Funko has awakened a forgotten beast in me. Since August, Funko started releasing NFTs, “non-fungible token.” To explain it simply, as I easily grasp the concept myself, an NFT is a digital asset that links ownership to unique physical or digital items. In this case digital art in the form of trading cards. 

This takes me back to my early years of collecting, going to local shops like Bookmark and Golden Glove,  flipping through binders of super hero trading cards, collecting my favorite characters at first. As my interest grew, I built the sets, then the chases and soon after, I was saving money to buy full unopened boxes of newly released series. 

I swore that I would NOT get into the NFT game. After a few releases from Funko and me resisting, I felt confident in my proclamation until last week when Funko released a Halloween themed series of Freddy Funko in the most ridiculously-cute Halloween costumes. 

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Up until the minute of the digital drop I tried to resist. I knew I’d be hooked and would want them all. I was a few minutes late into the waiting room. Premium packs sold out. Standard packs were still available.  So, I bought 6. Struggling to figure out what I actually did, where to store these things and how to actually view them, I enlisted the help of my friend Tom. 

He gave me some pointers and vague direction on what he has done in the past. Jon Googled the rest and we opened my packs and made a digital wallet to display them. The old excitement and anticipation of childhood collecting was back. On my first pack I got the series grail, Freddy Funko in a Devil costume. This meant no going back. We were in it to win it. 

What attracted me to the series was the chance of pulling cards that are redeemable for physical collectibles. The grail being one of them. The chase and the reward hooked me. The trading cards are the cherry on top. 

Out of my purchased packs a got very few duplicates. That’s insanely lucky. Packs were still available online so I bought two more. I needed 27 cards to finish my set. I took a look at how to buy cryptocurrency to buy in the NFT marketplace and I have never been so overwhelmed or uncomfortable in a long time! I felt like a fish out of water. I tried to register for a few ways to purchase cryptocurrency with my credit card, but me being in the state of Louisiana was an issue for the companies I tried to register with. Weird.

THE NFT JOURNEY

So, I went the old fashioned route of posting online my ISO (in search of) list on multiple Funko Funatic fan groups. The community truly was helpful and I cannot thank the individuals enough who traded and sold me missing items for my set. Like I mentioned before, I was lucky to pull the Devil grail and I also pulled the Legendary Mummy Soda. I did not get the Skeleton initially, I purchased that one … All three of these cards are redeemable for a physical figure in February 2022. I’m down to needing two EPIC cards to complete the set and unlock the cool, redeemable Freddy as Dracula pop!!

Looks like I’m going to have to navigate the digital marketplace to get them. Yikes! Wish me luck, I’m going to need it.  If you happen to have these two NFT cards and are willing to part with them, please let me know!