Each week of March we're featuring a Funatic from the Funko Family community, tune in to see who's featured and learn more about fellow collectors. Please give a warm welcome to:
Mike Bryan
When and how did you first learn about Funko (include your first Funko piece in your collection)?
"I first learned about Funko at a local comic con here in Columbus back in 2017. My very first Funko Pop! was Scarecrow from Batman: The Animated Series."
What Funko lines and fandom(s) do you collect?
"The main lines/fandoms I collect are Marvel, Star Wars, The Nightmare Before Christmas (Disney), Harry Potter and DC."
What do you love about Funko? Do you have a favorite Funko memory?
"I love how loving and welcoming everyone I've met has been since starting to collect Funko Pops!
When I first discovered Funko it was one of the happiest moments in my life. I struggled daily with Ulcerative Colitis from 2012-2017. When I found Funko Pops!, my now wife and I were so defeated and depressed in regards to my health when my body stopped responding to medications/chemo therapy. The next step was surgery. When I was in and out of the hospital from 2017-2020 she would bring me Funko Pops! she found or even Pops! I would buy online while in the hospital. They made me so happy during my recovery from surgery that removed my entire large intestine and left me living with an ostomy bag for two years. Pops! were the things I looked forward to the most. Going out and "hunting" for the new Pop! in my collection makes me so happy. I don't think my wife and I can ever thank Funko enough. You all have given her and I so much joy. Thank you for everything!"
Bridgette Demko
When and how did you first learn about Funko?
"I started collecting Funko products in early 2015. I had started seeing Funko products around and mentioned them to my then new boyfriend/now husband. He surprised me with my first ever Funko product a Fabrikations Yoda. Shortly after I signed up for the Marvel Collector Corps and received the first box with 6-inch Pop! Hulkbuster. I loved the figure and proceeded to sign up for all the other collector boxes. I have been hooked ever since."
What Funko lines and fandom(s) do you collect?
"I mostly collect Anime and Star Wars, with some Marvel, DC, and Sci-Fi thrown in the mix. Some of my favorite lines are: all Pokémon figures, the Marvel Black Lights, and the new Demon Slayer line. I also love all the seasonal Pops! that have come out like the Christmas Marvel Gingerbread figures and the Star Wars Valentine's Pop! figures. I know they are not Funko figures directly, but I also collect a lot of Loungefly and Funko graphic tees. It is such a great way to wear your fandoms out in the world!"
What do you love about Funko? Do you have a favorite Funko memory?
"I love Funko because it creates community. I have always been kind of nerdy and shy so sometimes it was hard to find friends. Thru Funko I have found a great family of people who like all the same nerdy things I do. Whether it is talking with other collectors in line while waiting for exclusives or looking at all the creative things funatics put out on Instagram and Twitter, I feel like I am part of a bigger community.
My favorite Funko memory must be the part Funko has played in my relationship. The first gift my now husband ever bought for me was a Funko item. He proposed on Christmas giving me multiple different Funko Pops! of some my favorite characters before giving me my final gift which was the ring. When planning the wedding we chose to make all the centerpieces different Funko Pop! couples from our favorite movies and TV shows, (Han & Leia, Wall-e & Eve, Fry & Leela, etc.) On our honeymoon we took the Wall-e & Eve Pops! from our table at the wedding and took pictures of them all along the way to commemorate our trip. We even managed to spend the last day of our honeymoon in Everett, WA and I got see the Funko HQ. This has started a tradition that now whenever we take an anniversary vacation, we take a different set of figures to photograph along the trip."
Popshavocado
When and how did you first learn about Funko?
"It all began in 2019, I was roaming around my local Target and happen to find these small figures of known characters. I really liked how miniature they are and the design of the boxes. Right next to those small figures, was a newly release jumbo size Michael Jordan. He is one of my all-time favorite basketball players and I've never seen a collectible like this, I had to take it home."
What Funko lines/fandom do you collect?
"We started collecting ad icons and Disney characters then expanded our collection to Freddy Funko, vaulted Funko Pops!, and Funko SODA figures. We really enjoy collecting Jollibee and the different variations of Freddy Funko. As Filipinos, our love for Jollibee goes beyond the food. It's a big part of every Filipino kid's childhood and family. Our love for Freddy Funko started when we watched the official documentary “Making Fun – The Story of Funko”. The origin of Freddy and what he means to Funko as a mascot is very iconic. Freddy Funko is a character that can be many things that everyone can enjoy."
What do you love about Funko? Do you have a favorite Funko memory?
"What we love about Funko is the nostalgia factor on the characters. We collect certain characters because of great memories we had from our childhood, movies, sports, and so much more. There are so many lines to go through and over the years different styles/exclusives have been made. It becomes one giant rabbit hole researching releases on certain characters and finding out designs I never knew existed. The fun starts when trying to find these pops especially the limited release ones.
One day I remember walking into my local GameStop and I never knew Funko did mystery boxes. I thought it would be a fun idea to record my reaction on what I got. I bought all of the Venomized Fantastic Four mystery boxes in the store. I took home 7 boxes that day and what was funny is that I almost completed the whole set including the different variants of the Fantastic Four Pops!, pins, Pez, and stickers. This was our first ever YouTube video and that's how our channel began."
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
"It all started as a small hobby. We enjoyed the process of discovering different Funko products and finding the potential places to find them. This is when my partner and I decided we wanted to document our Funko journey and created our YouTube channel, Popshavocado. We wanted to share the fun with other collectors. Through this hobby and the platform of YouTube, we had made many friends who also shared the same passion. We never thought we could reach and talk to so many other individuals around the world. For us it's not just about collecting, it is also about meeting great people and making friends."
Danielle Hamilton
When and how did you first learn about Funko (include your first Funko piece in your collection)?
"I first learned about Funko back in 2014 when my youngest sister gave me a Rick Grimes Funko Pop! for Christmas, he was my first Pop! About 8 months later I was in a Barnes and Noble store and they had a sale going on if you bought 2 Pops! so I added a Groot and Captain America to the mix. For the next 2-3 years my collection stayed pretty small until I started more seriously collecting in 2018/2019!"
What Funko lines and fandom(s) do you collect?
"I mainly collect Pops!, they are my fave! I also have a couple of the Funko Sodas and Paka Paka items as well, but Pops! make up the majority of my collection.
The main Fandoms in my collection are Marvel and Disney, and I'm slowly growing my Star Wars collection, The Mandalorian is a new favorite and I can't say no to a pop from that line! I also have some smaller lines that I love like Back to The Future and TMNT as well! Captain America is my absolute favorite, so he gets a little shrine shelf all to himself!"
What do you love about Funko? Do you have a favorite Funko memory?
"I love that Funko spans so much of pop culture, you can literally find something for basically anything you are in to, so it feels very inclusive!
I also just love the community that I found because of it, one day in 2018 I decided to start a separate Instagram account (@dlh_funko) when I saw Funko was doing a Photo-A-Day challenge and I thought that sounded so fun and I wanted to participate, and the rest is history! Sharing toy photos of my collection with other collectors, and seeing theirs as well, is just one of the most fun parts of my day.
My sister and mom are collectors and share on Instagram as well, so it is lots of fun bouncing photo ideas off each other and doing photo shoots together. Since I have been doing the Photo-A-Day challenges for so long one of my favorite Funko memories is having my photo selected for one of the prompts last year, that was a super exciting Funko moment!"
Thank you for sharing your Funko experience with the larger Funko Family.
If you are interested in possibly being a featured Funatic, you can tag @OriginalFunko on Instagram or Twitter along with a picture of you with your collection with #FOTW and #FunaticOfTheWeek.