Funko has finally unveiled their upcoming New York Comic Con exclusives Pop Vinyl Figures, and, despite how stunning they are, this year’s the hunt will be a bit more difficult than a traditional convention.
The week is here for New York City Comic-Con, but unfortunately, those last-minute adjustments to cosplay aren’t needed as yet again COVID-19 has forced another convention into the virtual world. Much like how San Diego Comic-Con had to release their exclusive Funkos virtually, the pandemic has made gathering in person a health risk, but as is the world of entertainment, the show must go on!
As most avid collectors already know, conventions bring about the release of tons of new and unique pieces to add to one’s arsenal, and at the top of this list is usually the hype for new Funko Pops. Although there is no insanely long line at the Funko booth to wait in this year (whether that is a good or bad thing has yet to be decided), this hasn’t stopped Funko from revealing an absolutely stellar batch of figures releasing alongside the now virtual event. From Marvel to DC, Disney to Danny Phantom, the entire release is stuffed with absolute “must-haves” and some of the nicest molds seen in quite a while.
The con is getting its own limited edition NYCC themed Funkos in the form of two absolutely hilarious characters, a definite “NEED” for any New Yorker; a convention loving cosplaying pigeon, and a pizza nomming rat with attitude. The ReedPop Exclusive Pizza Rat & Paulie Pigeon Pops are not only in vinyl form, but t-shirts and pins as well. NYCC is also getting its own Freddy Funko Soda figure, which features Freddy in an NYC shirt.
First up for the licensed pops are some marvelous Marvel Comics characters. The Marvel line includes a Street Art Miles Morales, a Red Goblin, a Venomized Magneto, and a Zombie Daredevil. The Venomized Magneto and Zombified Daredevil are both part of the larger Venomized and Zombie lines (and even a cross between the two with Zombie Venom), so anyone that already collects these series definitely needs to get their hands on these.
Next, we have the DC Comics line, which includes Nightwing, a glow in the dark Wonder Woman, and a special edition Breast Cancer Awareness: The Joker. With Batman being an icon for both the Funko and DC brand, it is slightly surprising to see DC only having three exclusives this year, but at least they’re pretty excellent.
Manga and Anime have been growing nonstop in popularity in the West, and each year this growth can be seen at NYCC as more and more of the con is dedicated to it. Funko is no exception to this, and this year’s exclusive figures include a wide range of anime icons. Souichi from Junji Ito, Ein (Flocked) from Cowboy Bebop, Kaguya Otsutsuki from Naruto, and Mister Compress from My Hero Academia.
Back to more Western animation, we have the king of American cartoons, Disney. The company has three exclusives this year touching upon a range of classic characters spanning different generations of moviegoers. Pinocchio‘s Jiminy Cricket is the most old school on the list, followed by Stitch as a Baker from Lilo & Stitch, and then touching upon the Pixar generation with Carl & Ellie from Up.
Following the Disney train is another franchise they now own, Star Wars. With the popularity of the Child (aka Baby Yoda) it is no surprise at all that the con features an exclusive of the little green force user in the Star Wars: The Mandalorian – The Child with Necklace figure. For more classic characters the series is touching upon the latest film while throwing it back in time a bit to make a Luke and Leia Jedi Training Pop.
Although a comic convention, Funko is a collectible brand, meaning that they also offer figures that might fall slightly outside the realm of “comics” while still being relevant, such as television and movies.
Leading off this bit of the collection is a perfect merge of TV and comic culture, a figure based on a show based on a comic book. That’s right, Umbrella Academy‘s very own Young Ben is now a Funko.
As fitting as possible, The Simpsons found a way to also bridge this television/comic book gap through their 2020 figure. The vinyl is of Comic Book Guy and Wolfman Bart, which honestly couldn’t be any more appropriate for a comic convention. Fans of the series will also be delighted by the recent Treehouse of Horror Funko Pop line.
Keeping on this idea of being television while staying on a comic theme is this year’s SpongeBob release. The Pops are of no other than the most comic book characters in the entire franchise, Barnacle Boy and Mermaid Man.
Nickelodeon follows it up with another comic book-esque character of theirs, and perhaps the closest they have come to their own original superhero, the ghost boy supreme, Danny Phantom. This is by far one of the coolest molds of the bunch, if not ever, as it is perhaps one of the most unique looking Funko’s to date.
More television than comic book, this next figure is still a definite need for any fan of the show How I Met Your Mother, which only just recently got its first Funkos. Any fan of the show is familiar with Robin’s hilarious past, featured as an ongoing joke throughout the series, and now Robin Sparkles can join your shelf in Funko form.
The Office seems to be non stop with Funkos since the line first dropped, even having an exclusive at San Diego Comic Con. Well anyone that missed out at SDCC has a chance to snag a new exclusive Dwight Pop, now in his Recyclops outfit.
Throwing it back to more classic cartoons we have a brand synonymous with old school animation; Hanna Barbera. The Huckleberry Hound mice Dixie and Pixie are getting vinyls!
Staying in line with retro tv is the final batch of television collectibles representing Masters of the Universe (soon to get a new Netflix original). The line includes a supersized 10″ Beast Man and normal-sized Pops of Ninjor and King Hiss. Besides just normal Pops, the franchise is also getting two Soda Vinyl in the form of She-Ra and Spikor.
The Film collection is a little less massive than the TV figures, but they are definitely just as cool.
Although a Soda figure rather than a traditional Pop, what better way to start off this section of the collection with a figure based on a character from a movie based on a comic book (always a comic con connection somewhere to be found). The figure is of Envy Adams from none other than Scott Pilgrim vs The World.
Perfect for the place in which the convention is meant to take place is a cult classic film involving NYC itself; Escape from New York. Protagonist Snake is finally getting a Pop!
Just in time for spooky season is a Pop any Halloween lover is bound to die for; Beetlejuice with Handbook of Recently Deceased.
One thing Funko is known for besides just their Pops are Pops that include vehicles or iconic locations from a series, and it looks like one of Harry Potter‘s most famous locales is getting vinylized. The Burrow (which also features Mrs. Weasley) will definitely be one of the harder pieces to get hands-on, as well as the Ron At World Cup figure.
Just as fans look forward to the special vehicles and set pieces, collectors also look forward to special super-sized pops (much like that in the Masters of the Universe collection), and this year the film character they chose to plus size couldn’t be any more perfect. The Princess Bride is getting a ten-inch Funko and it only takes one guess to figure out which character; nonother than Fezzik, played by real-life behemoth Andre the Giant.
Funko doesn’t simply stop with comics, film, and television, however, and this year’s NYCC exclusives don’t either.
For video game Pops there are two franchises touched upon this year; Pokémon and Fortnite.
Pokémon is an absolutely perfect franchise for a collectible figure, hell the slogan is literally “gotta catch ’em all” so being able to physically collect them all only makes sense. This year’s exclusives include two fan-favorite characters in flocked form, giving Pikachu and Growlithe a nice coat of fur.
Fortnite players now have the chance to score a Funko Pop of Bash, sporting his wild unicorn head.
Finally for this year’s collection are a few figures that fall outside of the realm of all of these other pieces, some Ad Icons, and a Retro Toy. These last pieces include McDonald’s (who also just released a slew of other Pops) Captain Crook, Dum-Dums Lolipops’ Drum Man, and G.I. Joe’s Beach Head.
This year’s New York Comic Con Funko Pop drop is insanely massive, covering every end of the collectible spectrum. Just as the case with physical NYCC, Funko is running a lottery to be able to even purchase the figures (especially after the disaster that was trying to buy Pops online during SDCC), but don’t fret, aside from the few NYCC specific pieces, all of these exclusives will be sold exclusively at their respective retailers as limited edition con exclusives, giving fans another shot to go out and snag these in person. Happy hunting!
