Funko is an American company that manufactures licensed pop culture collectibles. Funko is most known for producing licensed vinyl figurines and bobbleheads. In addition, Funko produces licensed plush, action figures, and licensed electronic items such as USB drives, lamps, and headphones.
Founded in 1998 by Mike Becker, the company was originally conceived as a small project to create various low-tech, nostalgia-themed toys. Funko's first manufactured bobblehead was of the restaurant advertising icon Big Boy.
Sold in 2005, Funko LLC is now headed by Brian Mariotti as president. Since 2005, the company has increased the scope of its various toy lines, and has signed licensing deals with companies such as Marvel, DC Comics, WWE, Lucasfilm, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, Hasbro, CBS, Fox, Warner Bros, Disney, HBO, Peanuts Worldwide, BBC, NFL, Ubisoft, NBCUniversal, Cartoon Network, Netflix, Mattel, 2K Games, and Bethesda Games. Funko products now have worldwide distribution. According to Mariotti, "We were in the $40 million range for revenue [in 2013] -- and $28 million of that was from Pop figures alone."
Video Funko
History
Funko was founded as a bobblehead company in 1998 by Mike Becker in his Snohomish, Washington home. In 2005, Becker sold Funko to its current CEO, Brian Mariotti, who moved its offices to Lynnwood, Washington and significantly expanded the company's licensed product lines. By 2012, the company sold more than $20 million worth of merchandise.
In 2016, Funko announced its intention to relocate its headquarters to downtown Everett, Washington. The Funko headquarters is located in Everett, Washington as of 2018.
ACON Investments, LLC announced in late 2015 that it had acquired licensed toy maker Funko, LLC from Fundamental Capital, LLC, but will keep current staff and head of company.
Maps Funko
Production
Products are designed at the Funko headquarters. Marketing director Mark Robben is in charge of creating new figures for the Funko Pop! Vinyls. New figures go through an extensive process involving brainstorming and social media feedback from the community. After an idea for a new figure is agreed upon, the idea goes to Senior Sculptor Nena Lijiomah and Sean Wilkinson, the Creative Director.
Product lines
Funko has created 13,642 different products in dozens of different toy lines since its inception. The first, Wacky Wobblers, is a line of bobbleheads depicting various characters, mainly from popular culture, such as Betty Boop, Cap'n Crunch, and The Cat in the Hat. The mascot, a recurring character in the Funko franchise, is Freddy Funko.
Funko's Pop! Vinyl line are figures modeled in a style similar to the Japanese super deformed style, typically depicting licensed characters from franchises such as Doctor Who, Marvel, DC Comics, Disney, Star Wars, Harry Potter, RuPaul's Drag Race, and other pop culture entities. After a preview line of DC Comics characters were released at San Diego Comic-Con 2010, the Funko Pop! line of products was fully revealed in 2011 at the New York Toy Fair. Various other products have been released using the Pop! brand and its character stylization, such as plush toys, T-shirts, keychains (miniaturized versions of the normal figures), and ceramic mugs, the latter of which are enlarged, hollow copies of a figure's head, with a handle attached. Within the Funko Pop! products, there is a series known as Funko Rides, featuring the figure in a vehicle such as a car. The Funko Pop! Product line also has figures that are larger than the standard figure, in 6", 10" and the now retired 9" size.. In addition, Funko produces Pop! Deluxes, where a character is seated on external set pieces, such as a throne, and occasionally a vehicle or creature (only for the Star Wars line). Funko has also begun creating Movie and Comic Moments, which feature to posed Pop! figures interacting with each other and on display bases in ways that replicate moments from different Movies and Comic Books.
In March 2018, Funko announced Funko Cereal, including mini-pop characters inside each box. The first line will be released in June 2018, and feature pop culture characters Freddy Krueger, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, and The Devil (From Cuphead, not the actual personification of evil), among others.
Other current product lines include Hikari, Legacy Collection, Fabrikations, Mopeez, and Rock Candy.
The mascot, a recurring character in the Funko franchise, is Freddy Funko. Funko also produces a number of other original characters from two lines, Spastik Plastik and Wetmore Forest.
At Toy Fair 2015, Funko announced a new offshoot brand called Vinyl Sugar, with lines including Dorbz, Vinyl Idolz, Vinyl Vixens, and Super Deluxe Vinyls.
Former product lines include Spastik Plastik, Blox, FunkoVision, Funko Plushies, Funko Force, Reaction Figures, and Wacky Wobblers.
Dorbz
Dorbz typically have a round smiling head and cylinder-esqeue body. Dorbz are smaller the normal Funko Pop! figure.
Mystery Minis
The Mystery Mini series are a group of blind boxes that have a random character within, from a variety of series depending on what Mystery Mini it is. Examples of Mystery mini series themes include Five Nights at Freddy's, Cute but Deadly, Heroes of the Storm, Disney Heroes and Villains, Horror Classics, Steven Universe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Anime Heroes. The figures are styled differently than the other Funko products. Unlike the other Funko products there have are not usualy "con exclusives" (the last ones were from 2014), but some stores do have exclusives such as Hot Topic and F.Y.E.
Collector box subscriptions
In 2015, Funko and Marvel partnered to launch Marvel Collector Corps, a subscription box service featuring exclusive collectibles, apparel, and accessories. Boxes shipped every two months. It subsequently launched a subscription box service for Star Wars items called Smuggler's Bounty, a DC subscription box called Legion of Collectors, and a Disney subscription box called Disney Treasures. Also, the subscription box known as Lootcrate occasionally contains an exclusive Funko Pop! vinyl figure which aligns with that month's box theme. Loot Crate has offered an exclusive Funko Pop! Figure with its other products.
As of 2018, Funko no longer offers subscription boxes. The Disney Treasures box, which focuses on Disney collectibles, will be available at Hot Topic, and Collector Corps, which focuses on Marvel collectibles, will be available through Amazon.
Con Exclusives
Funko has been offering "con exclusive" versions of their products at various conventions such as San Diego Comic Con , Emerald City Comic Con, New York Comic Con, Fan Expo, and E3. This started in 2006 at the San Diego Comic Con.
See also
- Bobblehead
- Designer toys
- Stuffed toy
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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