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Funko opens first store in Southeast Asia

THE VIBRANT passion of Filipino fandom and pop culture geekdom has led to Funko opening its first Southeast Asia store in the Philippines — at SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City. The company behind collectibles for Disney, Marvel, DC, anime, and almost a thousand other licensed brands aims to take advantage of the passionate Philippine market through the brand-new store.

Andy Clempson, Funko Asia-Pacific’s vice-president for sales, said that the Philippines is their number one market in Asia. Evidence of this is the Funko Fanatics group on Facebook.

“The Funko fan in the Philippines is fantastically passionate, fantastically knowledgeable. Add to that, the environment in the Philippines is very keen in terms of pop culture,” Mr. Clempson told the press at the store’s media preview on June 26.

“The Funko Fanatics Facebook group has about 56,000 members,” he added.

Mr. Clempson said that geeks aren’t the only market for Funko Pop collectibles. Casual fans who don’t collect the Funko items but purchase a certain character or get them to give to others as gifts, make up a huge chunk of the market.

“You can be a real passionate collector who wants to collect everything we do, or you can be more casual and only, for example, love Harry Potter or Disney. But there’s a whole other third of our consumers that are actually just casual gifters,” he said.

Funko is known for its iconic Funko Pop! line, but it also has a miniature version called the Bitty Pop!, as well as games, plushies, apparel, and action figures.

In partnership with collectibles distributor Funtastik Enterprises Corp., the launch marks a milestone in Funko’s global expansion. According to Mr. Clempson, the traditional toy industry in 2024 saw relatively flat growth, whereas collectibles became the fastest-growing subcategory.

“Actually, when you look at Funko Pop versus something like Lego, Hasbro, Mattel, it’s actually pretty good here versus some of these traditionally very big, big toy companies,” he added.

The Philippine market in particular will be served by localized products.

“In this store, you will see over a period of time developing products,” Mr. Clemspon said. “We have a great example in the past where we ran a Jollibee Pop, a standard four-inch Pop, which was very successful.”

Funko’s 1,300-square-foot immersive flagship destination also hopes to “celebrate Filipino fandom,” with exclusive Philippine-themed collectibles and interactive zones dedicated to popular franchises.

Over 1,000 products will be available at the store, Mr. Clempson said, but something to look forward to are community gatherings that appeal to the “kidult,” which is about “remembering when you were a child, what you used to play with.”

“We’ll have regularly scheduled gatherings and fan meet-ups to foster a sense of community among collectors,” he explained.

Funko will officially open the doors of its first store in Southeast Asia on July 12. It is located on the second floor of the Entertainment Mall wing of SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City. — Brontë H. Lacsamana