Funko’sbig fancy exclusive at San Diego Comic-Con this year was a series of Batman Funko Pops in similar packaging used in Funko’s second-ever release, 2008’s Funko Force line. Back in 2008,Funko introduced Funko Force, a line of pop culture vinyl figures that would eventually become the iconic Funko Pop. The dome clamshell case is how Funko Pops were originally packaged, so for the 15th anniversary, Funko is celebrating where it all began. Starting with Funko Force 2.0, the packaging changed to be more like the iconic cardboard box.
Meanwhile, just a few yards away, in a much more modest booth than the sprawling Funkoville, the CEO who tossed out the clamshell package and reinvented Funko Pops as we know them today, Brian Mariotti, was debuting his new collectible brand, Thrilljoy, for the first time at San Diego Comic-Con.
The nine-month-old company is already making big waves in the collectible space, and as SDCC attendees stormed the Thrilljoy booth and its distributing partner UCC to get their hands on limited edition figurines, it quickly became clear that Thrilljoy is shaping up to be more than just another collectible.
Thrilljoy Pix!: The Next Collectible Phenomenon
When I visited the Thrilljoy booth for the first time on Thursday afternoon, the first full day of the convention, practically everything was already sold out. Mariotti took a break from meeting fans and signing autographs to chat with me, and when I noted things had been going well so far, he noted they might be going a littletoowell.
“Yesterday [during preview night] it was about an hour and 14 minutes and we sold out of everything,” Mariotti says. “I think today we’re really close to being done, which is interesting, but a good thing I’d rather have than the opposite.”
There was more interest in Thrilljoy at SDCC than Mariotti had expected, which led to long lines and items selling out quickly each day. Clearly, something about the brand is resonating with collectors.
A Thrilljoy Pix is a lot like a Funko Pop. Pix are vinyl figures roughly the size of a Pop that come in rectangular boxes and feature rare chase variants. Pix figures share similar silhouettes but represent a wide variety of pop culture franchises, like TMNT, Batman, Adventure Time, He-Man, and The Thing. It would be easy to mistake a Thrilljoy Pix for a Funko Pop knock-off, were it not for the fact that Mariotti was the mastermind behind both.
Instead of big black circles, Pix have long black ovals for eyes.
There are some key differences that separate Pix from Pops, though. Every single Pix has a limited quantity and comes with an authentication card with a serialized number printed on it. The most common Pix are numbered between 7500 and 9999, while the rarest are numbered between 200 and 400, with chase variants getting all the way down to 24. Unlike Pops, Pix will never be mass-produced because they’re designed to be exclusive and rare.
Pix also come sealed in plastic with an outer sleeve hiding the version inside. Not only does this prevent retail workers from collecting the chases before they ever hit store shelves, but this also gives Pix the excitement of a blind box. The outer sleeves have a pull tab on the back shaped like a zipper that you must remove to reveal the figure inside (Thrilljoy calls this “tear into the thrill”). The unzipped figure is revealed in a nice display box with any applicable rarity stickers and a wax seal denoting the rarity on the front. With Thrilljoy, Mariotti has turned the mundanity of mass-produced Funko Pops into an experience that blends designer toy exclusivity with the excitement of blind box hunting. If the fervor at SDCC is any indication, Thrilljoy appears to be an instant hit.
“Let’s Do It Again, But Do It Differently”
Mariotti, who purchased Funko in 2005 and served as CEO over two separate periods, left the company in 2023 aftera difficult year of layoffs and downsizing. Mariotti says he retired, but found a life of leisure didn’t agree with him. “It only lasted about three months,” he says. “I just got bored off my ass.” He got to work on Thrilljoy, with a mission to fill what was missing in the collector marketplace.
Though he is proud of what he accomplished at Funko, Mariotti believes collectors are missing a feeling of FOMO and rarity from today’s collectibles. “A lot of people have pivoted to trading cards because there’s that FOMO,” he says. “We wanted to bring that back. It’s always been about super low quantities, chases and super chases, and doing licenses that are a little bit out of the norm. I think people are excited about the chase again, and excited about having a brand that’s got a vibe to it.”
I got to experience that vibe firsthand during Thrilljoy’s Boardwalk Bash, a fan event held outside the InterContinental San Diego last Friday night. Similar toFunko Fun Days, this gathering of Thrilljoy fans (or Thrillseakers) featured food, drinks, carnival games, a ferris wheel, and opportunities to collect extremely rare Pix. Every ticket holder received a Block Part Pix Pack (which Mariotti Freudiantly called a Box of Fun at one point) filled with rare Pix, mostly of Thrilljoy mascot Bloo dressed as pop culture characters.
Each attendee was assigned to a team, and throughout the night the teams competed to win additional Pix. There were celebrity guests like voice actor Richard Horvitz and Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai, who debuted the upcoming Yojimbo Pix and gave away a signed prototype.
The Boardwalk Bash had all of the elements of a Funko Fun Days, but with a completely different kind of energy. Rather than sitting at banquet tables and watching a scripted stage show, fans spent the evening socializing and playing carnival games together, while Mariotti roamed around meeting people and signing countless autographs. The stage was small and used infrequently, and I won’t be surprised if future block parties forgo the stage entirely in favor of giving Mariotti and the other face of Thrilljoy, director of marketing Karissa Marston, more face-to-face time with their fans.
The boardwalk bash distilled the big difference between Funko and Thrilljoy, and reflected Mariotti’s ambition to create a more exclusive and personal brand for collectors. It’s easy to see why tickets for the bash sold out in seconds, and lines for the Pix wrapped around the booth for hours each day of the con. Between the quality of the figures, the excitement of unboxing them, and the focus on community, Thrilljoy is quickly becoming the next phenomenon in collecting.
