After the news from Funko Fright Night came out, I wanted to get a first hand account of the event from someone who attended. Thankfully, Funko Trading member Damien Cooper was more than happy to review it for us. The rest of this article is from his POV. Thanks for the article, Damien!
Funko Fright Nights
Going into the event I had no idea what to expect. I have been to a lot of cons and I had attended Fundays this year, but I am still a bit of a noob when it comes to the Funko community. Since I am not particularly active on the Funatic forums, I didn’t exactly have a ton of old friends that I would be meeting up with. A few of these things would change by the end of the evening.
Let me back up a moment to explain how I found out about the event and how to get tickets. First, you need to be a member on the Funko Funatic forums (http://www.funkofunatic.com/). This was the only place they were officially announced and the only place you could get the link to sign up for the lottery once the first wave was sold out. I missed the first wave. As I mentioned before, I haven’t been really active until lately and therefore I missed the first announcement. I was lucky enough to get an email inviting me to buy tickets a couple of weeks after entering and I bought 1 for myself and a friend. If you are looking to get first-hand information and make some great friends, I suggest you join these forums. There are so many things going on and so many truly helpful people.
Now that that’s out of the way let’s get back to the event. On the day of there was a meetup down the street from the venue. I met so many people and remembered exactly zero names. To be fair the introductions were forums names and real names. It is unfair when you are already a person who can’t remember names to begin with. Everyone was very welcoming even though I wasn’t one of the veterans. They really included every one and we fit right in. We all had the same hunting stories, grail acquisition talk and many were at Fundays just a few months before so we had some stories to exchange. It is nice to be in a group of fellow Funatics where they “get it.”
The pre-party meeting was winding down and it was time to line up. I would say we got there at around 6:00PM and there was already a short line forming. The wait went very fast. So many people in great costumes came and lined up and many even were handing out candy or buttons in the line. About an hour before the event they came through and scanned our tickets and gave us wristbands. At this same time a girl was walking the line and was giving out stickers for great costumes (side note: next year wear a costume).
Now was the time to enter the venue. They really laid it out nicely. The queue went very quickly as the attendants led you up the stairs. You were given a bag with the exclusives in them (Harvest Batman Pop!, Harvest Batman Dorbz and Funkoween Carlos). The you came to first station in which they asked for your shirt size and you were given the event shirt. As you rounded the corner, they set up multiple trick or treat stations. They had a few candy stations and one station that you could turn in that costume sticker for the GITD Fruit Brute Ride (side note: seriously, wear a costume next year). As you headed out the back of the line, they marked your bracelet so you couldn’t go back through the line and you entered the main event area. In your bag there was a contest ticket, a key (we will get to that later) and a drink ticket. They had a food station set up next to the bar downstairs and there was an upstairs with some VIP tables and seating. As the room filled up they announced you could head upstairs so that’s where I went. I ran into some friends I had made through all the cons I have been to throughout the year and that is where I parked myself.
Once the event started it went pretty fast. IT was MC’d by Mike Becker dressed in character as the owner of the venue and “THE top collector in the world.” They would have some sort of entertainment dancers dressed like skeletons, little skits that fit the theme and some other announcers. In between the skits they would pull one of the contest cards out and if your matched, you could come up to the stage for a prize. They were handing out smaller protos (myemoji, minis or pint sized heroes) inside of small coffins. I thought that was a nice touch. Sometimes they would throw a few into the crowd and they even threw some of the costume stickers into the crowd. At this point they were handing out the Elvira exclusive since they had given out all of the Fruit Brute (side note: wear a costume, a good one, and maybe stay near the stage).
Partway through the event Brian Mariotti came up for the big announcement. The announcement was the opening of a flagship Funko store at their new headquarters in Everett Washington. It will be massive and I am sure amazingly Funko. He also announced that he was going to award ten prizes. Five were for the most Funkoeque costumes and five for the best overall costumes. As he called the names people made their way to the stage. These were some truly remarkable costumes. There was an Astronaut Freddy, twins from the shining and even a person who made an amazing huge Fright Night mystery box. This was truly a work of art. They were all given an extremely limited Vampire Retro Freddy as their prize. (side note: make an amazing costume next year)
As the night went on there were more prizes and more entertainment. Now we came to the end. Brian once again took the stage for the final prize of the evening. He asked us all to look in our bags for the keys I mentioned earlier. In those envelops there were five special orange keys. If you had one you could come up for your prize. I had the orange key! Boom! I made my way to the stage shook the man’s hand and claimed my own Vampire Retro Freddy. It took a while to navigate the crowd, but what a way to finish the night. I never win these things.
In the end I feel like it was a successful event. I heard some complaints that besides the retro Freddy there were no items truly exclusive to the event. I understand the disappointment. It would have been nice, but you did get to go to the event and I felt like I made a ton of new friends. Of course we are collectors and love the loot, but looking back the whole experience is what I got out of it. Some other criticisms were they should have more seating options or a venue that wouldn’t be so crowded and hot. I agree with that and I am sure Funko learned a thing or two as well. One suggestion I read on the forums that I agree with was they should hand out the gift bags at the end of the night as you leave since they were all the same items anyway. This would make it easier for people to mingle and not feel like they had to protect their bag. Also it would free up more space and less change of people running into your stuff and crushing it. I thought that change would be an easy one to make and have a big impact.
Would I do it all again? Absolutely!
Thanks again Damien! Check out his photos in the gallery below!
