Funko Funkast - Questions for Brian!

[perfectgame34]

We're working on a new Funko Funkast segment with Brian and wanted to get your questions!

Pro tip: Come up with something deeper than just "will you make [insert current favorite thing here]??" for the best chance of having your question asked!

Post your questions below

[valorandvellum]

What a fun opportunity!

As far as licenses go, do companies usually approach you or do you approach them? Are there any licenses in particular that you fought very hard to get?

[StarWarner]

What is your favorite part of being Funko's CEO?

[squidward]

1. As a leader for a growing company, who has been your mentor? And who do you currently mentor?

2. What is something that you get involved in, that as CEO you probably shouldn't be involved in, but you just can't help yourself because it's so fun and you enjoy it too much?

[CollectorBadger]

Very cool!
What was that one moment(or many if need be) where you knew that Funko had really hit its mark?

Thanks for the opportunity, can't wait to listen!

[Vinyl4Blood]

Thank you for this great opportunity!

Is there a type of toy/collectible that you've always wanted to make, but feel that Funko just isn't quite ready for it yet?

[fieldsy32]

With the funko shop doing so well, and the hq about to open. Will we see the end of traditional 3rd party sellers having access exclusives and or fundays exclusives?

[theraven00]

How do you decide which characters and/or lines will have a chase version? Is it something that you come up with or does your production (marketing/artistic?) team make the decision? Or is it a licensing thing (I believe Star Wars only has 2 chase Pop!s, both exclusive to Smuggler's Bounty)?

[CaseyJones14]

This is awesome, can't wait to listen! Hmm I've got to ask a Dorbz question...

I know this is basically asking who your favorite child is, but do you have an all time favorite Dorbz or is there a specific character you are really excited to see in Dorbz form?

[angeladominguez]

This is great! I cannot wait to hear!

Where do you see Funko going in the next few years?

What inspired you or why did you decide to purchase Funko?

What's the most difficult thing about being a CEO?

You're house in on fire, what is the first thing you grab?

[PopCollector]

Is there a current line of Funko products or future line of Funko products that you feel will be able to do better than POPs?

[Danberry75]

Being that you said before you want to Funko to grow, what was behind the acquisition of LoungeFly?
What has been your highlight (and lowlight) of running a quickly growing company?

[thejosh2010]

This is so awesome! Thank you Brian, Yoko, & Funko for this privilege!

With Funko growing at the exponential rate it is, what are the chances we could see a Funko Superstore on the East Coast similar to the one opening in Washington at the new headquarters??

[CAHRULL]

Such a cool opportunity! Thanks Yoko.

With the Funko museum slated to open at the new Funko HQ, comic books being released with "Pop"-ified artwork, and merchandise of Freddy Funko selling like hot cakes, is Funko as a brand is starting to become just as iconic as the licensed characters you guys release?

[Blake85]

Would their be a possible Funko Verse movie?
Something similar to the Lego movies.
After seeing how awesome the teasers for the mystery boxes came out

[Lonikins]

This is awesome, Yoko! So excited that you are reaching out to us and that we get to pick the brain of our fearless leader thanks!

Brian, what first drew you to collecting? Was it a certain toy line as a kid or maybe something like baseball cards?

What did you want to grow up to be as a kid?

Did you or Mike Becker ever expect Funko to turn into something this huge? I am sure no one expected a company making bobbleheads to explode into a pop culture juggernaut.

What is your favorite item in your new office?

And lastly, what do you love most about Funko?

[grandpa_stern]

What's your favorite charity and why?

Thanks for considering my question!

[Sarcasticguy]

Funko is in Washington as we all know, so where is your favorite place to get coffee and what do you get?

[Lonikins]

Ok one quick jokey question - if you had Sully in a room and told him he had to give you a Guardians Dorito to keep his job, do you think he would?

[repair-manmanmanman]

Hi Brian, as an entrepreneur and CEO that's super involved in his company, do you see yourself working with Funko until you're on your deathbed (morbid, I know) or do you hope to grow the company to a point where they're mostly self sufficient and you can retire? Alternatively, if you could leave today and work for any company, which would it be?

Thanks in advance for your insight! And thank you Yoko for always giving us direct communication from the source!

[methodsmadness]

On pizza: pineapples or no?

Coke or Pepsi?

Mayo or Miracle Whip?

Favorite Starburst flavor?

[Battastic]

How much compromise must you endure when working with a particular license?

Once you acquire the rights to a license, how much freedom do you have? Are you allowed to pick and choose characters or are you limited?

[JaceCD]

Thank you Yoko for reaching out to us to ask Brian questions that we would like to ask him.

Question to Brian:

For Convention exclusives... Why the move to shared exclusives? I can understand that you want to have others outside of the conventions to be able to get these items (Pops!, Dorbz, Plushies, etc) but for people who attend the conventions to get their hands on these exclusives, kind of takes away on how exclusive the convention exclusives are. As a collector, I like how limited the exclusives are and if you're unable to attend the convention, then you are not able to get those exclusives. I remember in the past at SDCC and ECCC for example. The exclusives at those conventions were only at that convention and not available outside of the convention unless you attended and were able to get into the booth.

Also to add. I like the whole online lottery system that was put in place at ECCC and SWC to be able to get into the Funko booth. The only flaw that I can see on that system is that anyone can enter in the lottery. That means anyone who doesn't have an actual convention badge can enter the lottery and win. It would be nice to limit the lottery to only those who are actually attending the convention via a barcode number or some type of confirmation number that would need to be entered in to be eligible for the online lottery.

Again, Thank you for letting us ask a question to Brian.

Have a Magical Day!

[repair-manmanmanman]

I would also love to hear Brian's answers to some questions from this list that was intended to "help you fall in love with someone in 36 questions":

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?
12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
14. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?
17. What is your most treasured memory?

Some of the other questions get super intimate but here's the full list:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/fash ... .html?_r=0

At the end you're actually supposed to stare into the person's eyes for 4 minutes too, and I think it'd be hilarious if you just got Brian to sit and stare into a camera recording him for 4 minutes ...

[emcee]

Hey Brian, who are your favourite sports teams/players?

[bizzydesigner]

If there were to be a Funko movie some day, who would play the part of Brian?

If you could make just one pop of a legendary historical figure, who would it be?

Thanks for all the Hannah Barbera pops! I appreciate each of them!

[mactds]

The last few Funkasts have been good, but this is a nice twist for the next episode.

My question is about the numbering of limited pieces, and how much work goes into that whether it's licensing agreements, analytics on potential demand, the balance of rarity versus getting it in the hands of as many customers as possible. It would be great to know how that is decided, as I can see a number of products that would sell far more than the number produced, but on the flip side I have seen pops that sit on shelves with too many produced. I could see some 3000 count pops being able to easily sell out at 6000 count, or vice versa 6000 count that have a tough time selling out.

Looking forward to the Q&A with Brian

[fischmioli]

I got a couple questions.


Will you hire me?

Pineapple on pizza, yay or nay?

[ComicsZombie]

Hey Brian, with all the buzz around Funko and all your hard work, what's your favorite way to unwind?

[grilledeggplant]

Hello Brian!

What words of wisdom do you live by?

Also where do you envision Funko in 5 years?

Wishing more success to you and the Funko family!

[chaostryder]

Hey Brian, what has been some of the most challenging pops to translate into Pop! Form and how did you overcome the challenge?

[alf_ie]

Hi Brian and Team,

How would a regular consumer contact the company to suggest/recommend an item or idea to produce into reality?

Thank you.

[toro423]

Thanks for the chance Yoko! Lots of Funcast listeners all of a sudden

My question(s) to Brian would be:

Did you ever envision Funko becoming this big?
The company has grown so much these last few years. What has been your favorite part of this ride?
Is there anything you would have done differently, and if you were given the option to go back and change it, would you?

[fbingha]

Brian,

Which licensees have you created because you solely said, "Look, I want to make this because I like it"?

[nikko]

What are your plans for Asia? Any chance we can see Funko joining conventions here in Asia?

[treswright]

I think most of us know that you are a collector yourself, what Funko and non-Funko items are in your personal collection?

[supertoygiant]

Is it possible to order a pop exclusive for a group and what would be the minimum order to do this? (For example a funko facebook group with 3000 members)

[Brotha_man_davw]

How do you feel when employees of other retailers buy the chases for themselves and resell them for higher prices ? Do you plan to address this ? Do u think if it's fair if the employee is an avid collector/funko fanatic ?

[popfanboy]

Hey Brain,
Who is your favorite Spastik Plastik? Also, I'm loving the combination of Spastiks and newer Funko lines. I would buy the crap out of Spastik Plastik Pint Size Heroes!

[ruxy_100]

A couple of questions that I would be interested in hearing the answers to:

- How involved are you in the development process for Funko's products? Are you actively involved in character selection, design etc?

- Are there any figures or lines that you personally championed - i.e. ones that you knew would only be of limited popularity, buy you really really wanted to make it, so you did?

- If you could go back in time and change one key business decision - what would you change?

- Funko is unlike any other collectible/toy company in the way that it engages with its fans. What was the driving force behind that? How has fandom shaped the way you operate?