Monster of the Day #1838

Updated on November 2, 2018 By Ken Begg 11 Comments

I really wonder at the economics of these figures. There seem to be literally thousands of them. How much are the license fees? How many of each figure do they have to sell to reach profit. I’m just amazed at how these things took off.

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  • Beckoning Chasm

    There are very, very few crazes where I can say, “I see the reasoning behind this.” I suppose that’s why they’re called “crazes.”

  • Gamera977

    The Funko Pop line I assume? Seems like the next Beanie Baby craze to me. Personally I think they’re ugly, cheap looking, and are sorta creepy in an uncanny valley sort of way.

    At least the Nendoroid line of figures are cute. Their Han Solo and Luke Skywalker are cool looking but a little expensive for a so-so Star Wars fan like me. If they did Captain Kirk or Sisko I might consider it…

  • BGBear_rnh w/oofferinganyproof

    Ugly in general true. I do like my Funko Tom Servo & Crow T. Robot. I also got a special edition Servo-Croation/Crowservo hybrid for being a donor to the comeback fund.

  • Gamera977

    I had to look those up, the Bots are pretty cool-looking. Not crazy about Joel or Mike, guess it’s the human figures I don’t really like. I think it’s the dead black eyes, I’m reminded of Quint’s comments about the shark’s cold, dead, doll eyes in ‘Jaws’.

    I didn’t see a version of Doctor Forester though…

  • Ditto. Never once saw a Funko Pop that appealed. Just too uncanny for my tastes.

  • zombiewhacker

    If anyone’s interested, there’s an insightful YouTube on the subject called “Funko Here to Stay” by Company Man.

  • Those two live in my den with all my other movie crap. Younger boychild gave them to me. And I do have “Groot decorated with Christmas lights” one, because it was irresistible and I love my Christmas stuff.

    But yeah, not sure how it became a thing. Then again, middle-aged moms (no matter how nerdy) are probably not the target audience either.

  • And these at least make slightly more sense than Pet Rocks.

  • Ken_Begg

    The toys are fun, but unlike Pet Rocks or Beany Babies, these requires licensing deals. And they have seemingly thousands of toys, so they must get blanket contracts?

  • That’s a good question. I would imagine that they’d have to as getting licensing for each individual Marvel character (as an example) would seem to be impractical and expensive. You also wonder if there are certain characters the license holders keep out of the deals, or make them pay extra for as value-added for the line. The sheer numbers are crazy.

  • Ken_Begg

    Or Doctor Who or Star Trek or etc. I can only imagine they are getting the rights pretty cheap, but just the legal costs, even if minimal, seem like they would stack up fast.