In 2022, a Funko Pop! collector acquired an exclusive figure pack, but in July 2023, he received an enticing offer from a mystery box lottery worth almost €200,000. Now, a lucky person can win these rare treasures by investing just 15 €.
What are Funko Pop! figures? Funko Pop! figures are collectible figures produced by the company Funko. They usually depict popular pop culture characters and are characterized by their large heads, small bodies, and distinctive details.
Originally, Mike Becker began producing bobblehead figures in 1998. In 2005, the concept was sold to Brian Maritotti, who then built a licensing business around it. This led to the vinyl figures that we know today.
From movie and TV characters to comic book figures and musicians to athletes, the range now includes over 8,500 different standard size figures. This makes many collectors’ hearts race.
See more collectibles in our video:
How a gifted Funko Pop! gained a value of €200,000 through an unexpected deal
What kind of figures are these? A special highlight in the history of Funko Pop! figures are the “Golden Ticket Funko Pop 2-Packs.” They depict characters from the children’s book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and its film adaptations.
Only 10 packs of these gold-plated figures of Willy Wonka and an Oompa Loompa were produced. Six were given away to Funko employees and friends, while the remaining four went to lucky fans in a lottery.
The lottery for the “Golden Ticket Funko Pop 2-Packs” was inspired by Roald Dahl’s book and the film that the figures are based on. Fans attending Comic-Con received chocolate bars, only four of which had a golden ticket hidden inside. These lucky winners received the exclusive 2-packs as a reward.
What value these packs would reach was still unclear at that time. In 2018, the resale value was estimated to be around €9,000.
What happened to one of the packs? One of the enthusiastic “Pop collectors”, Frank “GrailMonster” Giaramita, was determined to acquire one of these rarest figures. He searched online for other collectors, but success eluded him initially.
Eventually, he found an owner of the coveted 2-pack and launched a marathon of persuasion to make a deal happen. Ultimately, he acquired the figures in May 2022 for approximately €91,000.
Who owns the rare figure now? Even though GrailMonster initially publicly declared that he would only stare at the figure for a long time and did not want to sell it at first, he decided otherwise in July 2023.
An offer from a mystery box lottery named “eVendHQ / Grail Game” presented him with a deal worth €200,000. This piqued his interest. After three weeks of consideration, he accepted the offer, fascinated by the thought that someone might discover this special collectible in an affordable mystery box.
GrailMonster himself calls it the greatest Funko Pop! sale of all time.
What Makes the Figures So Exclusive
Which figures are valuable? The Comic-Con has proven to be a source for some of the rarest and most expensive Funko Pop! figures. Exclusive variants, such as the holographic Darth Maul, Dumbo (with clown paint), the headless Ned Stark from Game of Thrones, and Planet Arlia Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z, attract the interest of collectors worldwide and make the annual event a paradise for Funko fans.
The fascination with collectible figures lies in their unique connection to pop culture and the opportunity to own rare and exclusive variants. The “Golden Ticket Funko Pop 2-Packs” of Willy Wonka and Oompa Loompa are an example of the exclusivity that makes these collectibles so desirable.
If you might be a collector, you can find out here: MeinMMO survey shows: You are true collectors of Steam games
