Even if you don’t know who Brian Mariotti is, there’s a fairly solid chance that you have one, or 10, or maybe even 100 or 1,000 of his creations in your collection.
As the former owner and CEO of Funko, Mariotti introduced the now-ubiquitous Pop! Vinyl form factor, changing the world of licensed collectibles. Now, Mariotti and a band of allies are looking to shake up the collectibles space again with a company that went from concept to market in less than five months. Thrilljoy and its core product line, PIX!, embrace “the thrill of the chase” and “the joy of community.”
The Pop Insider caught up with Mariotti at New York Comic Con (NYCC) to experience the new world of Thrilljoy firsthand, from a conversation in its sprawling booth — planted firmly adjacent to Funko, in a bold move — to its first-ever panel and a packed rooftop party amid the concrete jungle of Manhattan.
Speed-to-market is something that we talk about a lot in the toy side of the business, and now we’re discussing it a lot with collectibles and games. The traditional process was always set at this 18-month benchmark from concept to shelf, and you shrunk it once at Funko, and now you’ve done it again. Now that you know it can be done in five months, will that be the norm moving forward?
I think so. We’re always gonna plan, and we can go back and say that we’re gonna do my three favorite cereal monsters from a certain brand from the ‘70s and plan that in advance. But if something comes down the pipeline, say Wild Robot — what an amazing movie — that’s where if pop culture has a major moment, a zeitgeist, can we move mountains to get something done? I think the answer is yes, and we can do it in well under five months.
Now, let me ask you about the guy we’re standing next to, the life-sized Bloo. What can you tell us about this guy?
We love mascots, and we loved Freddy Funko. I have an obsession with the Yeti at the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland and Bumble from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, so I’m always a Yeti kind of guy. He’s a Yeti, he has horns, and he wears a Thrilljoy jumpsuit. Bloo thinks he’s the pop culture king and knows everything about pop culture. We wanted a brand mascot who wants to interact with all our brand licenses, so you’ll see that a lot in our Mega PIX! We’re previewing the series at this event, and all of them will be on sale within the next 3-4 weeks. We wanted to show what a 12-inch, highly articulated, magnetic accessory, luxury packaged, highly stylized vinyl figure would look like.
We did Bloo x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bloo x Freddy Krueger, and Bloo x Blue Eye Samurai. We love the idea that Bloo wants to be in the mix with all our cool licensing partners. We’re excited about who Bloo is, and he’s our guy!
Backing up a minute, you mentioned a trio of cereal monsters earlier, why do the other two guys always get left out?
Well, they don’t get left out with me! It’s Yummy Mummy and Fruit Brute if we’re talking about the same thing, which we might be…
Oh, we just might be.
Those characters were well represented in Funko, so all five [of the General Mills Monsters] — I know there’s a new one, but I’m not counting her because I don’t know her…
Ghoulia Apple-something, I believe… [Ed Note: It’s Carmella Creeper]
It’s Fruit Brute, Yummy Mummy, Franken-Berry, Boo-Berry, and Count Chocula — always the five.
Shifting to Thrilljoy’s core product line, PIX! You’ve developed this so it can be displayed on its own or in the package. Can the figures come out?
No, they cannot.
So they remain in sort of a shadow box?
That’s a good way of looking at it. I look at PIX! as a 180-degree diorama. To me, it’s storytelling. I didn’t want to show up in front of licensors in Las Vegas with just a figure. I wanted to show them what storytelling is in a moment in pop culture that we can immortalize.
The picture frame tells a story. Van Gogh’s ornate gold frame looks like it could be in a museum. Blue Eye Samurai’s got a black bamboo frame that’s blood-splattered. Huckleberry Hound has a cartoon frame with a colored stripe that matches the interior. So the frame is storytelling and there are two places on the frame where we can put the date, the character name, and the license, so that’s storytelling. The art is storytelling. The lenticular authenticity card sandwiched between two acrylics and magnetic is storytelling. The box opens with a magnetic closure and you pull out the blister, pull out the PIX!, and they can stack on top of each other or you can hang it on a wall.
We wanted all of that to be in one format because there are a million different companies doing figures, and a lot of them do figures really, really well. We wanted to be different and unique.
Whether it’s LeBron James breaking the scoring title, Patrick Mahomes winning a Super Bowl, Michael Jordan hitting the game-winning shot for North Carolina as a freshman, or a musician, band, or a moment in time, that’s what we want to capture in PIX!
While the Thrilljoy model is largely direct-to-consumer across PIX!, MEGA PIX!, and Thrilljoy Threads (ultra-limited fashion drops), Hot Topic and BoxLunch are onboard as retail partners to extend the brand’s reach.
Paired with premium packaging and pricing, the “thrill of the chase” is a key part of the Thrilljoy experience and a familiar element for those who followed Funko’s growth. Each Thrilljoy PIX! collectible presents fans with 1-in-6 odds of scoring a limited-edition chase variant. The company is also releasing SUPER Chase items, with as few as 98 pieces issued for special events. And, for truly rare occasions, such as NYCC, Thrilljoy’s ULTRA Chase items are limited to just 24 pieces.
Partners joining co-founders Brian Mariotti and Dolly Ahluwalia in Thrilljoy include former Loungefly exec Karissa Marston as Director of Marketing, Eric Peng Cheng, Owner of Undefeated, and MD Young, owner of MINDstyle International.
Left to Right: Brian Mariotti, Dolly Ahluwalia, MD Young, Eric Peng Cheng, and Karissa Marston
Left to Right: Brian Mariotti, Khleo Thomas, Adam McArthur, Sal ‘Kickstradomis’ Amezcua, and Karissa Marston
The Thrilljoy panel at NYCC.
The company’s inaugural Fan Advisory Board includes a trio of individuals with a stake in the company, including Khleo Thomas, Sal ‘Kickstradomis’ Amezcua, and Adam McArthur.
Beginning next month, the company plans limited product drops with themed weeks built around Harry Potter, Scooby-Doo, MTV, and more.
Additionally, speed-to-market is an important factor in Thrilljoy’s forthcoming Moo Deng collectible. According to Mariotti, a portion of proceeds from the sale of each Moo Deng PIX! will benefit the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Si Racha, Chonburi, Thailand.
Want even more insight into the backstory of Thrilljoy? Check out an extended version of this interview at our sister publication, The Toy Book.
