Across every genre and entertainment medium, Funko seems to have Pop! figures for everybody. Virtually every major franchise has had the Funko Pop! treatment, from The Golden Girls to The Walking Dead. With so many big name licenses from various decades getting their own Pop! figures, it’s a little shocking to know that there have never been any Nintendo characters to join the line. Although their competitors like Crash Bandicoot and Sonic the Hedgehog have been adapted into Pop! figures, Mario and his pals are nowhere to be found.
Finally, that all changes this month with an official announcement from Funko. The first Nintendo character to get the Pop! treatment will be Pikachu from Pokemon. Pikachu is available to purchase as of July, however, he will be exclusively sold only in Target stores. So, don’t bother checking Amazon and Wal-Mart, and see if you can find him at the Target store closest to you.
You can take a look at the new figure for yourself below!
Funko is saying that this is the “first-ever Pokemon Pop!” to be sold by the company. Note that they’re not saying it’s going to be the only one. We can presume there will be more creatures from the Pokemon universe to be forthcoming, but Pikachu is obviously the perfect one to start with. Hang tight, and I bet we’ll be seeing others like Jigglypuff and Squirtle coming into the mix soon enough.
As Pikachu is considered a Nintendo character, this also marks the first step towards a working relationship between the two companies. There’s no good reason why Mario, Samus, Link, Donkey Kong, and so many others shouldn’t have their own Pop! figures as well. It always seemed inevitable, and now it looks imminent. Still, as nothing beyond a Pikachu Pop! figure has been made official, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
