So how did your SDCC Pop Hunting Go?

[jkcohen626]

I hope one day Funko will instead do an online lottery for their booth.

Funko HATES the way this system works. For them it's confusing and annoying and they hate letting their fans down. If you listen to the Funkast, in ep 31, the crew spends a good few minutes bashing the terrible SDCC line procedures in general. The problem here is that CCI is apparently afraid of the internet or something really stupid like that and even though Funko pushes every year, CCI won't let them have an online lottery.

I also belive that Fundays should be a lottery, but that's a story for another day.

[coopscohen]

Still searching for a few pieces. I made it into the Funko Booth last Saturday but they were sold out of some stuff. I've been spending the last week stalking eBay to get the missing stuff with the SDCC sticker so everything matches . Just need Tigger and Sike-O-Shriner now

[2017fanatic]

damn 2nd time box lunch cancelled my The Mountain order...

[Oscarpena02]

No. After the way things went the first day with people cutting in from the Marina (which occurred every day) we instead spent all of our efforts on signings with WB/Fox. It's such a bummer. I hope one day Funko will instead do an online lottery for their booth.

Yeah I heard they where cutting... and the volunteers didn't do much to help... that's why I didn't even try to get in line. I wanted to try the game of thrones experience but that line was like 8 hours That was crazy

Some suspicipus guy near us in line was telling me that CCI imposes rules and limitations on volunteers/line management that if they get rushed by a certain number of people (over 8 I think he said) you're supposed to just let them go by. Trying to stop people in large numbers is against safety policy.

That's dumb. That's some thing they Should work on I saw a lot of mad people that camp out and didn't even get a chance to see the iPad. Not just on funko on other lines too

[Kingwolfdaddy]

I feel your pain. I have given up on the funko booth the last two years. They moved to the ticket system and it is just as bad as when it was all about being first in exhibit hall floor or in the area when line becomes uncapped. It just has its own set of problems. That is why I love the shared part. It makes me happy. As a result, its only fundays and preview night access to booth that is disappointing. I am already counting down for Fundays 2018 because 2016 was such a blast. It was a sad Friday night because all I could think about was the blast I had at Fundays 2016.

I am hoping SDCC learns that people are unhappy with this system and goes to a lottery. This way I can at least sleep in a bed!.

After waiting since 3pm on Wednesday to get into the booth on Thursday, CCI managed to let people in the back again. By the time I got to the Funko line, it was half way to the Marriott. I was only in the 5th chute in the 1st tent but I know people in the 2nd chute that didn't even get a chance to touch the iPad (ie. they didn't even get to try for a wristband). That pretty much spoiled any further attempt to get into the booth. I wasn't going to risk wasting 20+ hours without even getting to try for a wristband.

Btw, CCI did nothing when people complained to them even though this is the 3rd year in a row that they let people in the back of Sails on Thursday.

This is why I didn't even bother trying to camp out. Heard too many stories of people that didn't even get a chance to draw because of the Sails issue!

I was able to pick up a couple Pops online and even got a couple at my local GameStop when I came home!

[Ace+ 76]

My wife and I managed to get almost all of the Pop's we wanted, and even got a few we didn't even originally want, but once we saw them, we had to get them. We did have a great deal of problems getting some of them, do to certain vendors sites having major issues.....***coughB&Ncough*** ***coughGamestopcough*** the one that we didn't get is the Megazord, so basically it was a good ComicCon. We will probably never wait in the Funko Booth line or the Popup shop, sadly I was just about blown off by an employee at the Funko Booth when I was asking a question and watched the same employee open the stanchion and let someone into the line and I kinda got the feeling of being ignored or brushed off.

[Katers]

I feel both of your pain. I was at SDCC starting Wednesday for preview night and no luck getting into booth or pop up shop. In all honesty, I have given up on booth. I heard pop up shop was chaotic.

I actually stumbled upon the pop up shop line while trying to meet up with a friend, and couldn't believe how long the line was (this was Wed afternoon!). Passed the shop post con when the windows were dark (and I'm sure the shelves were CLEARED), and took a few pictures just because I could! Figure that's as close as I'll ever get to the front of the store again!

Do you live in San Diego? If you do, the store is always there. That building is actually their offices for a certain department of Funko. Trust me, I have been trying to see if they have software jobs there. If they had software engineering jobs there, I would consider leaving my current job to work for them assuming price is right. It would be awesome to work for a company that makes a great product that I love.

I don't, but I'm just North enough that it's an easy and fun place to visit during non-SDCC days, so that's really good to know that it's there year round! I'll have to add that in to my SD exploration route! And I know what you mean - it has to be a great place to work!

[jkcohen626]

I actually stumbled upon the pop up shop line while trying to meet up with a friend, and couldn't believe how long the line was (this was Wed afternoon!). Passed the shop post con when the windows were dark (and I'm sure the shelves were CLEARED), and took a few pictures just because I could! Figure that's as close as I'll ever get to the front of the store again!

Do you live in San Diego? If you do, the store is always there. That building is actually their offices for a certain department of Funko. Trust me, I have been trying to see if they have software jobs there. If they had software engineering jobs there, I would consider leaving my current job to work for them assuming price is right. It would be awesome to work for a company that makes a great product that I love.

I don't, but I'm just North enough that it's an easy and fun place to visit during non-SDCC days, so that's really good to know that it's there year round! I'll have to add that in to my SD exploration route! And I know what you mean - it has to be a great place to work!

Funko South mostly just does the apparel. I think they may have even been small apparel company and then Funko absorbed them when they wanted to branch out into shirts and whatever else they have now done.

[scullysdad]

I hope one day Funko will instead do an online lottery for their booth.

Funko HATES the way this system works. For them it's confusing and annoying and they hate letting their fans down. If you listen to the Funkast, in ep 31, the crew spends a good few minutes bashing the terrible SDCC line procedures in general. The problem here is that CCI is apparently afraid of the internet or something really stupid like that and even though Funko pushes every year, CCI won't let them have an online lottery.

I also belive that Fundays should be a lottery, but that's a story for another day.

I asked someone who works in the Sails (one of the department managers) about this. She told me that Funko was told that they can't do it the old way where people basically camp out and create huge issues at the booth, but that they could do an online system if they wanted. Everything else I hear contradicts what she said though, which is pretty normal for Comic Con.

CCI has put so much effort into making things 'fair' with random draws. It's a fair ticket draw, but if you aren't there by 8pm the night before, you won't even see the front of the line. This year, I never even made it into the final corral where you get to press the button to see if you win. I'm not complaining though, if someone wants to get in line at 6pm the night before, good for them. I never made it into the booth when I tried in 2013, 2014, or 2015 anyway. I did manage to get in with this system in 2016 and my Indiana Jones Pop still sits proudly next to my desk in his Pop Stacks - sort of a trophy of my lone victory.

I would also love to see Fundays tickets sold in a lottery. I probably don't have too many Comic Cons left in me, and I would like to make it to Fundays one of those years.

[Riddler3]

My hot topic order's email header says my item has shipped. I click on tracking and it says that a USPS label was made last Tuesday but the post office still hasn't gotten a package. hmmm

[Quazimoto]

My hot topic order's email header says my item has shipped. I click on tracking and it says that a USPS label was made last Tuesday but the post office still hasn't gotten a package. hmmm

No necessarily a red flag. I've had that happen a few times as well. Tracking does require that an actual human being scan the label en-route and sometimes they don't. Other times, for whatever weird reason, despite being scanned at every point, the tracking info just never uploads until after it's delivered. If it doesn't show up today or tomorrow, then you might want to investigate a bit.

[Mister Piggy Wiggy]

Well, I did see a bunch of SDCC exclusives at TRU yesterday. But my friend already has them all, so no go for me.

[runtodere]

Except that getting in line at 6pm doesn't even give you a shot. I'm not sure what time someone needs to line up to get a chance to even try to get a ticket anymore!

[scullysdad]

Except that getting in line at 6pm doesn't even give you a shot. I'm not sure what time someone needs to line up to get a chance to even try to get a ticket anymore!

I got in line after 1am every day except Sunday when I got in line at 3am and Sunday is the only day I even got close. I should have known that once the line hit the marina, anyone and their mom could join it which meant your line up time meant nothing.

I don't blame Funko and I don't even blame CCI - what can they do? The line has no place to go but out to the bay and it's not even possible to police that and make sure only people who waited in line all night can join the line.

[AutumnsToyz]

Unfortunately, I put all my eggs in the getting in line for the sails pavilion basket and didn't order anything online so I struck out. On top of that, I found out that my "reserved" Conan tickets were a first come first serve so I even missed out on the Flash Conan Pop, and to add insult to injury, I heard that Conan stayed late to sign everyone's pops. Oh well, there is always next year

[nascar246788]

Do you live in San Diego? If you do, the store is always there. That building is actually their offices for a certain department of Funko. Trust me, I have been trying to see if they have software jobs there. If they had software engineering jobs there, I would consider leaving my current job to work for them assuming price is right. It would be awesome to work for a company that makes a great product that I love.

I don't, but I'm just North enough that it's an easy and fun place to visit during non-SDCC days, so that's really good to know that it's there year round! I'll have to add that in to my SD exploration route! And I know what you mean - it has to be a great place to work!

Funko South mostly just does the apparel. I think they may have even been small apparel company and then Funko absorbed them when they wanted to branch out into shirts and whatever else they have now done.

I know that as I saw that on a sign at their door so people don't try and go in thinking its a store. I could always dream that they will have software jobs in San Diego. I unfortunately can't make the move out of San Diego since my wife and I just bought land and are going to be building our dream home.

[LEGOGIRL1977]

It was madness but fun!

[weird888]

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get into the Funko booth at all but managed to be #66/200 for Saturday pop up shop and was a great experience for next year sdcc as well as fundays being the most fun and well worth it event of the year! Hands down!

Haha so I didn't get your screen name from SDCC but I was 67. Sucks that you didn't get into the booth but you didn't miss much. By 2pm, they had sold out of over half of the items. I don't agree with how they handled the restocking of the booth this year.

Was cool hanging out with you in line!

Thomas right? Or Tom I'm trying to remember and def dude nice meeting you!

Todd but close enough since I mumble

[weird888]

Except that getting in line at 6pm doesn't even give you a shot. I'm not sure what time someone needs to line up to get a chance to even try to get a ticket anymore!

I got in line after 1am every day except Sunday when I got in line at 3am and Sunday is the only day I even got close. I should have known that once the line hit the marina, anyone and their mom could join it which meant your line up time meant nothing.

I don't blame Funko and I don't even blame CCI - what can they do? The line has no place to go but out to the bay and it's not even possible to police that and make sure only people who waited in line all night can join the line.

The actual issue is that they let people enter from the marina. If you are in the actual line out front, it will take you at least 5-10 minutes to walk in the front and out to the Funko line in the Sails Pavilion. If you enter from the back, it will take you less than 2 minutes to get to the Funko line.

They basically skipped the entire line and went straight to the Funko Sails booth from the marina entrance. By the time people in the 2nd chute of the first tent got to the Funko line, it was already out at the marina which really shouldn't be possible. They aren't supposed to let anyone enter from the marina unless they have already exited from the convention center.

Btw, to be in the 2nd chute of the 1st tent required them to line up at 1pm the previous day. I lined up at 3pm and was in the 5th chute of the 1st tent. I was halfway to the Marriot when I got in the Funko line after walking through the convention center

[Nooklin]

I never got into the Funko Booth on the show floor or into the pop-up shop. I was told the line for the pop-up on Wednesday was now forming for Friday. In 4 days of trying for the show floor, sleeping on the grass, never won the lottery to get a pass, and some of the days never even made it to the draw. There were a handful of products (mostly Marvin the Martian related) that I was excited to have the opportunity to get, but I was never given an opportunity to purchase them (and unless Funko falls of the face of the Earth, I probably never will. I won't pay flipper prices.). Since there wasn't any iOS service near the con, I had difficulty getting the shared exclusives as well. My hunting spirit is a bit crushed. I really do not want to look at the shelves at HT, GS, or B&N for awhile. In fact gonna go through what I have and clean out a bit.

Fundays was incredible, but this conversation is about the availability of pops at the con and not about Funko's commitment to their fans.

It seems that Funko is too big for the little corner that San Diego is willing to give them. Funko should be able to bully their way to get the method of delivery they want. SDCC is losing exhibitors and guests at an increasing rate according to many of the artists that I spoke with. It seems that Funko is large enough to push the issue and get what they want. Mattel and EE and others did online pre-sales and there doesn't seem to be a reason why Funko cannot do the same. The pop-up should have been exclusive to attendees and tickets available on these forums. VIP passes should be available to attendees, even if only in the box o' fun.

In any case there has to be a better way to get products from the company to the fans.

[grendelscott]

Our list was significantly smaller this year (buying a house will do that to you), but we did pretty well overall. I got the Marvin from Hot Topic, which has already arrived in perfect shape. Our only major misses were the Stupor Duck and Bugs/Hyde. We'll probably get another Tigger when they restock, since the nose on ours was poorly done. We didn't luck out like last year and win a Conan, but the only one I really wanted was Mono Conan. We weren't in San Diego to be able to score him anyway. I definitely liked how Funko added the page with the direct links to all the shared exclusives. It's nice to see them make improvements each time.

[Goofy_Guy]

I got most everything I wanted, but fell short on a couple, like Ren & Stimpy and Sike-O-Shriner. All the ones that I did get, which turned out to be thirty (yes, I need therapy) were all done online the first few hours they were posted and off Funko-Shop. I also got a couple off eBay and Gemini Collectables. I only set foot in Barnes and Noble, but they were out of what I wanted. Needless to say, after this SDCC, I need more Pop!/Dorbz/Rock Candy protectors of multiple sizes.

[Abesapien2]

Between friends who managed to get a funko ticket (unfortunately I struck out on that one) and folks at home, I managed to get all my most wanted. Was a good SDCC release to be sure!

[runtodere]

Yeah - disappointed with the Funko Booth process but agree it is really difficult to manage. I've pretty much just given up on it until they do something to allow more chances outside of just first come first serve - otherwise it's impossible. That being said, I'd trade all of it for a pass to fundays. That sounds amazing but I didn't even get close to getting tickets online!

[Rice71]

My hot topic order's email header says my item has shipped. I click on tracking and it says that a USPS label was made last Tuesday but the post office still hasn't gotten a package. hmmm

The post office sucks at updating tracking numbers. Most of the time you get the item before it gets updated.

[Rice71]

This year I made it into the Funko booth with a 12 time slot on Thursday. My time slot was delayed an hour and For some reason they didn't fully restock everything. I was at the end of the first line row to the cashiers so I had a chance on almost everything if they fully restocked. I missed out on chrome batman , jolly Rodgers, tigger and 8 other pops. Mostly the LE numbered ones. My friends made it in same time slot on the other days and got all the ones I missed.

[rowden]

Do you live in San Diego? If you do, the store is always there. That building is actually their offices for a certain department of Funko. Trust me, I have been trying to see if they have software jobs there. If they had software engineering jobs there, I would consider leaving my current job to work for them assuming price is right. It would be awesome to work for a company that makes a great product that I love.

I don't, but I'm just North enough that it's an easy and fun place to visit during non-SDCC days, so that's really good to know that it's there year round! I'll have to add that in to my SD exploration route! And I know what you mean - it has to be a great place to work!

Funko South mostly just does the apparel. I think they may have even been small apparel company and then Funko absorbed them when they wanted to branch out into shirts and whatever else they have now done.

Yeah, the shop isn't the kind that's open to the public and you can just walk into

[rowden]

Pop-up shop was a real let down for me. I got there at 4am on Friday and waited til 9:30 to be told wristbands had been given out already, for all of Friday as well as 100 for Saturday. The notification for this? A freaking PIECE OF PAPER on the gate (that nobody in line around the corner would even see).Some kind of heads up on-line would have been great. Sounds like somebody panicked when OVER handing out wristbands.

[weird888]

This year I made it into the Funko booth with a 12 time slot on Thursday. My time slot was delayed an hour and For some reason they didn't fully restock everything. I was at the end of the first line row to the cashiers so I had a chance on almost everything if they fully restocked. I missed out on chrome batman , jolly Rodgers, tigger and 8 other pops. Mostly the LE numbered ones. My friends made it in same time slot on the other days and got all the ones I missed.

The way the Funko booth explained it, they had stock for one day and they kept restocking until it ran out. That means that everyone in the 9am slot could buy out an item before the 12pm slot could get a chance. The only way to guarantee a shot at everything was to be in the 9am slot and be early in the line for that slot. If you had a 2pm slot, almost half of the items would already be sold out before you could line up.

[runtodere]

So does that mean you need to line up on Thursday for a Saturday wristband basically?

[tiger99885]

Me and my Girlfriend aren't able to attend the con, but we were able to get almost everything we wanted on our shared exclusives list. Missed Stupor Duck. I had amazing luck with every website except GameStop, but was able to go to my local store and pick up what I missed online. We are still waiting for our Hot Topic and Box Lunch stuff to be delivered but the orders did ship. So that's always a plus.

[Popsweats]

Haha so I didn't get your screen name from SDCC but I was 67. Sucks that you didn't get into the booth but you didn't miss much. By 2pm, they had sold out of over half of the items. I don't agree with how they handled the restocking of the booth this year.

Was cool hanging out with you in line!

Thomas right? Or Tom I'm trying to remember and def dude nice meeting you!

Todd but close enough since I mumble

Todd okay haha I'm sorry I thought it was Thomas!

[Rex Mason]

Out of the five Batman-related, I ended up with four thanks to the shared exclusives: Man-Bat, Intergalactic Batman, Suicide Squad Joker Batman, and Justice League Bruce Wayne. Toy Tokyo was a the pain, as per usual. Still looking for a chrome Batman, but I think it's not meant to be...

[skills089]

I was able to get what I wanted. All I really wanted this year were Hei Hei and Tigger.

[The POP Lady]

With the HELP of some VERY Amazing Funatics, I was able to get everything I wanted AND MORE!!! Thank you so much Friends! This Community is the BEST!!!! Forever Grateful

[Stareiskies]

I was able to get everyone I wanted this year. But I struck out since I only went after 4 exclusives.

Pink Marvin (snagged 2)
Tigger
Hei Hai
Tinkles (which someone traded me for my Legolas and I'm 100% okay with it)

I also snagged a Scott with Sword by chance. So I lucked out (though a Rosie pack would be nice haha)

[Batcavehero24]

Over the course of 4 days, I pulled 4 times, 3 of those were for the dreaded 2pm ticket (nothing was left), I was lucky that I was still early enough those days to pull for SuperNat, Flash and Riverdale signings. On Sunday, the last day, I pulled a 930am ticket! Oh the joy, I got everything I wanted.

[ImranC23]

I really don't know how people pulled tickets man. My group started camping at 1:30 on thursday for friday wristbands and by the morning when we got to Sails they were all out of wristbands due to line cutters. It was the same people over and over that I saw walking around the con with bags all weekend. Funny enough one of these guys wanted to trade with me at fundays, I had to pass just cuz I was so ticked .

Even though I struck out on the booth, I was able to get everything I wanted some how . Got GoT 2 pack dorbz, bruce wayne, sike o shriner, tony stark, suicide squad batman and masked elliot from gemini. Then I pulled all that I wanted from Fundays minus X-Wing freddy. Traded my megaman proto from fundays for toy tokyo batman which was awesome since I don't collect protos or megaman. And then I ended up with all 5 conans, someone actually gave me $50 on top of monoconan for my doctor strange. also found someone in gaslamp selling mint stormtrooper conan for $70 and I snagged that. Experience with the convention sucked but happy to have gotten everything I needed.

[Riddler3]

My hot topic order's email header says my item has shipped. I click on tracking and it says that a USPS label was made last Tuesday but the post office still hasn't gotten a package. hmmm

No necessarily a red flag. I've had that happen a few times as well. Tracking does require that an actual human being scan the label en-route and sometimes they don't. Other times, for whatever weird reason, despite being scanned at every point, the tracking info just never uploads until after it's delivered. If it doesn't show up today or tomorrow, then you might want to investigate a bit.

OK thanks for the heads up. Nothing showed today, I'll keep an eye out tomorrow. I did get a subscription box (A-Box) today but never got any tracking for it it just randomly showed up. Crazy happenings.

[mactds]

I wish I would have ordered some of the shared pops. Decided I could get them at the booth. Tinkles, Tigger, Tick, and Scareglow went quick at the booth. Granted, I heard B&N online was horrible, so just Tinkles I regret not ordering online. Luckily got in the booth to get all of the LE pieces.