Famous toy manufacturer Funko celebrated April Fools' Day with the launch of a brand-new NFT collection that captivated the community with its creative animated NFT trading cards and accompanying exclusive physical collectibles.
Information about this collection wasn't widely shared and seemed to surface just before the initial release. This made many in the community to question whether the news was genuine information about an upcoming release or simply a prank. Adding to the intrigue was the fact that images of the NFTs had already been revealed before the collection's official launch, which was not Funko's usual approach to drops.
Some collectors even speculated that Funko might pull off one of the best April Fools pranks by promoting and advertising the NFTs but ultimately not offering them for sale to collectors.
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This theory likely stemmed from the appearance of one of the Legendary physical figurines, the Burning Pack. This exclusive collectible showcased a Standard pack of five NFT trading cards with blue arms and legs, a classic Funko face with black eyes, and a small mouth, while its top and upper parts were ablaze.
The design sparked speculation within the community, making many believe that Funko might be planning to metaphorically "burn" the entire collection as an April Fools' prank.
However, Funko's invitation to "dive into the whimsical world of pranks with our surprising April Fools Digital Pop! Collection" turned out to be genuine. The drop was a resounding success, with all NFTs selling out quickly. According to Droppp's statistics, there were 3,240 collectors at press time, and the trading volume reached 51,580 USDC.
The drop was notably exclusive, with Funko opting to release a limited number of NFTs. In total, there were only 7,000 Standard packs featuring five NFT trading cards and 8,000 Premium packs, each containing seventeen digital collectibles. This was a change from many drops, which often included over forty thousand packages of both types.
Overall, 171,000 NFTs were minted for the April Fools Funko NFT collection.
In addition to the 1,400 Legendary Burning Pack figurines, the physical counterparts created for the April Fools' Funko Pop NFT collection include 1,600 Royalty Balloon Proto figurines and 1,400 Legendary Chick collectibles. The rarest figurine designed exclusively for this drop is the Grail Popposite Freddy, featuring Freddy Funko with a disproportionately large body and a tiny head. The toy company plans to release only 999 figurines of this type.
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Limited edition Funko physical collectibles have been exclusively designed for the Funko April Fools Series 2 release," states Funko on the official Droppp website. The company further mentions that to redeem the physical counterpart, collectors will need to assemble a Grail, Legendary, or Royalty Set of NFTs.
The opening of the redemption window for this collection is scheduled for July 30, 2024, when a snapshot of collectors' inventories will be taken to verify their eligibility for redemption tokens. Funko plans to close the redemption window on August 29, with physical collectibles set to be shipped throughout Q4 2024.
While physical figurines typically hold greater value for Funko collectors compared to digital collectibles, many in the community have praised the creativity behind the NFT trading cards released in this collection.
One notable image, the Grail Popposite Freddy, currently featured on one of the Grail cards trading at a minimum price of 165.55 USDC, features a short animated story. It depicts two Freddy Funko toys becoming rivals when a manufacturing robot enlarges the head of one, making it look like a classic Funko Pop, and enlarges the body of the other, turning it into Popposite Freddy described earlier.
Another NFT that has garnered particular love from the community depicts a Standard pack set on fire, possibly symbolizing the process of burning unsold NFTs. Fortunately, the pack filled with NFT trading cards manages to escape and cools down in a mug.
One more fan favorite is the Fundays Sandwich, portraying a chicken sandwich with eyes, getting out from a plastic box and being carried away by a seagull. One of the NFT trading cards featuring this short video was a Rare collectible traded for a minimum price of 0.40 USDC at press time. In fact, many collectors found this NFT particularly appealing and hoped that Funko would choose it as a prototype for its exclusive physical collectibles.
Other NFTs in the collection include Inverted Freddy, Puppet Freddy, Puppy Proto, Still Empty Box, Balloon Proto, Freddy in Hedges, Doodle Proto, and the egg from Series 1, which explodes with a huge blast to reveal a cute chicken.
The demand for NFTs to complete the sets required for acquiring redemption tokens has led to a spike in the prices of packages with digital collectibles. While Funko NFT sets the initial prices for a Standard pack at $9.99 and $29.99 for a Premium pack, just two days after the drop, Standard packs were already trading for at least 16.69 USDC, and the minimum price of a Premium pack reached 45.87 USDC. For comparison, a Standard pack from another recent successful collection, Transformers Funko Pop Series 2, was sold for at least 13.13 USDC at the time of publication, whereas the prices for a Premium pack started from 40.00 USDC.
The 2024 April Fools Funko NFT collection was actually the second edition, following the inaugural drop on March 31, 2023, which was also completely sold out. According to Droppp.io, 3,890 collectors purchased their April Fools Series 1 NFTs from the official Droppp marketplace.
According to the collector’s blog Arodie, Funko designed three distinct physical Funko Pops for that particular collection: Grail Freddy Funko, limited to just 999 pieces; Royalty Baby Freddy Funko; and Legendary Egg.
The complete sellout of the April Fools Funko NFT collection marks the second successful drop the company has enjoyed in recent months. Unfortunately, unlike the early Funko NFT drops in 2022, almost none of the recently launched collections have garnered sufficient interest from collectors to sell all of the NFT trading cards. Some of the latest collections, such as Star Trek: The Next Generation, performed rather poorly, selling barely half of all NFTs.
Meanwhile, the company is gearing up for two upcoming drops featuring WB Horror Funko NFT Series 2 and My Little Pony Funko NFT Series 2 collections.
