I oftentimes say that Funko is planning to conquer the world, and they’re latest announcements are yet more proof that their ambition is expanding. Not content with their popular lines of vinyl figures, blind boxes and plush toys, Funko is broadening their horizons once more: Funko Marvel Lanyards and Party Lights (yes, party lights) are now available for order! Deadpool-themed party (complete with lights), anyone…?

Having completed their conquest of toy, comic book and specialty stores the world over, Funko seemih has their sights set on conquering some new aisles, as this week they announced two brand new lines of products: party lights and lanyards!

While Marvel Collector Corps members are likely to gripe up a storm when either of these items pop up in a future MCC box (and you know they will), let’s take a look at the first entries in each line…

First up, we’ve got POP Lanyards. There’s four characters in the first series:

• Captain America (Shipping Now)
• Iron Man (Shipping Now)
• Loki (Shipping October)
• Deadpool (Shipping October)

Basically, there are just highly-decorated double-sided lanyards with a stylized rubber charm and badge holder at the end.

For those who go to a fair number of cons each year (like I do!), it’s definitely worth upgrading to a sturdy, high-quality lanyard, rather than being dependent upon the oftentimes-flimsy and unreliable lanyard given out for free at conventions.

If these Funko lanyards were expensive, I would probably balk at them–but for the innocuous MSRP of $3.99 each, it’s awfully hard to complain about these charming little lanyards. Thumbs up.

Somewhat less useful than the lanyards are the new POP Home Party Lights, with the first two sets coming out being Deadpool (in September) and Spider-Man (in November). These are probably the craziest item that I’ve seen Funko come up with yet, and that is really, truly saying something.

We actually decorate the house with little strands of pumpkin lights throughout the fall, but I’m pretty sure my wife would strangle me if she came home to little Deadpool heads lit up all over the living room.

I think the Funko Party String Lights will likely be cool for certain events (like, you know… parties), but will have limited utility the rest of the time. At just $19.99 per box, though, they could be really fun for special occasions.

The Marvel Funko POP Party Lights and Lanyards are now available for order, with release dates between now and October 2016. I haven’t actually seen many retailers opening up orders for these lines yet, but I did see that the full range of each of these POP Home lines is up for purchase at EE now. I’m not planning any parties any time soon (or ever, to be frank), but I’ll definitely be sure to pick up a Loki lanyard that I can rock at New York Comic Con 2016 in October.

What do you think about this new expansion by Funko into party and convention items? Anyone planning on broadening their Funko POP collections with lanyards or party lights?