- Interview Location: Anime Expo 2025
- Interview Date: 7/4/2025
- Interview Format: In-Person
Anime Herald: What is the expected release date for the Godzilla wave?
Mike Becker: It’s probably, most likely, eighty-one and three-quarters percent going to be on Godzilla Day (November 3rd).
Anime Herald: Would you explore any other Japanese food items, like onigiri or ekiben?
Mike Becker: Yes. Are you inside my mind right now?
Anime Herald: My friend might be, I’m not. I cribbed these questions from him.
Mike Becker: The one thing we know for sure, we’re already in the works on… can I tell him, can I tell him?
Dave Beer: Sure.
Mike Becker: What goes better with ramen than boba? So why not do blind cup boba?
Anime Herald: Absolutely.
Mike Becker: And why wouldn’t the cup be lenticular, so you could see the boba bouncing around?
Anime Herald: That’s cool.
Dave Beer: We love the idea. The reception has been so strong on the ramen cups. We love the idea of further exploring that space.
Anime Herald: Where did you first get the idea of the “Slurprise?”
Mike Becker: What’s funny about that is the concept of the sitting versus the standing. We didn’t have a name. I’m not going to take credit for this. It was Justin Gammella. All three of us came from Funko. We were joking… I said, “I’m tired of using the name ‘surprise’ or ‘chase.’ I’m so sick of the name ‘chase.’”
He thought for a second and said, “Why don’t we make it a ‘slurprise?’”
He was kidding. I said, “That’s it! From this day forward, that’s it.” Already, it doesn’t feel weird anymore. You know how it feels funny the first time you say something?
Anime Herald: And then it just works. Do you know the show Futurama?
Mike Becker: Of course!
Anime Herald: There’s a scene where Henry Kissinger and Bender are negotiating together. The writers were trying to come up with a joke for the scene. Finally, one of them got exasperated and said, “This isn’t a productive area of discussion.” The other writers exclaimed, “That’s the line!”
Dave Beer: That’s funny.
Anime Herald: How much do you want to focus on your own original characters, versus other IP?
Mike Becker: These are great questions. Seriously.
Dave Beer: Yeah.
Mike Becker: Because we usually get a lot of the same questions. I love that you brought that up. Coming from Funko, where we had 6,421 licenses, we really do want to focus on our own IP, because it’s coming from our own hearts and our own heads. It’s very important for us to get that out there. Win, lose, or draw, we would rather swing for the fences and try to put some of our own love out there, through our animations, through our packages, and through our characters, rather than lay the tracks for somebody else’s train.
Anime Herald: You just said a magic word, “animations.”
Mike Becker: We’ve released three or four on our Instagram. We keep them at Instagram length, one to one and a half minutes. A lot of thought and care has gone into them. Obviously, you know how long it takes to create even a minute of animation.
Anime Herald: It can take months.
Mike Becker: We’re going to have Animation Man at our panel. He’s going to show up and bring fun to everyone through animation. He happens to look a lot like this guy over here (points at Dave).
Dave Beer: He looks a lot like a guy sitting at this table. (laughs)
Mike Becker: He’s going to be wearing tights, so that alone is worth coming to the panel for.
Anime Herald: How are plans coming along for other media types with those original characters?
Mike Becker: I do have to keep this name to ourselves right now, but we are working with someone who has done a lot in the world of movies and full-length animated features. We hope that, eventually, someday it can go there. For me, it can’t just be a rehash of old stories and the same old stuff.
I’m getting to a point in my life where I want to do something original. Something that takes a left turn when you think it’s supposed to take a right. I’m so tired of everything being repeated. Especially the movies.
Anime Herald: For the hardcore collectors, what is your philosophy towards extra limited exclusives and short print runs for collectors?
Mike Becker: We have done it and we will do it, but when they’re done, they really are done. We don’t go back to the well just for the cash grab. When we say something is limited to something, it really is. Sometimes, I like to do limited runs just because I want to. There might not be an exact rhyme or reason to it. It might be because I want to see this figure in another color for my own pleasure. Just for fun.
Dave Beer: Or going to find a license that hasn’t been done, maybe ever. Very limited. The demand for it might not be that high. We can produce a number that is smaller that will satisfy the fans for that property.
Mike Becker: We’ll zig where others zag, and people will ask “why?”
Because we want to.
Anime Herald: What are your origin stories? How did you get here?
Dave Beer: I’ve always been loosely affiliated with entertainment. My journey started at a talent agency, if you can believe it. From there, I went back to school. I found myself as a toy buyer for Target for a little over five years. In the action figure space, everything is licensed. You find yourself indirectly associated with the consumer products industry.
That led me to Funko. I ended up leading the marketing team. Mike was leading creative. We started working closely together. The time came where I felt like it was time for another adventure. I had always wanted to do something entrepreneurial, and what better partner to do it with?
Mike Becker: I took my 1.9 GPA out of high school, started a band, and then took both of those assets and went on to start Funko out of the garage. It all turned out pretty well. I’ve really enjoyed the ride. Believe it or not, I think the best is still to come.
I know that we’ll probably never create the next “Pop.” But, I’ve sure had fun with my partner, Dave. We’re doing what we want to do. It’s based off of our four pillars: humor, inspiration, friendship, and imagination. We’re going to stick with that.
Anime Herald: Tell me more about the band.
Mike Becker: I thought we were going to be the next Duran Duran. We were that close. We had the right hair, the right parachute pants.
Anime Herald: You still do.
Mike Becker: Believe it or not, this is my real hair. It’s not dyed.
I loved the ‘80s. I still think it’s by far the best era for music.
Anime Herald: It’s up there. I loved the ‘80s. I also loved a lot of the music of the ‘70s, and the late ‘60s.
Mike Becker: I agree. Especially the funk. The Brothers Johnson, some of those bands.
Anime Herald: Yeah. My final question: Do you have any questions for us?
Mike Becker: I do. Dave, you go first?
Dave Beer: Are you familiar with the product line?
Anime Herald: I’ve seen them on the internet. I’ve never felt them in my hands. I like the idea of Slurprise. They made me laugh.
Dave Beer: We come from the pop culture world. We’ve created a product line that’s very inspired by Mike’s trips to Japan. We’ve taken a few together. We feel like this shows the perfect introduction for the product line. I’d be curious on what your thoughts would be on how you see our product and our IP against some of the fandoms of people who attend this show.
Anime Herald: Back in 2016, there was a set of Godzilla figures at a press conference, apologizing for the destruction they had leveled upon Japan. I love things that make sense in context. Sure, Godzilla is never actually going to apologize. But if Godzilla felt guilty, sure it’s a thing they could do. I live clever things, like someone inside of an igloo eating a piece of pie. I see what you did there.
Dave Beer: Yeah.
Mike Becker: If you had to pick between Speed Racer, Astro Boy, and Kamen Rider for a figure, which would you pick as a figure?
Anime Herald: Astro Boy! My older brother loved Speed Racer. Things he loved, I love too. But Astro Boy is Tezuka-san and in this world, Tezuka-san is god.
I never got into Kamen Rider. It has all the elements of things I enjoy, but it never clicked for me.
Mike Becker: If you had to pick between Speed Racer, Marine Boy, and Gigantor, who would you pick?
Anime Herald: Then it would be Speed Racer, because of the familial ties.
(Editor’s note: A Gigantor figure would be really cute. That might affect my decision.)
Mike Becker: Thank you.
Dave Beer: Thank you.
Anime Herald: Thank you very much.
You can find Funmaker and Rokimoto on Instagram.
You can order the Cups of Fun from JapanLA. Sorry, Snoopy is sold out.