How Funko’s Pop! Vinyls are popping up everywhere these days.
It’s been one of the great business success stories of the last twenty years. Ever since Funko Inc. was set up in 1998 by Mike Becker, it’s gone from strength to strength to create the global phenomenon it is today. The very first figure created was a coin box in the shape of Bob’s Big Boy mascot with a fun series featuring characters from the Austin Powers movies coming soon after. The adorable miniature figures of Austin Powers and Dr Evil soon became a big hit, selling 80,000 units and really setting off Funko on its way.
Since then, Funko has gone on to create well over 13,000 figures under over 1,000 different licenses as well as branching out into everything from plush toys, T shirts, key chains featuring mini figures, as well as fun mugs in the shape of various characters.
Most incredible of all is the enormous range of franchises and characters that they’ve covered over the years, including a huge number that hardly seem like the ideal candidates to be converted into collectibles that will be sought after all over the world.
Nightmare on Funko Street
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Funko even transformed the notorious horror villain Freddie Krueger into one of their fun figurines.
To take one of the most extreme examples as a case in point, let’s kick off with Freddie Krueger. The terrifying central character in the Nightmare on Elm Street series with his scarred face, slasher hands and trademark hooped shirt and brown hat would seem to be a very difficult one to turn into a fun collectible. Yes, he’s been used in other ways too– for example, visit 777 Casino, one of the UK’s premium online casinos and you can play an amazing range of excellent games which feature the legendary character, one of the best ones being the fun-filled online slots.
Not only is the little Freddie one of the most popular Funko figures, Funko has also brought out a special edition breakfast cereal featuring him on the box and with a mini figure waiting to be found inside.
In fact, many people have picked out their Freddie Krueger as the perfect example of how the brilliant designers at Funko have been able to tackle almost any character, no matter how scary or despicable they seem to be on screen, and to capture an adorable and fun side to them.
Other good examples of this would be the recreation of Walter White from Breaking Bad or Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise.
Getting into gaming
Funko even managed to transform one of the bloodiest games into their fun animated figures.
An even more over the top example comes from the current collaboration between Funko and Microsoft to bring the latter Gears of War video game to a younger audience. As anyone who’s played the game since its original release in 2006 will know, it’s one of the most gory and violent games out there with characters being dispatched in the bloodiest ways possible.
When Microsoft started talking to Funko about the project there were a few issues to iron out. Besides how to make the violence less graphic there was also the question of how to animate characters whose heads are so big that they make other movement hard to manage. Luckily these were resolved so the animated figures were re-scaled to make the size of their heads smaller and the goriest fate that befalls any of the characters is for their heads to pop off and be turned into tokens to be used later. Released back in August 2019, the game was an immediate success with fans who’d already been excited by the appearance of the trailer shortly before it was launched.
Funko on the big screen
The deal with Microsoft to create the Xbox game was a ground breaking one for Funko. Previously they have had to pay for licences to feature characters but here the arrangement was reversed with the software giant paying for the rights to use Funko characters. It’s also opened up the possibility of Funko turning to film in much the same way that Lego has with its ever-expanding range of movies.
It’s already been publicised that, following many licensing deals with Warner Bros over the last 20 years, there is a Funko movie currently in development with Warner Bros Animation. Although no proposed release date has been announced some details have emerged.
Big business at Comic Cons
Funko figures have taken the world by storm, with characters from some of the most famous franchises in the world.
Very early on in the company’s history, the folks at Funko also realised that comic conventions would be a great place to generate sales amongst hard-core fans not just of comics but the many other franchises that spring up from them. These are also where some of the most collectible of models are available for resale, with many of them having never even been taken out of the box. The biggest of the conventions is always San Diego and there were reports this year that the most expensive figure on sale was an original Clockwork Orange Alex figure with a box signed by the actor who played him in the 1971 movie, Malcolm McDowell. At $12,000 it took a real fan of the movie to add it to their collection.
Other highlights included figures from The Green Lantern for $3,000 and one of the most popular figures from their Disney range, the Genie from Aladdin for $1500.
Summary
As to what other Funko Pop! Vinyls are on there, it’s very hard to predict. A lot seems to come down to the pop culture references their designers want to pursue, provided there seems to be a need for it, of course. But, from a company that even makes a range of figures from The Golden Girls TV series to Star Wars, absolutely anything could be possible.
This article has been submitted for publication for a fee.