The Rise And Fall Of Funko Explained

They soared like a plastic meteor straight into the sun and had a company-wide meltdown. Here's why Funko dumped $30 million of toys in a landfill, and where they're going next.
#Funko #Collections #Toys
The founding of Funko | 0:00
The creation of Funko Pop | 1:03
Licensing agreements | 2:04
The brand expands | 3:07
Soaring value | 4:26
The Funko community | 5:32
Controversy surfaces | 6:36
Supply and demand | 7:46
The landfill solution | 8:52
A hefty stock drop | 9:53
The future of Funko | 10:41
Voiceover by: Dexter Manning
Read Full Article: www.looper.com/1223658/the-ri...

[@heathern6737]

I worked in a collectable store for 18 years and I've seen collections come and go. Most often lines were done in by two things, too many introductions and collector fatigue. Companies put out too many pieces and collectors run out of room/money and start cherry picking from the new stuff. When this starts happening, companies are often too slow to react and cut back production and end up with large amounts of stock no one wants.

[@francamentegameplays9353]

Isn't that happening to Marvel Legends and McFarlane Toys?

[@michaelbrata5036]

Great thoughts :)

[@KTannerPaisleyKK]

Ladies and gentlemen this is what you call a spot on comment. Straight and direct like a fist to a face👊🏻

[@jackmackakaheavyguyhaiku545]

Dumping the $300m in merch is shortsighted. The donation to children's charities would not only solve the problem of storage but they could've gotten 2 bonuses: donation tax write offs and positive publicity.

[@marvelljones72]

They get the same or a similar write off by disposing of/destroying excess inventory, without the distribution costs. The positive publicity is what they really lost, especially since they generated a lot of negative publicity.

[@tikvision]

Kids don't like boomer-oriented products. They don't know who the hell willy Wonka is

[@jackmackakaheavyguyhaiku545]

@@tikvision It doesn't matter if the kids know. A free toy will always be enjoyed by a child... unless they're a spoiled brat or something.

[@alfredocamba1995]

Demonic rituals toxic vinyl chloride idols & false icons destined to poison the earth

[@Xer0sMedia-rf7ou]

@@tikvision some parents do show their kids classic cartoons and movies

[@BadgerOff32]

I've never seen a company over-saturate _their own market_ more than Funko did. If you were a collector and you wanted one of every Funko Pop, you'd have thousands of these bloody things!

[@johnnydropkicks]

When you’re making a 100,000 figures of a character that appeared once in a failed Netflix show, you’re not going to do so well.

[@wojtek1765]

They should donate it to a charity or kid’s hospital instead of dumping in a landfill what a waste

[@vaderbaby]

It's sad, but they, not unlike the government, would rather throw it away than, God forbid, someone get it for free & possibly profit from it (no matter how little & even if it's just emotionally).

[@juliancaraveo5700]

Yeah or gave it to 99 cent stores , Thrift stores, and Toys for Tots.

[@jadeduh4555]

Recycle ♻️

[@stonewal316]

That wouldn’t help the problem of having to much product in circulation.

[@PhantomBugler]

'Donate to a Children's hospital' is not a catchall solution. "Hey Jimmy, sorry your battle with leukemia is going rough, so, here's a Pop! Funko of Polly Walnuts from The Sopranos to lift your spirits!"

[@TheCaliforniaboy1]

They could've done "everything must go" sale instead of dumping it

[@gregleuze6657]

Collect what you like for the pleasure it gives you.

[@jasonsterling2397]

I used to collect funko pops then I stopped when I saw Variant after Variant come out and saw that they were just flooding the market with as many as they could. I started comparing it to the whole beanie baby fiasco. They just kept pumping them out over and over till they lost their value and their fan base. Funko followed the same suit and look people are selling them off in droves. I am glad I did whe I did I made money off of my purchases.

[@slate49]

Ok, this is news to me but I can understand their fall. There are way tooooooo many funky-pops! People cannot put that much stuff in their homes

[@firehawk2324]

Not only that, but they are making so many characters that consumers might not even care about. If nobody cares enough about them, why would they sell? A prime example is one of my own personal favorites; Holistic George from Seinfeld. You have to be a Seinfeld fan and remember that episode to understand the figure. I can't see that particular one selling well, and I only have it because a friend spotted it on a heavy discount and grabbed it for me.

[@EvilSantaTheTrue]

A consoomer can

[@herringstheseries]

I went from 220 pops to 70 pops. I found better things to do with my mornings that wait outside Hot Topic or FYE at 9am in the morning and I don’t miss it.

[@jackmac9502]

Felt this. Literal exact same thing with me, I only have 30-40 pops now and rarely buy them now.

[@zojirushi1]

Same only had 10 pops max and got rid of them. Pops are soulless, boring, and a waste of resources.

[@ForeverChiIIin]

@@zojirushi1but what about muh chase variant!!!

[@TriplD3]

@@zojirushi1literally any collectible is “soulless” if you wanna use the real definition. You people are weirdos

[@PingasPuncher]

Did not know they even fell

[@DenyTheZeitgeist]

They haven’t. Not yet at least.

[@TriplD3]

They haven’t lmao they’re back on the up. People just make content for content

[@TheConstantineChannel]

That is how they made you click the video. Haha

[@PeazCooper]

You nailed it with the Pokémon ones... there are more than 10 charmander with the same mold but different color

[@gabrielmaldonado8662]

Sh!t! I have lost so much money on Funko Pops! Most I have are worthless. Can't believe they dumped all those useless ones in a landfill! That plastic will last forever!

[@razorramon487]

Honestly Target killed Funko. They did way too many target exclusives and they were a pain in the ass

[@juliancaraveo5700]

Yeah , not to mention Target always ran out of Eddie Munson Funko Pops.

[@kevingonzo4-139]

Weird, the Target I go to barely sells many Funko Pop figure.

[@EPogue6]

You know you failed to mention the layoffs that the company has had recently the way they've treated their employees and the firing of most of the art department as well as great artists that they had that have been there for more years than I've been a fan.

[@GaDawg84]

They're biggest issue is each pop has 10 versions. Why keep buying the same pop with a different color?

[@MistiMc76]

Its not dead. They are still quite collectible and a lot of them sell for more than people originally paid. They have over produced several lines in the last few years. Re-releasing vaulted and retired items with a different stand wasn't cool either.

[@herringstheseries]

No, the bloom is off the rose and the Funkos that do sell for more are now mostly convention exclusive, certain chases or Vaulted pops from the first couple of years.

[@GloomGaiGar]

Every toy store in my country has significantly more pops on discount than expensive or rare exclusives

[@R3DDWOLF]

Working at Toys R Us i was hovering over every Funko box that came off the truck. Can't bullshit got me a good little collection from Titanfall to The Mummy Remake.

[@ransaktehelder4260]

Sold my collection once they started ramping up exclusives, especially online exclusives too the point they werent releasing normal waves anymore. The hidden cost not mentioned here is shipping.. buying most of these figures also requires 15-20$ of shipping making the value unpalatable for most people. Most "price guide" websites based their prices on sold ebay listings which starting causing market manipulation through fake sales and shill bidding which broke the trust in value for a lot of pops.

[@richardbidinger2577]

This is just like any other fad in history. It's great for a while, and then it fades away.

[@popworldorder2818]

Fantastic Video well explained on full Funko history

[@paranoidpanda]

I think people thought the market grew because of the pandemic and reality, because people had extra money, not going anywhere, and now everyone is suffering, the overproduction. Also, Funko shop we can’t get them at retail.

[@oskinogreenbalm]

They could have easily sold them in theme based mystery boxes and would have sold a ton of them

[@fredr9867]

Casual buyer here. I'd still try to buy any that I can find.

[@healy7882]

sold my collection a few weeks ago, just kept my batman and bttf ones :). YouTooz seem to be doing well, slow and steady and no repeats!.

[@notreallymyname3736]

Don't get me wrong, I collect stuff too; but what do these do? Are they just a collectable figurine, do they have some online component, or are they a bobblehead sort of deal? I was a little kid during the beanie baby craze, but you could hug them like any other stuffed animal, so I understood that.

[@jhnyjoejoe69]

These useless scraps of plastic literally do nothing, no moving parts. Just plastic with colored plastic wrap over it. Majority of its buyers don't even take them out the box. Just shows how pathetic consumer sheep herds are.

[@armandoamieva8065]

Excelente video, Felicitaciones por la información, la edición y la secuencia con que lo presentas.

[@kevingonzo4-139]

I’ve been collecting Funko POPs since 2016 so I would’ve gave a limb to grab at least a fraction of those discarded Funko goods. Granted I got more POPs than I can count but I could really use some from Demon Slayer, Naruto, and Marvel.

[@user-lc3wd7cz2m]

I turned my Funko Pop into a Fleshlight.

[@ammodog89b79]

The single biggest problem and solution is oversaturation. Not in the way described though. It's not how many franchises that's the problem it's having 15 different versions of the same character. Cut down on making so many of any single character and people would be interested again.

[@Signal_in_the_noise]

Imagine being an adult and collecting these As soon as I saw an Al Bundy Married with Children funko at Walmart i said RIP

[@grocerygoat06]

Matt Walsh, is that you?

[@TriplD3]

Imagine being an adult and not having interests. You’re a lame ass

[@mothynugget1178]

I have over 500 funko pops and have collected since 2015. I recently havnt liked how funko are going as their loyalty to fans is no more and quality of figures has gone down since stranger things line

[@jhnyjoejoe69]

how does it feel being a major L?

[@presterjohn71]

Apparently, they had to dump the stock for tax reasons. Selling it would have cost them millions more than dumping them.

[@bicyclelife7088]

I owned an official Funko retailer starting in 2011, one of their first years. Their early business model was very different. Originally they sold main characters in under served niches like cereal mascots and vintage TV shows that haven't had merch in ages. Then when they blew up they overproduced and made obscure characters for even more obscure shows, and too many close varients of the same toys. This then made toys either less rare feeling, or stores were stocked with characters no one wanted. Who really wants 10 varients of Admeral Holdo? Add that with the "fad" word being tacked on and the people who bought them like beenie babies, just trying to cash in on a fad pushed them over into "not cool". Now I couldn't sell a Funko to save my life. It's a shame as they had it made, but bungled it.

[@DevilDogMuNky]

I think I have enough Funko Pops of all my favorite characters that exist.

[@nublafiednubbie]

After 45 Yrs Of Collecting Toy's, Video Games, Comics, i Don't Own a Single Pop 😂, Only Thing Funko I've Got is The Re-release Of Jingle All The Way Tiger Turboman 😅😊

[@xyfnthrn714]

Where's the landfill at?

[@harleykittin5232]

I told people over a year ago that Funkos would become the new Beanie babies. Especially after they start letting people order them in their images.

[@bluetarantulaproductions6179]

I own Jay and Silent Bob, Batman Beyond, Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar (Wayne's World), Super Sonic and Sonic the Hedgehog..also an action figure of Darkwing Duck and Hermes and Rudolph of the Vinyl Funko pop line.

[@daftfunk5915]

June 2024 we still here brother 🙏🏽

[@ReiviewTV]

Anddd... 1 year later, they're still here. They've become a bit smarter on the IPs they wish to produce. As a longtime Funko collector, I've moved on to Pop Mart for my plastic fix - but I still buy a Funko or two especially if they really have a well made product in their hands.

[@fallyn2920]

i see people wondering why they don't donate this stuff. They don't because that would hurt their later chances of sales through market saturation. Destroying the stock would be cheaper because it's easier and less complicated and wouldn't hurt the bottom line. But ultimately it's still a giant loss and reeks of short sightedness and desperation. But many luxury brands do this. Louis Vuiton would rather shred a 2000 dollar bag than sell it off cheaply or donate it. It keeps the price inflated.

[@soldierswag4884]

Funko never fell down , still the best selling collectable in the world. Every company has ups and drops in sales wich is normal

[@johnnydropkicks]

Tell that to all of the unsatisfied collectors and share holders. I don’t think tossing $300 million in a landfill is a good sign.

[@soldierswag4884]

@@johnnydropkicks Apparently they can afford tossing 300 million

[@johnnydropkicks]

@@soldierswag4884 They choose to lose $30 million because they had so much non-selling merchandise it was the cheaper option than taking up a ridiculous amount of warehouse space. Do you realize how much unsold product they had to have that throwing it away cost less than warehouse space? That is not a sign of having a thriving business model that will last; nor is scaling back production 30% or firing 12% of your employees. This is also not a sign of a good investment opportunity. This whole thing is very reminiscent of Beanie Babies, Pet Rocks and Atari. NOTE: In my original reply I accidentally stated “$300 million” when $30 million was the correct number.

[@freedomisthechoicesyoumake8594]

Not the world, you're over exaggerating 😂😂😂😂

[@alfredocamba1995]

Stop worshiping & poisoning the land with your false idol vinyl chloride toxic garbage

[@erockbrox8484]

I think they are neat, but I mean let's be honest all you do is pick your favorite characters then create a stack of them in your room and eventually you just have one wall in your room that is literally a wall of displayed Funko Pops. Are they cool to look at, sure, but all you can do is display them.

[@markthomas6236]

I love what you do

[@GrandMasterLynx]

RIP TO E3

[@brutusmuerto]

Pones and Discord are all behind this.

[@legendarypanda0954]

I was always buying harry potter pops on release day but they just got repetitive, with just doing the same characters with different styles while there's still a lot more characters they could release so that's why I chill out on buying pops until pokemon pops came along gotta catch em all

[@Vividaeciq-dl9rf]

I hate those things so much. Every convention I ever go to now is just full of walls and walls of these things that nobody wants to buy.

[@TwesomE]

I am glad i am a casual buyer and not a sick deticated person who wants to buy them all! And as i know their most earnings comes from us the casual ones as well! I have 40 pops and really special ones.Nit every bit of a random character they trying so hard to release.For instance OH here's this freaking droid that had a 1 second screening time in this star wars movie in the background for 2000 euros because its gitd etc! Another thing they are doing is that they don't sell for instance specific products to europe ,i want i freaking freddy funko but they don't released some in greece.I know i can have from funko europe but why not to be able to buy one as a normal consumer from my place?

[@JamChua]

i honestly don't care. i still love my pops and will continue to buy any spider man related pop releases.

[@lucoakanrogithe2ahashira509]

I never got why they became so big and also why every celeb i’ve met always charges extra to autograph a funko over a regular autograph except for voice actor Greg Aries who refuses to autograph them for some reason. I only own 1 BUT i only have it because it was Deadpool with a PS controller and was at Goodwill for $2.50(1/2 off color of week) which i had intended to get Nolan North to autograph the following month but i forgot since i went to go pick up my god child out of town because she wanted to meet him too

[@itskittyme]

Oh, and news flash for the people hoping they go up in value in the future..... That's not how markets work. The world has been flooded with so many Funko toys, that its more likely you gonna end up having to pay to get rid of your 200+ funko collection.... paying a garbage collector that is. (rarity is in fact a requirement for things to gain value)

[@chrisbowman3907]

We just want the super rare, limited pieces, grails, and oldies

[@PeekTravelTeam]

9:43 Should have sold them 80% off for us in the developing country

[@gitakiss5801]

Kinda like beanie babies

[@ForceKnight345]

Yeah.

[@nukesean]

10:20 “…while net income decreased by a staggering 368%.” And here I thought something could only decrease by 100%… Amazing analysis here, folks 🙄

[@GloomGaiGar]

doesnt that mean they actually lost money and are in debt?

[@scottb326]

Funko rules! Will never stop G!

[@romeovalentine9932]

Stick to autographed funko pops. Anything with a legit autograph makes it unique and never goes out of style

[@mikelarry183]

Where is this landfill

[@josephalbarran_cs]

supply and demand.

[@so-so-DH]

This video makes a mountains out of molehills. Sloppy and sensationalized. Looper using Funko for clicks. The company's fine.

[@inferno8050]

I only collect the simpsons ones a friend bought me a stitch one

[@caroldanvers8046]

The beanie baby’s of the 2020’s 😂

[@FuzzyStayBuzzin183]

I got a snake eyes from GI Joe and I got David from the Lost boyz My girl got me them years ago.

[@mohdimansaifullizan6193]

Transformers & Monsterverse funko pop pls

[@cadillacdeville5828]

Oh, the wide face toys ...

[@stevenelliott631]

Funko are the next beanie bears lol

[@jerryterwase9027]

Funko Pop obviously went the way of the 70s lunch boxes. It's value will rise from the next 30 years.

[@johnnydropkicks]

Correction; it’s value will rise in the secondary market *in* 30 years and not a second sooner.

[@deaditeera]

I didn’t know they fell off. I still buy new Stranger Things ones.

[@kaisawheel6286]

Yea, this is news to me. All of the people that I know that collect them are still collecting them and there are several stores in my city that sell them. Idk. I really don't think that it matters. If collecting them makes you happy, then keep on collecting them. Hey, it's better than crack, right? 😅

[@soulmask2781]

Perfect representation of the "consoomer" mindset.

[@NNYCannabisSociety]

They expanded to too many different lines.

[@goof_yo]

Sucks to see this as I love collecting Funko products

[@JohnBrown-wk4io]

Way too many funkos of unpopular franchises & bit characters that no one wants. Disney's mostly miss line up being majorly over merchandised.

[@chadb1176]

I always just assumed the purpose was to put them in the garbage can

[@TheRunoben]

Fall?

[@Kaitschi]

Fall?? They are still Huge as Hell

[@cadillacdeville5828]

What? Never heard of it

[@JTpopCULT]

Funko is still doing well just not like it did but that’s because they’re tied to the movies they license. The landfill thing seemed fake. All I saw was there boardgame that didn’t take off and MGK pops that no children’s hospital would want. Donating them wouldve just been a waste. They’re not really aimed at kids. They probably didn’t toss items like Marvel and DC that kids might want.

[@michaelkmiec5842]

Dork

[@JTpopCULT]

@@michaelkmiec5842loser

[@davidhowell1415]

Just think beanie babies it’s basically the same thing

[@freedomisthechoicesyoumake8594]

I only collected the disney ones, and they're beginning to look hideous. Only pops i want are the Rugrats ones. Im tossing the disney ones 😂😂😂😂

[@Horatio_Jones]

Never bought one. Never will

[@Sipsomebobba]

Rather throwing it just give it away

[@mrbrainchild7637]

Fake pops in the thumbnail 😂😂😂 wtf 🤦‍♂️

[@l.r.7505]

Never understood this crap🤦🏻‍♂️

[@davidolvera1978]

They just can't donate it. They have to get approval from the share holders. The problem with Funko they got to greedy and wanted to be number 1 in the toy business. They even admitted it . To much mass production and making items such as Golds and Pins no one wants. Yes they did dump items in a land fill but they are not the only company that does that. Funko is in a bad spot right now but will get back up. If you have listen to the last earning call Funko is going back to its old roots. Slimmer cutting back on mass production and more limited pieces. Also yes they are firing employees but who isn't. Facebook, Twitter, The Washington Post and other companies have fired many employees by the thousands in the last 2 years.

[@ahappyklingon3631]

When did they fall? Lol so a bunch of unwanted funkos weren't selling. Some funkos sell others don't. That what happens when they go gungho sometimes on franchises that flop like Black Adam etc.

[@DJTXD123]

They just made too many, i dont need 5 versions of one character, funko wrre best when they were actually rare and had value

[@soyjeffe__]

It depends on what you collect. There’s versions of stuff that has a bigger collection desire such as McDonald’s for example. There will forever be people who will want McDonald brand things and will pay hefty prices for it

[@mungojerry]

También los funkos custom han crecido mucho. En lo personal no me gustan. Pero es impresionante el fenómeno

[@JoseEspinoza-yh8lc]

Funko is doing good 😆 😅

[@GloomGaiGar]

explain the layoffs

[@nak3dxsnake]

I still will never understand why someone would want to own a misrepresentation of a thing they love. Dorbs were kinda cute and the Rick and Morty toys were excellent. If they had just made more real toys they might've got fans outside of neckbeards. Would love to have any of the Conan variants though just cuz Coco is a legend.

[@GloomGaiGar]

you say it's misrepresented but the license holders themselves approved it lol

[@thevirus3983]

1st!

[@joshuagarbett]

FUNKO PoP! vinyl figures. FUNKO Wacky Wobblers. 😊

[@Peizxcv]

It’s just copy of Japanese twist egg toys. Same design, same style, just bigger, more expensive, and without the egg

[@MrCitizen0]

Oversaturrated is whynit died out . I lol at all the people who spent thousands to now have a huge NEG

[@bunyan4.20]

Long story shirt made too maany damn Funko pops for like everything and no one bought them bitches

[@dannyrivera2]

Donate them to a children’s hospital, or to disadvantaged youth!

[@SignorNessuno65]

An item only worth what some other idiot is willing to pay for it.

[@Omnivorous1One]

They got greedy & started making one for anything & everything possible. Literally everything. They are now Beanie Babies 2.0. “Investments” what a joke.