Funko and 10:10 Games have announced their upcoming Funko Pop Vinyl crossover video game, with a new teaser trailer revealing a surprising array of adapted franchises in Funko Fusion. In the game, players will be able to embody The Umbrella Academy in their Netflix form, take on John Carpenter’s The Thing, attempt to survive Chucky’s wrath, embody the power of Grayskull with He-Man, and even face off against dinosaurs with the cast of the Jurassic Park franchise.
It’s an eclectic mix of heroes, to say the least – but the game does speak to Funko’s muscle in the entertainment realm. With licenses for nearly every modern film and TV show, the cameo list for this property is seemingly endless.
In choosing to focus on such a strange lot of characters – and avoiding major franchises like Marvel, Disney, Star Wars, or DC – Funko Fusion is likely to attract a number of different, niche crowds.
So far, the game appears to be targeted towards adults, given the strict ratings of the franchises present – and the nostalgia appeal of characters like Marty McFly and He-Man – but with a cartoonish approach to violence, it may still hold the attention of younger kids. Should this demographic know about Chucky and The Thing? Probably not. But then again, RoboCop did somehow become an icon for kids in the late 1980s and early 1990s with a Saturday morning cartoon – and some of us had tie-in skateboards to prove it.
For now, we know Funko Fusion will release for PC and consoles in 2024, and that it will feature action-adventure gameplay with battles, exploration, puzzles, and four-player online functionality, but there’s still many questions to be answered – including what inspired this madness.
Funko Fusion is a crossover fever dream.
Read: Funko Pop game coming from BAFTA-winning LEGO game veteran
The project was first announced in mid-2022 as a big-budget endeavour from 10:10 Games, the UK studio founded by Jon Burton, who formerly founded TT Games. During his tenure at TT, Burton worked on dozens of licensed LEGO games, including LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Batman, and LEGO Indiana Jones – and it’s likely his experiences working on these adaptations have informed the work on Funko Fusion.
In brief snippets, the game’s teaser trailer has revealed a lively adventure littered with light-hearted explosions and combat strongly reminiscent of the tongue-in-cheek LEGO games. We expect plenty of parallels between the franchises.
Should Funko Fusion adapt the same sense of sharp humour and in-jokes as its spiritual predecessors, it may prove to be a fun and wholesome Funko Pop romp. As ridiculous as the newly-revealed franchise inclusions are, there’s great potential in this experiment – particularly with Burton and 10:10 Games at the helm.
Whether you’re a fan of the omnipresent Funko Pop Vinyl franchise or not, it’s best to keep an eye on Funko Fusion, and its inevitable string of cameo announcements over the next few months.
