A tidbit about me – I’m a child of the 80s. I grew up with GI Joe on the tube every day after school and a slew of great Saturday morning cartoons. Animation itself has come a long way since those days, not only in quality, but also in its presence in pop culture. There was a time when an animated show was only going to be directed at kids, with very few exceptions. These days, some of the top movies are found in the animated category – not to mention the standard kid-friendly stuff and adult-oriented toons like South Park, Family Guy and Rick & Morty. And let’s not even get started on the whole subarea of Anime.
The Pop Animation line really took some time to take off, despite the heavy presence of animation in our daily pop culture lives. It wasn’t until mid-2015 – when the number of Pop Animation was still in its 20s! – that the line really started kicking off with the release of Attack on Titan and Black Bulter, and later more mainstream animated shows such as Family Guy and Futurama. Since then, the Pop Animated line has BOOMED, with unique numbering hitting 170+, and total figures (including variants) reaching 250+. And the beauty of this line – it has animated shows for people of all ages, going back to the Hanna-Barbera, Voltron and GI Joe that I grew up with, running through the likes of Ren & Stimpy and Powerpuff Girls for the 90s kids, through all levels of Anime from Fairy Tail to Tokyo Ghoul, and into current adult-oriented shows like Bob’s Burgers and South Park.
Entertainment Earth was kind enough to send along Pop Vinyls from a couple of my favorites – one from my youth (Scooby-Doo) and another from my second youth (Animaniacs). Here are some shots of these great Pops.
Scooby-Doo – The whole gang is here! Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby are ready to hop into the Mystery Machine and look for clues! (Side note: Funko, please make the Mystery Machine!) Funko got these perfect, right down to Fred’s ascot, Scooby’s dog tag, and Shaggy’s Scooby Snacks.
Items courtesy of Entertainment Earth
Pinky and the Brain – Animanics was brilliant, with its nutty trio of Yakko, Wakko and Dot, but one of the most memorable segments of the show included the devious plots of Pinky & the Brain.
Items courtesy of Entertainment Earth
What series and/or characters would you like to see added to the Pop Animation line? Tell us in the comments below!
Funko definitely needs to make a Mystery Machine Ride!
They make a Dorbz ride!!
I would love to see a legitimate attempt from the pop! Line of G1 transformers.
+1000
I’d really love to see Transformers based off the cartoon and animated movie. I’d like to see an expansion of the G.I. Joe, Thundercats, and MOTU lines. Maybe some of the more obscure cartoons like MASK,SilverHawks,Centurions,Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. Bravestarr w/ a Marshal Bravestarr/30-30 pop ride and a 2-pack with 30-30 standing. There are so many I’d love to see!
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids , school house rocks, battle of the planets, captain caveman and the teen angels, sid and marty krofft creations such as HR pufnstuf, Lupin the Third, Woody Woodpecker, Laurel and Hardy, three stooges, abbott & costello, George of the Jungle, ma & pa kettle, One of my favorite sets of movies The Thin man… I could go on forever. (most of these pre date me but thanks to syndication I watched as a child… thin man not a childhood memory but I want so I throw in every list..)
Dude I think a Bill Cosby inspired Pop! Line may not be the best idea
no one said bill cosby, and i bet the rights to fat albert could be cheap right now seeing as the man might need some lawyer fee money.. they are called the cosby kids but i usually just say fat albert and the junkyard gang. This cartoon from my childhood has nothing to do with his slipping something in glasses and then _____________.
fat albert, woody, george, fraggle rock, the rest of henson, more obscurity – i’d lose it if i saw a polkaroo but i think that’s more a canadian thing. hell yeah… any or all of those.
I definitely want to see more Dragon Ball and Soul Eater! Some new lines I’d want to see are JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure (though it’s very unlikely), Kill la Kill, RWBY and maybe some sports anime like Free or Yuri on Ice. But aside from anime, some cartoons I’d love to see as Pops are the Netflix Voltron, Hey Arnold, Chowder, Gravity Falls and a whole lot more! There’s so many great series I’d love to see made in Pop form!
I don’t have a lot of Pops based on animation. I just think many of the characters don’t translate well. The lines spotlighted here ^ are fine, and anime does well. But Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, and South Park do nothing for me. I’d like to see them take a crack at Metalocalypse, though.
Woody Woodpecker, heckle and Jeckle, Foghorn Leghorn, Tom and Jerry and last but not least the Tasmanian Devil.
Moderation?
So many……
Count Duckula
Daffy Duck
Garfield (inc Odie, Jon & Nermal. Plus flocked variants)
Popeye
Johnny Bravo
Dangermouse
I’m sure there are lots more.
How about the mysterious cities of gold?
Capt Caveman! Expand out GI Joe!! Claymation Davey and Goliath. Gumby Mr. Bill.
It would be great to see Jem and the Holograms.. the old school, cartoon version..
Also Duck Tales, Talespin, Gummy Bears… old school CareBears would be interesting too… and probably easy to do…
I grew up in the same era and I’m so glad I did! There was something sacred about Saturday Mornings and all the before/after school programs on TV but that’s all been lost to 24/7 kids channels that were unheard of back then. We did eventually have Nickelodeon & the Disney Channel but kids these days have no concept of having to wait on anything which is both a blessing and a curse depending on how you look at it.
I know I’d love to see Pop lines of some of my favorite kids movies from that time period. Funko has done an awesome job with their Dark Crystal and Labyrinth lines but there are still lots of great ones they could Pop. Off the top of my head Legend and The Princess Bride would be cool line’s to see for example. They already have Andre the Giants head so they could easily make a Fezzik. The Neverending Story would make for some cool Pop sculpts as well. I’m hoping to see the Pop Ride Mystery Machine eventually myself along with a Scrappy Doo,a cousin Scooby Dum and a few famous Scooby Gang villains for displays. Inspector Gadget,The Littles,The Real Ghostbusters,Dungeons & Dragons,Gummy Bears,Shirt Tales,The Smurfs,Muppet Babies and the Getalong Gang would all be cool to see Popped but there are a bunch I’m leaving out.
I really want an Avatar: the last airbender series
The Animation line is my FAVORITE! Totally agree with Ducktales, Gummi Bears, Fraggle Rock, Shirt-Tales, Jabberjaw, Captain Caveman, Care Bears and Cousins and Danger Mouse.
I would also throw in Wuzzles, Babar, Darkwing Duck, Tailspin, Totoro, Pink Panther, Jetsons, Snorks, Teddy Ruxpin, Rainbow Brite, Berenstein Bears, Looney Tunes, the Fairly Odd-Parents, Johnny Bravo, Pokemon and lots of others. Also, a version of Yogi Bear that isn’t an exclusive comic-con one.
I would love to see a re-release of thundercats, he-man and she-ra. Also Silverhawks and muppet babies! Bring on the 80’s…again!