Posted in: Collectibles, Funko | Tagged: funko, funko pop, marvel

BC Toy Talk: Why I Decided 2021 Was My Last Year Collecting Funko

It is that time of year where everyone is starting their New Year's Resolutions and I have one of my own this year. It will be 10 years since I started collecting Funko in 2022, and it's time to say goodbye to the beloved franchise from my shelves. I have built up quite the collection in all of my years collecting and it all started with the original Daryl Dixon Pop from The Walking Dead. That is the thing that truly got me hooked with Funko, they offered collectibles for movies, shows, and comics that never got something before. It was their incredible line-up of Funko Pop Vinyl figures that really blew me away and I just need more for Supernatural, Arrow, and The Flash.

I have obtained some legendary pieces in my collection like SDCC Black Suit Superman, SDCC Loki, Red Skull, GITD Reverse-Flash, and so much more. In 2018, I put my focus on collecting all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Pops that were released. I even accomplished it with over 500 Pops from the iconic film franchise with complete runs of Iron Man 3, Thor, Captain America: Winter Soldier, and everything else between Iron Man and Avengers: Endgame. I have completed runs of My Hero Academia, Supernatural, Demon Slayer, and so much more. While my accomplishments of Funko grow, the lack of faith in the franchise started to diminish as the market just got more and more competitive.

The pleasant Funko experience that I had fallen in love with was starting to fade with a more competitive scalper market. From bots eating up all online sales, to the people camping outside Hot Topic just to get a Chase Variant, the community got more aggressive. This fun collecting word became dog eat dog, with everything depending on "mint" and it was all about value rather than just collecting. The disappointment in Funko really started to grow after the Worldwide Pandemic as these Virtual Cons were simple cash grabs based on luck, lame exclusives, and silly online gimmicks. My final straw was the 2021 Funko Sundays event that I was so eager to watch only to see a gimmick that had no correlation to the collectibles they released.

Funko has been a massive part of my life, and they helped me find my focus after I left the Air Force by putting my eye on collecting. In the past year, I have sold my collection in sections with this last sale being my final one getting rid of my entire Funko MCU collection of 515 Pops. There are plenty of reasons why I am saying goodbye to Funko, but it really comes down to them taking up so much space, the never-ending collecting potential, the insignificance of pre-orders, and the lack of Fun coming to us from Funko. It will be hard to not go to every Pop Section in the stores I go in, but there are plenty more collectibles on my sights these days. Marvel legends, Hot Toys, Mezco Toyz, and more articulating figures are keeping my attention lately, but that is the way collecting goes. I bid you farewell Funko, I will miss you dearly, but it is time to say goodbye and thank you for getting me to where I am now.

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