Pop! Yourself to Join the Pop!ulation

Since 2023, the company Funko Inc. allows its customers to design and buy their own Funko Pop! Vinyl figure (Clark, 2023). To do that, users only need to go to the Funko Inc. website and start creating. The process goes as follows. Firstly, you will be asked to choose your body (female, male or ‘baby’) and skin tone (four options which include only one tone of white and three different tones of black) (Clark, 2023). Furthermore, you can choose to add eyelashes which are commonly associated with female Funko Pop! Figures. Thirdly, the choice and colour of hair style (either short or long) seems to be connected with the outfit of the figure (Clark, 2023). For instance, when choosing a long haircut, it is only possible to select ‘female outfits’ and same goes for the other way around. Finally, you can choose several add-ons such as accessories and a small animal also designed following the Funko Pop! style (Clark, 2023). 

Here are two examples of Funko Pop! Figures designed by us. While we thought that the experience of creating our own Funko Pop! Vinyl was quite fun, we realised that the choices of clothing and accessories to represent your own identity are quite limited. Furthermore, we quickly realised that a diverse representation of society is, therefore, not given and is rather based on stereotypical views on how men and women should look like. Moreover, it is very much based on Western society views, as the individually made figures do not offer any option for more culturally appropriate outfits.