I'm just curious as to why people like funko pops. I don't really get the appeal of them. I'm not judging if you like them but I just don't understand it. Personally I find them ugly and uninteresting.
Pros:
* Collectable
* Low price point
* Covers obscure pop culture characters
* Can be resold due to changing demand of figures
* Accessible
Cons:
* They don't look too nice
* Will likely end up as land fill
I get what you're saying but plushies are still being collected. And there's one big difference between plushies and funko pops. One is soft, cute and cuddly while the other is cold, hard and soulless.
But that's just a matter of personal preference. Some people prefer a solid uniform piece collection on their shelves.
I like to collect physical disc games, many don't anymore and all-digital. To each their own.
Not my thing, but it's a collectable, and they cover a huge variety of movies, series, cartoons, games etc. They also reasonably cheap
Have you Ever collected memorabilia or souvenirs? That’s all it is. There’s no great meaning behind it all. It’s a $5- $25 plastic figurine that’s some like to have on display.
High yield investment!
Buy 10 from McDonalds when released for $10, sell on ebay for $60:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/133845009779
Got to do something to beat inflation :P
I like filling garbage dumps with as much useless plastic as I can, this way, as it breaks down and makes its way into the water table, it will inevitably end up in the oceans, infecting the whole food chain on the way.
I know I could use just any plastic, but Funko Pops are just so colourful and expensive.
They are just the new “beanie baby” craze. There will be something else along soon enough to replace it that is equally as useless.
They are just the new “beanie baby” craze. There will be something else along soon enough to replace it that is equally as useless.
I'm waiting for people to give up on this NFT nonsense so we can get back to the true patrician's fad: Dutch tulip bulbs.
The tulip bulb thing is mostly a myth
Yeah, nah, plenty of information out there saying that it was plenty real enough.
Pretty sure if it was a myth, all the neck bearded basement nerds that fight with each other over on Wikipedia would have reams of proof that it was a myth. I have no doubt that it happened, but I do have doubts at the size of said tulip bubble.
The 'tulipmania' thing was a myth. Nobody was getting arrested for accidentally eating priceless tulip bulbs or trading their title deeds for them.
What happened instead was that you had a really silly fad, that most normal people thought was a silly fad, which had a small-but-fanatic cult of investors (with way more money than sense and often a lot of risky margin lending). These investors were pumping ludicrous amounts of money into these literal trinkets on the sucker idea that if they can get enough of the other cultists to believe the hype, then they can sell at a gain by tricking some other cultist into buying their bulb off of them later.
(When I put it that way it kind of sounds really familiar. Huh.)
Marketing did a good job of brainwashing people into thinking landfill is now a collectible item.
100% TOTAL garbage.
Gives "people" something to pose with in a selfie with their mouths agape.
They're collectibles, and just like any other, the rare/old ones can go for quite a lot. Autographed ones too.
Hardly anyone believes they are worth anything or are a 'collectible'. They are like buying a poster of your favourite actor and putting it on the wall or wearing a band T-shirt.
Buy your fav character and put them on display to show that you like that character or person. Its nothing more than that.
Hardly anyone believes they are worth anything
??? Have you seen on eBay/Facebook how much some can go for? There's whole subreddits and FB Groups dedicated to the selling and buying of Pops.
I mean, a handful are worth something but 99% aren’t and no one thinks otherwise.
Bugmen simply love collecting things, Funko Pops have a socially acceptable pop culture twist to them as well.
I've personally flipped a few Pops in the past for more than double what I paid, if you know what you're looking for, you can get lucky and earn some $$$
What's The Appeal
The appeal is having all of them beats a healthy marriage/dating relationship and having a place to rest your head. Because at least you have still all your Funko pop!
I find a certain personality type is drawn to collecting them.
pre-relationship guys?
So being single is a personality type :D
They create collectables of characters you have never been able to buy collectable figures of before.
Example: have you ever seen a collectable figurine of Endora from bewitched? Frasier, Niles and Martin Crane from Frasier?
The guy from that film you loved in the 80s that wasn't merchandised?
Funko makes this possible.
I too, don't think they look that great, yet still own like 20 of them because they depict characters I like.
From yours and some other comments, it seems some of the appeal is from simply being the only collectable of a character that you like. This is probably the most understandable reason to buy them that I've read so far. I'd definitely still choose not to buy them over buying them myself, though.
It's the only reason I'm interested in them. And then you've got all your characters from the shows and games you like in the same figurine format.
But yeah, I see some of them that don't even look like what they're trying to look like and I'm like "who would buy that?"
It gives you more social clout. You will become superior than any humans who does not own one. You have special class in society. Just like lego, bearbricks and kaws. Each to their own…
Any one into the low mintage grails and legendries ? $$$$$$$$$$ machine a nice reason to like em :)
Yeah, personally don't like the look of most of them but everyone has different tastes.
I do collect amiibo so understand the appeal of figure collections.
I have a few amiibo of my own but I don't really collect them. But at least amiibo actually look like the characters they're modelled after.
I have about 200.
I initially bought a few back in 2014/2015 because it was a novelty.
I really got in to it around 2020 during covid though.
I specifically collect for franchises I like (like most people). Some of the satisfaction comes from buying at retail prices ($20-$60) and seeing certain pops escalate in value due to limited stock or a sudden increase in popularity (ie Eddie from Stranger Things Season 4). Other pops I bought at high prices because I long missed their release date - like the Kill Bill set for example.
I'm a collector by nature so it scratches an itch. However, I've stopped now as I'm happy with my collection and am actually looking to trim it down by 50 or so pops. They're a pain to sell because you have to package them carefully.
People like them because they're cheap to start off with. But then for some, you get hooked and realise they barely release most pops in Australia and you'll be importing like crazy just to complete a lot of sets. And then Funko decides to release more pops for sets that have long been released as well.
They seem like something very easy to get into because of the relatively low price due to their (very obviously) mass produced nature. Which also allows them to cover many obscure pop culture characters that would simply be too expensive for standard collectable items to be produced. And like you said, the value of these figures change depending on demand for them which interestests even more people.
What I don't understand is, if given the option, why not buy a high quality figurine of a pop culture reference instead of multiple of these generic looking figures? Clearly some collectors would be able to afford them and I'd personally choose a higher quality figure over a handful of pop vinyls.
why not buy a high quality figurine of a pop culture reference instead of multiple of these generic looking figures?
Because most pop culture icons or characters are not available as a figurine.
It also comes down to accessibility. Average person is not going to go out of their way to search online for an expensive, decent quality (at least $100+) resin figurine/statue. You're forced to buy online as you'll need to search up whatever Pop Cultcha is selling locally or import from US/Asia for a lot of stuff.
Average person will however stop by an EB Games/Zing/JB Hifi and pick up a $20 pop vinyl if they feel like it though. Even EB Games/Zing only sell their most expensive statues online. You usually won't find it instore or it won't be commonly available across all stores.
Apart from pop vinyls, I have a few Street Fighter Kotobukiya bishoujo because I like the designs.
The sheer accessibility compared to other collectables is definitely a good point.
Have you bought funko pops simply because of the standardised design of them? I have a feeling people also get satisfaction from having a large collection of figures in the same style and size.
I have mostly 3.75 inch and a few 6 inch pops.
I have a feeling people also get satisfaction from having a large collection of figures in the same style and size.
Pretty much. I have about 25 of them wall mounted in my study. And about another 20 on shelves in my bedroom.
About a third of my collection is my wife's Hello Kitty set. And she doesn't even care about them anymore.
Apart from pop vinyls, and a few bishoujo, I'm not a figurine sort of person at all. I mostly collect video games.
They are just landfill trash that people put huge $ into, collect approx. 1500 before having to sell them for peanuts because the GF is sick of them taking up space… and in the mean time, the house has rows upon rows of these garbage-cubes and looks like a teenage boy has decided to decorate, with the result being something akin to the 'ZiNG Pop Culture' shop.
Theyre on the outs. Best to avoid. Auction houses are riddled with collectors dumping collections.
I'm waiting for limited edition Pokemon grails ( mintage will be below 1,000 ) and legends and will retire. Buying the common crap will get you nowhere but big themes = clean-up with extremely limited numbers .
Why don't the land fill people complain about Lego too ?
Where do you read up on these limited edition Pokemon?
We have a few based on real humans (Freddie Mercury, Axl Rose and The Iron Sheikh) plus Lucy from Peanuts cos she was super-cheap.
Favourite by far is Portal turret #244.
It's less Chibi than most other figures. Probably as it doesn't really have a head, as such.
Really, we could ask the same of Lego models too. They're jagged and lo-res. You could get a die-cast for better accuracy and detail. Like to build it yourself? Get a model kit.
I write this: 1. Knowing there are many AFOLs here. 2. Have dozens of MOC files in LDD myself. Not many actual kits though!
I always feel like they're the blandest, most boring form of collectable, I'm still surprised this is a popular thing, I know multiple people with decent collections of them, I think the price is really the only thing going for them.
I don't get the allure either, but I got two as a gift since I'm a bit of a film buff.
They're put away in a closet somewhere, I'm not entirely vested in them.
lol
Collectables…
lol
Just came across this gem. https://youtu.be/p8nFultwLHQ
It cracks me up very time the Japanese TTS reads the three letter words at G O T lol.
My favourite version of it so far. Hits you hard when you don't have any Funko pop OR waifu lol 🤣.
I don't like them either, but it's a collectible like any other. Just modern day "plushies".