Twelve years after release, Shovel Knight joins Funko with two Pops due in January 2027: the shovel-wielding knight and the Enchantress. The pairing looks obvious, hero and villain. It actually tells the game's whole story, because the second figure is also the character the hero has been searching for from the start. Fair warning: what follows spoils the ending of Shovel of Hope.
A knight funded by his players
Yacht Club Games took Shovel Knight to Kickstarter in 2013 and released it in June 2014. A pixel-art platformer with the palette and limits of the NES, minus its frustrations, it became one of the defining indie games of the 2010s. The character followed: the first amiibo designed by a third-party studio, an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and a saga wrapped up in 2019 by Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, which collects four campaigns.
And yet these are the license's first Pops.
The Enchantress, and what she's hiding
The premise of Shovel of Hope fits in one line: Shovel Knight lost his partner, Shield Knight, at the foot of a cursed tower, and the Enchantress seized power. Throughout the game, he battles the knights of the Order without knowing what became of her.
The answer comes at the top of the tower. The Enchantress is Shield Knight, possessed by the cursed amulet that split the duo apart. The final fight pits the two partners against each other, until Shield Knight regains control and fights alongside him against the force that possessed her.
That's why the pairing of Shovel Knight (#1347) and The Enchantress (#1348) works better than it seems. Two consecutive numbers, and on the shelf, the knight faces the one he's looking for without knowing it.
Why now, while the knight is on hold
The timing is surprising. Yacht Club has been focused on Mina the Hollower, released May 29, 2026. The 3D Shovel Knight, in the works since 2020, was set aside in the meantime. In June, artist Nick Wozniak called it close to showable, but said the studio hadn't decided whether to finish it. Shovel of Hope DX, the enhanced edition announced for 2025, still has no date.
So Funko is arriving on a license with no release on the calendar. That's unusual, and it's a good sign for the character's standing: these two figures don't owe anything to a launch.
Our take: the Enchantress first, and the Order is missing
I'm taking the Enchantress over the hero. Shovel Knight is the expected figure, the mascot, the one you recognize by his shovel. The Enchantress is the smarter of the two: a single character who holds the antagonist, the missing heroine and the game's twist. Few villains are worth two characters on their own.
What's missing is obvious. The Order of No Quarter, named for the refusal to take prisoners, has eight knights, and three of them got their own campaign: Plague Knight, Specter Knight and King Knight. None of them is here. And Shield Knight herself, unpossessed and unmasked, is absent even though she's the reason for the whole adventure. A first wave of two figures for such a crowded license is very cautious.
Both figures are up for preorder, with release announced for January 2027.
