DIEHARD Funko Pop collector Brandon Vera is looking for one special piece to round out his collection of almost 500 toys.
And that one special piece is from the pirate anime One Piece.
“I don’t have many completes,” he said, referring to the collector’s tic of nabbing every toy from a particular release. “[But] I have my One Piece set that’s complete except for Trafalgar Law. I’m placing an order for whoever has one. I will buy it from you. Trafalgar Law! I need him.”
Newly minted father and reigning One FC heavyweight champion tuned in from Guam today as a guest at the launch of Comic Odyssey’s grand launch sale event in Shopee to talk about his love for the toy line.
It’s surprised many people that the 6’4” fighter is an OG Funk Pop collector. He laughingly remembered the looks people would give him when he would fall in line in Komikon to collect grails of the popular, giant-headed toy line.
“Di sila naniniwala talaga!” he said laughing.
His first encounter with Funko Pops was in San Diego Comic Con many years ago. This was way before it became the pop culture behemoth that it is now. “Back then, there wasn’t a lot of people,” he said.
Vera dropped by the convention floor to support Ryan Benjamin, a friend who was also an artist for Marvel and DC. A huge comic book and graphic novel fan, Vera went around the floor, and ran into a booth that was selling boxes and boxes of cute toys with giant heads from almost every pop culture property imaginable.
“The first thing that I saw was [Star Wars character] Boba Fett, so I got Boba Fett,” the 42-year-old fighter said of his first encounter with the toy line. “That was my first Funko Pop.”
His collection has grown enormously since then. “My taste is always evolving,” he admitted. He’s got figures from anime shows One Piece and My Hero Academia, but on the stream, Vera showed off Betty Boop and Marilyn Monroe figures. Vera also talked about his Thundercats, Little Shop of Horrors, and I Love Lucy Funkos.
“I guess everything that I’ve seen that ever made me laugh, things that made me feel good about myself or I learned something,” he said about his toys. “Every time I go hunting for Funkos, it’s kind of like hunting for that memory when I was a little kid, or hunting for that time when I was laughing with somebody.”
The 42-year-old fighter admits that hunting for rare Funkos can be a pain in the ass, like training for a big fight. “Nakakainis ang training. Nakakainis rin pag di ka makahanap ng Funko,” he said.
Any chance for a Brandon Vera Funko Pop in the future?
“I hope one day that we do get our Funko Pops for One Championship,” he said. “We haven’t heard a no, but we haven’t heard a yes yet either.”
When that time comes, he’ll snap up every figure in the collection. “Doble pa!”
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