Funko Pop!: The next TY, Inc?

[Shawpaw]

I remember when TY "beanie babies" were a huge hit for kids and collectors alike back in the 90s. They used a similar "retired" system where they would make them for a bit and then retire them, supposedly increasing the value. I remember thinking, how could a stuffed bear cost $800? They would release books detailing when each series was retired and the expected value.

That being said, my wife collects numerous lines of Funko Pop figures (mostly marvel, Disney princesses, wizard of oz, etc.). She bought a series 1 Dorothy from Wizard of Oz for about $40. I don't mind about the price (compared to 1/6 scale figs) but am interested in everyone's thoughts on whether Funko is heading in the same direction as TY, Inc did (mass producing and destroying their own market)? TY seemed to crash as they overproduced many of the plush items. One used to cost about $15 whereas now they sell on ebay for like 10 for $15. I could be totally wrong in this thought and want some honest answers before jumping to collect these

Thoughts?

 

[MyenShi]

One of my friends has two giant storage containers full of Beanie Babies because she still clings to the hope that they'll be worth something some day, like a jilted lover waiting for their ex.

I'm no expert on Funko's products but it doesn't seem like they make them with the same sort of deliberate scarcity in mind as Ty did. They seem to have limited editions but even those seem to be shipped in large quantities. I don't think we'll see a secondary market of sorts on the scale of Beanie Babies, but I could be wrong.

Personally (and absolutely no offense to your wife), I dislike the entire Pop Vinyl line. I don't think the figures are cute or attractive and I don't see the value; just cheaply made plastic clutter. As a desk ornament, sure, but as an entire collection... If you buy 20, that's a Hot Toys figure, and I'd rather have one HT fig than 20 cheap plastic Betty Boop lookalikes.

People that know I'm a geek but don't know me insist on getting me these things as gifts for my birthday or Christmas. ugh.

 

[GeneralZodLives]

I actually really like the Funko Pop figures and have quite a few of them. In general, I can't imagine them being worth a ton of money though. The only ones that regularly grab a decent amount of money on the secondary market seem to be the exclusives (convention, Hot Topic, Loot Crate, etc.) and those don't even come close to commanding the kind of ridiculous prices some beanie babies were pulling. You'd have to have a crazy amount of volume of the exclusives to make any sort of decent money. If you had 100 and made $10 on each then you'd have $1000--but what a pain in the ass it would be so sell 100 of anything. I would say collect them if you like them because they're cheap and won't break the bank unless you're trying to get all of them, but I wouldn't count on them making anyone a ton of money in the future.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

they won't be worth anything

 

[Shawpaw]

Good thoughts to all. I don't think they are going to be that expensive either in the aftermarket. She collects the ones she likes but also has started to get drawn in to the exclusive market. Given my experience with 1/6, that funko exclusive market isn't even that impressive lol. I'm happy she likes to collect something but am trying not to let her fall to deep into chasing the exclusive market. I don't want her to end up like the person described in Myenshi's post and have a ton of these.

 

[MyenShi]

I don't want her to end up like the person described in Myenshi's post and have a ton of these.

Anyone wanna do the math?

 

[GeneralZodLives]

It looks like it's about $3000 retail if the normal ones were $10 a piece and say $600 for the bigger and smaller ones.

 

[MyenShi]

It looks like it's about $3000 retail if the normal ones were $10 a piece and say $600 for the bigger and smaller ones.

Yeah I figured it'd be around there.

Imagine all the PFs, prop replicas, and/or HT figs you could buy with that money.

 

[Shawpaw]

Wow...The wall of Funko. YEah I'd much rather have 1/6 scales over those. Takes up lots less room.

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

Wow, that's crazy

 

[Plastic Bateman]

I remember when TY "beanie babies" were a huge hit for kids and collectors alike back in the 90s. They used a similar "retired" system where they would make them for a bit and then retire them, supposedly increasing the value. I remember thinking, how could a stuffed bear cost $800? They would release books detailing when each series was retired and the expected value.

That being said, my wife collects numerous lines of Funko Pop figures (mostly marvel, Disney princesses, wizard of oz, etc.). She bought a series 1 Dorothy from Wizard of Oz for about $40. I don't mind about the price (compared to 1/6 scale figs) but am interested in everyone's thoughts on whether Funko is heading in the same direction as TY, Inc did (mass producing and destroying their own market)? TY seemed to crash as they overproduced many of the plush items. One used to cost about $15 whereas now they sell on ebay for like 10 for $15. I could be totally wrong in this thought and want some honest answers before jumping to collect these

Thoughts?

Introduce your wife to Coarse, Frank Kozik, etc. If she's going to collect rotocast vinyl, make sure she gets the good stuff.

 

[choopie]

Wow, that's one heck of a Pop collection.

I collect the line. I have about 75 of them from a wide range of licenses. I think they are cute. I started out going crazy over them, but have since cut back dramatically over the past year for a number of reasons:

1. They are acquiring every license you can think of under the sun. Which on one hand is good because of the variety you can choose from, but on the other hand is bad because they are flooding the market with hundreds of characters...many I can't imagine people will really want.
2. Their exclusives and variants are getting ridiculous, and I don't have the energy to hunt them down, nor pay extravagant prices on the secondary market. I'm trying to be a completist in the Cap line and I'm still missing two EX..yet I refuse to pay $200 for a metallic comic Cap.
3. They are only $10 each, but they add up and rather quickly. Plus if you keep them in the boxes, they do take up a good amount of space. And good luck trying to sell regulars. They are worth nothing.

They are fun to collect, but I'm getting fatigued with them, and honestly in a few years I can imagine people will have storage containers full of them because they can't get rid of them. The ones that will only hold any true value down the road will be the Clockwork Orange Alex and protos. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Sidewinder]

I don't see the point in collecting these if you're just going to stack these up to a wall like a comic store. That's not a collection, it's just hoarding and I'll never understand people who leave them in the box.

I do collect these Pops, however you really need to select a few licences and stick to it. They are making everything you can think of these days and if you're not careful, you will be spending vast amounts of money.
Don't be a completist with a line either, otherwise you'll end up with a bunch of pops of the same character that have some barely visible variant exclusive.

Also, don't get sucked in to the Comic Con exclusives because more often than not they are available at HT for cheaper shortly afterwards.

These sort of collectibles are great, it's just that some people end up overdoing it by needing to get every single one. I have always felt that a smaller, nicely displayed collection looks much nicer than an overcrowded room full of collecibles.

I don't think they will be as bad as beanie babies (what a disaster) but regular pops will sell for under retail price on the aftermarket. Only the exclusives or chase pops will have more value and even then, there are a lot more out there than you think.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

Loot Crate throws in an exclusive every now and then. They did one for the December box