Funko, the Everett, Wash.-based maker of Pop! figurines and other collectibles, has expanded its market reach. To space.
The company tweeted an image Thursday showing one of its popular toys floating high above Earth, thanks to the fact that it was packed along for the ride aboard the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission by Everett native Chris Sembroski.
https://twitter.com/OriginalFunko/status/1441160487618613248
Sembroski was one of four civilian crew members who blasted off last Wednesday and orbited for three days before splashing down Saturday in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida. An Air Force veteran, space enthusiast and data engineer, Sembroski, 42, got his chance to fly courtesy of a college friend who won a charity sweepstakes and arranged for Sembroski to go instead.
The mission to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was funded by Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, who is thought to have paid more than $100 million for the opportunity. The two other crew members were Hayley Arceneaux, a cancer survivor who’s now a physician assistant at St. Jude, and Sian Proctor, an educator and artist who won an online competition.
Funko said in its tweet that the company made a donation to St. Jude.
Funko licenses characters from across the pop culture spectrum, including television, movies, comics, sports and more. The floating, orbiting Funko Pop! was a depiction of the character Howard Wolowitz, from the television comedy series “Big Bang Theory.” On the show, Wolowitz is an aerospace engineer and ex-astronaut who eats a particular brand of children’s cereal and gets the nickname “Froot Loops” from another former astronaut.
In his own tweet, Sembroski thanked Isaacman for snapping the photo and said “Froot Loops enjoyed his view.”
https://twitter.com/rookisaacman/status/1441178799236915205
Michael Goff, whose relation to Sembroski is not known, is apparently the owner of the Pop! and he tweeted about sending Wolowitz along for the ride.
https://twitter.com/dresden69/status/1441177147822034944
Knowing the collectibility of Pop! characters in pristine condition, one Funko fan even asked about having the figurine out of its box. Goff tweeted that he plans to rebox it when it returns.
https://twitter.com/dresden69/status/1441164376849858563
The Pop! figurine didn’t make this tweeted image, but here’s a photo of Sembroski and his crewmates with an Earthly backdrop:
https://twitter.com/inspiration4x/status/1439737805110976512
