Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

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geekygent78
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Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby geekygent78 » Mon Jan 12, 2026 11:31 pm

Here's a bold question: LE and Mystery Pops have rejuvenated the hobby? Yes or No.

In my opinion, I believe it has. People have been complaining for years about how Funko is flooding the market with pops no one wants. They sit on the store shelves for a bit, end up with a discount sticker on them, and then eventually they disappear. Probably sold to another store for a fraction of the cost. Stores were taking a huge hit holding onto items that were taking up shelf space and not moving.

By slapping a number on pops, most of the LE have done very well. If you look at the recent conventions that had the mystery pops available, they were the bangers people wanted. Here's why:

1) It makes it harder for return customers to persuade the volunteers to "choose" the pop they would like to get because they are sealed
2) You're only allowed to get so many per visit to the booth, until the end of the day and if they have any more
3) People online have a chance to get a shared sticker, which they don't mind because some people aren't sticker snobs (I'm one of them lol )

I'd like to know what other people, who have been in the hobby for a while, think about the LE and mystery pops.
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FunCo010
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Re: Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby FunCo010 » Tue Jan 13, 2026 3:32 pm

I think you are right. A long time ago (when pops were flooding the market) 1 Youtuber said it right: Where is the time, that people complain, that they missed a drop and waiting in front of their pc screen and hope to get a pop. And he was right. This was a thing we missed. Complaining about missing Pops during drops.
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Re: Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby Serch_na » Tue Jan 13, 2026 4:31 pm

I allways thought that, funko wasnt diying, was living to much haha they grew up more than the market, and cared less about the current market, but im glad that this is changing, or at least at first sight
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Re: Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby Rxiempire » Wed Jan 14, 2026 8:48 am

Well said and I think it has brought back some excitement to the hobby forsure

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Re: Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby jmosh42 » Thu Jan 15, 2026 12:31 am

Yes it for sure has brought back interest in collectors. I believe mystery pops will play a big part moving forward.
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Stat32111
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Re: Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby Stat32111 » Thu Jan 15, 2026 5:16 pm

I like the LE releases, just don't like the point requirements
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Re: Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby Chenzo157 » Fri Jan 16, 2026 2:51 am

Mystery pops still kinda rub me the wrong way since I witnessed a worker at the sdcc booth sneak back and give his friend a good huckleberry hound. Could even hear him saying how he looked through 10 boxes until he found the green one. The LE pops I'm a fan of since you now have that rush of not being sure if you're not gonna be able to get it but hopefully funko learned to not give low numbered exclusives to people who use it to make money
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Re: Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby Tusken » Fri Jan 16, 2026 10:27 am

I could see it giving the hobby a boast but the problem would be a bot so it would have to happen at conventions to help drive the thrill. It would cool to send random funatics pops to help re-establish the core point of Funko. :freddy3:
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Re: Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby ldela001 » Fri Jan 16, 2026 10:16 pm

I believe it has, if many of the drops have truly sold out.
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geekygent78
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Re: Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby geekygent78 » Sat Jan 17, 2026 6:39 pm

Serch_na wrote:I allways thought that, funko wasnt diying, was living to much haha they grew up more than the market, and cared less about the current market, but im glad that this is changing, or at least at first sight



I'm very interested in seeing what the new CEO and board members bring to the company. How do they plan on retaining interest of current collectors while trying to attract new ones. It's very interesting to see how it will all play out 6 months to a year from now.
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geekygent78
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Re: Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby geekygent78 » Sat Jan 17, 2026 6:42 pm

Tusken wrote:I could see it giving the hobby a boast but the problem would be a bot so it would have to happen at conventions to help drive the thrill. It would cool to send random funatics pops to help re-establish the core point of Funko. :freddy3:



One way, I believe Funko is trying to combat bots, is the loyalty program. Having to collect points in order to purchase a LE pop makes it hard for bots because they don't have accounts. It reduces the number of people using bots to try and get one and gives collectors a chance to get their hands on one.
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Re: Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby DrunkoPop » Thu Jan 22, 2026 9:52 pm

geekygent78 wrote:
Tusken wrote:I could see it giving the hobby a boast but the problem would be a bot so it would have to happen at conventions to help drive the thrill. It would cool to send random funatics pops to help re-establish the core point of Funko. :freddy3:



One way, I believe Funko is trying to combat bots, is the loyalty program. Having to collect points in order to purchase a LE pop makes it hard for bots because they don't have accounts. It reduces the number of people using bots to try and get one and gives collectors a chance to get their hands on one.


True and I agree but trust me, there is ALWAYS a way around the system.
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Re: Limited Piece/Mystery Pops Revitalizing the Hobby

Postby supertoygiant » Thu Jan 22, 2026 10:50 pm

Chenzo157 wrote:Mystery pops still kinda rub me the wrong way since I witnessed a worker at the sdcc booth sneak back and give his friend a good huckleberry hound. Could even hear him saying how he looked through 10 boxes until he found the green one. The LE pops I'm a fan of since you now have that rush of not being sure if you're not gonna be able to get it but hopefully funko learned to not give low numbered exclusives to people who use it to make money


It has always been that why, the social media team gave all their friends a Social Media Freddy soda and even mailed them out to them. Some were given out randomly but a small percentage.
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