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The Start: Funko was founded in 1998 by toy collector Mike Becker at his home in Snohomish, Washington. He started the business after failing to find an affordable coin bank of the Big Boy Restaurants mascot, instead licensing the rights to make his own coin banks from a Big Boy franchise in Michigan. The coin banks failed to sell and the franchise filed for bankruptcy protection, but Funko remained in business after licensing the rights to bobbleheads for Austin Powers, which sold 80,000 units. After this, some of the first characters that Funko sold were the Grinch, Tony the Tiger, and Cheerios mascot, the honeybee. In 2005, Becker sold Funko to its current Chief Creative Officer, Brian Mariotti, who moved its offices to Lynnwood, Washington, and significantly expanded the company's licensed product lines. In 2011, Funko began selling their Pop! Vinyl line of figurines. By 2012, the company had sold more than $20 million worth of merchandise. Unique Design: Funko pops have a very distinct shape and overall design. They are similar to figures like nendoroids which are very popular in Japan. The heads are overly large with very large eyes to accompany it. They also have smaller bodies to emphasize the large head. With such a simple template its no wonder that the design works with many licensed products from many different franchises. Funko also has a line of Funko soda pops that are more proportionate bodies and are sold in fake soda cans. The Partnerships: The Bulk of Funkos continued Success can be attributed to them acquiring the licenses to many different popular franchises. Funko covers a very wide range of genres of entertainment so that theres always something for everyone. All of the categories they cover are Heroes, Marvel, Disney, Star Wars, Harry Potter, WWE, television, movies, animation, Game of Thrones, Games, Rocks, Muppets, Sesame Street, Pets, Ad Icons, Sports, Rides, Books, Stan Lee, My LIttle Pony, Holiday, Freddy Funko, Pop Asia, DIY, Ugly Dolls,Pop the Vote, Conan O”Brien, Sanrio, Wreck it Ralph, Classics, and Sci Fi.