Since 1998, Funko has been bringing collectors some of the most colorful, unique, and fun POP! figures to ever grace their display cases. Each is based on a beloved character or franchise in pop culture, and as the company has grown, so have the product lines and events where Funko shows up. This year marks the first time the brand has brought one of their booths to C2E2 —with Loungefly and Mondo divisions in tow— and the whole group is part of “Funko Airways. Where Fun Takes Flight.”
We had a chance to speak with Dave Bere (Vice President of POP! Yourself & Retail at Funko) about this latest endeavor and what’s ahead for the ‘fun’ company.
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Laughing Place: I am so excited that Funko has an official presence at C2E2 2024.
Dave Bere: Me too.
LP: I love the Funko Airways booth.
Dave: Yeah.
LP: How did you decide on characters and franchises to feature for the exclusives?
Dave: I think we really just listen to fans and try to make sure that we have something for everyone. So as we pick out our shows, whether it's the anime genre or whether it's Disney or whether it's Freddy, our own mascot, we want to make sure that we have something for everyone. So it's really about bringing a subset of diversity of the portfolio to shows like this.
LP: Okay. Very cool. POP! Yourself is such a great idea.
Dave: Yes.
LP: It's great that you've been able to roll it out to online guests. How long ago did you realize that this was something you had to offer?
Dave: What I love about POP! Yourself is it came from fans. Fans, obviously they collect our Funko POP!s. I think we get a lot of questions, "Well, I want to become a Funko POP!. How can I do that?" We launched it in our stores and it really blew off, it was our number one item. And so for us to make that more accessible, because not everyone can make it to our stores in Hollywood or Everett, Washington. So we were super excited to bring it to market and make it more accessible. Because at the end of the day it's people. And we know that it's going to resonate with people, whether you're a hardcore fan collector or you just think it's cool that you can have a figure of yourself, it's really resonated with a broad audience, which we're excited about.
LP: In addition to POP! Yourself, there’s been a lot of product expansion in the past few years. I'm thinking Soda, Rewind, Popsies. Do you have a favorite product line?
Dave: Let me think about that. I, first and foremost, love POP!. Within POP! we've just released Bitty POP!, which is super fun. We have a lot of plans around that. Outside of that, I really like Soda. We have one available here, Jiminy Cricket. And that's just a fun line. I think we really listen to fans, whether it's an IP or whether it's an expression. Like with Soda, it is an actual can. It's fun, there's a nostalgic factor to it. And that's what I love. I love the innovation and I think we're always just listening to fans to evolve what our portfolio is.
LP: Will there be other characters joining, like Freddy, Franny, Proto? Is that family expanding?
Dave: I mean, I don't know. I would never say never, but we're obviously really excited to bring Franny to market for the first time here in Chicago, Freddy's sister. I'm a dog person, so my favorite's Proto. Of course Freddy really resonates with fans, and I think there's a lot more that we can continue to do with Freddy and his family, and let the fans dictate that based on how all this resonates.
LP: That's awesome. I don't know if you can tell me anything, but are there upcoming series or figure lines that you can talk about or tease? I know fans have been desperate for Super Mario and Nintendo.
Dave: I would love that too. That's really the one big license out there that we don't have. Hopefully one day we do have it. There's some things we're certainly working on with POP! Yourself, bringing more licenses into that. Obviously we did a promotion with Dunkin [Donuts], that's the first, entering into that. We have a lot more planned. But as far as something to reveal, I don't even know if I know.
So nothing to reveal today, but certainly on POP! Yourself, there's more coming.
LP: Fantastic. Thank you so much.
Dave: Thank you.
C2E2 is taking place at McCormick Place in Chicago from April 26-28, 2024. Guests wishing to visit the Funko Airways Booth will need to register their badge and make a reservation to shop. Select Funko exclusives are available online through Funko and shared retailers.
Looking for more news and coverage from this year’s event? Check out our C2E2 tag page for the latest information and follow us on X (Twitter) for more fun as it’s happening!