5 Halloween Specials POP! Funko Should Do
(But Haven’t)

My obsession with Halloween continues!  Consider this part 2 to this year’s Halloween trilogy!

Nothing screams (Punning!) holidays quite like television specials.  As heavily marketed commercial ventures for broadcasters, audiences enjoyed various programs celebrating the holiday.  Obviously, Christmas has pretty much the patent on nostalgic television specials, but that doesn’t mean Halloween is without theirs.  In fact, some Halloween specials and traditions are tied to that nostalgic feeling even more so than the Christmas ones, with specific specials and movies getting played every year.

Recently, Funko released a series of Funko POP!s featuring the best Halloween television special, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which is, hands down, the most memorable Halloween special out there.  They were released as exclusives for Walgreens, and they’re one of my favorite Funko POP! sets now.  In fact, I wish Funko would do more holiday Funkos like this set in the future.

Which got me thinking…

Yep!  Time to address the top 5 Halloween Specials Funko should do as POP! variant sets, but haven’t.

As usual, these lists are subjective and you may have a completely different opinion on the matter, and that’s fine. Feel free to sound off in the comments below and let me know if there’s anyone (or anything) that you felt wasn’t on the list yet should be.

5) THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS

WHEN HALLOWEEN WAS FOREVER/HALLOWEEN II 1/2

Funko has already made POP!s of the movie Ghostbusters and remake.  Yet, the same can’t be said for the long running animated series that most Generation Xers remember watching every Saturday morning.

Two Halloween specials stand out pretty well against the typical TV episodes of the cartoon’s run.  In both cases, the main antagonist, Samhain aka the “Ghost of Halloween”, made it that way.  To this day, Samhain is pretty synonymous with the animated version of the Ghostbusters despite appearing in relatively few actual episodes. Seeing himself as something of a savior to the other ghosts’ oppression by the humans, Samhain wasn’t a complete villain… at least not by nature.  Despite this, his actions become completely villain-like.  This dichotomy of the two aspects of his personality created not one, but two memorable Halloween specials.  With that in mind, should Funko POP!s every get released representing the animated series, Samhain from the Halloween specials should definitely be there.

4) GARFIELD

GARFIELD’S HALLOWEEN ADVENTURE

I still find it completely odd that Garfied, one of the most common licensed characters of the 1980s, still has not had a Funko POP! line.  With that in mind, should they ever get made, variants of Garfield and Odie in their Halloween costumes has to get made.  The iconic nature associated with Garfield and Odie’s pirate look would make me want to run out and buy them if ever released.

Prior to getting his own long-running cartoon series, Garfield engaged audiences with various holiday specials.  The 1985 Garfield’s Halloween Adventure sticks out as one of the more memorable outings for our feline hero.  For years, Garfield’s Halloween special repeated every October and, wow, was it a weird 30 minutes in the best of ways.  Just in case you have never seen it, I won’t spoil it, but the last few minutes can absolutely terrify little kids who make up a good portion of the demographic that actually watches Garfield cartoons.  I first saw it as a four year old and it frightened me enough back then to stick in my mind well into adulthood.  Re-viewing it now, that effect no longer exists for me, but that nostalgic feeling still persists.

3) BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

HALLOWEEN/FEAR ITSELF/ALL THE WAY

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer Funko POP! line is still one of my favorites, and I’m still hoping for more characters to join the line in the future.  With that in mind, I would also absolutely love for Funko to release special Halloween variants of the Buffy characters.

Season 2’s “Halloween” featured the gang of heroes turned into their Halloween costumes.  Buffy transformed into a Victorian Era woman, Willow passed through walls as a ghost, and Xander suddenly acted as a top notch military soldier with full knowledge of weapons and protocols.  Cordelia dressed as a cat, but remained unaffected by the curse.

Buffy continued the Halloween holiday for season 4.  In “Fear Itself”, Buffy dressed as Red-Riding Hood, Willow went as Joan of Arc, Xander tuxed it up as James Bond 007, Oz stuck a name tag on himself signifying his identity as “God”, and Giles wore a Sombrero.

The third and last Halloween episode, season 6’s “All the Way”, doesn’t offer a lot for the gang in costume variants, but it did give us Anya dressed as a special type of angel called a “Charlie” who “just skate around with perfect hair fighting crime” in addition to Pirate Xander.

If you haven’t seen them, the Buffy Halloween episodes are pretty classic, with the second one, “Fear Itself” often making many “Best Halloween Episodes” lists.

2) MONSTER CEREALS

FRUIT BRUTE AND FRUITY YUMMY MUMMY

Maybe not EXACTLY a Halloween special, but they did feature prominently in Halloween television commercials.  Now, thanks to an annual re-release every Halloween starting in 2010, the two share a pretty symbiotic relationship.

Even before Funko created POP!s, the Monster Cereals were a big deal for them.  In fact, my first exposure to Funko and for many others was when they released the Wacky Wobblers advertisement icon line which featured bobble-head versions of the Monster Cereal characters… including the oft-forgotten Fruit Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy.  In fact, Fruit Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy have featured in both the Wacky Wobblers and, very recently, the Dorbz line.  Despite this, the more popular POP! line has continued to ignore the two black sheep of the Monster Cereal clan.

1) THE SIMPSONS

TREEHOUSE OF HORROR I – XVII

Since 1990, The Simpsons have released Halloween specials once a year.  As such, every year we get treated to variations on classic horror, supernatural, and science fiction properties.  Personally, I think Kang and Kodos, extraterrestrials created specifically for “Treehouse of Horror” and who have appeared in all 27 episodes so far, would be the ideal candidates to receive the Funko treatment for a Halloween line.  A lot of other concepts from the “Treehouse of Horror” segments are ripe for Funko to create, such as the zombified Simpsons Family, Maggie as an Alien, Bart as a human/fly hybrid, Homer as a weird Jack-in-the-box hybrid, etc.  If you’ve ever seen any of the episodes, particularly the earliest ones, you’d know that the show’s writers and animation team go pretty crazy, and, as such, there are many variations of the classic Simpsons characters with horror-base looks for Funko to turn into a POP!.

The Simpsons started as one of the first television licenses released as a Funko POP!, but has remained strangely dormant since.  The probability of it happening right now seems unlikely, but, come on!  How awesome would it be?

Well, until then, at least we have our gratuitous Kang and Kodos cameos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJTpsQ8OBq0

Any other ones I missed you feel should have been in the list?  Sound of below!