Every hobby needs a lottery ticket, and the chase is ours. A chase Funko Pop is a rare variant of a regular figure — same character, same box number, but with a twist: glow-in-the-dark, metallic, flocked, a different pose or expression — randomly packed into shipments at roughly one in six. You can't order one. You find one. That's the whole magic.
What Exactly Counts as a Chase
A chase is not a separate release — it's a secret swap. Funko produces the regular ('common') version, then a limited run of the variant, and seeds the variants randomly into the same cases that ship to shops. The box carries the same number and barcode as the common; the only official difference is the round gold CHASE — Limited Edition sticker on the window, plus whatever the variant itself shows through it. The classic variant flavours:
- Glow-in-the-dark (GITD) — the crowd favourite, for obvious reasons.
- Metallic or chrome — same sculpt, liquid-metal finish.
- Flocked — coated in fuzzy velvet texture. Divisive. Wonderful.
- Alternate pose, expression or outfit — the subtle ones that make you look twice in the aisle.
The Real Odds
The commonly quoted ratio is 1 in 6 — for most standard releases, roughly one chase per six-figure retail case. Two honest caveats. First, it's a production ratio, not a per-case guarantee: cases usually contain one, but nothing is promised. Second, not every line uses 1:6 — some releases run rarer ratios, and Funko SODA famously printed its chase odds right on the can (often 1 in 6, sometimes far steeper for special drops). The ratio is why a chase typically costs several times the common's price on the secondary market: for every one that exists, five commons do.
How to Spot One in the Wild
The sticker does the announcing, but the variant usually gives itself away through the window first — a pale glow-green where there should be colour, chrome where there should be matte. Aisle-scanning tips from people who do this professionally (well, obsessively):
- Check the window, not just the sticker — restickered fakes exist, but a flocked figure can't lie.
- New stock days are chase days. Ask staff when shipments land; the polite early bird wins.
- Don't ignore the back row. Chases hide behind commons more often than chance would suggest — other hunters tuck them away for later.
- Online, buy from photos of the actual item, never stock images — a chase listing with a stock photo is a coin flip you're paying premium for.
What Chases Are Worth
Most chases settle at two to five times the common's price, but the spread is wide: a chase of a quiet character might add ten dollars, while a chase of a beloved one can become a proper grail. The variables are the same as everywhere in the hobby — character demand, franchise heat, box condition — and our rarity, grading and price guide covers how to read them. Fair warning from the anime aisle: chases of big anime characters have been some of the fastest climbers in recent years. You can browse every chase variant in our database right here.
Chase vs Exclusive vs Grail — Untangling the Words
New collectors mix these constantly, so: a chase is found by luck in regular stock. An exclusive is bought on purpose from a specific retailer or event — that's a different sticker system entirely, decoded in our sticker guide. A grail is simply whatever you want most — it might be a chase, an exclusive, or a $12 common with sentimental gravity. And once a chase's parent figure gets vaulted, the chase becomes doubly finite — no new production, ever.
The Two Rules of Chase Buying
One: never pay chase price without the chase sticker (and for big money, verify it — our fake-spotting guide shows how sticker forgeries give themselves away). Two: never feel obliged to chase at all. Plenty of magnificent collections contain zero chases. The lottery ticket is optional; the hobby is the prize. For more of the fundamentals, the Getting Started hub awaits.