Funko nearing bankruptcy

I would as well, though the very onmodel “statues” McFarlane did years ago scratch some of the itch. If all of these companies have success with Sesame Street and such then it could bode well for Dr. Seuss.
 
My family and I got into Pops pretty heavy back around 2016-2017. $8 a pop (pun intended), they made really inexpensive little gifts. Did good on a spelling test? Surprise, have a Pop! I was thinking about you today and grabbed a character you like, have a Pop! That kind of thing. They were fun for a short time, we ended up with all of the DCEU pops from BvS through Birds of Prey, as well as a ton of comic DC stuff and some random movie ones.

I've never really considered whether they "go with" anything. I mean, I wouldn't put them on the same shelf as a diorama with specifically posed figures, but I do have some Superman pops on my "Superman Shelf" of random Superman things (figures, pops, statues, pins, cups, etc). They go just fine wherever you put them, as long as you aren't pretending they're an action figure.

I'm not surprised or sad to see them go. We stopped buying them after that initial couple years, but they are truly everywhere. It was weird walking into GameStop or Hot Topic and seeing that half of their store was dedicated to Pops...the bottom was always going to fall out eventually. As for Mondo, I have their Mumm-Ra and She-Ra 2.0 on preorder. I've never purchased anything else from them. My plan was to get Lion-O to go with Mumm-Ra and grab a He-Man to go with She-Ra and that was all I wanted/needed. Looks like I'll be fortunate there, if Mondo ends up affected.
 
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I have about 15 Funko Pops, but half of them are my wife's. I like to buy them for properties that didn't really get merch otherwise, like Baldur's Gate 3.

I think if they halved their output, there would be a lot less negativity surrounding them. It's just one of those things where every property eventually gets sucked into the Funko machine and it's exhausting. They don't wait to see if something is successful first, they just make it and see what happens. Which leads to literal piles of Funko garbage.
 
I find they still work pretty well for anime properties, or often animation in general, just due to the more Chibi-esque style. I picked up a handful of Kingdom Hearts and Disney ones for the Kingdom Hearts shelf over the years, and they translate nicely. But I agree- there are too many properties with just regular old people that, if you didn't know it was supposed to be that specific person, you'd never guess it.
 
And yet - those are the ones I want most. Patty Heaton for the win!

Seriously, the "regular old people" are the ones I'll hold on to because if you know the character, it's usually great. No one else has made 3D Friends merch that doesn't completely suck, so I have the Holiday Armadillo and Monica with a turkey on her head on my shelf. They are the only company that made Lois from Supes 2025. They are the only company that has made MANY, MANY characters and that's worth celebrating.

Maybe you can say the audience wasn't big enough for a few of their properties, and that's probably correct, and they gambled on a few that failed spectacularly (like every company), but I think of these more as a gateway drug to new collector's than anything worth wishing death upon.
 
d2bruce said:
Wow. I had no idea that so many people shared my view on Funko POPS. I really dislike that they are EVERYWHERE. So many people have bought into the hype. Tables full of them at flea markets. See a tall display at a toy/comic show and get excited to browse some action figures, but it is an insane amount of POPS. I can't buy them, because they don't look good on a shelf with anything that I collect.
They are a waste of space and resources. But, just my opinion.
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I declared Funko Pops my enemy the time a new comic shop opened up in a nearby town about 30 minutes away. I called them and asked if they had action figures because I didn't want to drive all that way to find out they didn't. They assured me they did so I drove over there only to find out by "action figures" they meant fucking Funko Pops!

I felt like all their little black soulless eyes were mocking me as I stared at them and I briefly considered setting the store on fire. Instead I just left and never ever went back.
 
Well shit. I just stumbled across the Funko Marvin the Martian pop rides that has his rocket. I really want that (the rocket), but aftermarket is $150, and that ain't happening.
 
I don't have an opinion on the product - I'm not the target demo. I do wonder what the death of the line would mean for Collector-oriented sections in big box stores. My Target is like 50% Pops over there. I assume the area shrinks and sales on nearby things go down as well.
 
Schizm said:
They are the only company that made Lois from Supes 2025. They are the only company that has made MANY, MANY characters and that's worth celebrating.
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This is a good point. Outside of some old (and crappy) figures, Smallville never got any love from a toy and merch standpoint. Pop did a couple versions of Clark, they did Lois and Lex, and even Doomsday. You're not getting Welling and Durance merch anywhere else.
 
DC Direct did two lines of Smallville figures. They may not have been great, but they do exist. I picked up the first series figs cheaply recently for customs. 😬
 
I don't own a single POP figure. The overall form factor and design just doesn't appeal to me. I have bought other style vinyl figures or items like The Loyal Subjects small figures (the cute ones not modern cheapo-figures). So I'm not opposed to vinyl art figures. It's just that POPs hold no visual appeal to me.

If Funko goes down, what about Mondo? Didn't Funko buy them a year or two ago?
 
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