Funko Fun Days is unlike anything at San Diego Comic-Con.
The popular offsite event is held annually on Friday of Comic-Con, by Funko, to celebrate their fans. This year the event moved to the Manchester Grand Hyatt, which allowed it to expand to around 1,500 attendees – and although it was our first year attending, if this year was anything to go by, it’s crazy. In a good way.
Two separate, unrelated people that I spent time with at the event both referred to the event as us being inducted into the Cult of Funko, because there was a sort of hivemind at the event that was impossible to ignore. But that’s because the fervor and excitement level of the Funko fans, and the general attitude of “This is awesome, and we love you” that Funko cultivates at the event and about their products in general, is so strong that when combined into a single room, you can’t help but get pumped. Really, really pumped.
The night started out with each attendee receiving a Mystery Box, filled with three Funko Pop!’s that feature Funko’s mascot Freddy as one of their popular regular Funko’s (like Darryl from The Walking Dead). Then, you could feast on a buffet of pizza, pasta, salad, and much more, as well as grab two drinks with your provided drink tickets, to settle in before the real fun started.
It was my group’s first time attending, and to be fair, we were in the back drinking, but when the night kicked off, it was hard to hear some of the announcements being made in the front of the room. Instead, we mostly knew something big was happening because people started jumping on chairs, waving their arms around, and screaming. This was a very common occurrence all night long (and presumably it happens every year).
Funko takes great care of all of their fans at the event – not only were attendees treated to a special video presentation of Funko Funatics discussing their love of all things Funko on the big screens, but there are so many giveaways that if you walk out empty-handed, it’s literally no one’s fault but your own. Workers ran around the large ballroom all night, with t-shirts, Funko prototypes, and special limited edition Pop!’s that they threw at attendees (literally). Plus, there were contests all night, special giveaways for each table, and more. It was extremely evident that Funko was having as much fun as the attendees, and that this really was a night of celebrating the fans, and making sure they knew how appreciated they were.
We jokingly made this meme internally, but it’s such an accurate representation of the event, that we wanted to share (and note the people behind our staffer Ben. Go long, Fun Days attendees!):
By the end of the night, we too were dancing on our chairs and screaming with every announcement (though yes, the free alcohol certainly helped). When you’ve got boxes of Funko Pop!’s flying at your head, great conversation with fellow fans all around you, and so much more – it’s hard not to get into the Funko Funatics spirit.
Here’s a closer look at Fun Days:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5l9kx4WFto
Did you attend Funko Fun Days? Let us know what you thought in the comments.
