This is a guest column by Colin Fowble who just recently toured Funko Headquarters. Thanks for the write up Colin!
I had the opportunity to check out the new Funko Headquarter in Everett Washington. I apologize for my lack of pictures; it was so exciting there I forgot to take more than a couple. The new location is about 20 minutes north of their last location in Lynnwood. They finished moving in earlier this month. Tours are given on Fridays at 3pm and are by appointment with Alison.
When we first walked what caught my eye was their claw machine. I felt bad right after I put the quarters in because the music is terribly loud and everyone turns to watch you play. Yes I did lose at it. The lobby overlooks the “office.” What I love about Funko is their cubicles don’t really feel like cubicles. The whole place is more of an open space. You can tell that everyone loves their job. Everyone was so inviting and very friendly.
We were met by Alison who leads the tours, just one of the many jobs she has there. Anyone that has ever met her or talked with her knows she is the nicest person you’ll ever meet. You can tell how much she loves her job. She’s very open and was willing to answer any of our questions. She even apologized and felt bad for any that she didn’t have answers for but said she’ll get back to me.
Our first stop was the sample room. It’s a room full of all the finished boxed pieces that they send out to other businesses. It is also part of Brian’s own collection. Brian is Funko’s current CEO. Yes there were some rare Pops on display. The back wall was all the retired Pops, with a note saying if they need to be removed from the room ask Brian first. It felt like the little Pop store you dream of. We were allowed to take one piece each of the current production items, so Bane, Riddler, Greedo, and anything else retired are off limits. Sorry guys. My first picks were either Vincent Vega of Pulp Fiction or Max from the Where the Wild Things Are, but they are not officially out yet so it was a no go on them. I went with my third choice of the new Amazing Spider-Man 2 Electro. This is a must for Marvel collectors and Alison said mine is from one of the first cases opened in their warehouse. They had just got him in days prior.
She let us in on a few fun facts like while most of the first line of Pulp Fiction pops are done and produced, they are just slightly on hold because the Jimmie pop has not been approved by Quentin Tarantino. He is particular about how his likeness is portrayed. Alison was not even sure who Jimmie was because she hasn’t seen the movie and had to ask us if Tarantino was in the movie. Oh no….
My main collection focus is Back to the Future, so I had to ask about the Delorean. There was no finished piece in the sample room and I was given an answer as possibly April when it comes out. I also asked about availability on ReAction figures and they will be in stores with possible places being Target, Walmart, Hot Topic, and some others.
Another question I saw popping up was about the Club exclusive Freddy Pop. They still have some of the current run of Freddy’s and when they run out of those ones then they should be switching over to the new retro Freddy Pop from what I was told.
The next stop was the actual warehouse. We were brought to the deck which overlooks the entire warehouse. You can’t begin to imagine what is all probably in there. It’s at least a full block long and with huge stacks of cardboard boxes probably at least 15 feet tall and there were a lot of them. She told us there is an organization to this and the guys that work in the warehouse do know where everything is.
We were unable to meet with the artists as they were in a meeting during our visit. We did get a quick look at the new conference room before we left when the meeting got out. I can promise you this room will definitely impress any potential clients. Every wall has an amazing set up of different collections of what they carry. The Alien ReAction figures on display on the back wall and Game of Thrones Legacy on the next. We only got a minute in there since they had another meeting but it was very impressive.
We then got brought downstairs to the art department. There is a huge wall of just about every loose pop and wobbler that the artists use as a reference for new projects. There were some artist projects on a desk but we couldn’t tell what they were but they looked very cool. She showed us a few more of the ice cream DIY Pops that will be on display this next weekend at Emerald City Comic Con. She is very excited and said there are going to be different and exciting DIY pieces. The Funko employee DIY Pop creations will be auctioned off after the Con and the proceeds are going to The Children’s Hospital. Also next week at Emerald City Comic Con they will have the DIY Pops on sale for the first time in the US until May, which is their official release. There is also going to be the exclusive Green variation of the DIY Pop, limited to 300 pieces.
There was a display case of the new Hikari Batman and TMNT. The Hikari line in person is very amazing. The soft plastic aspect is not what I expected, they were more impressive. These are going to be a fast seller for them this year. Next to them was the Disney Series 2 minis. There may have been a character on display that is not in the catalog, so keep an eye out for an exclusive in that line. While I know some of this isn’t new information they are all still very exciting to see in person.
The artist wall in the art department is where all your dreams/rumors/wants/must haves exist. This is the part of my review where I can’t say much. I was asked not to tell anything about most pieces I saw on the wall and I would ask that anyone else that goes on this tour do the same. While some of the stuff I saw is not all a secret, I feel that most of the pieces on the design wall are something that Funko should get the opportunity to break the news themselves.
Let me just say, “YES, YES, YES!” I promise you the stuff you guys want is coming and from all lines of Pop. And it is a LOT of stuff is coming. I will give you guys a couple small teases though:
* The Arkham Asylum line will blow you guys away
* DC mini Series 2 is not all Batman, there is a bit of everything
* Expect more Hikari down the road
* More Disney, characters we have been missing
* The bit of Marvel that is coming out is Non-Movie pieces (Possible summer release)
* Future store exclusives that are very exciting
* Stuff you weren’t expecting
I will just say that from the Travis’ Toy Fair Coverage plus everything I saw that hasn’t been announced yet, Funko has full year of exciting and amazing pieces to bring to us. I can tell you that they have all my money already promised to them.
Anyone that has a chance to take the tour I encourage them to. It was a lot of fun. My brother and girlfriend went in as non-collectors but post- tour are telling me their wish lists of Pops to keep an eye out for.
I would like to thank Alison, Brian, and everyone else at Funko for this amazing opportunity. For newer collector this was my full push into being obsessed with Pops!