The Direct spoke with Mondo's Senior Creative Director Hector Arce in an exclusive interview at WonderCon where he teased what might be next from the fan-favorite company that brings some of the best collectibles on the market.
Could The Lizard Be Mondo's Next Six-Scale Figure From Spider-Man: The Animated Series?
The Fan-Favorite Series Has Endless Possibilities to Choose From
- The Direct: "You have the Spider Man: Animated Series, , I didn't, I wasn't even aware that you guys were doing a Carnage [sixth-scale figure]."
Hector Arce: That's another line that's just endless possibility... The show had every villain that you could think of in the Spider-Man universe. Lizard, Goblin, Hobgoblin, you know, there's so many you can pick from. Carnage for us was like, kind of, we've done Venom. We did Spider-Man. We black suit, Spider-Man. So Carnage was kind of like the no-brainer to do third in the line and just kind of get the symbiotes there.
- The Direct: "What's the next one? What's the next villain?"
Arce: What's funny about it is that the other creative director here, Peter Santa Maria, his favorite character is the Lizard. So I'll just leave it at that... I won't confirm or deny...
Currently, the Carnage figure, which was just announced at WonderCon, does not have a price or release date. However, for reference, the Venom 1:6 scale figure from Spider-Man: The Animated series retailed for roughly $245 USD.
- The Direct: "There's a lot of really cool stuff that you're bringing. One thing that caught my attention was the awesome big prints you have, specifically with the Fantastic Four [#22] cover [with artwork from Alex Ross], which is awesome. What made you guys choose that one? And then also, just going forward, what are some ones that you want to see, [as] there are so many good comic covers out there."
Arce: We traditionally always work with, artists to do reinterpretations of any of this kind of stuff, like Marvel, whatever it is, right? Their own take on Avengers, their own take, you know, movie prints based off their films.
We've been doing a little bit of these comic reprints as, just like a nice way to celebrate the covers that we love the most, right? And that Alex Ross cover from last year was so popular, it was so striking, right, for fans, that we felt like, hey, let's blow this up to a 24x36 and put it out there, right?
So, that's kind of what it is. For us, we're fans of it. And that's why it actually just comes to be because we're, like, we like it, and so we're hoping, and that's enough, because we like it, like someone else will like it too, and hopefully people see our passion about it.
Mondo's Senior Creative Director on What's Next for X-Men '97
"We Noticed the Fan Base Loves the Core Team So Much..."
- The Direct: "Obviously, people love 'X-Men '97,' you know, these figures that you guys are making from that series are so popular. Who's next?"
Hector Arce: After Nightcrawler, it's Mr. Sinister.
- The Direct: "It's good choice. I was gonna say, like, We need someone for these people to go up against."
Arce: "What's funny is that we noticed the fan base loves the core team so much. That's what people really want. And so we [have] done some of the villains. We did Magneto, we did Sabertooth, Omega Red was really popular with us.
And then we took a little break from villains, to like, do some more of the core team, you know, Cyclops, Rogue, reissue our Wolverine, because the first one we had done, it was, like, many years ago, yeah, and then Nightcrawler, but yeah, now we're going back to a villain with Mr. Sinister.
And then we have a great one lined up for Comic Con, which I think no one's gonna see coming."
- The Direct: "Is it a hero or villain?"
Arce: It's a hero... But it's an interesting take on a hero. And I think people will be kind of surprised, like a unique spin, and not quite right out of the show... It was in the show for like, a snippet... And then we have, we have some big plans for the rest of the year, trying to round out the core cast.
- The Direct: "It is great that you guys are doing so many villains. As someone that collects Hot Toys, they've always had the issue of [not getting] around to the villains..."
Arce: What's so funny, is that it depends on the license too, right? When we do 'Masters of the Universe,' like, the villains are so popular, right? Because they just look so cool. So we've done a lot of villains in 'Masters of the Universe.' And we've done heroes every now and then, right, as with X-Men, it's kind of the core...
Like, people really want the core, but I love the villains I want to get to, like, you know, doing stuff like, Sauron. Like, those, like, deep cuts...
Designing Their Mondo Booth and What Makes WonderCon Great
Funko Is Great at Letting them Keep Their Mondo Identity.
- The Direct: "I want to talk about the booth design. When you guys come into a convention, what are kind of the thought processes and how you change up, or how you theme the booth. Is it based on what you're bringing to the table, the convention itself? What are some of the ideas at play?"
Hector Arce: Funko has been really cool about letting us do our own designs for our booth, right? And keeping kind of like Mondo identity. When we were at New York Comic Con, we went for a more kind of, like Coney Island vibe, like Fun House vibe, and that was really cool...
Going into this year, we're trying our amazing booth designer, Nolan Fleming, who's here somewhere, but he designs these booths for us, and this one's more just kind of, like, an evergreen kind of look.
This is a little bit of like, this can be used anywhere, even if there's no theming attached to it. It kind of has this cool, like 80s, kind of pixelated, video game vibe that we that he was going for with his design, and just kind of like changing it up a little bit for Mondo, where we're traditionally always just been, like black and white and just like very, very stripped down, very punk rock.
- The Direct: "What is it about like WonderCon that you love so much? Like, what makes WonderCon kind of stick out from all these other [conventions] out?"
Arce: This is Mondo's first time here. Funko has been coming for a while, right? Mondo, we've always wanted to come here because I think it's a nice midway point, halfway point to Comic-Con. It's a little like, get your feet wet, a stepping stone.
You can kind of start to get hyped up for the season, right? It's like, one of the first shows here in California, in the West Coast. So for me, WonderCon is cool because it's not as packed as Comic-Con, it's not as crazy, but it still has a little bit of that, right?
And the fans are just as excited about the product, and it gives us a chance to really use it as a great marketing beat, a great moment to be like, Hey guys, like, this is what's coming out this year.
To see everything that Mondo had to offer at WonderCon 2025, be sure to check their website here.
