Funky appeal: Everett-based company feed Spokane Pop! culture appetite

Last summer, I hit the Funko Pop! jackpot at a Spokane yard sale. While admiring that haul with my kids, the two became locked in galactic battle over ownership of a red “Star Wars” praetorian guard. To keep peace in the family, I later tracked down a second elite enforcer in Las Vegas. On a lucky Pop! roll, I also banked the Skipper from “Gilligan’s Island,” “Spider-Man” Miles Morales and Bucky the Winter Soldier of “Captain America” fame, who went missing in action on my trip home from Sin City.

Uh-oh. I opened the Funko floodgates.

“There are just so many different ones,” said Comic Book Shop regional manager Gabe Bruininks. “It’s pretty easy for someone to come in and see something for a Pop! figure that resonates with them.

As head Funko guy for all three Spokane stores (NorthTown, Spokane Valley and Division), he has spent the past nine years pop-ping out orders for the whimsical characters.

“I’ve got co-workers who collect them,” he said. “They’ll give me input on which ones to get.”

The roots of Funko fandom do not rest far from Spokane.

The company was founded in 1998 by Snohomish, Washington, toy lover Mike Becker. His first product was a Wacky Wobbler bobblehead featuring the nostalgic Big Boy hamburger mascot. With that seed planted, in 2010, the Funko Pop! franchise came to life. Now a multimillion-dollar operation based in Everett, today the lineup boasts more than 13,000 figures.

It’s a universe crafted from vinyl and fed by mainstream culture.

If society embraces it, there is likely a Funko for it. Music superstars. Film, comic book and gaming icons. Television actors. Sports legends. With a few online swipes, you can even Pop! yourself. New figures can be fetched for about $10. With widespread availability, it would be easy for a modest collection to multiply at warp speed like “Star Trek” tribbles.

For some, that is indeed the endgame.

“I’m trying to collect all of the American history ones right now,” Michele Carmack said.

The Spokane woman was introduced to the world of Pop! by a friend who found comfort in the blocky characters when he was ill.

“I bought a rack of like 70 from him and I thought, ‘What am I gonna do with them?’ ” said Carmack, who rented a space at Famous Joe’s Vendor Emporium in the Spokane Valley and quickly pop-ulated her booth with hundreds of the funky boxed figures. “All of a sudden, it was just like a little cult following … I sold like a hundred one month.

“You have to have a lot to sell a lot, and so I got really heavy into it.”

A house cleaner by day, Carmack scours and sweeps the internet during her evening hours in a hunt for new Funkos.

“When I’m bored at night, I get online and start looking up what the most popular Pops! are,” she said. “It just becomes like an obsession to try and find different genres and different groups.”

She now owns nearly 3,000 of the kitschy collectibles. That massive inventory features every Pop! created for Mistress of the Dark, Elvira, including a black light version autographed by the B-movie queen herself.

“I just love Elvira,” said Carmack, who recalled watching the campy diva on TV in the 1980s.

Over the years, her floor-to-ceiling display has evoked gasps, chuckles and even insensitive comments.

“They’re like, ‘Oh my God, look what people waste their money on!’ ” Carmack said.

The immersive exhibit has even won over a few of her harshest critics.

“All of a sudden, they’ll see something that sparks them,” she said. “I cannot believe when they actually buy one, it’s just funny to watch.”

Hot sellers are anime stars and retro TV characters.

“I’ve had a lot of older people buy my ‘Brady Bunch’ ones,” she said.

Higher-end pieces include Pops! signed by Funko designers and celebrities.

“It’s really not a money-making gig,” said Carmack, who has noticed a marked drop in sales.

“Three or four, maybe five years ago, fantastically, I could make $2,500 a month just on Funko Pops! Now, I make maybe two or three hundred a month,” she said.

In 2023, NPR reported the Funko company was planning to dump $30 million worth of Pop! figures in an effort to clear warehouses of excess stock. While fans of Groot and Yoda grumbled over that waste of precious vinyl, the brand has retained a diehard following.

“Funko has said that their new mission statement is to basically produce less of the same character over and over again. I think it kind of oversaturated a couple of years ago coming off of COVID. They kind of produced too much,” said Bruininks, who continues to see brisk sales for Pokémon figures and superheroes in “venomized” outfits. “They’ll buy a bookshelf just to display these.”

How you Pop! depends on your purpose.

Ultrarare Funkos have been known to command huge prices. Last year, a Willy Wonka Golden Ticket two-pack sold for $210,000 on the secondary market. Bruininks said those hoping to cash in on collectible Pops! will want to cut straight to hobby exclusives and limited-edition chase figures.

Condition is everything.

“If you get any nick or any mark or anything on them, the value just absolutely keeps going down,” said Carmack, who keeps her most valuable Pops! safely tucked away.

While stocking shelves, she enjoys chatting with customers and is happy the items she sells are tied to our local region.

“I tend to like things that are kind of closer to home,” said Carmack, who takes that fun in Funko to heart. “They make me laugh. You look at them, it’s truly silly.”