Each generation has its own collection craze that leads to battles for the top items and an entire subculture of valuing and reselling. For some of us, it was stamps. For others, the TY Beanie Baby, but this generation’s craze is no doubt the Funko Pop. Not the only vinyl toy collector’s item, the Funko Pop stands out for having a Pop for everything. Every season of every show, every character’s outfit, and variants from metallic to color swapped. With the massive character adaptations and the myriad of variants, Funko Pops have taken on the same culture as collector’s items before them, they have attached different statuses to each Pop!. But also with so many variations of each and every character comes some nonsense. There are so many Funko Pops that there are plenty that are baffling.
Some Pops boast such rarity and variation, that they’re values have shot up to the worth of a used car, while others hold the value of pocket change. Anyone who has lived through the TY craze sees something familiar in the lineups and madness around getting rare Pops, and though we might know that these collector’s items are doomed to later articles about the value crash and the “if only we knew then what we know now,” lamentations, but we’re still tempted to get a number and wait in line at conventions. The learned amongst us might chose Kid Robots and Be@rbricks, but all of us can’t help but check the value of certain rare Pops. That in mind, here are some of the most valuable of the sometimes bobbleheads, and some that are nonsensical.
20 VALUABLE: SDCC 2012 LOKI
Estimated Value: $1580
With value often being associated with popularity and age, it is no surprise that one of the most beloved villains of all time, in one of his earliest Pop releases, would be one of the most valuable.
At a whopping value of over $1500, the 2012 San Diego Comic Con exclusive Loki Funko Pop, based on his appearance in The Avengers, is one of the most valuable Funko Pops. He comes complete with lots of gold details, but best of all, his signature gold horns that are often pushed aside in favor of his long black locks.
19 NONSENSE: ANTI-VENOM
Anti-Venom is most certainly a real character, and a part of the Venom and Symbiote lore weaved into Spider-Man comics, but the Funko Pop iteration of the character is nothing short of weird. Maybe it is the square head associated with the Pop shape, maybe it is the teeth, maybe it is the yellow eyes, but the Anti-Venom Pop looks ridiculous.
The adaptation of the usually long-faced symbiote creature just looks like an adaptation gone exactly wrong. Considering the character in lore is a symbiote merge gone wrong, maybe this is actually meta genius, and it makes even more sense than any other Pop.
18 VALUABLE: RED SKULL
Estimated Value: $340
A less popular villain at a smaller price point, the Marvel Universe Red Skull Funko Pop falls in at just under $350. This edition of Red Skull landed on the scene in around 2011 when Funk Pops were really starting to rise in popularity. Red Skull was one the newer characters they used to test the market, and was released around the time of Captain America: The First Avenger.
This one is a bobble-head, and comes with his classic green uniform complete with details. What makes this Red Skull iteration really pop, so to speak, is his very obvious grimace.
17 NONSENSE: FREDDY FUNKO HEIMDALL
Some of the weirder Funko Pops are those that are the adaptation of the original Funko mascot, Freddy Funko, as the characters themselves. More often than not, since the Funko shape is pretty specific and devoid of specific shape and facial feature elements, this means adding some freckles and maybe a crown. Sometimes it’s hard to even tell at all that the character is a Freddy Funko adaptation versus just a slight variation of the character.
So, enter Heimdall, made with different skin tones. These San Diego Comic Con exclusives were extremely limited, and the brown skin edition was limited to 24 units. This also makes him one of the most valuable, valued at $1320.
16 VALUABLE: METALLIC SPIDER-MAN
Estimated Value: $910
Spider-Man has been adapted a host of times on-screen, in comics and in animation, so it’s no surprise that he is one of the most adapted Funko Pop characters.
The metallic The Amazing Spider-Man edition comes in at an estimated value of $310, but one of the most valuable of the pop web slingers is the metallic San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Marvel Universe Spider-Man which comes in at an estimated $910. With the increase in Spidey’s stock as a character in 2018 and 2019, we can only imagine that the pops will increase in value.
15 NONSENSE: CAP AND IRON MAN SALT AND PEPPER SHAKERS
The good news is, these are only valued at about $12, so you might be able to get your hands on them to add to your collection. We’re no stranger to some fun kitchen tools and utensils adapted for geek culture. We all love the lightsaber chopsticks, so we guess someone thought we wanted salt and pepper shakers.
These make no sense. Which one is which? Is Iron Man salty? Does that make Cap… peppery? We don’t know. We also don’t know if we’re supposed to keep them on the dining room table or the toy shelf. The questions are endless.
14 VALUABLE: METALLIC TONY STARK
Estimated Value: $3500
You read that right. The estimated value of the metallic Tony Stark Funko Pop in the Freddy Funko packaging that released at San Diego Comic Con in 2012 is valued at $3500.
Tony Stark, being one of the founding characters of the MCU, and arguable the godfather of the entire franchise, is certainly an important figure which makes him and his iterations very valuable. So the 2012 release of the Funk Pop of his likeness seems logically to be one of the most valuable. But, man, for those of us who have waited in those lineups for exclusive pops, this makes it seem like the hunt might be worth it.
13 NONSENSE: THE COLLECTOR
It’s not that this one doesn’t make sense per se, but it is more that there was such an opportunity lost when no one considered the meta possibilities of having a collector’s item made of The Collector. This bobble-head Funko Pop definitely captures the essence of the character, down to the character in the eyes brought by Benicio Del Toro in his version of the character on-screen.
The character looks great, and would look great behind glass in any space man’s collection. Even more nonsensical? It’s estimated value is $7. So the man who is famous for his collection of valuable rarities, adapted for being collected, isn’t even a valuable rarity.
12 VALUABLE: IRON MAN 3 TONY STARK
Estimated Value: $360
This other iteration of the man in the iron suit, Tony Stark, has about ten percent of the price tag of the metallic version, but still comes in with a lot of value at $360. Though this one is listed with that estimated value, a quick attempt to purchase one will boast price tags north of $500.
Hard to imagine Iron Man 3 as the top of value for the Iron Man Pops, but most of the Tony iterations that succeeded the metallic 2012 edition had Tony wearing his mask. This Tony is unmasked, which usually correlated with value when it comes to Pops.
11 NONSENSE: THE AVENGERS 2 VISION
Like a lot of MCU characters, Vision’s appearance changed slightly from film to film, and the exact shade of his skin is hard to really qualify. We tend to assume it is somewhere between pink and orange and red, but this one is, *checks notes* bright hot pink.
There are a few different vision Funk Pops, varying in shades of red and green, to more familiar purple, and even one that is a hot shade of bright lavender. Being associated specifically with Age of Ultron, this one is one of the most baffling, being that we don’t remember him being the same shade as our highlighters in the film.
10 VALUABLE: BLACK-EYED THE THING
Estimated Value: $320
Anyone familiar with collections knows that one of the quickest ways for value to be attached to an item is for there to be an error in production that leads to rarity. That’s exactly what happened here with the Fantastic Four’s The Thing. When the Pops were being made for the character, he was initially imagined with black eyes.
But, as the character was developed, people remembered he was called "the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing" and changed the production of the item. But, some black-eyed beauties were already in production, and were still sold. Therefore, the collector’s item was born.
9 NONSENSE: HOWARD THE DUCK
We can’t blame Funko for going into the deep cuts to make characters, considering they really do have a Pop for almost anything that’s ever existed. So it makes sense that they would release a Howard the Duck Pop after his brief appearance in an MCU after credits scene.
As a character, Howard the Duck doesn’t make a lot of sense, but we are fans of a kid who got spider powers by getting bitten by a radioactive spider, and gained a spider sense that doesn’t apparently exist in nature, so who are we to judge? So, okay, Howard, you’re invited to sit beside The Collector on the shelf.
8 VALUABLE: METALLIC SIGNED STAN LEE
Estimated Value: $200-$60,000
In 2015, there was a release of metallic gold and silver Stan Lee Funko Pops, 10 of each were released with an autograph by the man himself. There have been a lot of Stan Lee Funko Pops, often with specific T-shirts to act as exclusives for certain conventions. But these ones take the cake.
These pops unsigned can go for about 200 bucks, but the signed pair of the two was once listed at $6,000-$10,000. As with deaths of historical figures, the value of their outputs goes up, and these are currently listen on e-bay for, *takes a deep breath* $60,000.
7 NONSENSE: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 SPIDER-MAN
The Funko Pops that came out of these Spider-Man films are increasingly confusing and vary in value and rarity. For instance, the metallic Amazing Spider-Man 2 Pop is one of the most valuable, with an estimated value of $700. Then there’s the non-metallic variant, that’s only valued at $17.
Funko Pops tend to lean into specific details of the characters being adapted, but this one misses the mark. First, the image on the box shows the stark black lines in the webbing detail associated with the character, but these aren’t on the Pop itself. Further, it shows the eyes with some expression, and a small white detail, which really don’t match the character as he appeared on-screen.
6 VALUABLE: BLACK AND WHITE CAPTAIN AMERICA
Estimated Value: $740
This Gemini Collectables release of the star-spangled man is one of the most pricey Funko Pops out there, valued at over $700. Only 240 of these were made, so, of course, they are a rarity and thus incredible valuable. Also released in 2011, the time when Funko was rising in popularity at an exponential rate, this was one of the earlier variants of a popular character.
He dawns the original costume we associate with the comic book character, and dropped around the same time as the film and the ever valuable Red Skull Pop. Only, this one is monochromatic.
5 NONSENSE: BABY GROOT WITH SHIELD
One of the most adorable scenes in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was when a panicked Yondu and Rocket Raccoon were sending Baby Groot to obtain for them a necessary item for their jail break. Despite his and their best efforts, Baby Groot just couldn’t figure it out or appear with the right item. He is shown popping by with various useless items, one of those being a flame shaped coin of sorts, that, for Baby Groot, could be a shield.
We guess it isn’t the worst idea for a variant, being that Baby Groot is a fan favourite, but maybe he would have made more sense with the other items, like Yondu’s underwear? No no, that’s no good….
4 VALUABLE: METALLIC COMPOUND HULK
Estimated Value: $550
Look closely, because, no, you’re not looking at Two-Face. This Pop is Compound Hulk, looking like a mashup of two different colored characters. This Toy Anxiety Exclusive was released in 2013 and is one of the rarest Funko Pops in circulation.
He is incredible to look at, with a mashing up both red and green, one black eye and one yellow eye, and, of course, one of the things that immediately attached value to Pops, he’s metallic. One of the most elusive, this rendering of an angry Banner might be worth dusting off if he is sitting in your collection.
3 NONSENSE: DEADPOOL WITH CHIMICHANGA
Funko Pops raise their stock often by attaching themselves to certain retailed exclusives, for instance, being exclusive to Target, Hot Topic, or specific conventions like San Diego Comic-Con and Fan Expo. But this one is one of the least sensical, having once been a 7-Eleven Exclusive.
We aren’t above the Deadpool with a chimichanga, since if it is going to be any character with a variant snack, it’s him. But this 7-Eleven Exclusive Pop is a bit of a trip. If anything, we expected the Avengers eating Shawarma to have launched before this. Though, there’s no reason to assume those don’t exist.
2 VALUABLE: METALLIC GHOST RIDER
Estimated Value: $550
Another metallic and thus valuable Pop is the metallic version of the ghost man that rides at night, Ghost Rider. This variant of the Ghost Rider was limited to 480 units, so he is as rare as he is cool looking, which might justify that $550 price tag, depending on your sentiments.
Not every metallic Pop can come in at the same tag as a variant Stan Lee, but this Ghost Rider is still an item collectors could claw each other for. His chains and outfit look great with the metallic finish, but what makes this Pop stand out is the gold hair against the silver call, really making use out of the variant finish.
1 NONSENSE: VENOMIZED IRON MAN
Funko Pops are no stranger to making characters that have never existed. They, along with Hot Toys, made toys of the Suicide Squad Joker and Batman costume that didn’t exist on film, and Funko has made a chunk of “Venomized” characters that didn’t all exist outside the Funko Pop catalogue. There is a Venomized Captain America, and our selection of one of the most nonsensical, a Venomized Iron Man.
This one is mega weird since it seems like the symbiotes managed to alter the Iron Man suit, giving it teeth and making it shoot blood or something instead of flames. We can’t say it doesn’t look cool, but it definitely makes no sense.