There it is, what “A Court of Thorns and Roses” fans have been looking for: the next wave of Funko Pop! figurines based on Sarah J. Maas‘s immensely popular fantasy novel franchise, including the debut of characters Cassian, Azriel, Morrigan and Amren. Available at Target in stores and online starting today, Nov. 4, this batch of “ACOTAR” collectibles also marks the launch of a new product overall for Funko, the Bitty POP!
Books set, which will feature Funko’s miniature-scale figures alongside detailed book-inspired boxes. The first two releases in the Bitty Pop! Books collection are based on Maas’ “A Court of Thorns and Roses” and its sequel ,”A Court of Mist and Fury,” and were created in collaboration with Maas’ licensing agency, IMG Licensing.
Per Funko, “The Bitty POP! Books A Court of Thorns and Roses set includes a Bitty POP! Town Spring Court Manor, Bitty POP! collectibles of Feyre – Solstice, Rhysand with Wings, Tamlin, and Lucien; while the Bitty POP!
Books A Court of Mist and Fury set includes a Bitty POP! Town Moonstone Palace, Bitty POP! collectibles of Cassian, Azriel, Morrigan, and Amren. Each set also comes packaged in a book-themed collectible box and includes a Prythian-shaped figural bookmark.” The new Funko launch comes on the heels of massive success for its first round of “ACOTAR” products, which debuted in September ahead of the Oct. 27 release of Maas’ sixth book in the series, “A Court of Splintered Harmony.” As previously reported by Variety, that book sold 1.7 million copies in its first 24 hours of release.
So if you look at the universe of what we’re selling and what’s bringing in new customers and fans, the number one product bringing in new fans is coming from ‘ACOTAR.'” According to Simon, three out of four of those customers purchasing from the “ACOTAR” Funko line are women. The appetite for the “ACOTAR” merch has been staggering and the products themselves are a unique case study for Funko, Simon says. I went back and looked and even at the time, despite how popular clearly Harry Potter was as such a publishing phenomenon, I think a lot of the merchandise and certainly what we did across Funko didn’t really come to life until the Warner Bros. films came out into the world.” Simon says the difference with “ACOTAR,” which does not currently have a TV or film adaptation in the works after a previous project was scrapped at Hulu, has been Maas’ willingness to let Funko play with the “fun stylized” look of the book characters.
Our teams are fans of these things, and so they come to the table with a lot of ideas and, trust me, just as much respect for the underlying source material. I think they don’t want to be disappointed themselves, as fans, beyond just people who work for Funko, as well.” Simon says that means long conversations were had about every “ACOTAR” Funko product, including that divisive “Under the Mountain” look for “A Court of Thorns and Roses” protagonist Feyre Archeron (pictured above). The same way people are debating on a plot point when the book comes out, they debate what we do as well.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
