How Downsizing My Funko Collection Started Off My Dragon Obsession

The year was 2014, and my Funko Pop collection was moderately under control. I had a few here and there, but I could display them on one shelf, and it wasn't a big deal. This was the first time I bought one of the bigger Funkos, and it was the gold-covered Smaug dragon from Hot […]

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Kaitlyn Booth

Funko Continues its World Domination with a New “Gears POP!” Trailer at E3 2019

This is still one of the weirdest company team-ups but Microsoft shared a look at the new series of animation shorts for Gears POP! to go along with the mobile game that will be released.

Brought to you by Xbox and Funko Animation Studios, “Kitten Around with RAAM” is the first in a series of animated shorts starring the characters from Gears POP!

This is still a little weird looking combination but Funko is a brand that very much sells these days and mobile games are still making a goofy amount of money.

Stay tuned to Bleeding Cool for all of our coverage of E3 2019.

The post Funko Continues its World Domination with a New “Gears POP!” Trailer at E3 2019 appeared first on Bleeding Cool News And Rumors.

via https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/06/09/funko-continues-its-world-domination-with-a-new-gears-pop-trailer-at-e3-2019/
Kaitlyn Booth

Star Wars: The Last Jedi – New Image and Details About Benicio Del Toro’s DJ

There are a lot of wildcards running about Star Wars: The Last Jedi but the one we might know the least amount is Benicio Del Toro as the slicer “DJ”. We’ve hardly seen any footage or pictures of him and the things we do know are vague at best. We have a few new comments from Del Toro and a new image of the character in Empire.

“This character could come straight out of a Bob Dylan or Tom Waites song, or even a Dostoyevsky novel,” says Del Toro in the new issue of Empire. “He’s like something out of Dickens; there have been characters like him in all kinds of literature.”

“He’s like a knife: if you grab him by the blade, he’ll cut you. If you grab him by the handle, he can be very, very useful.”

DJ is the person that Finn (John Boyega) and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) are sent to track down. There’s a very good chance that “DJ” isn’t even his name since, on his funko pop, his hat has “don’t join” written on it in one of the written languages of Star Wars.

Summary: Having taken her first steps into a larger world in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Rey continues her epic journey with Finn, Poe and Luke Skywalker in the next chapter of the saga, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, directed by Rian Johnson, stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, and Adam Driver. It will be released on December 15th.

The post Star Wars: The Last Jedi – New Image and Details About Benicio Del Toro’s DJ appeared first on Bleeding Cool News And Rumors.

via https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/11/30/star-wars-last-jedi-new-image-details-benicio-del-toros-dj/
Kaitlyn Booth

Bleeding Cool Chatter #2: Tomb Raider And Punisher Trailers

Bleeding Cool Chatter is a new web series hosted by Bleeding Cool’s head film writer Kaitlyn Booth. This time Kaitlyn is joined by fellow film and TV writer Bill Martin, toys and collectibles writers Jeremy Konrad, and TV writer Ray Flook as they talk about the Punisher and Tomb Raider trailers, Funkos, and more!

This is a new thing we’re starting, so we’re still ironing out the kinks. The big thing we want from anyone who decides to watch this series is: how would you like it presented?

Do you like one episode in one video like this in this one? Or do you like shorter videos like we had in the previous episodes? Do you want something a little longer? Our episodes are going to run less than an hour, and we want to set these up in a way that works for our audience.

Let us know what you think in the comments!

The post Bleeding Cool Chatter #2: Tomb Raider And Punisher Trailers appeared first on Bleeding Cool News And Rumors.

via https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/09/27/bleeding-cool-chatter-2-tomb-raider/
Kaitlyn Booth

New Empire Cover Shows Us Luke’s Robotic Hand In Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Now that Force Friday is behind us, and we’ve seen all sorts new Star Wars toys for people to buy it’s also time to get some more new information. We’ve learned a few things in the last several days, but now Empire has released a copy of their subscriber holographic sheen cover and it shows us something we haven’t seen, close up, yet: Luke’s robotic hand.

That’s obviously Daisy Ridley’s Rey handing Mark Hamill’s Luke his lightsaber, at what we can only assume is the beginning of the movie. It’s the first up-close shot we’ve seen of Luke’s robotic hand, and it looks pretty neat. There are tons of little details in there and it’s probably going to look really cool in motion. Empire says they have an eight page section on Star Wars: The Last Jedi that will no doubt have a bunch of new information. We’re a little over three months away from the release, so it’s time for that marketing to kick into high gear.

Summary: Having taken her first steps into a larger world in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Rey continues her epic journey with Finn, Poe and Luke Skywalker in the next chapter of the saga.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, directed by Rian Johnson, stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, and Adam Driver. It will be released on December 15th.

New Empire Cover Shows Us Luke’s Robotic Hand In Star Wars: The Last Jedi

via https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/09/01/lukes-robotic-hand/
Kaitlyn Booth

Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Meet BB-9E: The Goth Version Of BB-8

Looks like the goths fans of Star Wars are going to get their own adorable little droid, now that we’ve seen the final line-up for Force Friday tonight. One of the big sellers two years ago was a little BB-8 droid made by Sphero that you could control with your phone. For those that lean toward the dark side Variety has some more details about the little droid for you; BB-9E

The companies described the new toy as a “rolling menace” and said that it was part of the Astromech unit of the First Order that keep their starships and machinery operational.

Like BB-8, BB-9E has a ball body but it differs with a small dome-ish head that moves independently of the body. It also has a red eye.

Tiny goth BB-8 is adorable!

Sphero also announced another new droid based on R2-D2, which will go for $189.99, while BB-9E will retail for $149.99.

Summary: Having taken her first steps into a larger world in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Rey continues her epic journey with Finn, Poe and Luke Skywalker in the next chapter of the saga.

 

There’s also a Funko version of BB-9E.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, directed by Rian Johnson, stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, and Adam Driver. It will be released on December 15th.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Meet BB-9E: The Goth Version Of BB-8

via https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/08/31/star-wars-the-last-jedi-bb-9e/
Kaitlyn Booth

Willem DaFoe Talks Vulko’s Costume And More In Aquaman

Aquaman is still more than a year away but we’ll be getting a look at some elements of the movie in the upcoming Justice League movie. One of those pieces we’re going to get a look at is Willem DaFoe as Nuidis Vulko the science adviser for Atlantis. DaFoe didn’t tell IGN much but we did learn a few things about him.

“Vulko is 100% Atlantean. So that’s different, because [Aquaman] is half-Atlantean and half-human,” Dafoe told IGN.

DeFoe has already told us that a lot of his scenes are going to be underwater and while he couldn’t tell us much about the look he’ll be sporting he did say the look doesn’t match a toy we’ve seen.

“So they’re quite different and I’m capable of being outside of the water, but mostly it’s underwater. And I’m a guy that’s been around for a while. I have a kind of… let’s call it an armor. It’s a good look, I like it a lot. The day that they show the shot of the character will accomplish more than I can by talking about it now. I like the look very much, and know they released a toy recently. But it doesn’t look so much what I look like [in the film].”

The toy in question is a Mystery Mini.

Clearer look at Willem Dafoe’s Nuidis Vulko.

That Atlantean Armour pattern persists. Interesting. pic.twitter.com/fMSsFhSh4Z

— ﾑ ~ Targaryen. (@SindarMomoa) August 16, 2017

 

When asked about working with director James Wan DaFoe had nothing but nice things to say about the man.

“James Wan is fantastic. I don’t know what to tell you because I don’t want to create any spoilers. I’ve been on a little break after shooting for a couple of months off. And now, tonight I go back to Australia to shoot for about another month. But all goes well…Until people actually start seeing footage, I don’t want to spoil anything.”

He’s got the “vague spoiler free” answer down pat. You’re going to fit in just fine in this modern age of superhero movies and social media, Mr. DaFoe.

Summary: Arthur Curry learns that he is the heir to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, and must step forward to lead his people and to be a hero to the world.

Aquaman will be directed by James Wan and stars Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Patrick Wilson, and Willem Dafoe. It will be released December 21st, 2018.

Willem DaFoe Talks Vulko’s Costume And More In Aquaman

via https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/08/25/willem-dafoe-vulkos-costume-aquaman/
Kaitlyn Booth

Pin Trading With The Next Generation Of Disney Fans At D23

Some of the best moments at conventions come from talking to random people. Sometimes (often) this happens in line, for lack of anything better to do. Sometimes it happens because there isn’t anywhere else to sit while looking for somewhere to eat, and someone is kind enough to let you join them. This is what happened to me when I was trying to get a bite to eat at the line of food tricks outside of the D23 Expo.

I’m not a pin collector, but I usually have a few on my person. In this case, it’s a replica Hydra pin, an SSR emblem, and a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on my lanyard. While eating, a young man of around ten years old walked up to me and asked if I wanted to trade. I told him I don’t really collect pins, but the older gentleman across the table from me did, and for the next 30 minutes or so I talked to this young man, his dad, and this older gentleman about pins, collectors culture, and various other things.

Pins have become a big deal for companies like Marvel and Lucasfilm, now that they are owned by Disney. For the last several major conventions there have been pins at the Marvel booth and more on sale at Celebration. Pins have been part of the Disney experience going back years, and talking to a young man and his dad about the concept of collector’s items was an interesting experience.

The first thing that has come become abundantly clear to this new generation of pin collectors is that it’s less about how rare the pin is, but more about who’s on it. This young man had a few rare pins, but he was mostly looking for anything with Star Wars on it. He was incredibly excited about the few “cast only” pins he had. He was very proud of his collection, considering he only started seriously collecting a few months ago, and Dad seemed pretty on board.

Dad did seem a little bewildered about the entire thing, though. We spoke about the concept of “trade bait”, or the idea of purchasing pins for the sole purpose of using them to trade for other items later. I also told him that betting on your collection becoming valuable is not the best way of going about collecting, which is something he had considered. I used the analogy of comics and Star Wars toys, pointing out that collectors items need to be worth next to nothing before they can be worth something. The bottom of the market needs to fall out before it really turns around, which is something Funko fans don’t want to ever talk about.

The main takeaway, as this young man excitedly let me look at his collection of pins, is that the next generation of Disney fans is on board. While the adult fan is important, if we don’t bring the next generation in on all aspects of collecting. Fans of all of these things at Disney, from the cartoons, to the live action movies, to Marvel, to Star Wars, to collecting, need to bring the next generation in on it. They are the future, and if kids collecting pins are half as excited as the young man I talked to was? The future is in good hands.

Pin Trading With The Next Generation Of Disney Fans At D23

via https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/07/16/pin-trading-next-generation-d23/
Kaitlyn Booth

Thrawn Exclusive Cover Causes A Disturbance In The Force At ‘Star Wars Celebration’

The idea of the convention exclusive has become a bigger and bigger deal as the second hand market has grown. Vendors like Funko, Hasbro, and LEGO have learned their lesson over the many years, and have switched to lottery systems to sell their inventory safely at conventions. Some vendors have not realized how crazy these things can get and Del Rey books has become the latest victim of their own exclusive.

The exclusive is a cover for the newest Star Wars: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn book being sold at both the Del Rey booth and the Barnes and Noble booth. The book was selling well on Thursday, but on a personal level for someone who did want the book, most people didn’t think much of it since vendors selling out on the first day isn’t unheard of. However, most vendors don’t sell their entire inventory that first day and Del Rey books did exactly that. Instead of staggering the inventory over the course of the four day convention, they sold every copy save for seventy-five the first day. When eager fans arrived Friday to try to buy the book, they were told there weren’t any copies left. At 7:14pm on Friday Del Rey posted a tweet about how they would handle this remaining inventory.

Details about #Thrawn Celebration Edition availability Saturday. Please read carefully. And thank you. #Booth2522 #SWCO pic.twitter.com/988hjIj4Sd

— Star Wars Books (@DelReyStarWars) April 15, 2017

This is probably the best way they could handled this situation as messy as it was. However, Del Rey decided that posting a sign at their booth was the best way to tell people about this raffle. At 2:40 a booth employee told us that 700 people were there for the drawing and were told to line up. Come 3pm, the line was disregarded as a blob of people formed around the booth. The fans that took the time to form a line like civilized human beings weren’t going to get a chance to draw for these remaining copies. The entire thing became a massive fire hazard to the point where security had to take over. At the time there wasn’t anyone shoving but there were enough people that someone could have gotten hurt.

When asked about how many copies existed total Del Rey and Barns and Noble employees were unable to provide a solid number. Barns and Noble revealed that they had received more copies Friday and Saturday (a “pallet” for Saturday according to a booth employee) but there doesn’t appear to be any communication between the booths.

The raffle appeared to be going on still when we left but it was hard to tell one way or another. There were people drawing to pick up the book but there are going to be a lot of unhappy fans in a couple of hours.

Thrawn Exclusive Cover Causes A Disturbance In The Force At ‘Star Wars Celebration’

via https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/04/15/thrawn-exclusive-cover-causes-disturbance-force-star-wars-celebration/
Kaitlyn Booth

The Rebel Scum Descend On ‘Star Wars Celebration Orlando’ And Overwhelm Everyone

There are certain things that people expect when they are traveling to a major convention. They expect the food area to be insane and for it to be impossible to find a table. They expect people to disregard everything they know about walking to stop short in a way that creates a human six car pileup. Those of us that attend conventions regularly also know that lines are going to be a problem. That being said it appears that the people handling Star Wars Celebration Orlando were unprepared for the sheer amount of Rebel scum that descended on the Orange County Convention Center.

The chaos began late last night with stories of the overnight stay being unorganized and several hundred people cutting in line. That mean that people who stayed overnight got put into one of the streaming rooms. This morning the long line outside the convention center was confusing as a member of the staff had to walk down the line pulling VIP’s, media, and medical people from the wrong line.

“We [my husband and our friend] were sent to the general line and I waited right at the entrance doors. I realized that they were letting medical, VIP’s, in the separate door. When we the security guy and he said “you have to go over here.” There were people who waited three hours before they were put in the correct line,” said Mary who is attending her second Celebration but is a lifelong Star Wars fan. “It’s the first day, they’re figuring things out, but still.”

The usual booths have long lines but the Celebration store has been hit the hardest this year. Pin collecting has been an integral part of being a Disney parks fan but it has really hit the convention scene in the recent years. Now that convention exclusive pins, with art that is very cute, have taken over the scene the lines have become even worse. Pin collecting is one of the easiest things to collect with them being small and easy to display. It’s likely that ReedPOP was just overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people that wanted their pins.

There were rumors starting last night that ReedPop was already rapidly coming to grips with the situation and implementing changes for today. They had even made a statement on the website acknowledging they were aware of the issues and what had started as rumors of improvements have materialized as changes (if only more events when faced with challenges were as rapid to try to deal with them). Where yesterday there were only a few entrance gates to the convention center, today there are no fewer than six fully staffed entrance doors.

The mood of the crowd remains upbeat and happy, and it seems the rapid improvements to line management have already been met with approval and increased speed. Now to see how it plays out once all of the exclusives have been snapped up from the Funko, Lego, and Hasbro booths.

For our full post about ReedPop’s response and statement you can check it out here:

ReedPop Issues Statement about Today’s Star Wars: Celebration Issues

The Rebel Scum Descend On ‘Star Wars Celebration Orlando’ And Overwhelm Everyone

via https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/04/14/rebel-scum-descend-star-wars-celebration-orlando-overwhelm-everyone/
Kaitlyn Booth

For The First Time All Funko ‘Star Wars Celebration Orlando’ Exclusives Are Shared

The Funko booth at the various comic con’s over the country has become one of the hardest booths to get into. The exclusives that come to the various shows are often rare and even harder to get without long waits in line and luck (and maybe bribery via fruit snacks). However, over the years, Funko has been slowly moving toward the concept of the “shared exclusive”. This is where the same pop is at a con will be available at a Hot Topic, or Amazon, or FYE, or Target, with the only difference being the sticker on the package. The percentage of shared exclusives to exclusives has been shrinking but for the first time (in memory feel free to correct us if we are wrong) all of the Funko products at Star Wars Celebration will be shared.

In a blog post a mere twenty four hours before the convention begins Funko revealed that all of the announced exclusives will be shared. Collectors now won’t have to pay triple or quadtruple the asking price just to get a Rey on a speeder bike unless they want to spend that kind of money on a sticker.

Amazon
Galactic Plushies: Jabba & Salacious 2-pack

Box Lunch
Pop!: Hoth Princess Leia
Mini Hikari: Green & Gold Greedo 2-pack
Mini Hikari: Blue & Clear Greedo 2-pack

FYE
Pop!: 442nd Clone Trooper

GameStop
Pop!: Hooded Jedi Luke

HMV
Wobbler: Boba Fett (Proto Suit)

Hot Topic
Pop!: Han Solo (Action Pose)
Pop!: Rebels – Chopper (Imperial Disguise)

Target
Pop!: Holographic Qui Gon Jinn

Toys”R”Us
Pop!: Rebels – Grand Admiral Thrawn

Walgreens
Pop!: Garindan (Empire Spy)

Walmart
Pop! Deluxe: Rey with Speeder

For The First Time All Funko ‘Star Wars Celebration Orlando’ Exclusives Are Shared

via https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/04/12/first-time-funko-star-wars-celebration-orlando-exclusives-shared/
Kaitlyn Booth

A Mixed Bag Of Expectations For A First Timer At ‘Star Wars Celebration Orlando’

This post was written by freelance photographer and blogger Denzel Eslinger who is covering Star Wars Celebration Orlando for Bleeding Cool.

Star Wars Celebration is just about here and my expectations are a mixed bag.

Late last year a friend and I were talking about going to Star Wars Celebration this year; we have both been to comic conventions from coast to coast but with new Star Wars movies and a friendly location, her parents live in Orlando, it seemed like a good idea. So we started talking about it more and more, fast forward to today, and with just days before the kick off of the event at the Orange County Convention Center I am on a plane asking myself; what should I expect?

I like Star Wars, I saw the original back in “the day” at the drive-in during the summer of 1977, I have seen all the movies in the theater and have owned all of them in some format. I have some collectibles from Funko, Lego and others, but I have never considered myself anything more than a fan of the series. There aren’t a lot of franchises that are as relevant on the day they hit 40 years old as they were when they launch. So as I looked at the list of panels, guests, exclusives and such it is clear that this convention can swing with the big boys.
Let’s start with the panels, the big 2 are as huge as anything at any con out there and I expect both to not only deliver but impress. First is the opening session the “40 Years of Star Wars” panel, and the list of folks schedule for that one would by itself put most cons over the top. Mark Hamil, Hayden Christensen, Kathleen Kennedy, and plenty of others, I expect a big part of this will be remembering Carrie, but you could also get a glimpse into the future of the Star Wars universe, Han Solo anyone?

As big as that panel will be and could be, we can all be honest this event is all about “The Last Jedi” and it is time for a trailer, it is time for some interviews, it is time for footage, it is time to crank the volume to 11. I expect you will find the panel full of the cast and lots of surprises in the form of video from the movie, some of which will be shared online but I expect a good amount will only be available to those in attendance.
When it comes to merchandise, this event is one of just 4 events that Funko rolls out the booth for, along with SDCC, NYCC and their hometown con ECCC, so yeah it is that big and while the rumors are that every single announced Funko exclusive will be available via one of their many retail partners it is still a huge event. Lego, Hasbro, Gentle Giant, Hot Wheels, Hallmark, Sideshow and others will round the major vendors, but groups like Fugitive Toys, Barnes & Noble, Del Ray publishing and the Celebration Store (event store run by ReedPop) will be offering all kinds of cool items to buy.

A couple things I am excited to see will be their version of an Artist Alley, it is funny that to get one of these spots there actually was a competition and you had to have either created art for Lucasfilm or have a Lucasfilm license, so only the very best are going to be there. Then there is the Tattoo Pavilion a spot where 30 plus artist will be applying ink to human skin in the form of Star Wars tattoos, I know this trend has been becoming popular at conventions lately but not to the level of this both in quantity and quality of artists.

So my great adventure will be to see how this franchise holds up in convention format, I don’t think I have really high expectations but I expect any shortcoming on what would normally make a con special will be made up for with the amazing passion and dedication of the Star Wars fanbase, this is going to be fun.

A Mixed Bag Of Expectations For A First Timer At ‘Star Wars Celebration Orlando’

via https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/04/12/mixed-bag-expectations-first-timer-star-wars-celebration-orlando/
Kaitlyn Booth