the release date of these Pop!s quickly approaching, there is only so much that people can do to bring this to Funko’s attention. Some fans have already reached out to Funko, and have recently begun receiving replies.

But in this email response, Funko manages to dig themselves into an even deeper hole:

“Our figures aren’t meant to capture the exact likeness of any character, and with our medium of injected plastics, we unfortunately don’t have the luxury of being able to capture subtle color changes,” writes Funko to one concerned fan.

This essentially implies that Pop! figures from Funko aren’t meant to match the characters they are based off of. A company that has made millions from fans of popular movies, comics, TV shows and even books is now saying they aren’t meant to portray exactly the character that they are creating for revenue.

And not only that, but apparently a well-known and well-distributed company — one that reportedly made over $40 million in 2013 — can’t afford to darken the skin tone of a character that they made lighter than the actual white lead?

It’s particularly interesting when you do a little digging and find that they do indeed have the luxury of creating characters with just about every color of the rainbow, including cartoon characters and fantasy villains that aren’t even meant to have a realistic skin tone (see the above Guardians of the Galaxy Funko Pop!s).

But when you mention to Funko that they offensively ignore what whitewashing minorities means, suddenly they don’t have the resources to create diverse groups of people?

Another point that could be raised when it comes to this is Disney’s characters like Jasmine, Lilo and Pocahontas. All of these ladies are WOC, and thankfully got portrayed accurately with varying skin tones.

So when Funko brought up the point that they can’t do subtle shading, did they forget that they had the ‘luxury’ of doing it in the past?

Another reply from Funko indicates that they do have an interest in depicting minorities: “With The 100, for instance, we feel fortunate to have been able to portray LGBT characters,” they write.

And yes, them releasing Clarke and Lexa was a wonderful acknowledgment of the queer community that really resonated with the fandom. Clarke is an amazing bisexual female lead, representing LGBT fans who see themselves in this strong-willed leader. Lexa was a lesbian icon, connecting with and inspiring many people in the LGBT community throughout her appearance on the show.

But the way this is stated is almost trying to convince people that since Funko was kind enough to portray LGBT characters, that should be enough for now and the issue of the way they lighten skin tones should be set aside.

That is in no way correct. It shouldn’t be a choice between which underrepresented group should get accurate and widespread portrayal. This might be shocking, but Funko could very successfully produce LGBT characters and not offend anyone by actually designing their products to match the subject, especially minorities.

What you can do

You can contact Funko directly and let them know why you personally find issue with these whitewashed final POP products inspired by The 100. They will only provide you with a generic response, but the more complaints they receive, the better of a chance we may have for them to really see this as an issue for them before these products are released in April.

I have also created a giveaway for fans of The 100, inspiring them to contact Funko and choosing a few random winners to receive a gift inspired by their favorite character or couple from the show. All you have to do is send a message to Funko explaining why you aren’t okay with them whitewashing, take a screenshot of the initial response to you, then send it my way.

Funko has made strides with its addition of a brace on Raven’s leg, reminding fans of the representation she holds as someone with a disability. But they can and should do better, especially if they want people to feel comfortable buying more products from them.

It isn’t fair that Funko has isolated a large group of The 100 fans, choosing to wave off their concerns instead of listening to how they could do better and fix the disrespectful way they handled this diverse group of individuals. These characters’ representation matters a lot to actual people who are already very underrepresented.

And it isn’t fair that fans have to opt out of buying POPs of their favorite characters just because Funko couldn’t be bothered to properly depict their skin tone.

The 100 Funko Pop!s are released in April, with the option to pre-order already available.