It’s a tragic day for followers of popular culture collectibles as Funko has let go of virtually half of the 40 or so workers working for Mondo, the Austin, Texas-based collectible firm well-known for its various film posters, collectible toys, vinyl music releases, and extra.
Initially a part of the Alamo Drafthouse, Mondo was bought by Funko in June 2022; on the time, its CEO Andrew Permaulter instructed io9 “Our purpose is to construct the Mondo model. Our purpose is to not flip Mondo into Funko.” It’s unclear what the purpose is now, since among the many individuals who’ve been let go are Mondo co-founders Mitch Putnam and Rob Jones, in addition to senior inventive director Eric Garza. Collectively, they have been primarily chargeable for the corporate’s poster output, which is anticipated to proceed, just below completely different management. Mondo’s toy and document divisions stay intact. io9 reached out to Funko for remark however didn’t hear again as of press time.
Since Mondo’s inception in 2004, Putnam and Jones have been paramount in recruiting up-and-coming artists and guiding them to create work that made them, and the model, more and more in style. Garza joined them a number of years later, serving to solidify a core inventive workforce that set Mondo other than a lot of the different popular culture poster corporations whereas constructing a fierce loyalty with its artists. Through the years, the corporate’s cache grew exponentially, highlighted by its infamously fast poster sellouts; for a time, the corporate had its personal gallery in Austin and even its personal conference, MondoCon. For that occasion, followers from everywhere in the world would come to purchase posters, artwork, and collectibles, and benefit from the tradition Mondo’s take care of its work fostered. However that period is now over. With the exit of Putnam, Jones, and Garza, it raises the query of if these artists, or their customers, will proceed to return again to Mondo.
“Do they not perceive they only misplaced their whole artist base?” stated artist Daniel Hazard, who has labored with Mondo since 2006. Hazard believes the transfer will discourage most artists from working with the model. “I wish to work with Rob, Mitch, and Eric,” he stated. “They’re Mondo. In the event that they’re not there, it’s simply Funko.” As just lately as final week, Hazard was speaking to the workforce about future Mondo tasks starting from San Diego Comedian-Con to a possible screening occasion subsequent 12 months. So, to him, the transfer got here seemingly out of nowhere. He now views these tasks, which included some very well-known properties, as “useless within the water.”
Different artists echoed these sentiments, and expressed fear over the standing of tasks which have but to be launched, in addition to hesitation about working with the corporate sooner or later. “To me, the guts of Mondo’s creative imaginative and prescient laid with the workers that was let go, and I’m nervous about ongoing and future deliberate tasks persevering with with the identical enthusiasm and help,” stated one artist who selected to stay nameless. “I’d like to proceed working with Mondo but when they grow to be a pale imitation of what they have been, I’m positive many people artists within the scene will migrate to wherever inventive workers transitions to sooner or later.”
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In keeping with a number of sources, for the reason that buy, Mondo’s workers have been conducting enterprise as ordinary and planning tasks for the long run. However when Funko reported losses in its final quarterly earnings, 10% of the corporate was let go, a lot of which was from Mondo. And whereas the corporate’s profitable toy and document strains will proceed for now, for followers of different film posters, the Mondo of outdated isn’t any extra.
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