Funko CEO Josh Simon frames the launch as a triumph of collaboration, highlighting how the team worked directly with Sarah J. Maas to define the visual language of characters who previously existed only in readers' imaginations.
The real tea? This is unprecedented. Funko admits they had to dig through archives to find a comparable precedent and couldn't even find one for Harry Potter before the films dropped. The fandom is already fighting over the 'Under the Mountain' Feyre design, proving the drama is baked into the box.
Fact 1: 'A Court of Splintered Harmony' sold 1.7 million copies in its first 24 hours (released Oct. 27). Fact 2: ACOTAR is the #1 license for first-time customer purchases on Funko's DTC site, with 75% of those buyers being women.
Stop waiting for the movie adaptation. The books are the main character, and the merch is printing money.
Let’s be real: Hollywood usually holds the keys to the merchandise kingdom. But a new exclusive from Variety reveals that Sarah J. Maas’s “A Court of Thorns and Roses” (ACOTAR) has officially dethroned the silver screen as the biggest driver of new customers for Funko.
As of today, November 4, the latest wave of figurines has hit Target shelves, including the debut of heavy hitters Cassian, Azriel, Morrigan, and Amren. This isn’t just another toy drop; it’s a market shift that has Funko CEO Josh Simon scrambling to find a historical comparison for a book series selling this hard before a single frame of film was shot. The numbers don’t lie, and they are frankly embarrassing for the film industry.
Simon confirmed that since the initial launch in September, ACOTAR has been the number one license for first-time customer purchases on Funko’s direct-to-consumer site. Three out of four of these new buyers are women. To put that in perspective, Simon admitted he had to look back at the Harry Potter phenomenon to try and find a parallel, only to realize that even that juggernaut didn’t see its merchandise portfolio truly explode until the Warner Bros. films hit theaters.
ACOTAR is doing it alone, fueled by pure reader devotion and a lack of screen adaptation after Hulu scrapped their project. This launch also introduces the “Bitty POP! Books” set, a new product line developed in collaboration with IMG Licensing.
These aren’t your average vinyl figures; they come in book-themed boxes with detailed scenes like the Town Spring Court Manor and the Moonstone Palace, plus a Prythian-shaped bookmark. The design process was intense, with Simon noting they worked directly with Maas to decide what these characters actually look like. It’s a rare level of access that acknowledges the source material’s power.
The fans are already debating the designs, particularly the divisive “Under the Mountain” look for Feyre Archeron, proving that the fandom is engaged, loud, and ready to fight over aesthetics. And if you think this is the end of the line, you’re wrong. With “A Court of Fractured Melody” slated for January 2027, Simon confirms that Funko has lines planned for books six and seven.
He’s keeping the specific designs under wraps to avoid spoilers, citing strict internal security protocols. But the message is clear: the book-to-merch pipeline is now a viable, high-revenue alternative to the traditional movie adaptation model. For every studio executive wondering why their fantasy series isn’t selling out, the answer is sitting on a Target shelf in a little vinyl box. The receipts are in, and the books are winning.
