Feel free to check out our other Star Wars Funko History posts:
Star Wars Wacky Wobblers History | Star Wars Holographic History | Star Wars Plush History | Star Wars Hikari History | Star Wars Dorbz History | Star Wars Vynl History
We're making this post because some of the nostalgia might be lost on the newer collectors who might have only started collecting this 40th Anniversary Celebration. First, the 2017's SWCO Holographic Qui Gon Jinn is an awesome piece in its own right, especially following the wild success of the original 2016 NYCC Qui Gon Jinn POP that was limited to 2000 pieces. But there is more to the history and reasoning behind the choice to make a holographic version for the 40th anniversary of Star Wars and Star Wars Celebration Orlando!
Original QGJ 2000 pieces:
Holographic version:
Worth nothing is that they've updated the holographic finish and it no longer has the greenish glow in the dark but rather a pure blue one.
Since the "revival" of the holographic line convention exclusives with QGJ, Funko has released more of them starting with these two: Holographic Leia (2pack with new r2-d2 mold) and 6inch Supreme Leader Snoke. These are expected to feature the same new blue glow like SWCO QGJ (not the greenish glow of the old ones)
Trivia: Holo Leia is the first Holo POP! to come without a GITD sticker since its from a 2pack with regular paint, non-glow R2 (R2 is also a new mold that bobbles at the dome rather than between the legs and the fuselage). Holo Leia is also obviously the first Holo Star Wars item in a 2pack rather than the traditional single POP! Even more interestingly, Holo Leia is the first Leia POP! designed after Carrie Fisher's untimely passing as Hoth Leia was actually in the works before December of 2016.
Trivia: Funko's Snoke is the first Snoke item to be released by any licensee likely due to a special exception by the licensor (Lucasfilm) as Funko needs less details and accuracy to produce their stylized products and there was enough from TFA footage. Other licensees are expected to release TLJ Snoke items on Force Friday, September 1, 2017.
A holographic version using the existing Rebels Ahsoka was also made. Because of the use of the dual blue paint, similar to Maul, her face markings create a cool glow effect.
Funko also released a holographic version of the existing Darth Vader Dorbz on Jan 8, 2018 at the Disney Store exclusively, like all the Star Wars Dorbz due to licensing limitations, for the steep price of $16.95.
HOLO HISTORY
The holographic variant has been created for and has been a specialty for the Star Wars Funko line (with the exception of Iron Man who borrows the name but not the finish, discussed below).It hearkens back to the classic and universally beloved SDCC 2012 Holo Darth Maul and 2013's Paris Exclusive/Dallas City Comic Con Holo Darth Vader. They too were met with much excitement by the fans, with Maul still being considered one of the best pieces of the line by many collectors.
As awesome as these POPs are, this is not where the story began.These themselves were inspired and paid homage to 2 Funko classics.
First, the very first holographic Funko Star Wars piece was the SDCC 2007 Wacky Wobbler Holo Vader. This was released the same year as the announcement of the acquisition of the Lucasfilm license and the introduction of the Star Wars Wacky Wobblers line discussed in our previous post. There were 2500 of these pieces made, with about 69 of them being chases (with a clear base).
Second, 2010's SDCC Wacky Wobbler Holo Maul that had only 480 pieces and only 12 chases, making these the rarest Wacky Wobbler Star Wars production chase pieces! There aren't many of these left so they are even more valuable now.
Regular and Chase versions of Maul:
Fun Trivia - When making the very first Holographic POP, Darth Maul, Funko envisioned it being produced the same way the Wobblers were made without extra paint. They quickly realized that the POP just did not look right and added the additional blue paint that also gives it that wonderful glow effect (where the extra paint doesn't glow and it better shows off Maul's face markings (image above)). Because of this, there is actually a unique piece that an individual bought off Gemini a while back - a Holo Maul #1 of 1 reject signed by Brian.
JobaFett wrote:My Contribution since I like taking bland background pics
I have no back story on the holo vader w/ Clone Trooper base other than I've heard it was a test piece where they had the body but no base so they just threw it on a base that was lying around, but I can't confirm that. Still needed it
I do have a bit of trivia to add here though. Originally, the darth vader wobbler was going to have a smaller head (images 4 and 5 below), however they decided to increase the size for the final production pieces (images 1-3 below). What is odd, is that the holo vaders (images 6 & 7 below) still retained the original smaller head.
In addition to these Wacky Wobblers and POPs, there were actually two Holographic Hikari! Coincidentally, they were both of Darth Vader.
One of them is the 2015 750 piece and the second is the 2016 300 piece.
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Going beyond conventions, there was actually another holographic Star Wars POP released in the US in 2015 as a Toy Wars exclusive and that is the holographic Emperor!
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Another variation worth mention is "spirit" items that to the naked eye are indistinguishable in process and finish from holographic ones. Such items include the Spirit Yoda sold in the US as a Walgreens Exclusive in 2015.
This in turn was actually inspired by its Wacky Wobblers counterpart released in 2008 as 1500 (41 chases) piece SDCC exclusive Spirit Yoda!
There was also 2008's Obi-Wan Kenobi Spirit that was also 1500 pieces and 41 of them being chases.
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There is yet another "variation" if you want to call it that, and those are the "holographic" Star Wars pieces that ended up not being holographic at all, but rather, a blue-ish translucent material with no glow. One such piece is Commander Cody's Emperor.
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While these were never released, they are definitely worth mentioning! Why they were never released is not entirely clear but perhaps it was because the Funko Force 2.0 line, now known as POP!, came shortly after (and these were in the original Funko Force style).
These were the Holographic Darth Vader and Yoda. Only 2 of each are known to be in existence!
There is also the Godzilla Ghost POP! (and Hikari) that is similar but different
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As we briefly mentioned before, the holographic line has not been entirely Star Wars only, with one single exception - the Iron Man Mark VI Holo that was made into both Funko Force and Wacky Wobbler. However, as we said, this is an exception and the finish is actually more clear so the only similarity is the name.
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Or is it the only potential exception? Funko's CEO Brian Mariotti announced earlier this 2017 year that they'll be giving away a Holographic Freddy Funko for everyone who voted and made it possible for Funko to win the TOTY Award! You can see the video here. Stay tuned for updates!
Rather than sending it to those who actually voted as Funko originally promised, they opened a sign up lottery system for everyone and 5000 TOTY Freddy POPs using the Holographic paintjob were sent out at random.
Thank you for checking this out
, Doctor Who, Marvel, Movies, Freddy Funko, Spastik/Fantastik Plastik
May the Funko Be With You
