Funko Pop Rocks Are Releasing Some Great Rock Artists in Their Pop Line

Growing up, after my parents’ divorce, Mom, my brother and I would go to Goodwill and a couple of junk-slash-antique stores to waste time. Mom collected dolls, an activity that she shared with her mother, my grandma. As a matter of fact, Grandma, who desperately wanted to be a physician in her youth but was told that was no profession for a lady by her mother, was a licensed doll doctor. That meant she had doll parts laying around her home so she could repair a special doll that came into her doll hospital. She actually had a nice thriving business going back in the early-Seventies. So, on those days when the three of us needed to get out of our home’s prison wall, we’d venture into these stores, looking for treasures, mainly advertising dolls. Mom loved those old advertisements dressed up as playthings. Once, I actually got the big find at one of these places when I discovered “Bud Man,” a “superhero” of sorts who was advertising Budweiser Beer. The price set us back a whole 25-cents, while Mom’s price guide stated the doll was worth over $100. So, I have always had an eye for a decent deal.

Initially, my collections were sports cards (baseball and basketball, mostly, or, and I am NOT kidding, empty beer cans. Eventually, I slowly evolved into a music collector. I traded my beer cans to my buddy for his sports cards. That was as big a deal as Bud Man. I also had a brief flirtation with comic books during my middle school years. But, soon, I settled on my music collection. And, I was quite content with it, that is until my boys had moved out of our house, when I got my music room. It was then that I began a very modest collection of rock memorabilia. First, I copped a few old rock posters the boys left behind, in addition to a couple of more posters I ordered along with some frames to display pictures disc albums.

Yet, little did I know that my mom, whose health was quickly declining, planned to offer me any rock artist dolls that she had. Well, I pounced on her four Beatles stuffed dolls that she had purchased back in the Eighties. Additionally, she gave me back a set of Funko Pop Kiss figures that were in mint condition. Back in 2012, I had stumbled upon these celebrity figures called Funko Pop. By their looks, I knew Mom would love them, especially Kiss, though, at the time, I could have gotten her five Michael Jackson figures, two Elvis Presleys or all three members of Run-DMC. I went with Kiss, because of my membership in the Kiss Army back during those very same middle school years. Well, years later when she gave them back to me for my music room, I kind of got bit with another collection.

I totally dig the Funko Pop world of collectables, but I am mainly interested in the rock music line, though they are now moving into the world of Saturday Night Live characters, which is another world of obsession. Now, I have, in addition to the four members of Kiss, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Joey Ramones and the members of Guns N’ Roses, to list a few. Oh, there are now so many different rock artists represented in this overall collection that there will be little way to possibly afford to be a completist.

However, I did discover toward the end of July that Funko Pop was releasing three different figures of my favorite – Prince! We are talking about Purple Rain-era, Raspberry Beret video and 3rdEyeGirl versions. Well, so far, only the Raspberry Beret version has arrived, and I am still awaiting the others. And, then I saw the big tweet this month from Funko Pop that they would be releasing one figure for Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor, in addition to THREE different versions of Freddie Mercury from Queen in early 2019! Well, of course, I jumped on those in pre-order form as well.

Needless to say, this collection will probably be modest. But I sure enjoy these representations of some of my musical heroes. So, here are the 15 rock stars that I hope to Funko Pop immortalize in the very near future. These suggestions are listed randomly.

1. Angus Young of AC/DC. Who wouldn’t love that school uniform clad Pop?

2. Mick Jagger & Keith Richards (The Glimmer Twins) of The Rolling Stones. These two are no-brainers in the rock world.

3. ZZ Top. The two dudes with their beards immortalized, along with their drummer whose last name IS Beard that does not sport the facial hair, that would be so awesome!

4. Madonna. She’s perfect, plus she has so many different phases to be represented, that she could be her own series. From Boy Toy to Coned Bra to her Mother Earth phases, Madonna would keep collectors searching for all of her phases.

5. David Bowie. Same explanation as Madonna.

6. Boy George. Everyone’s favorite cross-dressing icon from the Eighties is just asking to be immortalized.

7. The Monkees. The Pre-Fab Four is super popular across the generations. They are perfect for the company that loves to look backward for inspiration.

8. Bob Dylan/Tom Petty/Bruce Springsteen. Scruffy rockers as cute figures – you bet!

9. Whitney Houston/Diana Ross/Tina Turner/Britney Spears/Christina Aguilera/Aretha Franklin/Adele/Beyonce. Better known as the Diva line. Yes, please!

10. Joan Jett/The Bangles/The Go-Go’s. Funko Pop needs more female rockers represented.

11. Weezer. Rock’s favorite nerds are perfect to become Pops.

12. Def Leppard/Poison. After Guns N’ Roses and Motley Crue, these bands would be perfect.

13. R.E.M./Red Hot Chili Peppers/U2/Talking Heads/The B-52’s – These bands were so visual that they would make Pops.

14. George Clinton, Bootsy Collins and a couple other crazy members of the P-Funk Thang. Who wouldn’t want Diaper Man? This would be difficult to keep to a small collection.

15. Eddie Vedder/Chris Cornell/Layne Staley/Billy Corgan/Trent Reznor. Nineties alternative nation gods gone Pop.

Oh, I could go on and on with suggestions, such as Beastie Boys, N.W.A, Billy Joel, Eminem, Led Zeppelin, Duran Duran, Cheap Trick and Steven Tyler & Joe Perry (The Toxic Twins) of Aerosmith are a few more stars to be immortalized as Pops.

Hope you enjoyed this little detour through this off-shoot collection of mine.