If you’ve just started collecting Funko Pops, there’s a good chance you’ve come across a bald guy with glasses, a goatee, and sometimes a black pork pie hat. That’s Walter White – or Heisenberg – from Breaking Bad.
Breaking Bad Funko Pops are one of those lines that can be a little confusing for beginners. Some figures have been around for more than a decade, several older versions are vaulted, there are convention exclusives and alternate outfits, and now Funko has brought the franchise back with new releases.
So before you start hunting down Walter, Jesse, or that rather unfortunate version of Gus Fring, here’s where the collection came from and what you should know about it. If you want the short version of which figures cost the most, I broke that down in the guide to the most wanted Breaking Bad Pops.
First, what is Breaking Bad?
Breaking Bad is an American crime drama created by Vince Gilligan. The series originally aired on AMC from 2008 to 2013 and follows Walter White, a high-school chemistry teacher who begins producing methamphetamine after being diagnosed with cancer.
Walter teams up with his former student Jesse Pinkman, and what starts as a desperate way to make money for his family turns into something much bigger – and much darker.
If you haven’t watched the show yet, that’s really all you need to know before looking at the Pops. I’d actually avoid reading too much about some of the figures because Funko has made characters based on very specific scenes, and a few of them are basically spoilers sitting inside a window box.
The important names for collectors are Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, Saul Goodman, Gus Fring, Hank Schrader, and Mike Ehrmantraut. Walter also appears as Heisenberg, the identity he adopts as he becomes more deeply involved in the drug trade.
So where did the Breaking Bad Funko Pops come from?
Funko announced its original Breaking Bad Pop! Vinyl lineup in 2014, shortly after the television series had ended. Early reports listed characters including Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, Heisenberg, Saul Goodman, Hank Schrader, Mike Ehrmantraut, and Gus Fring, along with alternate versions based on memorable outfits and scenes from the show.
That original run is the collection you’ll usually see when browsing older Funko listings.
The standard Walter White is Pop! Television #158, followed by Jesse Pinkman #159, Walter White in his hazmat suit #160, Jesse in his hazmat suit #161, Heisenberg #162, Saul Goodman #163, Hank Schrader #164, Mike Ehrmantraut #165, Gus Fring #166, and the infamous damaged Gus Fring #167.
And this is where collecting Breaking Bad starts getting interesting.
Funko didn’t just make one Walter and one Jesse. There were different outfits, color variants, glow-in-the-dark releases, and convention exclusives. For the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, for example, Funko released a glow-in-the-dark Walter White and a beat-up Jesse Pinkman.
That means two figures that look almost identical at first glance can actually be completely different releases.
What does “vaulted” mean?
You’ll see this word a lot when shopping for older Breaking Bad Pops.
A vaulted Funko Pop is simply a figure that Funko has officially retired from production. Funko itself describes its Vault as the home of figures that are no longer being produced. The original Jesse Pinkman #159, for example, appears in Funko’s official Vault.
Vaulted does not automatically mean rare or expensive.
Some vaulted Pops had huge production runs and are still easy to find. Others became genuinely difficult to track down, especially particular exclusives or variants. Condition matters too. A clean older Pop with its original box is a very different collectible from the same figure loose with a damaged box.
This is one reason I wouldn’t recommend buying the most expensive Breaking Bad Pop you see as your first figure.
Learn the lineup first.
Wait – are Breaking Bad Pops still being made?
This is where things get especially fun in 2026.
After years of collectors mainly dealing with the older vaulted lineup, Funko has returned to Breaking Bad with new Pops.
Funko’s current official Breaking Bad collection includes new versions of Jesse Pinkman, Heisenberg, Gus Fring, Walter White in his green apron, Saul Goodman, and Bloody Gus Fring, plus a Pop! Rides release featuring Walt with the Crystal Ship RV.
For example, the new Jesse Pinkman is #1935, compared with the original Jesse Pinkman #159 from the 2014 collection.
That number difference is useful when you’re shopping online. Searching for “Jesse Pinkman Funko Pop” alone can bring up figures from completely different generations of the collection.
I always check the box number before assuming two listings are for the same Pop.
Which Breaking Bad Funko Pop should a beginner buy first?
You absolutely do not need to collect the entire line.
Actually, I think Breaking Bad is more fun to collect when you choose a small theme.
If you mainly love Walter’s transformation in the show, you could start with Walter White and Heisenberg. If Walter and Jesse are your favorite duo, get one version of each. If you want Pops that immediately scream Breaking Bad, the hazmat-suit versions are probably more recognizable on a shelf than some of the standard outfits.
And if you simply want a Breaking Bad Pop without immediately entering the older collector market, the newer releases are a much easier place to start.
Funko’s current Breaking Bad collection
Personally, I wouldn’t make rarity my first priority. Your first few Pops should be characters or designs you actually enjoy looking at.
Once you start understanding box numbers, exclusives, vaulted figures, and variants, then hunting older releases becomes much more interesting.
A quick warning before buying older Breaking Bad Funko Pops
Older popular Pops are exactly where I slow down before clicking Buy.
Check the box number, the specific character variant, whether it originally had an exclusive sticker, and the condition of both the figure and box. Compare several listings instead of judging value from one seller’s asking price.
Be especially careful when a seller uses words like “rare” or “vaulted” as if they automatically justify a huge price.
They don’t.
Funko’s own Vault pages can help confirm whether an older figure is retired, and collector checklists are useful for figuring out which version you’re actually looking at. For example, the original Jesse Pinkman is officially listed by Funko as item #4344 and box #159.
Once you know exactly which figure you’re looking for, comparing prices becomes much easier.
Is Breaking Bad a good Funko collection for beginners?
I think so – especially if you already like the show.
There aren’t hundreds of characters you need to memorize before you understand the collection, but there’s enough variety to make hunting interesting. You can keep things simple with Walter, Jesse, and Heisenberg, or go deeper into older vaulted Pops, convention releases, alternate outfits, and exclusives.
It also has something I really like in a Funko line: the figures actually tell you something about the source material. Walter’s hat, the hazmat suits, Gus’ different versions, and the Crystal Ship aren’t random costume changes. They’re recognizable pieces of Breaking Bad.
Just don’t fall into the beginner trap of thinking you need every version immediately.
Pick one character you like, learn their different releases, and start there. Before long, you’ll understand why collectors can spend an unreasonable amount of time staring at two nearly identical Walter Whites and saying, “No, no – this one is different.”