‘We see a lot of the same people. It’s nice for a sense of community:’ The Hamilton Funko Pop Convention returns

The Hamilton Funko Convention took place on Nov. 5. from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The convention was started in 2017 by Melanie Park and runs twice a year, once in the fall and again in the spring. 

Some vendors at the convention started as collectors and began selling Funko Pop figures as a way to cut down on their collections.

“I’m a huge Funko collector myself so I started the show because I had a horde of them and I needed a venue to sell things,” Melanie Park event organizer said. 

Andrew Thomas, another vendor, was a long-time collector of 10 years before he began selling Funko Pop figures about four years ago.

“As a vendor, it’s good for like the situation we’re in, where we’re trying to narrow down how many we have at home so we have more room for our child,” Thomas said. 

The convention brought together vendors and collectors, making the convention a great place to find rare Funko Pops or to find less-rare ones at a reasonable price. 

“It’s [the convention] great for finding stuff you can’t find in stores anymore,” Thomas said. “Even finding online is kind of not worth buying because you don’t want things to get damaged but it’s really good for a collector for finding the rarer stuff that is hard to find.” 

The Hamilton Funko Pop Convention had a sense of comradery among the vendors and attendees. 

“Meeting other people in the community, we’ve met a lot of people like vendors that we know, people that we see every time we sell, we see a lot of the same people. It’s nice for a sense of community,” Thomas said. 

“I love the community, the Funko community is fantastic. I love coming out to see the people,” Park agreed. 

T-shirts were sold to celebrate the show as well as t-shirts for collectors with sayings like ‘Funko Fanatic’ and ‘Pop! Addict’

The next Hamilton Funko Pop Convention is next spring.