Preorders for the glow-in-the-dark Pop! & Buddy Doc Brown & Einstein opened on November 12 at 10:04 PM Eastern. Both the day and the minute were picked with care: they match the exact moment lightning strikes the Hill Valley courthouse clock in 1955. The tribute is precise down to the number. The choice of dog is open to debate.
At 10:04 PM, lightning does the plutonium's job
In 1985, Doc Brown's DeLorean runs on plutonium lifted from a group of Libyan terrorists, and it needs 1.21 gigawatts to break through time. Stranded in 1955, Marty has no fuel at all. The 1955 Doc has a single way out, printed on the flyer a preservation volunteer pushed on Marty to save the old clock: lightning stopped it on Saturday, November 12, 1955, at 10:04 PM. All it takes is being in the right place at the right second, with a cable strung across the street.
That sequence helped make Robert Zemeckis's film the top-grossing release of 1985 at the North American box office, and November 12 has become a calendar date for fans, alongside the sequel's October 21, 2015. Forty-one years on, the story is still on stage: the musical adaptation wraps its run in Bristol, England, on November 21 before moving to Edinburgh in December. Opening preorders at that minute is an appointment every fan knows how to read. Even the version signed by Christopher Lloyd follows the code: it is offered for 88 hours only, as in the DeLorean's 88 miles per hour.
Einstein traveled through time before Marty did
The first time traveler in the saga is the dog. On October 26, 1985, at 1:20 AM, in the Twin Pines Mall parking lot, Doc puts Einstein in the DeLorean and sends him one minute into the future. The car reappears at 1:21, its dashboard clock exactly sixty seconds behind Doc's watch. The whole trilogy follows from that minute.
That is the best reason a Pop! & Buddy can have, and Funko gets it: the official description presents an inventor "ready to make a groundbreaking discovery," which places the figure on the experiment side of the story rather than in an action scene. The exact name is Pop! & Buddy Doc Brown & Einstein (Glow) (Green Deco) – Pop! #2190: a monochrome green, glow-in-the-dark deco for both the inventor and his dog.
A green glow with a history
The retailer behind the exclusive calls the concept "Plutonium Glow." It has been used before, on a Marty McFly #49 given the same treatment, a convention exclusive unveiled at New York Comic Con 2020 and limited to 3,000 pieces, which now ranks among the most sought-after Pops in the license. The 2026 duo is announced at fewer than 5,000 pieces.
The catalog knows Doc well. Eight entries come before this one in our database, from the very first Pop! #62 in 2014, already released in a glow version as a Funko Shop exclusive, to the 2025 Pop! Rides #133 with the DeLorean and the Pop! Moment #1846 with Marty, by way of the Pop! Town #15 with the clock tower. Einstein has had only one solo figure, #1274 in 2022, also a Funko Shop exclusive. The pairing itself already existed as Pop! & Buddy #972, back in 2020.
Right night, right minute, wrong dog
I prefer this release to the 2014 glow Doc, by a wide margin. The old one glowed for no particular reason; this one glows like plutonium and launches at the hour of the lightning. I know the usual complaint about monochrome redecos, a familiar mold repainted in a single color, and the complaint is often fair. Here, the color carries the subject.
The tribute still has a flaw fans will catch. On the night of November 12, 1955, neither the plutonium nor Einstein is in Hill Valley: lightning is needed precisely because the fuel is missing, and the 1955 Doc lives with a different dog, Copernicus. Celebrating that night with a 1985 Doc bathed in radioactive green and his 1985 dog means celebrating the one evening in the saga when both of them are absent. The duo that fits this date exists on paper: the 1955 Doc in the storm, cable in hand, with Copernicus at his feet. Copernicus has never had a figure. He has been waiting since 1985.
Preorders have been open since November 12. This is an exclusive from a U.S. specialty retailer, limited to fewer than 5,000 pieces, with shipping expected between December and January. Funko notes that its U.S. exclusives may be offered in other territories through select partners.
