@_RyRyan's #FunkoFriday!

“I GOTS DA GIFT!”: Marty McFly & DeLorean Funko Pop!

Obtained: Christmas 2014 Photos Posted On: Dec. 1, 2015

So this is the only Pop that I’ve got that came with another object, and I really liked it. I’d seen it on Hot Topic’s website and quickly noticed it cost somewhere like $23? or $25? Something like that. And again, at this time, I still wasn’t crazy about Funko Pops. But, I am a big Back to the Future fan. It’s definitely one of my favorite movies of all time. And I know, I know, there’s three of them. But I’ll group ‘em in all together as “a movie,” just for the sake of ranking favorite movies. Because frankly, my top favorite movies seem to be a line of movies with sequels. And I can’t really choose one over the other, because they all really stand well together (except, admittedly, I think Back to the Future III was meh). So, Inception’s my favorite movie of all time at this point, but some movies following that in no particular order are the Back to the Future movies, The Matrix movies, the Ocean’s trilogy, and more. 

Tangent again, but whatevs. So, I saw it on Hot Topic’s site, and I wasn’t that crazy for Funko Pops yet. So seeing a price tag of $23-25 for a toy? Didn’t make sense to me. So I passed. But anytime I’d be on a computer, I’d often find myself going back to HotTopic.com just to look at it, LMAO. And by now, I’ve come to realize, if I find myself re-checking some sort of product, it’s a sure sign I do want it, and if I can, I should probs get it. But I didn’t think like that at the time, so I’d online-window-shop it and then get back to my regular routine. But Christmas was nearing, and from my last funko blog post, you’d know I just bought a Frieza Pop to gift to my brother. Well, so, for Christmas, or any gift-giving occasion, my brother’s straight to the point and doesn’t like to play guessing games, and this is one of the things I like about him: he asks you straight up what you want. LMAO. I love it because for Christmas, my brother and sister are both like Santa Claus in a way. My sister really plays into it though. She literally comes over with SACKS of gifts. Multiple gifts. Not cheap little stocking stuffers. She buys multiple nice gifts and puts them in a sack, for each person. Thing is though, if I’m being honest, she often does get things she thinks may be cool or useful, but actually might not be. Again, it’s the thought that counts… But in that way, she’s like Santa Claus. My brother though, although he doesn’t gift with multiple items or huge sacks, he’ll accept lists from me, LOL. I’ll give him a list of things I want and he might get me one or two of them. But at least it’s a guarantee of what I actually want! So that’s always been cool. Oh, and when I said he doesn’t sack his gifts, I forgot to clarify that he doesn’t do anything to wrap or conceal them either. He just gives it to you straight in the store bag he bought it from, LOL. But whatevs, I gots da gift! Oh, and another thing; my sister, although it’s nice she sacks up a bunch of gifts, for a few years I’d send my Christmas list to my closest family members, to sort of make it easy for them like my brother; you know, take the guess work out of it. I’d try to be as polite as possible though, because it does feel strange to ASK for gifts, but I mean, if we’re being real, if we know the gifts are coming, wouldn’t we not want our money to go to waste and get something the other person may not even like? I’m all for playing it safe and being sure they’ll want and like the gift. But my sister made it clear she doesn’t like that I send out a list, and that it’s not my Birthday (ie: I shouldn’t get to choose). I get it. So she blatantly ignores my lists and gets me what she thinks I’ll like. And well, let’s just say that my closet can only fit so much… 

;-)

Another tangent. Weeeee! LOL. My bad. It ties in though. Read on, reader.

So anyway, Christmas was nearing and my brother asked for a list from me. I forget exactly what was on that list now… I vaguely recall some weight-lifting related item… maybe that was at the top of my list. I think it was some weight lifting gloves. Not sure though. There were some other stuff too, but I know the Marty McFly Funko Pop was included. And well, voila! My brother gifted me the Marty McFly Funko Pop!! From…??

(This is where you guess)

(Keep guessing)

(This isn’t where I do one of those annoying things people do in conversations and go, “Guess what? *they answer it without actually allowing you a chance to guess*)

(I’m actually gonna allow you a chance to guess)

(Okay, time’s up, over… blaow! snap back to… the future… – see what I did there? ;-)

(Major brownie points to whoever got those references)

(Yes, there were two references in that one line)

(BTW, screw brownie points. Like sorry brownies, imma let you finish, but Krispy Kreme donuts are the best sweets in the world)

(Cinnabons are close behind though, without a doubt)

HOT TOPIC! DOT COM! Yep, he ordered it from their site (I told him where he could get each gift, should he get them). But I knew he got it from HotTopic.com because, as usual, he did nothing to conceal it. He gave it to me inside the shipping box with invoice slip and all, LMAO. Oh!!! It’s coming back to me. He got me this pop, but also did get me weight lifting gloves! Sports Chalet!! But, he got the wrong size, and they didn’t have my size in stock, so he ended up just returning them, but that was totally fine. So yep, Christmas of 2014, we ended up exchanging Funko Pops, basically. LOL. I got him a Frieza and he got me a Marty McFly with his DeLorean. I ended up placing this awesome little dude and his whip on my TV counter with the other pops I had, right on top of the cable box. Soon, I’d move it over to the corner of my desk. It’s currently on the top of my Funko shelf case that I’ll most likely post online at some point. I’ve posted pics of it online at various moments, but the line-up always changes. :-)

So yeah, I was super stoked to get this Pop. Although I wasn’t crazy over Funko Pops quite yet, I’d been kinda side-eyeing them. In a curious way. One of the things that helped was that my co-worker Kasey displayed some out-of-box Funko Pops on his desk, one of which was his Deadpool Pop. Just seeing it at his desk every day kinda had me intrigued to their cute little designs. And so, any time I’d walk past a Hot Topic, I’d just look at the Pops, but not necessarily feel a desire to buy one. But every time I’d see the Marty McFly Pop on Hot Topic’s site, I always thought about how cool of an out-of-box Funko Pop it would be to have, since it was with the freaking DeLorean!! 

I just love the Back to the Future movies. The 2nd one is my favorite because of its futuristic elements. I loved the futuristic ideas they had; the self-lacing shoes, the hoverboard, the self-drying jacket, their fashion. I dunno, I dug it. It’s also pretty cool how some of those things are being attempted to be produced today. I’m kinda iffy on it because of how its being done. I mean first off, the self-tying shoes, Nike came out with some a few years ago. Except I heard they weren’t even self-lacing, they were just replicas. Meaning, they were just designed/modeled after the movie’s shoes. But it was still cool; they looked fresh. But, they were super limited and were only being sold on eBay, I think. But they sold for super insane amounts of money. So that wasn’t realistic to get. Then they made another attempt at it like last year in 2016, but I didn’t follow through with the news on it. Also like super limited/unattainable/crazy-expensive, so I didn’t care for it again. But then they were making another actual self-lacing shoe that was more affordable, but this thing looked ugly. Looked like a Skecher shoe with a nike swoosh on it. No offense to Skecher wearers. :-) And secondly, like seriously, hoverboards. We’ve got “hoverboards” today. I’m not sure why we call it that when they’re just segways without handlebars, which may or may not explode. *shrugs*

But anyway, yeah, I love the Back to the Future films, 3rd was meh, and 2nd was my fav. I forgot how I ever got introduced to the films. I think my dad introduced me to the movies… maybe he rented them on VHS? or perhaps we caught them on TV? I’m leaning towards VHS though. But anyway, I loved them so much that in my late high school years, or maybe even early college years, I’m not quite sure… but around that time, when I had some money of my own, I bought the trilogy on DVD. This is big for me, because I don’t like buying movies on DVD. I don’t like rewatching movies. It’s too much time to dedicate to watch something I’ve already seen and already know what’s gonna happen. And to pay to re-do something? Not my ideal spend of money. But, when it's a film I really enjoy? I’ll shell out some cash for it :-) So I got myself the trilogy and rewatched it in all of its glory. I remember back in the day too that my best friend at the time, Jason, would catch one of the movies on TV. We’d be on the phone together, and I’d put on my DVD and ask him where he’s at in the film, and I’d fast forward to that part and it’d be like we were watching together. Fun times. But now, I can’t actually find my trilogy of DVDs :’( (nor can I find Jason, LMAO, but that’s a whole other topic). If only this Funko Pop DeLorean could bring me back in time………. LOL, I was gonna make some cheesy joke about going back in time to find that DVD trilogy… But how much of a waste would that be? Imagine? Using some time travel machine just to find an old DVD set I had, when things like Biff as President and stupidvisors exist? Yeah, real smart use of time travel, Ry. :p

So as for the Funko photos themselves… The first photo with the newspaper was a photo I was stoked to take a pic of. Just archiving the fact I have these two things, is enough to encapsulate my fandom for the movie. I love the fact that USA Today came out with their own Back to the Future themed paper on the date that Marty travelled to the future. For one thing, that was massively creative, and perhaps took a lot of patience on USA Today’s part. Like, I wonder when they thought up to do this, and how long the company’s been waiting to publish it, LOL. And also, it finally put an end (?) to all those ridiculous memes that would pretend “oh, this is the day and year that Marty travelled into the future!” Like nope, nice try, clickbait. No really, nice try. A bunch of “fans” fell for it. But it was easy to tell when they were fake memes. The original Back to the Future setting takes place in 1985. That’s the starting point. Marty basically travels 30 years in either direction. Don’t @ me about the 3rd movie when he goes into the ol’ west, because I don’t care about that, and I’m like 95% certain 1985 is still a good reference point, because he probably ended up going back to 1885. So back to the meme. If he is only going 30 years in either direction, that means 2015 was the year of his travel into the future. BOOM. Case Closed. (Love that anime.) So the newspaper though, I wasn’t able to snag it the morning it came out for like a number of cents… or whatever newspapers cost these days. I had to order it online from USA Today’s website for like $4 D,: LOL. 

The second photo was just a standard pic to take in Marty and his whip, LOL. I love Funko’s mold of the DeLorean. It’s done perfectly, IMO. Just the right percentage of a used and dated look to it, but not overly raggy, which captures the essence the ride always had in the movies :’). Also, I love the irony of the car itself. It looks like a cheap hunk of metal. Like not high-class or sophisticated looking. But its function is quite the opposite and performs an action of only the highest of class and sophistication! The third pic, well, I was hoping to just snap a shot of Marty and the DeLorean in front of the DVD box I had… But alas, it was lost somewhere… in the past… so instead I grabbed some Calvin Klein tag laying around and just snuck it in as an Easter egg treat for any of those who really dig Back to the Future :-) And if you don’t know the reference, you’re not finding it here. Go watch the movie(s)!

“UNOFFICIAL”: John Lennon Funko Pop!

Obtained: ~May/June, 2012/2013 Photos Posted on: Nov. 13, 2015

So this Pop is what I consider to be my “Unofficial” first Funko Pop. Why? Well, while I did buy this Pop, I didn’t get it for me; it was originally a gift for someone else, thusssss I didn’t consider it mine. I actually got this Pop before I even got into my Funko fandom!

So I came across this Pop at the Barnes & Noble in my hometown. The thing about Barnes & Noble is that it’s one of my favorite places to hang out and relax. I love B&N, lol. I love the smell of new books and coffee (although, I don’t even like coffee), I love the peaceful, calm, homely, natural colors of green and brown, and I love the quiet atmosphere that’s not totally enforced like a library. Y’know what I mean? You walk into a library, and while you understand it’s polite to use quiet voices and all, one slip, and people give you the stink eye like you just committed murder or something. So yeah, the point I’m getting at, is I just love B&N -- it’s basically my “peaceful place.” And so, I’d often frequent B&N, and soon enough, I’d see these boxes of toy figures with big heads and big round eyes. Except, I thought they were stupid, to be honest (whaaaat?! i know, I know). Like, they looked so cheap, not much detail, relatively simple, and HARDLY resembled the person they were supposed to be. Like look at this Pop. If no one told you it was John Lennon, would you be able to tell it was John Lennon? (Admittedly though, out of all the Beatles Funko Pops, this was easily the best detailed one IMO; varying colors and a different sculpt than the others. Also, I love the specific tints of the green and pink floral design on his top, haha.) And that’s how I felt about almost every Funko Pop I came across at the time. On top of that, these cost $8-10 each? Total pass. I was a college kid; this was an unnecessary waste of money to me, and I was more focused on saving up for new shoes anyway ;-)

So why the hell would I eventually get one? Well, my dad’s birthday was coming up, and he’s a tough guy to get gifts for; he seems to sincerely have no interest in getting anything. The only things I know he was ever a fan of: The Beatles and basketball. So I instantly thought of those Beatles Funko Pops I’d seen at B&N, and I thought that maybe this would be a nice decoration for my dad’s office or he could somehow display it in his car since he’s often driving on the road for work. 

This is why I’m not sure of the approximate date I obtained this Pop. My dad’s birthday is in June, so I’m sure I got it in late May or early June, and since I wasn’t so cognizant of any personal Funko purchasing habits, I really can’t recall if I got this for my dad in 2012 or 2013. 

I ended up getting the John Lennon pop simply because Lennon was my dad’s favorite Beatle. I could’ve gotten all 4 Beatles, but the idea of spending $40ish on toys sounded ridiculous.... at the time ;-) LMAO. And so while I gifted this to my dad, he’s just not a gift-receiving sort of guy. So it kind of just sat in a corner of the house with the rest of the gifts he didn’t get around to opening. Then as time passed, my mom eventually sorted that stuff out and ended up displaying this John Lennon Pop at various places in the house. I’m not even sure what happened to its box!

Fast forward to 2015, and I really started getting into the whole Funko Pop fandom, and with this thing gathering dust by its lonesome self, I decided to add it to my growing collection since no one else was really admiring it, and always had a thought in the back of my mind that maaaaaybe I could somehow try to accumulate the other Beatles too. But by this time, all of them were “vaulted/retired” and couldn’t be found at retail price at any regular retail store. They were all pretty expensive by then. So it was just a thought.

But again, after talking to my friend Vince who’s a collector, he informed me about how rare this Pop is, and that it’s worth a bunch now (about $100+!!!). And I was sorta kicking myself in the butt for not getting all 4 Beatles when I had the chance, LOL.

Like I explained in the description of this blog page, I started taking photos of my Pops after being inspired by someone else’s Funko photo on Instagram. While these photos are nowhere near that same photo quality, it was still fun trying to get different angles and perspectives of this Pop. Hohokum is an arcade/indy game on the PS4, and I got the soundtrack album of the game. I just thought the album art resembled something Beatle-esque with the colorful, dazy, hippie sort of design. And I always thought of my sunglasses to be in the same vein as Lennon’s shades (or maybe even Morpheus, from The Matrix), so I decided to place my John Lennon Pop along with them for this little photoshoot B-)

So yep! While Green Lantern may have been my first official Funko Pop I obtained, I consider this to be my “unofficial” first Funko Pop, because while I technically did get this before Green Lantern, it wasn’t actually mine since I gifted it to my dad primarily :-)

”IT’S THE THOUGHT THAT MATTERS”: Green Lantern Funko Pop!

Obtained: July 2014 Photos Posted on: Nov. 13, 2015

So this Green Lantern Pop is what I consider to be my first official Funko Pop! I received this as a graduation gift from my best friend at the time. I actually graduated from college in June of 2014, but my homie forgot to actually give it the day of; he had the bag of gifts left in his car. 

So it’s weird; when I originally got this Pop, I didn’t really know what to think. Number one, Green Lantern is my favorite superhero. I mean, seriously, no superpower beats his; and don't even bring up Batman. Batman’s not a SUPERhero. >:) Number two, green’s my favorite color. So this works! But while Hal Jordan is THE Green Lantern, I’ve honestly always been a Kyle Rayner fan (they don’t have a Funko Pop for him... even to this very day! :( ). I mean don’t get me wrong, Hal Jordan’s cool, and I won’t let Ryan Reynolds taint my opinion of him, lol. Hal Jordan was the first Green Lantern I was introduced to, watching Super Friends on Cartoon Network as a kid. And I used to go to the library to read graphic novels/trade paperbacks of Hal Jordan/Green Lantern story arcs. He was involved in some of the most innovative storylines at the time, which covered drug usage amongst teens, racism, etc. They were some real, heavy topics. In addition to reading his stories at the library, I’d also practice drawing him relentlessly. I love drawing and my Green Lantern fanaticism once inspired me to become a comic book creator. So, as I explored the Green Lantern universe, I came across the moment Hal Jordan got selfish, turned evil and was hellbent on destroying galaxies as Parallax, who had moments of thwarting the likes of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the Justice League. So, a new Green Lantern had to stop him, and he simply had a cooler suit, and his name was Kyle Rayner! Eventually Rayner accumulated enough powers to be “above” the Green Lantern Corps, and almost killed the Justice League himself a few times! So, in my mind, there’s no better superhero than Green Lantern, whose powers are essentially only limited by his/her/its imagination. And I love the idea of that. Buuuuut, despite these positives to this gift, the negatives were that I’ve seen plenty of these little figures around before, especially since I frequented Barnes & Noble so much. But they never really appealed to me. They always looked cheap and not very intricate, IMO. And for what, $8-10? Pass. Get me an In’n’Out combo instead, please.

But my best friend actually gave this to me along with an SH Figuarts Mighty Morphin’ White Ranger action figure. He’d seen I had the Mighty Morphin’ Green, Black, and Gokai Blue, so he thought he’d help add to my little line-up. Now, you might think I favored this action figure over the Green Lantern Pop. And well, I did, LOL. Buuuut, not by too much. I never really liked the White Ranger. Tommy’s the Green Ranger AND THAT’S THAT. DON’T @ ME. ;-) 

So anyway, back to the Pop. While I had some iffy thoughts about it originally, I’m a person who ultimately appreciates the thought over the object; it’s the thought that matters. And this best friend of mine was the only friend who actually thought to get me a gift, let alone TWO! I honestly didn’t expect my friends to get me anything; I mean we were all about 21-22 at the time, still either in school or just finding our way with generic retail jobs. So, it really meant a lot that he went out of his way to get me anything.

I’d also heard that Funko collectors kept these in their boxes. But just like I am with my shoes, and ultimately anything I buy, I gotta put them to use! What’s the point of keeping them in their boxes? So I tore open this little green sucker and displayed him on the corner of the sneaker shelf I had at the time.

Nearly a year later, my friend Vince would get me into Funko Pop collecting, and I’d learn from him that my Green Lantern Pop was actually really valuable! But because it wasn’t in its box.... it may have lost some value (ah, so that’s the point...). After learning about this, and the fact that this is one of the OG Funko Pop lines and designs to exist, I actually treasure it and I think it’d be extremely difficult to part ways with. As of this writing, I’ve also learned by now that Pops can also fluctuate pretty drastically in value. While it retailed for $8, it would eventually come to be worth as much as $80+ at one point!

As I explained in my Tumblr description, I started taking Funko Pop photos after being inspired by someone else’s super nice Instagram Funko photos. And before my Funko craze, I actually would take photos of my Power Ranger/Super Sentai action figures to make an action-ey comic book like strip out of them on Twitter. People would actually tell me they enjoyed/kept up with them! So that was cool. But Funko Pops dont have much mobility to make action-ey pics lol (only their heads move), so I thought I’d just take photos to showcase their detail. I don’t really view these as toys or whatever; I view them as just really nice pieces of art to display :-) 

But yep! This is my first official Funko Pop thanks to my best friend for gifting it to me for my graduation. Why “first official?” Well, you’ll have to read on to the next post. :-)