Exclusives aren’t really a rarity in the world of Funko collecting – just walk in to a Hot Topic and count how many exclusive stickers you see. For those collectors in America, we are pretty spoiled because we have access to 99.99% of exclusives. International collectors can’t complain too much, they can rely on the plenteous stock available from Forbidden Planet. I’m afraid the rest of the article will apply more to American collectors, but I’d be interested to hear comments from our international collectors-in-arms.
What would you say the hardest exclusives to get are? Comic-Con ones? Toy Tokyo ones? Solid arguments could be made for both. However, I’m going to argue that Disney exclusives are the toughest to get. We’re talking both Disney Park Exclusives and Disney Store exclusives. In 2016 we saw the release of Haunted Mansion Pops, an Indiana Jones’s Pop, and Indy’s Ride that were all Disney Park exclusives (although they were available online for approximately 28 seconds). My Indiana Jones Pop order was cancelled by the Disney folks because they ran out. Anyone else have that problem?
But guess what? Us Americans don’t even have access to some Disney Store exclusives. Outrageous, you say, and I agree. The first (and so far, only) 5-pack ever released was a UK Disney Store Exclusive. Partly because it was the first 5-pack and partly because it was a Captain American: Civil War collectible, I had to get it. Long story short, there are no loopholes. You can’t put in your shipping address if you live outside the UK. You can’t even put in a shipping address of someone who does live in the UK if you try to purchase it with your billing information. So, just like Hollywood, you have to know someone to succeed.
Since the Civil War 5-pack, there has been a Through The Looking Glass 3-pack, Rogue One monster 8-pack, and most recently a Doctor Strange 4-pack. What do you think of these UK exclusives? Are you jealous that you can’t order them or do you not care?
Matt Norris