FUNKO | JOSE MARI CHAN!!!
Jose Mari Chan.
I think he's one of those Funko Pops that you need to keep inside of the box.
For some reason, it feels as if he has the Vince McMahon body and the John F. Kennedy head.
With that said, I never blind bought a Funko Pop in Shopee as quickly as I did since like... forever. As mentioned on a previous blog, most Pinoy Funko Pops with the exception of Darna and the Jollibee characters has this thing in which it's hard for them to look cool outside of the box.
With Jollibee, the mascot is an iconic symbol. Sure, they buried Mico to obscurity and I guess Lady Moo, Chickee, and Twirlee need a bit of fandom love as well but the main mascot of the food chain has stood the test of time.
And say what you will about Darna but it's really hard to envision her as Darna nowadays given how she's so popular in the Philippines and how bad Wonder Woman is presented to a worldwide audience prior to Gal Gadot.
Trese and the UAAP mascot Funkos of Ateneo and La Salle are cute... but I quickly got tired of them. I got Trese because of FOMO and I bought the mascot pops just in case Funko would really a UST Growling Tiger version.
With that said, I love the Jose Mari Chan Funko. If I attempt to construct a Christmas tree, I would have this Funko as part of an ornament (not on the top though - because Jose Mari Chan himself thinks it's a bad idea). Moreover, he's not just the dude with a hit song that stood the test of time. Jose Mari Chan is an iconic OPM icon whose albums Christmas in Our Hearts and Constant Change rank one and two in the all-time best-selling OPM albums list. Heck, before Seiko used Michael Learns to Rock songs in their movie trailers, they used Beautiful Girl to kickstart Gretchen Barretto's turn from teenybopper to film goddess. And while Beautiful Girl is a jam, Can't We Just Stop and Talk Awhile is my favorite JMC song.
If Funko is going to this route, I hope they make an Eraserheads pop. Perhaps a Gary Valenciano, Francis Magalona, Apo Hiking Society, and even an Andrew E one? At the moment, Andrew E has a Funko shirt and I guess the next step is for him to have a pop.
Anyway, thank you Funko for giving us this Hobbiestock-exclusive Funko!