Funko is a bit of an odd duck in the toy manufacturing business, as they regularly give away and sell prototypes of their figures–oftentimes before they even announce that they’re coming! Last winter we learned about the Guardians of the Galaxy POP Vinyls from prototypes before they were announced, and this winter the trend continues: a Funko POP Vinyls Venom figure has been revealed in an online auction!

With just a month and a half left in 2014, I figured it was only a matter of time until we got our first dribble of information about the 2015 Funko POP Vinyls Marvel figures. And as fate would have it, that time is now: Funko specialty retailer Gemini Collectibles has listed a Funko Venom POP Vinyls figure on eBay!

Venom looks as close to adorable as Venom can look, with his iconic tongue-out face looking more friendly than fearsome in POP! Vinyls form. His body is a generic muscular mold, so his symbiote “costume” designs will just be painted on. I think we can safely assume that the head will remain unique to this figure, however (as Carnage should have a sharp-teethed, crazed grin and shouldn’t really share a head sculpt with Venom).

I’m a little disappointed to hear that the Venom Funko POP Vinyls figure is only a 4″ vinyl figure. I was hoping he’d be part of the super-sized 6″ line of POP Vinyls (such as the awesome Glow-in-the-Dark Baymax I reviewed this month), but unfortunately the Funko Venom will not be towering over Spidey. Alas.

During 2015, the only “solo” Marvel Funko POP! Vinyls figure released was the Funko Agent Coulson from Agents of SHIELD–every other character was part of a themed wave with multiple figures such as the Funko POP Vinyls X-Men, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and so forth.

Thus, I think we can reasonably assume that Venom will be part of a whole wave of related Spider-Man POP Vinyls. Could we finally see beloved characters like Black Costume Spider-Man, Carnage, Green Goblin, Classic Electro, Rhino and Mysterio in Funko POP! Vinyl figure form in 2015? I sure hope so!

The Funko Venom POP! Vinyl figure should be released in the first half of 2015, although no exact release time-frame has been revealed yet been Funko. I’ll post an update once Funko releases more specific details about Venom (and any other Funko Spider-Man related POP Vinyls), so stay tuned to this site and the Marvel Toy News Facebook Page for future news.

What do you think of the Venom POP Vinyl Funko figure prototype, Marvel fans? Will this be your first Funko figure purchase of 2015?