I've heard this comparison being made for years and I disagree. It's apples and oranges. Beanie Babies are only one product line of a company that had already been around awhile. Funko is an entire brand of many product lines that are constantly changing and evolving. Beanie Babies were mostly an original product line with very little licensing. Funko started by reproducing a discontinued item and continued with different licensed products. What you're describing is what happens when the bubble bursts on any product line that saturates the market after lengthy popularity and successs.
No I took the beanie baby business model, and compared it to the Funko business model and realized they went down the exact same plan in every way imaginable. I’m ok with you disagreeing that’s what makes us all different but you can’t deny they took the exact same approach in every successful product they have made. Pops, sodas, both were done on the beanie baby model.
@@WayneKo If pumping out new product in hopes of monetizing on the unexpected success of prior products is a business model, then I suppose you're right. But so many companies have done that - Image Comics, Starting Line Up, the original Masters of the Universe, Star Wars. That being said, what would have been a more preferable business model that would had more success in your opinion?
@@rollingwithstones I’m not sure how comics used the same business model. I think maybe u are missing the true correlation between the two. Both of them try to make it a scarce market in the United States with limited runs, and then didn’t make it limited run overseas and with the Internet that doesn’t work I mean it would work without the Internet if you didn’t have the Internet and people couldn’t go online and buy these. It would be just fine, but with the power of the Internet, it kind exposes the fact that they weren’t as scarce as you once believed, and what happens is people get scared that their limited additions are going down in value so they start selling them, and when they start selling them, then people start to realize that they’re not as scarce as they believe they were because suddenly the market gets flooded with them as the market gets flooded with these limited pieces. Then suddenly they become worth nothing, and when they become worth nothing, it kind of takes the company into a downward spiral because people are afraid to buy from the company, I think what they should’ve done is maybe watched hot toys and maybe use a more a real limited runs versus not limited runs and then they they should’ve stayed very like determined and customer focused and they didn’t they use the beanie baby business model to basically do a pumping down and it worked and that’s OK that they did it but it’s not a long-term business model and you’re seeing that unbolt now that unbolt now.
I could argue that a fad is the wrong term maybe more like a trend. But at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter if collecting these things somehow make someone happy it doesn’t really matter if it’s a fad or trend.
I believe you are right. I felt like it was time someone told the truth I’m sure there are lots that will not like what I said but it’s all facts. Ty I appreciate you.
Yeah, im glad i sold most or all mine back in 2020. Looking at the market and if i were to keep it, I would of lost 40%-50% value...I collected wanted tho, part of me thinks is to sell the one set I have right now and get it dirt cheap later. Hard to tell...
after watching your video i changed my mind a little bit but the way i see it is funko reaches a muchh more robust and vast audience that beanie babies never even came close too. this is just my opinion of course i just think funko is not going to die off so fast@@WayneKo
I agree on all of that. I don’t believe they will every make another pop that will sell of over 500 dollars again though and I also believe large collection that had really expensive pops in them will see a high fall in value. With all of that not all of us collect for price I don’t must of the time I don’t even know what they are worth till someone points it out to me. I wasn’t trying to bash them or there hustle just thought it was time to show everyone they took the same business plan as beanie baby’s and that had to eventually catch up with them.
Beanie Babies were a much bigger cultural phenomenon than Funko Pops ever got to. Funko had social media help pushing it so people in the community had feeds full of more Funko Pop content. This resulted in the community believing the community was much much larger than it actually was. This resulted in collectors buying doubles, one for their collection and one to put away. Funko Pops never attracted collectors they attracted people suffering mental illness that manifests in unnecessary purchases and cluttered homes. As for the fact Funko had licenses? That was part of the scam. Nobody is attracted to a deformed looking, dead eyed, cheap plastic doll that happens to be painted to look like it has a Superman costume. It was always a shell game based on scarcity thus box conditions can account for 70% of the value and usually accounts for at least 50%. Only the naive and simple fell for this Funko scam and within two years most will be too embarrassed to admit that they once had a collection. To those that got out before 2018, they made a lot of money.
ya man well said. Its a constant talking point in these spaces. Myself, I started building a collection a couple years ago only for the soul purpose to sell it however, i didnt do much research when i started so i was slow getting into it but i recently started selling them on ebay and i am finding that there is room for profits and quick turn arounds. I dont have interest in holcing onto them but i want to use them to make a few dollars and so far so good @@WayneKo
So I rewatched the video and took into consideration what you said in your responses to my original comments. I disagree with you now more than ever. The first thing you have to consider is that BB's are one product of TY, an already established company of plush toys. They already knew what they were doing before the BB line caught on. It was a very different time when the toy was dubbed as the "first internet sensation" in 1995 when there was no social media or even online shopping platforms. I started using eBay very early on and that was in 1998, three years later. So, TY had no choice but to flood the brick & mortar retail market with BBs because collectors had no other way to obtain them. Having retail exclusives was nothing new and was due to the demands of those national chains and nothing to do with TY wanting to create a false sense of rarity. Stores like Best Buy, Walmart, Target, etc wouldn't agree to stock a mass market item unless they could get something that couldn't be purchased from the competition. This was true with a lot of things - CDs, DVDs, books, video games, etc. These retailers would even get an exclusive color of a popular appliance. If a popular band released a new album, Target would get a version with a bonus track, Walmart would get a version with a limited edition poster, Best Buy would get a version with an acoustic EP and Blockbuster would get a version with a DVD. It had everything to do with the record label appeasing the retailer. I know this because I worked in the music industry for years, from retail to management. Also, BBs saw the height of their popularity in the midst of the speculation era with collectibles. One of my first jobs at the age of 16 was at a sports card store in 1989-1990 which was the beginning of the "junk wax pack" era. I left to work at and eventually manage the new comic book store across the street from 1990-1992 where I saw Image Comics (publisher of The Walking Dead) debut, the only independent company to threaten the success of the big two - Marvel and DC. Image was the first comic book company to publish exclusive cover variants for retailers - glow-in-the-dark, metallic, chrome, bloody, heat sensitive, die-cut, prism, etc. Sound familiar? Marvel and DC still does this today. Every time Image released the first issue of a new comic, it would sell out, often times on the same day and jump up in value within a week. A $2.50 investment could be worth $75 in less a month. Again, I ask - sound familiar?? I was buying three copies of every first issue of an Image Comics title and two copies of every subsequent issue which was not uncommon with collectors at the time. Today, you can find most of those comics in the 50 cent bins at a comic book store. I can't even give away most of my original collection. In hindsight as a collector and reseller of collectibles today, I now understand why the bottom fell out of all collectibles that were part of the speculation era. I have this saying that "ignorance creates value." If a product was released to the public with no reference or expectation to being collectible, valuable or rare - then it naturally became those things over time. For example, George Lucas, the father of modern day merchandising, made a toy for every character, vehicle and playset that appeared for more than 15 seconds in Star Wars. Very few people had speculated that they were collectible and valuable. They were toys, nothing more and nothing less. Kids like me would rip open the package to a Luke Skywalker action figure and play with it until something new got our attention. I lost the weapon within a month. The figure would end up in the bathtub, sand box or confiscated at school. My neighbor friend would steal it when I wasn't looking or the dog would chew it up. I would tie it to fireworks or my mom would be tired of picking it up off the floor and eventually put it in the trash. For this reason, very few survived compared to the amount released in stores. I never thought about keeping it in the package. God forbid, who would do such a thing? And this is why those toys not only hold their value, but increase in value year after year. I sold a first 12 brown hair Luke Walker action figure for $175 this year. Fast forward to 1999, the release of The Phantom Menace. Every piece of Star Wars merchandise is marketed as being "collectible" and limited edition. There is no more ignorance like there was with the original movies. Collectors are buying up everything, keeping it in the original packaging and putting them in storage, waiting to cash in eventually. Speculation. What collectors didn't understand is that they already ruined the formula. Without the ignorance factor, there is no rarity that causes value. It's all worthless to this day. You can say all you want about Funko's business model. TY knew what they were doing with the BBs as a company that had prior experience during a totally different time, but the product line still fell victim to speculation, just like every collectible that was sold during that time - sports cards, comics, Starting Line Up and Star Wars. Funko was a new company when Pops caught on. If the founders followed the "TY business model", something that many companies were doing at the time, it was coincidence or out of ignorance. I believe that Funko has fallen victim to speculation first and foremost, which is inevitable when you produce a product that is marketed as collectible. I believe the company is on the decline for many different reasons as a result of their own unique business model that is not similar to TY's, especially when executed in a totally different time. Overproducing multiple failed product lines doesn't help for one. Having no vision for what type of company you're attempting to be is another.
Ok.. this took me a while to read and I feel I have learned a lot about you and you are a pretty interesting human and a pretty intelligent way of looking at it. I would love nothing more then to come back with an intelligent response but I can’t that’s was the best way i have ever heard it explained.
I've heard this comparison being made for years and I disagree. It's apples and oranges. Beanie Babies are only one product line of a company that had already been around awhile. Funko is an entire brand of many product lines that are constantly changing and evolving. Beanie Babies were mostly an original product line with very little licensing. Funko started by reproducing a discontinued item and continued with different licensed products. What you're describing is what happens when the bubble bursts on any product line that saturates the market after lengthy popularity and successs.
No I took the beanie baby business model, and compared it to the Funko business model and realized they went down the exact same plan in every way imaginable. I’m ok with you disagreeing that’s what makes us all different but you can’t deny they took the exact same approach in every successful product they have made. Pops, sodas, both were done on the beanie baby model.
@@WayneKo If pumping out new product in hopes of monetizing on the unexpected success of prior products is a business model, then I suppose you're right. But so many companies have done that - Image Comics, Starting Line Up, the original Masters of the Universe, Star Wars. That being said, what would have been a more preferable business model that would had more success in your opinion?
@@rollingwithstones I’m not sure how comics used the same business model. I think maybe u are missing the true correlation between the two. Both of them try to make it a scarce market in the United States with limited runs, and then didn’t make it limited run overseas and with the Internet that doesn’t work I mean it would work without the Internet if you didn’t have the Internet and people couldn’t go online and buy these. It would be just fine, but with the power of the Internet, it kind exposes the fact that they weren’t as scarce as you once believed, and what happens is people get scared that their limited additions are going down in value so they start selling them, and when they start selling them, then people start to realize that they’re not as scarce as they believe they were because suddenly the market gets flooded with them as the market gets flooded with these limited pieces. Then suddenly they become worth nothing, and when they become worth nothing, it kind of takes the company into a downward spiral because people are afraid to buy from the company, I think what they should’ve done is maybe watched hot toys and maybe use a more a real limited runs versus not limited runs and then they they should’ve stayed very like determined and customer focused and they didn’t they use the beanie baby business model to basically do a pumping down and it worked and that’s OK that they did it but it’s not a long-term business model and you’re seeing that unbolt now that unbolt now.
Thankful that I was able to dump off a collection valued at $10,000 and pocket $5,000
That is awesome
You know this thing is a fad when you go to a toy expo and more than half of the unpopular stand sells funko pop
I could argue that a fad is the wrong term maybe more like a trend. But at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter if collecting these things somehow make someone happy it doesn’t really matter if it’s a fad or trend.
Fascinating video. I don't collect them but I do enjoy videos about the pros and cons of collectibles as long term investments.
Ty.
I have always said this. Awesome video. Funko is also underhanded just as the beanie baby’s.
I believe you are right. I felt like it was time someone told the truth I’m sure there are lots that will not like what I said but it’s all facts. Ty I appreciate you.
Yeah, im glad i sold most or all mine back in 2020. Looking at the market and if i were to keep it, I would of lost 40%-50% value...I collected wanted tho, part of me thinks is to sell the one set I have right now and get it dirt cheap later. Hard to tell...
That was a very smart move. I do believe we will be able to find the sets we want later was cheaper then they once were.
Hopefully they never become Beanie Baby 🍀🤞 great video 👍 😎
Idk
funko is muchhhh different in fact the only similarity is that they are collectables. They are way too diverse and valuable for other reasons
Ok how are they different? They did exactly the same thing in every way. But I’m here to listen I like hearing other sides.
after watching your video i changed my mind a little bit but the way i see it is funko reaches a muchh more robust and vast audience that beanie babies never even came close too. this is just my opinion of course i just think funko is not going to die off so fast@@WayneKo
I agree on all of that. I don’t believe they will every make another pop that will sell of over 500 dollars again though and I also believe large collection that had really expensive pops in them will see a high fall in value. With all of that not all of us collect for price I don’t must of the time I don’t even know what they are worth till someone points it out to me. I wasn’t trying to bash them or there hustle just thought it was time to show everyone they took the same business plan as beanie baby’s and that had to eventually catch up with them.
Beanie Babies were a much bigger cultural phenomenon than Funko Pops ever got to. Funko had social media help pushing it so people in the community had feeds full of more Funko Pop content. This resulted in the community believing the community was much much larger than it actually was. This resulted in collectors buying doubles, one for their collection and one to put away. Funko Pops never attracted collectors they attracted people suffering mental illness that manifests in unnecessary purchases and cluttered homes. As for the fact Funko had licenses? That was part of the scam. Nobody is attracted to a deformed looking, dead eyed, cheap plastic doll that happens to be painted to look like it has a Superman costume. It was always a shell game based on scarcity thus box conditions can account for 70% of the value and usually accounts for at least 50%. Only the naive and simple fell for this Funko scam and within two years most will be too embarrassed to admit that they once had a collection. To those that got out before 2018, they made a lot of money.
ya man well said. Its a constant talking point in these spaces. Myself, I started building a collection a couple years ago only for the soul purpose to sell it however, i didnt do much research when i started so i was slow getting into it but i recently started selling them on ebay and i am finding that there is room for profits and quick turn arounds. I dont have interest in holcing onto them but i want to use them to make a few dollars and so far so good @@WayneKo
So I rewatched the video and took into consideration what you said in your responses to my original comments. I disagree with you now more than ever.
The first thing you have to consider is that BB's are one product of TY, an already established company of plush toys. They already knew what they were doing before the BB line caught on. It was a very different time when the toy was dubbed as the "first internet sensation" in 1995 when there was no social media or even online shopping platforms. I started using eBay very early on and that was in 1998, three years later. So, TY had no choice but to flood the brick & mortar retail market with BBs because collectors had no other way to obtain them. Having retail exclusives was nothing new and was due to the demands of those national chains and nothing to do with TY wanting to create a false sense of rarity. Stores like Best Buy, Walmart, Target, etc wouldn't agree to stock a mass market item unless they could get something that couldn't be purchased from the competition. This was true with a lot of things - CDs, DVDs, books, video games, etc. These retailers would even get an exclusive color of a popular appliance. If a popular band released a new album, Target would get a version with a bonus track, Walmart would get a version with a limited edition poster, Best Buy would get a version with an acoustic EP and Blockbuster would get a version with a DVD. It had everything to do with the record label appeasing the retailer. I know this because I worked in the music industry for years, from retail to management.
Also, BBs saw the height of their popularity in the midst of the speculation era with collectibles. One of my first jobs at the age of 16 was at a sports card store in 1989-1990 which was the beginning of the "junk wax pack" era. I left to work at and eventually manage the new comic book store across the street from 1990-1992 where I saw Image Comics (publisher of The Walking Dead) debut, the only independent company to threaten the success of the big two - Marvel and DC. Image was the first comic book company to publish exclusive cover variants for retailers - glow-in-the-dark, metallic, chrome, bloody, heat sensitive, die-cut, prism, etc. Sound familiar? Marvel and DC still does this today. Every time Image released the first issue of a new comic, it would sell out, often times on the same day and jump up in value within a week. A $2.50 investment could be worth $75 in less a month. Again, I ask - sound familiar?? I was buying three copies of every first issue of an Image Comics title and two copies of every subsequent issue which was not uncommon with collectors at the time. Today, you can find most of those comics in the 50 cent bins at a comic book store. I can't even give away most of my original collection.
In hindsight as a collector and reseller of collectibles today, I now understand why the bottom fell out of all collectibles that were part of the speculation era. I have this saying that "ignorance creates value." If a product was released to the public with no reference or expectation to being collectible, valuable or rare - then it naturally became those things over time. For example, George Lucas, the father of modern day merchandising, made a toy for every character, vehicle and playset that appeared for more than 15 seconds in Star Wars. Very few people had speculated that they were collectible and valuable. They were toys, nothing more and nothing less. Kids like me would rip open the package to a Luke Skywalker action figure and play with it until something new got our attention. I lost the weapon within a month. The figure would end up in the bathtub, sand box or confiscated at school. My neighbor friend would steal it when I wasn't looking or the dog would chew it up. I would tie it to fireworks or my mom would be tired of picking it up off the floor and eventually put it in the trash. For this reason, very few survived compared to the amount released in stores. I never thought about keeping it in the package. God forbid, who would do such a thing? And this is why those toys not only hold their value, but increase in value year after year. I sold a first 12 brown hair Luke Walker action figure for $175 this year.
Fast forward to 1999, the release of The Phantom Menace. Every piece of Star Wars merchandise is marketed as being "collectible" and limited edition. There is no more ignorance like there was with the original movies. Collectors are buying up everything, keeping it in the original packaging and putting them in storage, waiting to cash in eventually. Speculation. What collectors didn't understand is that they already ruined the formula. Without the ignorance factor, there is no rarity that causes value. It's all worthless to this day.
You can say all you want about Funko's business model. TY knew what they were doing with the BBs as a company that had prior experience during a totally different time, but the product line still fell victim to speculation, just like every collectible that was sold during that time - sports cards, comics, Starting Line Up and Star Wars. Funko was a new company when Pops caught on. If the founders followed the "TY business model", something that many companies were doing at the time, it was coincidence or out of ignorance. I believe that Funko has fallen victim to speculation first and foremost, which is inevitable when you produce a product that is marketed as collectible. I believe the company is on the decline for many different reasons as a result of their own unique business model that is not similar to TY's, especially when executed in a totally different time. Overproducing multiple failed product lines doesn't help for one. Having no vision for what type of company you're attempting to be is another.
Ok.. this took me a while to read and I feel I have learned a lot about you and you are a pretty interesting human and a pretty intelligent way of looking at it. I would love nothing more then to come back with an intelligent response but I can’t that’s was the best way i have ever heard it explained.