Funko Photo A Day Challenge

Hi lovelies! Some of you guys may know, if you follow me on my social media, that a few months ago, I set up a separate Instagram account completely dedicated to my toy photography hobby. It has been absolutely amazing and I've made lots of friends in the toy collector community, especially in the 'Funko Family' as it's affectionately called. People within the community run daily photo challenges, and there's even some run by Funko's official account. Funko are the company that make Pop! Vinyl figures (and lots more!) if you didn't already know :) As you've probably guessed from the title, this post is going to be all about the recent Photo-A-Day challenge run by Funko *it's going to fairly pic heavy*. They host them a few times a year and they usually run for 15 days; December's went on through 1st-15th and each day had a different theme. It was super fun taking part and I wanted to share my photography with you guys! Enjoy! 

Above is the list of daily prompts for December 2018! It is not compulsory to stick to the theme, but it's interesting trying to come up with the perfect shot to match the prompt each day so I always do! It can be a challenge too (I instantly thought, well duh! to myself writing that, haha!), to think outside the box and come up with a photo that is going to be different from everybody else's. If you are fellow toy and/or vinyl figure enthusiasts then I would love to know in the comments that you would photograph for each theme! Without further ado, here's what I came up with...

Day 1 ~ Make A List 

Day 2 ~ Something Blue 

Day 3 ~ In My Mug 

Day 4 ~ Treats 

Day 5 ~ Something Red 

Day 6 ~ Jolly

Day 7 ~ Pyjamas 

Day 8 ~ Pets 

By the 8th Day, my favourite photograph to take had been my one of Luna Lovegood, standing on top of my Harry Potter Honeydukes Sherbet Lemons candle from Primark (it smells so delicious; I'm a big fan of circus scents)! If you follow me over on my personal/blog Instagram, you'll know that all this month I have been opening a door a day of the Funko Harry Potter advent calendar, and this Luna figure came from inside that. It was pricey but so worth it! I'm really enjoying unboxing a new Pocket Pop! figure each day. 

Anyhow, I had really struggled to think of something unique to share for the prompt 'Treats' because I knew everyone else would be posting Christmas sweets and chocolates. I had those in the house but I wanted to do something different! Then an idea suddenly popped into my head on the morning of Day 4 when my mom asked me if I wanted her to pick me up any snacks from town. I love how all of the colourful beans go so well with Luna's eclectic outfit :) My favourite day thus far to follow was Day 8: Pets because everyone in the community was sharing the most adorable photos of their pets and there was also an abundance of Pop figures wearing Santa hat's like mine! The hat I used is actually a hair clip version that I got to put on my rabbits' fluffy head's for some festive photos I took a few years ago :) 

Day 9 ~ Lights

Day 10 ~ Not A Pop! 

Day 11 ~ Cheer

Day 12 ~ Home 

Day 13 ~ Shelfie 

Day 14 ~ Funko Fashion 

Day 15 ~Happy Holidays!

It is so tough to choose a favourite for the last half of the challenge, because I feel like the quality of my photographs improved as I got more confident with my ideas! I always get a little nervous that my photos are going to be crappy compared to everyone else's, however I felt better after that first week :) I really like how my shot for Day 14 turned out, especially because it took me all day to think of what to photograph. It was the perfect excuse to photograph my new Coraline Pop! and in my caption I wrote that she & Georgie want to start a yellow raincoat club, which made me think the photo was even more cute, haha! I want a yellow raincoat!! 

I was really happy with how my photograph for the 9th of December turned out using my galaxy background (photography tip: it's a wallpaper sample!) because I hadn't yet bought the lights for the little Christmas tree that I put up in my bedroom, so I had to make do with some random ones that we use to light up a festive glass vase each year and the batteries were running out so they weren't as bright anymore T_T However, it was really surprised by how well they showed up under my studio light. Also if you're curious, the background I used for Day 12 is actually my Quality Street chocolate advent calendar! I love utilising random things to make an idea really come to life.

So, there are my entries for the December Funko Photo A Day Challenge! I hope that this post was interesting, even if you're not particularly into figures, and if you are, then you can find my toy Instagram here :) I'll be posting every single day of this month, since I'm currently taking part in another photo-a-day challenge co-created by one of my friends :) Please let me know in comments which of my shots is your favourite & why, I'm really curious to find out! To all my fellow toy lovers, keep your eyes out for some other toy themed posts that I have planned this month!

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Do you collect any figures?

If not, are you collector of anything else? 

It's Time For A Pop Update

Hello guys! If you follow me over on Instagram, you might have noticed every day this month I've been taking part in a photo-a-day challenge run by Funko (although the competition is only running until 15th June because it started mid-May), which involves sharing a picture of a Funko figure based on a specific theme. It's been super fun joining in and having a way to share the love with fellow Funko fans, and it's just an added bonus that each day there's a chance that you could be randomly selected to win a prize! For a couple of the prompts I have used some of the newest editions to my Funko Pop collection, and this reminded me that I haven't written up an update to share with you all for ages now! So that's what today's post is going to be all about :) I hope you all enjoy reading! 

I'm really glad that I took part in the #FunkoPhotoADay challenge because it's helped to reignite my passion for collecting these awesome figures! You see, I've been feeling  pretty annoyed with the standard of the Funko Pop's that I've been receiving from the monthly subscription service, Pop in a Box. I have been sent Pop's that have a crappy paint job, have marks on them, they just look poor quality and it's been seriously disheartening :( Not only have the figures themselves been bad recently, but they've also been arriving in boxes with scuffs and tears and dints, which might not seem like such a big deal but when you're a collector of figures like these, the condition of the boxes is just as important because you display them too. It is getting tedious having to keep writing complaint emails to the company, that more times than not, I'm just keeping low quality Pop's as you'll see in this post! I have definitely considered cancelling my subscription with them, but I don't know of any other services that matches what they do, with allowing you to receive surprise figures each month but to filter which Pop's you want and don't want to get. Ugh, I don't know what I'm going to do to be honest... but enough about the negatives, this IG photo challenge made me focus on the things I love about Pop! vinyl figures and I want this post to reflect that!

Since I've already given you a glimpse of this awesome Pop, I'll talk about it first :) I absolutely adore the dinosaur vinyl figures that Funko have released for their Jurassic Park and also Jurassic World collections! I have forever been fascinated with these prehistoric creatures; I just love them so much and so having figures of 'chibified' versions of them makes my heart happy! The velociraptor has been my favourite of the dinosaurs for as long as I can remember. I was always in awe of predatory species when I was a kid from watching wildlife documentaries and I just found creatures with impressive teeth and claws and hunting abilities so interesting. I used to love watching the TV series Walking with Dinosaurs and this show just helped to further my love of Velociraptors, and then I watched Jurassic Park and thought they were super badass, and I've been a fan ever since! 

As soon as I learnt that Funko were releasing a Jurassic Park collection, I couldn't wait to see how they would design their dinosaurs, and once I'd seen fellow collectors' photographs of them popping up all over social media, I was certainly impressed. I wanted all of the species available, but of course the Velociraptor was at the top of my list. I opted for the three dinosaurs on the Pop in A Box website, and the first one that I received was actually the Tyrannosaurus, which is also fantastic by the way, but with the multitude of boxes I have laying around with random figures inside, I have managed to misplace my T-rex so I cannot show it you guys today, oops! But here are a couple of snaps of it that I shared on IG if you wanna check it out :) After seeing the Tyrannosaurus up close, I was even more looking forward to getting the Velociraptor and yay, I was sent it soon after by Pop in a Box!

I mean, just look at it!!  It's so cool, don't you think!? There are so many things that I love about it's design. It's teeth are just great, they are super eye-catching and are such an iconic feature of any carnivorous dinosaur, so I'm glad that Funko designed them to be such a focal part when you're looking at the Pop. My second favourite thing about this Pop! vinyl are it's claws and just the overall hands and feet, they are another thing that springs to mind as soon as you think about this species... it's massive, sharp claws and the way they prowl, run and jump. And although it's hard to illustrate huge claws on a smaller figure, I think the way that Funko design them to still look awesome! Another aspect that I love about the Velociraptor figure is detailing on the skin. I love the shading of the paint job, which the different browns used. I also really like the spot effect, although I don't think this resembles the actual dinosaur much. Finally, I think that the Velociraptor's tongue is pretty cute, is that weird? XD, regardless I like how it looks anyway... please someone else agree with me that they think this tongue is cute, haha!

Even though, I adore this Pop and it makes it into my Top 10 of all of the Funko Pop! Vinyl's that I own, there are still something things that I would change about it. I really don't like the colour that they've used for the Velociraptor's eyes! Although we don't know 100% what colour eyes these prehistoric species would have had, I have always imagined the ears of this particular dinosaur to be a pale yellowy/green shade, not bright sunshine yellow! It's unrealistic to me and I personally wish that they'd used a paler shade of yellow at least when designing the eyes of this Pop. I also don't like the light pink colour that they've used to paint the skin/gum at the side of the dinosaur's mouth, it also too much looks a little too bright and I think it doesn't blend in well with the colour of the body. I wish that they'd used the same pale brown shade that they did for this feature on the figure of the Tyrannosaurus. The other things that I don't like about this Pop are due to the quality of it VS the design; it has a messy paint job on it's teeth and on one of it's eye (that makes the eye not perfectly circular). They are only tiny mistakes, but because they are such a light colour, they stand out more on a brown figure. All in all though, this is still a wonderful Pop and I have a mighty need for all of the other dinosaurs that have been released. 

I'm super happy to have another Pop! to add to my ever-growing Funko Horror collection, and how epic does this figure of Carrie look!? If you don't know who Carrie is, she's a character from a novel by Stephen King of the same name, which in 1976 was made into a movie (It was re-made in 2013, but we won't talk about that crappy movie, haha!). This Pop is designed after the Carrie from the 70's adaptation and is showcasing the iconic scene from the end of the movie. I'd say more but I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone who is yet to watch it, and if you're one of these people... go watch it! It's so good :D 

Being a fan of the whole gory horror aesthetic means that I'm lovin' this Pop mostly due to the fact that Carrie is covered in blood! I love the way that Funko have designed this detail on the Pop, with all the blood pouring down Carrie's face but not enough to obscure her features. I don't know what more to say other than it looks really cool! I like that the Pop itself has a simplistic design, because it doesn't steal away from the eye-catching blood-soaked detailing or make the Pop too busy, if that makes sense. I also like how well the pink shade of the dress goes with the deep crimson colour.  Oh, and I also think it's cool how Carrie's hair actually looks like it's wet, because I've seen figures in the past with a similar blood-soaked effect that haven't thought to incorporate little details like this to give the character/scene a realistic look. 

I actually had a lot of trouble with this figure! Back in October 2017, I noticed an offer on the Pop in a Box website that was too good to resist, 5 Pop Vinyl for £40!, and so I did a little haul and this Carrie figure was one of those that I chose. When it arrived a month or so later (although the other four figures didn't arrive with it, they were all sent to me on different dates over several months), I noticed that there was a random white triangle on Carrie's chest, it looked so silly that I assumed it must be a paint job error considering it wasn't shown on the diagram of the character on the box. I emailed Pop in a Box to get a replacement, and they sent me forms that had a US address, so I had to pay really pricey shipping to send this Pop back. The staff member I corresponded with me never told me to ignore this address and give me the UK address instead, as I know now is what they are supposed to do. So I sent it back and was informed via email after a month, maybe two, that they had received it in the US. I was never offered any refunds for this postage cost, which was super annoying! 

Skip maybe five months ahead into 2018, I was emailing the company again to enquire when the other figures from the original order would be sent to me, because the wait was getting ridiculous and at the same time, I expressed my concern that this Carrie figure had still not been replaced. To which they said, it was on it's way to me... coincidence much... but the new Carrie arrived within a week and I saw again that it had the same horrid triangle on the front!! I decided to google it to see if other people had been sent pop's with this what I thought was an error, to find that everyone's seemed to have it!! So I think now that it's supposed to be a shard of glass or something, it would make most sense for the scene it is depicting from the movie. I wish that the Pop in a Box company had told me that this was featured on all of the Carrie figures, because they did make me send them photographs of the 'error' I was complaining about... and it would have saved me any annoyance or unneeded expenses of shipping it to the American headquarters >.< ugh! 

I'm really not a fan of this random triangle on the figures chest/dress, I just don't think it looks like what I am assuming it's supposed to be, and it stands out so much that everytime I look at the figure I see it and it reminds me of all the kerfuffle it caused. How do you think it looks? I am also annoyed because the original Carrie I was sent was of a much better quality than this one overall, which has marks on her face (some of them can only be seen when the light catches Carrie's face). There's also a white mark on her eye, which is so noticeable because the figures eyes are black.  Just explaining what happened with this Pop has made me irritated, oh dear... I'm just fed up of being excited about getting a new Pop and then upon further inspection I find all of these mistakes that makes figures that are usually really photogenic look bad...

I do like this figure has a whole though, I'm just not 100% happy with mine. I'm still glad that I have Carrie now because I love the movie adaptations of Stephen King's novels, and it's always nice to have a powerful female horror character because there's not as many as there are male ones :) 

I don't want this post to become one big rant, but I mean, come on! This figure has a very obvious black mark right across the front centre of the face, so you can't miss it! It looks like it's supposed to be the character's mouth, but if you're familiar with this line of figures from Funko, you'll know that most of them don't even have mouths, unless there's a specific detail that's important to the overall look of the character like fangs or something. What is so annoying about receiving figures with a really visible manufacturing blemish is that someone who works in the packaging department of these companies isn't even giving the figures a quick look-over to make sure they meet their company's quality standards, like if it's a very small paint job mistake, it's understandable that it could be missed but when it's something so blatant, such as a mark like this or a highly damaged box, it's super disappointing as a customer... and it's happened to me several times now so it's not like it can just be put down to a one-off occurrence. It might seem like I'm being harsh, but it's not nice to keep getting items like this and I'm tired of having to keep complaining. Writing messages for me isn't an easy thing because of my anxiety disorder, and so I would rather not have to keep sending Pop! back. 

Stranger Things is a fabulous show, and I can't recommend it enough if you haven't seen it yet. It's a Netflix original sci-fi show, and it's got some excellent characters in it. One of them being Eleven, and the Pop! Vinyl figure above is of her. This is Eleven's, or El's, look for Season 2 and as soon as I saw it, I just couldn't not add it to my Funko wishlist. I already have a figure of Eleven from Season 1 and I just love how different she looks with hair like this! Even though the colour Funko have chosen for her hair is questionable :D Sorry Funko but several people have agreed with me that it looks like the colour of poop XD Odd colour choices aside, I like the textured look of her hair. It's different to the curly hair that I've seen on other Pop's which is good. It's always nice when things have that little something to make them unique. 

I love that they've chosen this particular stance for the figure; Eleven is in defence mode, with her hand raised as it is when she's about to use her supernatural powers. I love that! Each time I look at it, I remember how much of a little badass Eleven is! Her clothes might look simple but to me for some reason, they resemble the stereotypical horror movie outfit of a plaid/checked shirt & jeans, and since I'm a horror fan, this appeals to me, so I'm definitely liking the outfit :) 

The only dislike I have of this Pop! is the mark on her face; literally everything else about this Eleven figure is fabulous, her design is great and her quality would be brilliant without the mark. Her paintjob is very good, so it's such a shame about the mark... does anyone know how I could remove it without also taking off the colour underneath? Any tips would be very much appreciated :) Even though I'm a fan of Stranger Things, I actually don't want most of the Pop figures that Funko have released for the franchise. I only ever wanted Eleven in her hospital gown from Season 1 (which you can check out here), then Eleven and Mike from Season 2 (and if you're curious, you can have a nosey at the Mike Pop too), so I'm happy to have everyone I wanted now!

So, here's a group photo of the latest editions to my Funko Pop! Vinyl collection, bringing my current total up to 44! (including the Tyrannosaurus that I can't find!), and I'm not even done yet! I have a lot more figures on my wishlist... my bank account isn't happy! :D Have you guys seen the new The Lost Boys figures that have just been released? I NEEEED the David one! I would have 46 Pop! Vinyl now, but I finally got the last two figures I was waiting for from that October order, and they both arrived with damaged boxes :( I'm in the process of sending them back to get replacements, so who knows when that will all be sorted! I'll show you guys as soon as I have them. 

Anyhow, I hope this post was a good read and that I didn't rant too much! I just wanted to be honest with you all about how I've been feeling lately about the Pop in a Box subscription service. At the moment, despite being annoyed with them, I would still recommend them because of their prices and the fact that you can select the Pop's you don't want to receive. There are a few other subscriptions for Funko Pop's but you don't usually get to opt for receiving/not receiving specific figures as far as I know, and I enjoy the surprise element VS simply just purchasing the ones I like. I'm super happy to now have the Velociraptor, Carrie & S2 Eleven, and I'd love to hear what you guy think of them. Do you have a favourite? 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

What's your favourite horror movie or dinosaur? 

How about your favourite sci-fi character/book/TV show/movie? 

Have you bought any figures lately? 

Please tell me about them in the comments below!

Blindbox Haul

Happy Sunday everyone! Over the last few months, I have had quite a few blindboxes on my wishlist and I'm happy to announce that I've finally got around to buying some! In today's post, I'm going to be showing you the vinyl figures that I received inside each blindbox. So this is post is one for my fellow toy and figure lovers :) I hope you enjoy!

As you'll probably know by now, I am a little (*cough* a lot) obsessed with the Unicorno figures by Tokidoki. I am collecting series 4 and I still don't have all of the figures, so it was time to get some more Unicorno blindboxes to try and add more to my collection. Tokidoki are yet to release a series 5, but they have created a new Unicorno collection. I featured the Mermicorno blindbox on my June Kawaii & Geeky Wishlist and I was over the moon to have finally been able to order one! As well as getting more Unicorno blindboxes, I also ordered another from the Tokidoki collection. What sparked this haul was watching unboxing videos with my niece on Youtube, and the first video we watched showed the Moofia Series 1 collection. I had strong craving for opening blindboxes afterwards and with Moofia starting it all, of course I had to pop one of those in my shopping cart too, haha! I get all of my Tokidoki blindboxes from an online called Collect & Display.

It was a pleasant surprise to see that the Unicorno logo has been redesigned. I love this new one, it's so cute with the little unicorn heads inside the O's! I have purchased a Moofia blindbox before, although I forgot to blog about it, oops, but I was still really happy about the design of the box the second time around. I just think it is awesome how it's designed to resemble a milk carton. The Mermicorno box is so different to the typical Unicorno boxes. Instead of being made from cardboard, it's plastic, and it's also see-through. On the usual Unicorno blindboxes, all of the characters you can get are shown on the side of the box along with their names. However, with the Mermicorno blindbox you don't get this. I was super excited to open these boxes, yet I was also a little nervous about the Unicorno ones since I only have three more to collect, two of which are chasers (harder to get) and so there was a higher risk of me getting more duplicates. Without further ado, here are the figures that I got...

Yayyyy! I got Ruby! This unicorn was one of the figures that I was hoping for. She's so pretty too. I adore her design, I especially love how they've not only decorated her with little strawberries but have also made her mane red and tail green so that she resembles a strawberry, too! Looking at her makes me think of a strawberry Mini Milk ice lolly. I love the shade of baby pink they have used, and also her little red freckles. I received a duplicate in my other blindbox, a Yuki figure, and I gave it to my niece. I just need to get Kingsley and Elettrico to complete the entire series 4! 

I absolutely love the Moofia characters! I think they are adorable, and I have so much Moofia merch. I am actually wearing my Moofia PJ pants as I write this post! :) The Moofia series 1 collection includes ten figures, plus a chaser. I really wanted one of the milk carton characters as they are my favourite, and I'm not planning to complete this collection. I am still happy with the Half & Half milk though because he's cute. I love his horns and the sweet little coffee cup printed on his front. I also like that he's winking, and I'm glad that he stands up well on his own without falling over. Anyone else have any Moofia merch?

OH MY GOSH! How gorgeous is this figure!!? I am really impressed! I had already watched an unboxing video of these new cuties, and I can't believe that I got one of my favourites in my first unboxing. This character is called Marina, and I love her purple, blue and pink colour scheme. I love the anchor bow on her mane, and the metallic blue used on her tail and mane. She's a very nice figure and I am now tempted to collect all of the Mermicornos! Watch this space :) 

You may think that this post is over now because I've shown you all of the Tokidoki figures I got, but I have two more blindboxes to show you. One of my nieces recently turned 11 and for her birthday, I bought her a My Geek Box Kids one-off subscription box. The boxes are aimed at 5-11 years old, so you often get items that are not really suited for an 11 year old but are perfect for a younger child. I opened the box prior to giving it to my niece, removed the items that I knew she wouldn't enjoy and replaced them with some items I'd bought. One of the items that I thought would be fun to put in was a blindbox. I decided on the Funko Disney Princess Mystery Mini's, and since I have wanted one of these for ages too I couldn't not order myself one. I was feeling particularly generous that day so I ordered another for my sister. 

My sister got Anna from Frozen & I got Jasmine from Aladdin! Although my sister would have loved to get Ariel as she's her favourite Disney Princess, she was still happy to get Anna. I love her freckles and I think it's cool that they've included the white streak in her hair. I absolutely love her outfit, it looks just like the movie! Belle is my favourite Disney movie but I was more than glad to receive Jasmine. She's adorable and I think her outfit is fabulous, especially her shoes. I wish that I'd taken a photo of her hair to show you all. It's awesome, and so big. It makes the figure a lot more weightier than the Anna one. These figures looked adorable on the box, however they are so much more cuter in person. I'm definitely gonna be getting some more! My niece was really lucky with her box, too. She got Raja the Tiger from Aladdin, and he's one of the rarest figures in the whole collection at 1 in 72. Clearly there was some birthday luck going on there, haha!

I seriously need to get my shelving sorted in my bedroom, which I've been saying for months and months now. I have no where to display my figures until I have purchased some shelves, and I want to display all of my new fantastic figures!! I'd love to see photos of how everyone displays their figures and toys. Add me on snapchat and show me! (I'm at raiin_monkey). I hope you all enjoyed reading this post. Let me know which was your favourite figure in the comments. 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Out of all of the figures in the Disney Princess blindbox, which would you more like to get?

 Check out my other Tokidoki Unboxings:

| Yayy! New Unicornos! | More Unicorno Blindboxes | Unicorno Blindboxes |