Well, the long awaited return of the Walking Dead is here and I can think of no better way than to share a Walking Dead related post for our fans. In March of 2013, I interviewed Funko toy designer Reis O’Brien and we chatted about Funko and his blogging career among other things. Well, I thought it was time for a follow-up, Reis agreed. I decided to share our interview in time for the Walking Dead premiere since he is the mastermind behind the Walking Dead Mystery Minis. For those of you who want to relive our first interview, you can find it here. Now, let us catch up with the creative genius that is Reis O’Brien.
SWN: So Reis, how have things been since the last time we talked?
Reis: So busy! I think that since the last time we chatted, Funko has exploded in regards to how many new products we’ve launch and licenses we’ve announced, adding lines like ReAction, Legacy, Hikari, Fabrications and many more to our already solid stable of Pops, Wacky Wobblers and Mystery Minis. I honestly can’t believe how far things have come in just a couple of years.
And what really sets my head spinning is knowing where we are about to go, which everyone will find out about after this year’s Toy Fair.
SWN: Your blogging skills is really what got me started in the game, do you still have time to blog with your hectic schedule at Funko?
Reis: Sadly, like several of my other favorite pastimes, my blogging started to take a backseat to my toy design work shortly after starting at Funko, and eventually I realized that I just had to put it out of its misery. My old blog just went idle for several months, despite a couple of feeble attempts to get it started back up again, and instead of leaving people to wonder if I was ever going to post anything again, I just decided to official end it and say goodbye to the blogging world.
Also, social media changed rapidly over the last 2 years, and I found that I could reach 20 times the amount of people in about 2 minutes of posting a toy pic on Instagram and Twitter than I could taking a half hour to write some overly verbose blog post.
I still love the blogging world, and I’m glad it’s still out there for everybody, but I personally had to resort to more “bite sized” forms of information sharing.
REIS: Holy guacamole. That is a long list.
For Pops, I’ve designed some Star Wars, The Goonies, The Ghostbusters, some Walking Dead, Jay & Silent Bob, Stan Lee, some Disney, American Horror Story (Coven), some Breaking Bad, some of the Arkham Asylum, some of the X-Men, Star Trek TNG, some of the Avengers 2, E.T. and several others that I’m sure I’m forgetting or cannot be announced yet.
For Mystery Minis, I designed the Horror and Sci-Fi series, the Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and Age of Ultron.
For ReAction, I either designed or art directed alongside other designers on all of them, including all the packaging.
I just know I’m forgetting some stuff, and as mentioned before, there are several projects that I can’t mention yet.
SWN: Which one is your favorite so far?
Reis: That’s impossible! There’s no way I could pick just one as my all-time number one favorite. I guess I’m pretty proud of the Slimer Pop since it was pretty innovative (for us, anyway) in the way he’s held up by his dripping slime. And I love the level of detail we achieved with the Arkham Asylum Pops, but most of that credit should go to the sculptor on those. I’m also madly in love with how the latest series of Walking Dead Mystery Minis turned out. Again, thanks to a sculptor making them look exquisite.
SWN: Speaking of Funko, I was floored with excitement when I heard that Funko and Marvel are working together to make the Marvel Collector’s Club. How did this idea come about?
Reis: You know, not to give a boring answer, but I have no idea. I’m not sure if they came to us with the idea or we took it to them. All I know is that one day we were in a brainstorm meeting on it and the next thing you know, here it is. We’ve got an entire team devoted to the project, so expect big things!
SWN: What other projects are you working on right now?
Reis: Ah, everything that I have cooking at the moment is super top secret. Being this close to Toy Fair, we’re trying to save all of our announcements for the event. Sorry!
But I can say that I’m working on a couple of projects that have me practically losing my mind with excitement, and I think collectors are going to feel the same way once everything is announced.
SWN: Do you have anything you would like to promote right now?
Well, I have opened an online store for all of my custom Pops, kitbashed action figures, weirdo clay oddities and artwork of all kinds at bimtoy.storenvy.com. This is where people can buy anything that I make on the side. Also, if people feel so inclined, they can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @reisobrien, where I show off a lot of what I’m working on.
Also, everyone needs to go listen to Babymetal right now. They’re my new favorite band.
SWN: If you could create a Funko product for any character in the universe, who would it be and why?
Reis: Hmmmm… I guess I’d love to design Pops and ReAction (and Legacy for that matter) for Conan the Barbarian, the original 1982 film. And it’s really too bad that classic ad characters don’t sell well anymore, because I think Pops of the McDonaldland characters would be adorable!
SWN: If you were not in the business of designing toys, what do you think you would be doing for a career?
Reis: Oh, I’m sure I’d still be in the design/illustration world somehow. It’s all I know how to do, really. Maybe I’d be back in the t-shirt design business. But if we’re really going down the slippery slope of fantasy, I’d like to think that I would be a professional skateboarder by day and a deadly ninja assassin by night. But I would only kill evil enemy ninjas.
SWN: Do you have any advice for people trying to get in the biz of designing toys?
Reis: I guess the best piece of advice I can give is; Do your research, know your toys, watch the trends, train yourself to be versatile, become comfortable working in many different styles, learn how to change gears quickly and start thinking three dimensional.
But most importantly, look for the path that will lead you to a toy design gig and start heading down it. If you stumble off that path, do what you’ve got to do to get back on it. I see so many people out there that say they want to work in the toy business, but they’re either just sitting there waiting for it to be handed to them, or they think that it’s all “who you know”, or that they only design in one single impractical style and expect the toy collecting world to just magically fall in love with it.
It doesn’t work that way. You’ve got to strive for it. Reach for it. You have to be versatile and fast, and you have to take direction humbly and really listen to that direction, try to understand where it’s coming from and why that could lead to a better toy.
Because that’s what it’s all about, making killer toys that people will love.
I wan to thank Reis for taking the time to answer a few questions for our Nerdy family. Go forth to the stores and buy Funkos in your support of his work. Also,check out his pages that were mentioned in the interview. Until next time, enjoy the new Walking Dead episodes and unleash your inner NERD!
