Grailmonster is very aware that many people, probably a lot of you reading this right now, will call him an idiot or stupid. He explained to me that as he and others were counting all the cash in the store and preparing for the exchange, he joked that he would be “the village idiot” online after this. But there is also a feeling among him and many other Pop collectors that the community will soon experience a Pokémon-like explosion of money and popularity.

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“I’m sure the first $100K Pokémon card purchase looked really stupid,” Grailmonster explained. “And the first $10K comic book buy, etc. It’s all relative.”

He hopes that this transaction will help bring in new collectors while also shining a light on how “insane” the world of private collectors around Funko Pops has gotten in recent years, where folks will drop $20k on Pops based solely on rumors and blurry photos.

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“The private [Funko Pop] community is truly like the Wild West,” said Grailmonster. “There really isn’t a resource for secondary market sales, so everyone relies on each other to complete large transactions. There is serious money flying around.”

As for what he plans to do now after spending so much money on these two rare figures, Grailmonster joked with Kotaku that he’s going to “stare at it” for a long time.

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“I have it sitting in the middle of my dining room table like a giddy bitch,” admitted Grailmonster. “I’m going to hold it for as long as I can.”

Of course, I asked him what he would say to folks who, understandably, find it very odd or even idiotic to spend this much cash on plastic toys. To him, the hobby is more than just toys, and while he understands some folks won’t get it, to him, that’s a normal part of collecting anything.

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“No one is supposed to understand it. I truly enjoy it more than any hobby I’ve ever had,” he explained. “I love the lore around the rare pieces. Pieces like Clockwork Orange, Freddy Venom, Beatles reject set, etc. have such fascinating stories behind them. There are pieces out there that are so rare that there’s no accounts of them being seen and only a handful of photos exist (Pope, Woody & Buzz 2-pack, etc).”

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m not buying toys, I’m chasing stories.”