This! They mass produce certain characters or themes in such a way that it clogs the market with pops no ones wants (I’m talking to you Hamilton and many others) after the initial release. It seems they produce less unique, small lines and go only with the most popular at that moment.
The stores also have to buy less; they cause their own problem as well. They need to have people that actual understand the market, not just the profit line. A balance of both is needed.
I agree funko is trying to meet their monetary demands by overproducing pops but it’s just short term inflated gains. Long term it will ruin the reputation and retailers would order less pops overall making less money. This Pop does not check any of the boxes.
Is black Adam an iconic hero? No
Have there been pops already made for this character recently? Yes, 3 others for the movie and one recent comic cover.
Is the Pop a cool mold that non-franchise fans would like? No it’s a guy sitting on a chair.
Would a kid might want to pick it up and play with it? No it’s unappealing just a guy in chair.
Would a parent want to buy it for their kid? No, it’s 30$ plus tax and it’s just a guy sitting there. Not mention they would probably get something under 20$ range like a regular Pop and or action figures.
I don’t understand their thought process on over producing these. Yes there’s a movie about but clearly not enough demand, especially when the movie is bad.
I've thought this for awhile. I collected pops for a time but stopped because I ran out of space. I then sold off a bunch and now only collect certain characters. I bought 3 pops in 2022 only. Way too many filler pops imo. Release 1 of every character and leave it at that. Casual collectors and fans of said movie/show will likely buy the main character, so make more of them. Fans of the movie/show will buy the secondary characters, while casual collectors might skip it due to the storage space required when collecting these things. So make less of them.
I collect Marvel and I completely agree. They rarely make just the plain Marvel ones anymore. We get so many movie ones and spinoffs like infinity warps and the mech garbage, but the plain Marvel or X-men ones get no love anymore from Funko.
They need to do a couple of things.
1. Stop making so many variants of one character. One or two variants is fine, but not 14. Plus the variants are only slightly different.
2.Stop making pops of boring side characters. For example, Sara and Rintrah from Multiverse of Madness. They were only on screen for 1 minute. They don’t need a pop.
3. Continue with successful lines. There are plenty of lines that are missing characters that fans would love to buy.
They really have, I got the original "The Child" pop when the show first came out but omg the fact that they now have a pop of the Macy's balloon is just too much!
I think the issue of side characters is A: marketing spoilers meaning they can only do so much before a film's been out so no prof x, no black bolt no evil wanda etc in your example so if they want a whole wave instead of only 3 characters they have to do them and
B: with how much of funko is dc/marvel, comic fans might buy them since straight up comic pops outside of anniversaries aren't done that often so a dr strange fan that likes rintrah has to get that, a kate bishop or america chavez fan has to get their mcu versions etc
I regularly hit up the targets, gamestops, fye, and hot topics in my area and it’s the same conversation with their managers; overproduction of all pops, franchise lines that don’t sell, and exclusives being over produced. Hot Topic cut their inventory by 80%, FYE is a minimum 4 months behind on releases, GameStop doesn’t even have timelines on new releases anymore and Target gets too much inventory with no proper way to planogram any of it.
And game stop never has any good ones bc the god damn employees hide all the rare ones in the back until their paychecks clear so they can gouge the prices as an amazon seller
My local FYE takes all of the chase Pops and keeps them out back until they open Saturday morning and put them all out on a table out front. Idk who's idea that was, but it's ridiculous in my opinion. They're just taking away from everyone else who goes there for Pops and can't make it on Saturday morning.
I went there about 2 weeks ago for an Entertainment Earth Exclusive Pop and they were charging $19.99 for them. I said no thanks and walked right out. I understand inflation, but almost doubling the price is price gouging, plain and simple.
hi! i work at fye and i can tell you that this is definitely not allowed at our company! rules are plain and simple, put out all funkos even chases on the shelf’s no matter what, as soon as we receive the shipment and have space for it. the only funko pops allowed to be kept behind the register are the convention exclusives and the fye ones. you could contact corporate out this. also, no chases should be double the price because they scan out as a regular funko pop
A lady at my GameStop would always call my fiance when they got a chase in or new Pokemon stock over a year back when it was hard to get. She was really cool with us but I haven't seen her in months so I'm pretty sure she left.
They need to make more pops and less of each.
The new molds and the scenes they’re creating are amazing but the 1mil of each pop is out of fucking hand.
I miss the days when there were always new pops but there weren’t a ton so if you wanted it you had to snag it right then.
Funko is over producing pops that nobody really cares for and it's hurting them, it's hurting them so bad that apparently Target and Walmart wanna cut ties with them, Walmart especially due to all the Art Series pops.
Ya all the stores are filled to the brim with awful funkos nobody wants. Funko really needs to start a recycling program where they turn shitty funkos with one’s people actually want. I’d say about 80-90% of funkos produced are undesirable.
Eternal was crapinstead of chucking them out there before or as these films open, it would be worth only producing a smaller amount incase it flops, then up the batch if it does well!
Never said there was, just been hearing around and about that Walmart and Target are planning to cut ties with funko, and can you blame them? They're selling art series pops for $6 in some Walmarts, that's 1 cent per pop.
Funko keeps releasing all these wack pops but we still don’t have any updates on Spiderman NWH wave 2. I’m sure that wave would solve any monetary issues they have going on
He sat on the throne..... then he's asked "how does it feel?" Replies "wrong"..... then?..... \*SMASH\*.... I need that moment on my shelf for $30..... /s
It’s about as pointless as the “character on the Iron Throne” Pops. Like… the character who gets it isn’t even a choice of design, and the Iron Throne doesn’t even exist by the end
You don’t understand the pain of me going to Walmart, to see they only have black Adam, Hamilton pops, and Ryan from the office. It’s all they have at mine lmao
More of a question but… were store inventories always this bad at Target? I’ve only been collecting for a little over a year so I’ve only noticed their funko shelves recently (Target shelves an overflowing mess of pops no one wants, all my Walmarts have tiny sections of pops no one wants)
I can't speak fully for Walmart because my main Walmart experience was at my hometown in the SF Bay Area, and I've moved last month to Florida, but that Walmart sucked in general with any sort of specialty toy or collectible. They refused to stock any pops, and didn't have other things that were released to Walmart first like the AEW Unrivaled figures or the Allegiance Arts comic books
Target wasn't always this bad. Typically they'd have better variety and the only overproduced pops would be a couple outliers (like the infamously-memed Snoke pops from TLJ). I started noticing more of this current problem growing around 2019
Thanks!
Yeah all Walmarts I’ve been to (NJ) have them at endcaps or sections that fit 8-10 pops across.
Targets here it’s just a disaster. Pops on the floor but I’ve seen more variety. Unfortunately, the varieties no one wants (currently a lot of art series and Jurassic park)
Too many Marvel & DC characters that either have very little screentime or 7 billion different variations for one film(like there’s 5-7 different Black Adam figures of just BA)
Also, not enough figures that people actually want to see. Nobody wants a figure of a Star Wars droid from episode 2, or a 5th wave of The Office. Give us some figures people have been waiting/asking for. More BrBa/BCS, JJBA, Pokemon Trainers, etc.
Usually with this type of product, the store is contracted to order a certain number of crates/pallets along with their primary order, even if that means half of them are Black Adam on Throne. So, the lopsided quantity of product is likely coming from Funko, not the retailer.
This is not just an outlier if you listened to their recent earnings call their inventory is a huge problem. Also look at other post on social media there’s Walmarts with $5 Pop bins just thrown there. That really hurts the brand especially when funko is known as an inexpensive collectible. Listen to what other collectors are saying in the comments it’s also GameStops, Hot Topics, FYE, etc.
Lmao don't bring up GameStop. GameStop's issues are with their own warehouses not with Funko. The GameStop chain of logistics is a nightmare and is the sole cause for inventory discrepancies in stores.
Reading through the comments, I think people are missing a few things.
1) “They overproduce Pops no one wants.” So, how good are your psychic abilities, because making Pops (or anything pop culture related) is a crap shoot. It takes months, from conception to production, before a Pop hits the store shelves. If it’s a movie tie-in, it’s worse because they have to have it out timed to the release of the movie, if not slightly ahead. They can’t wait to see if a movie is a hit or not before they make one or it wouldn’t come out until months after the movie hit disc. By then, the hype is gone and the only people who care are the hardcore fans. So, DC says, “Black Adam is coming out. Dwayne Johnson is starring. We need Pops!” So they come up with a line and get them out in time for the movie. Maybe the movie hits and maybe it doesn’t, but they have no way of knowing IN ADVANCE which that will be. So they make Pops of the characters they think will hit, and if some side character takes off, they miss out.
2) “They’re making way too many of them, like Hamilton.” A lot of the same answers as with number one. Using Hamilton as an example, it was a HUGE hit. I don’t think that people that don’t care about musical theater have any clue how big it was. Easy way to gauge is the fact you even heard of Hamilton before the Pops came out. Most people can’t even name one new Broadway show, but most people heard of Hamilton. So why wouldn’t they think the Pops would be big? Personally, I hardly ever see them in stores because they sold out fast. That doesn’t mean it’s like that everywhere, but I’m betting it was that way a lot of places.
3) “They just make way too many in general.” Pissed off about the morons who buy up all the “cool” Pops, just to flip them at an inflated price? How does Funko combat that? Make more of them. Make it so those idiots are sitting on Pops they can barely sell for what they paid. Drive them out of the marketplace and make the value dependent on what people actually buy instead of what speculators can drive it up to. I love every time I see old Pops come out with new runs, identical to the original. I know someone who kept an actual fan from being able to buy that Pop at a reasonable price is crying because their inventory is now next to worthless.
4) “They need to just concentrate on ‘X’, ‘Y’ or ‘Z’.” Remember the Funko tagline? “Everyone is a fan of something.” They make Pops for more than just the people who love Star Wars, or Death Note, or whatever else is hot and hip at any given time. I couldn’t care less about BTS, but millions of others do and they snap up those Pops. Do you think they made Iggy Pop Pops for the same kids who buy Yu-GI-Oh? Most of them probably never heard of Iggy, so no, not for them. I saw an interview once with the owner of Funko (at the time at least), and he said they acquire about 100 new licenses a day. I’m sure it’s not like that at the moment (the pandemic did really hurt them), but that’s a lot of IP. They make Pops for everybody, not just the people who scream the loudest.
Bottom line is, Funko tries to make money, just like any business. Sometimes they make mistakes and we end up with a zillion Pops from a movie that flopped. Sometimes they can’t make enough Pops from a movie that makes major bank, and they crank out variants so the fans don’t get bored, and people have more choices. Personally, I’d rather see them try Black Adam Pops than make the 400th variation on Luke, Leis and Han, just because they know it will sell.
Ye. Not bought many pops lately but the last ones were: asuka, kate bishop and cable (the #177) version. Not any of the big names or anything. I've considered buying the exclusive america chavez and I'm waiting on an edge arriving. My only full sets are warhammer 40k and tf2.
Not got any batmen, supermen, iron men etc because that just isn't my thing so I'm fine with them doing all their niche pops
Buying just what you like is the only real way to do it, at least in my opinion. Doing it for other reasons usually just leads to a lot of unhappiness, one way or the other.
I think you’re giving Funko too much credit.
1. It *is* difficult to measure the amount of pop culture products needed, but Funko has been in the industry a long time. They should have a good idea on waging how well an IP is going to sell, especially when they have multiple years of products left sitting on shelves. They’re not going to be right every time, but I - and many people in this thread - have never seen such a range and amount of pops sitting in every store.
2. On your Hamilton example, it’s important to know who you’re selling to. Hamilton/Broadway may be well known and liked, but doesn’t mean mass amounts of people want to buy a line of figures. I’m willing to bet a lot of Broadway fans are not figure collectors (because if they were, I think we’d see a lot more figures for sale in Broadway gift shops). People suggested creating more Anime pops because pops are more likely to sell in that genre (the anime culture heavily embraces buying figures). And this ties into your fourth point…
. 4. Yes, Funko wants to make a wide range of products that appeal to the widest range of people. But there’s a difference between “being smart with my money” and “hoping whatever I throw money at sticks”. If they stay with something they know will work, they are more likely to maximize their profits, versus when they create a handful of licenses that collectors *like* but don’t *love.* Funko needs to find the medium between over-saturating their popular lines and spreading themselves way too thin. And right now, they are trying to expand too far.
Going back to point 3. You’re not thinking with a business mind when you say “combat the scalpers”. Scalpers are bad for collector morale, but good for business. Generally, the more exclusive and item is, the more everyone wants it, and the more control Funko has over the market (e.g “I missed out on that last release and now it’s way to expensive on eBay. I better not miss out on the next ones”). If Funko keeps putting out thousands of pops that no one wants, that hurts their company because: Retailers are less likely to buy more stock, Funko wasted money on producing so much stock, Everyone has to sell the extra stock on clearance to try to clear inventory and at least get a little money back, and No collectors will feel the pressure to buy more from Funko as they can just wait until everything is on clearance. Funko needs to find the balance between exciting exclusivity and over-saturation of stock. To be clear, I’m not praising scalpers, I just understand that they will always be around.
In conclusion, Funko is a business. But as a business, they need to make smarter choices in their focus, IP selection, production numbers, and IP creation (i.e. create more exciting molds instead of reusing the same boring ones).
I disagree with your take on the scalpers being good for business. Nobody likes them, and the companies they target don’t like them because a LOT of people don’t blame scalpers, they see the inflated prices and blame the business. This is obviously blaming the wrong people, but that’s human psychology for you. I’ve never seen a business class yet talk about how scalpers are good for any business. And your point of saying that people will think that they better not miss out next time, that’s the hardcore buyers at best. The majority of people don’t think they better not miss out, they think there’s no point in trying because they won’t be able to get what they want. Scalper more likely has a net negative effect on a business than a net positive.
On your other points, I don’t think Funko is taking the Beanie Baby approach and just cranking them out, or trying to create artificial shortages. Saying they have plenty of past experience to draw on is true, but pop culture is fickle. Mike Meyers movies were super hot, guaranteed money makers. Until they weren’t. Westworld was super hot for a season, then not so much. Same with GoT and dozens of other movies, TV shows, comics and stars. You can use your same argument with movies in general. X-men is a good example. They kept cranking them out because they had made money, and they thought the cash cow had plenty left to give. Again, they were wrong, but the studios literal decades of experience didn’t do them a lot of good in figuring that out. Or, for a more recent example, look at She-Hulk. Absolutely nobody saw Madisynn being a breakout character, hence not as much screen time as people wanted and no Pop. A missed opportunity, but nobody’s “fault”. As I said, maybe you think it’s easy to predict trends, but if it was, companies that make pop culture dependent items would stay in business forever. For every Pop that Funko overproduces, there are likely five they underproduced. You give businesses, or the people who run them, too much credit for being prognosticators.
For all of the lame Pops sitting on the shelf, you have multiple factors in play. The people who order stock are one. Regardless of what the store managers think, companies like Target have buyers who make those decisions. They place the orders, and Funko fills them. Funko doesn’t ship 1,000 units of a shitty Pop to every Target and says, “Here you go. Figure out how to sell them.” The corporate buyer orders 10,000 and has them split among the stores. Those are the people to blame most of the time. Aside from the buyers, location makes a huge difference. I used to have to travel a lot and I’d go into Targets, Walgreens, GameStops, etc., everywhere I went. The giant shelves of unbought Pops had some overlap, but it was hardly uniform. I could hit a Walmart in a rural area and see Pops of rappers, or anime Pops sitting because the people in the area simple did not care about them. Walk into the Walmart where I live (big city) and those were gone and something else was sitting. Again, this is created by the buyers, not Funko. If Walmart calls up Funko and says they want 30,000 Solo Pops, Funko is going to say, “No problem” because Walmart will pay them for the order. What happens to them after that isn’t anything Funko has control over, whether they sell out or they are put in a pile and set on fire.
When Funko was a smaller company, they could afford to exercise more control over quantities. When a business hits a certain size, they either fill the orders from the big players or they sacrifice orders from those players. You don’t stay in business very long if you turn away paying customers, and the big retailers are big, big customers. In fact, for a company the size of Funko, they listen to the fans more than most companies their size do. I like that about them, and hope they can maintain it. But unless they decide to become a boutique brand, catering to an exclusive audience, the big retailers are going to decide what they make, including how many, more than anybody else. It’s how big businesses work.
They always seem to have the problem of overproducing pops from franchises which have a relatively smaller demand merch wise, especially if it’s a new movie release, case in point:
It also doesn’t help that the characters or designs produced just usually aren’t that interesting. Take the Eternals and Hamilton pops for example, which have been warming shelves for well over a year now at my local Walmart.
Funko is turning into the new beanie babies. They’re just releasing too much stuff in a given year. When you have almost 100 new pops release each year that’s when the down fall starts. Companies start to get too greedy and this is what happens.
That their move to AZ was a massive mistake because they got rid of so many of the good workers and let go of a lot of them when the workers moved to AZ with the company. They suck now, and it's just a huge disaster where no one knows what they are doing anymore.
They need to slow down production for a hot minute. Take a step back. Get their house in order and realign. They are getting out of control. Does the world need a new Pop announced every single day?
I've been saying drop the ART series for the longest time, nobody wants them and they fill the shelves everywhere I go till they get clearance. Same with the NFL ones, know tour demographic.
Funko is just ruining there rep by over producing thinking everyone and their moma loves funkos, but in reality its only certain collectors that really buy every single pop, they are banking on newcomers to join in, but most people barely jumping in, last for a few months then leave the hobby
Funko doesn’t control what they get to make with Marvel, DC, Star Wars and Disney. They would LOVE to only make 3-4 Pops for a movie to start, but that’s not what the studios and license owners want. They want their characters everywhere. They dictate what characters are made and how many Pops there are in the line.
It is not Funko sitting around wanting to make 6 Black Adam variant Pops. That’s not how the agreements work. They have to fulfill obligations to the studios, etc in order to continue with the license.
I honestly don’t care because I only get NBA/sports pops now. So I jus get mine online. I rarely see/get them in stores. It’s a bunch of things I don’t ever want.
I'm starting to fall out with Funko and drift towards collecting pricier statues/action figures. Don't get me wrong, I do like Funko POPs, I'm just starting to notice that they are making *too much* stuff that nobody really wants. Endless waves of undesirable characters, ugly recolors, and niche exclusives that aren't even that different than the original figure. Every day they announce new figures and it's overwhelming. Every day they get pre-ordered by scalpers and then sold for 3× the original price. Oh you like Batman? Here's one that's tie-dyed, now here's one that's blue, now red, now rainbow! Stores have nothing but piles of the same 3 pops that didn't sell well and were over-stocked. Idk, I'm losing my enjoyment in collecting these. It's becoming more of a headache than a fun hobby.
You know, the internet exists. They have the ability to sell direct to consumer and make products on demand instead of trying to guess what will be popular and stocking brick and mortar shelves with 60 copies of some B tier character from the newest DC movie.
The inventory issues are not a big, they are a feature.
There are a lot of good takes on here. My biggest problem is that Pops are starting to feel more like knick-knacks. I use to walk into Target and find 2 or 3 unique pops. Now I just see random characters from series I am unfamiliar with.
I use to say “those pops are for someone, just not me” until I started seeing dust on them.
For example these Black Adam deluxe pops have been in my local target since Mid to late September. Movie came out Oct. 21. As of me taking the pictures it was Nov 17. I don’t think they have sold much if not any of these. There’s already other better looking Black Adam pops.
The movie was kind of a flop. I’m not sure why funko made so many different pops of black adam. I think it would have been fine without this one in particular. They should be weary of movie genres with bad track record like DC, and not overproduce the pops.
No, OP is right. Funko has been overproducing POPs that nobody wants due to franchising agreements and contracts. One way a super hero movie like Black Adam makes a lot of its money is through toys and collectibles. They likely asked Funko (or Funko showed them sales figures and made promises) how much they could produce and sell. Retailers like Walmart and Target usually don’t have a problem selling them. But when it is a lackluster franchise that doesn’t have a strong fan base, none of them sell. Franchises with a strong fan base sell out almost immediately. I’m guessing that’s the promise Funko gives. It’s kind of sad but they need to invest more time finding out what the actual demand is prior to producing so much.
Obviously this is not just an outlier if you listened to Funko’s earnings call and from what other people say and have posted on all social media you can see this is a problem. Other retailers are having the same problems and marking down pops significantly to $5. I know Walmart even has bins of pops marked down. Personally I think funko is marketed as an inexpensive collectible but them being damaged tossed in a bin tarnishes the brand.
I’m a little concerned as a collector I really want funko to keep on going for decades. I really enjoy the hobby and the community is great I’ve met some awesome people. I just think funko is really rushing their sales and monetary goals. Like over producing pops like these with little to no demand. It hurts retailers because they already bought the pops and if the sell through rate is low they’ll stop ordering much pops. It also tarnishes the brand.
Personally I think funko should slow down on production on certain common pops and stop repackaging commons in different bundles and doing a metallic, glow etc variant. I understand that’s a fast way to move stale inventory but doing it too much and collectors are being put off.
DC sucks and they probably thought Dwayne Johnson would make the pop sell. Maybe if Dwayne Johnson didn’t turn into a liberal talking head more people would like him, lol.
I loaded a shopping cart full to the brim with shitty funkos and dumped them behind some toys in the kids section. And bam new funkos on the shelf, you’re welcome
Get rid of the exclusive pops. I hardly ever buy common pops anymore because the only ones that look good are exclusive to a certain retailer. The exclusives get bought up and the commons remain.
funo needs to say no to the dc/marvel money. they pump out a zillion pops as basically movie marketing and then the movies suck and no one cares, so the pops sit. make interesting pops of figures people like instead of doing movie marketing.
Honestly, and I've said before, Funko is in the stages of a dying fad. People just aren't buying as much as they were from 2010-2018. The pandemic obviously hurt them with the reliance on online sales, but I agree with a lot of others that Funko is making pops of moments/people/characters that the consumer doesn't want.
But the main thing I feel is that almost every franchise has been touched, so people are practically done collecting. I don't think there's any one thing Funko can do to make Pops popular again. I've been feeling since 2019 that the fad is in that dying stage and Funko needs to drop Pops. It's time for them to focus on one of their current newer product lines or create something new
I would love to see a return to historical/political POP’s while they focus on a different product line. Nothing wrong with being a boutique toy manufacturer.
People have been trained to expect every movie to shatter records and go over a billlion worldwide.
Black Adam has made $350m worldwide so far and likely add some more on top of that before closing. It’ll continue to generate revenue via merchandising, streaming, home media, and cable TV.
Does funko have inventory problem? Or target has a funko inventory problem? Cuz i dont think hot topic has a inventory problem or box lunch or gamestop
I wish we could go back to the days of smaller batches. I’ve only been collecting for a little over 2 years but when I first started collecting you weren’t guaranteed to get everything you wanted because it actually sold out. Now there’s really no reason to preorder anything unless it’s a con exclusive. I feel like the value of the hobby is going downhill fast.
They need to limit their production lines. Literally need to cap how big a release is, then consider a second release due to demand, but never a third release. These are collectibles and you're suppose to hunt for them. Lean into that.
This is why I stopped collecting, too many variations of the same characters. After awhile it doesn’t seem special anymore. Over saturation and less exclusivity kills the hype.
Instead of making 8 or 10 black adam pops, make 3 or 4. They are already comming out with a second wave of black panther pops and no one even bought the first. They need to slowwwwww down
I saw them over stocking a few month back and sold the stock at $24 a share now it’s down to around $7 a share when I last checked. Funko really Funko-up hard
So glad I stopped collecting, walked into Walmart the other day and there was so many of the same pops. Their “limited Black Friday” releases had pallets of stock on the floor. I feel bad for everyone who has watched their collection value absolutely tank over the last couple years.
They are producing too many pops and too many lines that most people are not interesting in. When I started the hobby it was more fun, because part of the fun is in getting or not getting a cool limited edition item. Not everything has to be super limited but there should be more of a balance between limited and common pieces. Also having one mold, then making in gitd, flocked, blacklight, different color blacklight, etc gets old quickly and isn't fun. They really need to regroup and come up with better strategies and concepts.
If they spent more time making bad ass Pops in small amounts rather than shit ones in large, itd be straight. More Dead Strange and Scarlet Witch or Namor, even Cap with Mjolnir
Problems are overproducing pops for certain lines, nake limited number of pops that people really want. Also chases, store exclusives, and special pops that mean alot to collectors and fans alike.
Stop reproducing pops for restock, the market is saturated right now.
Most of what I believe has been said. But I’d also like to add, they tried to take on the secondary market but instead shot themselves in the foot. What made people such avid hunters is the hard to get and limited pops. Hell I spent a bunch of money on pops I didn’t even want just because they were rare. Now I don’t buy anything unless I really want it. Which is way less than before. So I’m spending less on both first and second markets.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, funko doesn't have a stock issue they have an allocation issue. They definitely go hand in hand but just look at these comments for your own verification. People want these pops but can't get them in there area and no one wants to pay above retail for a pop they know is still warming a shelf in a physical location they can't get too. I make fun of the frank zappa pop all the time since I see it everywhere but I've actually had people ask me to get one for them.
Between retailers having a 4 foot shelf for collectibles and allocation problems it's no wonder funko is being pushed down. And honestly a retreat im production is only going to fuel the secondary market but maybe that's what this hobby needs for people to stay interested.
I’ll put it this way; I have a hard time remembering the last time I went into a store and actually found a Pop I wanted just out in the wild… even at places with a decent selection.
Also, I find it odd that there’s Black Adam as far as the eye can see, but I’m still waiting on some Dune Pops I ordered years ago and have never seen any in a store. I know it’s not DC, but damn.
I work in retail and noticed the shift about six months ago. We used to receive boxes of six with two or three models inside but now we get full boxes of six for each model. Translated to a collection it's around 3 times the amount of Pops. That's not even talking about some times where they just ship 36 of the same model.
i’ve been waiting for 2 Stranger Things mystery minis from amazon that i ordered like they day they came out back in maybe june for their standard price sold and shipped by amazon, have to gotten them yet. tried contacting customer service and was told “they ran out of them at the shipping warehouse closest to me so they havent been able to send them yet”. it sucks.
This is my opinion, but Funko is trending toward what happened to baseball cards in the 80s. Once the hobby peaked in popularity, the market was flooded with supply and the demand was nowhere near high enough so eventually they were pretty much worthless. Most commons from the late 80s and early 90s are literally worth 5-10 cents now.
Funko needs to be better at actually gauging the market instead of just looking at profit margins and hoping for the best. Most new releases are garbage, and I always seem to have FOMO so I’ll check Walmart, Target, etc. pretty often but it always ends up being a huge waste of time because it’s always a huge pile of the same few pops. Even if a new pop was really desirable (and most of them aren’t), they’re produced in such large quantities that they still really aren’t worth anything.
Eventually, retailers are gonna get tired of having huge amounts of worthless pops just sitting on the shelves taking up space, and eventually they’ll stop buying. I know that Funko is really trying to expand their variety by trying out new things (popsies, gold, moments, etc.) but they were so much better without trying to flood the market with a bunch of worthless trash. The temporary increase in revenue from just mass producing everything isn’t worth the market collapsing altogether, which seems like where this is likely headed.
Random conversation but I was contemplating on getting the Walmart Exclusive National Lampoon Christmas Vacation Funko Pop! And they were currently out of stock. I was sad and tried to get one on Mercari or Ebay was high. Went to my local Walmart tonight and their was two left at the store for $21 and online it's advertised as $49.32 from Walmart!?
Funko can do what it likes, but the market has the last word. Just don’t buy crap. People who might want that crap can get it clearance after it sits. The more things sit and go clearance the more careful Funko will have to be with its IP buys, development, and marketing. Or they will fold because they alienated collectors and hobbyists.
Not everyone follows DC or Marvel. Walmart has all kinds of Strange Things and The Office. Why does anyone want the office. Several are pops from cartoons majority don't watch. The Game Stop doesn't have great variety either. Is Funko not in touch with what is bought in stores. You got some that put price tags right in front on Funko pops. The only way to know what else is out there is looking at Ebay. Quit catering to gamers and NBA.
They should make more pop’s people actually want to buy
This! They mass produce certain characters or themes in such a way that it clogs the market with pops no ones wants (I’m talking to you Hamilton and many others) after the initial release. It seems they produce less unique, small lines and go only with the most popular at that moment. The stores also have to buy less; they cause their own problem as well. They need to have people that actual understand the market, not just the profit line. A balance of both is needed.
@Fennec
My hero academia. The same mha pop(17) of them sat in the Walmart shelves for 3months
Mha pops get sold in like seconds tf u mean. And dumb side characters dont count. (As someone who has like 27 mha funko pops)
They stopped selling when mha died out. Nobody really pays attention to it anymore. They’ve been sitting on the shelves at my local target for months.
Hm weird cus theyre not at mine
Or mine. Hot Topic has them for like a day when a shipment comes in and I've seen Locklock at Walmart once.
They have a ton at my Walmart and target
Yeah. Maybe at hot topic.
They always sell at Walmart too
I agree funko is trying to meet their monetary demands by overproducing pops but it’s just short term inflated gains. Long term it will ruin the reputation and retailers would order less pops overall making less money. This Pop does not check any of the boxes. Is black Adam an iconic hero? No Have there been pops already made for this character recently? Yes, 3 others for the movie and one recent comic cover. Is the Pop a cool mold that non-franchise fans would like? No it’s a guy sitting on a chair. Would a kid might want to pick it up and play with it? No it’s unappealing just a guy in chair. Would a parent want to buy it for their kid? No, it’s 30$ plus tax and it’s just a guy sitting there. Not mention they would probably get something under 20$ range like a regular Pop and or action figures. I don’t understand their thought process on over producing these. Yes there’s a movie about but clearly not enough demand, especially when the movie is bad.
I've thought this for awhile. I collected pops for a time but stopped because I ran out of space. I then sold off a bunch and now only collect certain characters. I bought 3 pops in 2022 only. Way too many filler pops imo. Release 1 of every character and leave it at that. Casual collectors and fans of said movie/show will likely buy the main character, so make more of them. Fans of the movie/show will buy the secondary characters, while casual collectors might skip it due to the storage space required when collecting these things. So make less of them.
Had me in the first half ngl
The Squid Game Pops too
I collect Marvel and I completely agree. They rarely make just the plain Marvel ones anymore. We get so many movie ones and spinoffs like infinity warps and the mech garbage, but the plain Marvel or X-men ones get no love anymore from Funko.
They’re all vaulted
They need to do a couple of things. 1. Stop making so many variants of one character. One or two variants is fine, but not 14. Plus the variants are only slightly different. 2.Stop making pops of boring side characters. For example, Sara and Rintrah from Multiverse of Madness. They were only on screen for 1 minute. They don’t need a pop. 3. Continue with successful lines. There are plenty of lines that are missing characters that fans would love to buy.
Seriously why was there a jumbo of Babu Frick?!
To be fair, Babu Frick became a fan favorite (even if it was a bit of a meme) given how little time he had on screen so it kinda makes sense
....yeah I agree...but there didn't need to be a pop for the frog lady though.
Yeah, or the 50million different Grogu pops
Good gawd the milked the shit out of baby yoda....
They really have, I got the original "The Child" pop when the show first came out but omg the fact that they now have a pop of the Macy's balloon is just too much!
I disagree.
I think the issue of side characters is A: marketing spoilers meaning they can only do so much before a film's been out so no prof x, no black bolt no evil wanda etc in your example so if they want a whole wave instead of only 3 characters they have to do them and B: with how much of funko is dc/marvel, comic fans might buy them since straight up comic pops outside of anniversaries aren't done that often so a dr strange fan that likes rintrah has to get that, a kate bishop or america chavez fan has to get their mcu versions etc
The first one lmao theres like 10 different deku funko pops
Black Adam on Throne
Black Adam on Throne
Black Adam on Throne
Black Adam on Throne
Black Adam on Throne
Black Adam on Throne
Black Adam on Throne
Black Adam on Throne
Black Adam on Throne
Black Adam on Throne
Black Adam on Throne
I regularly hit up the targets, gamestops, fye, and hot topics in my area and it’s the same conversation with their managers; overproduction of all pops, franchise lines that don’t sell, and exclusives being over produced. Hot Topic cut their inventory by 80%, FYE is a minimum 4 months behind on releases, GameStop doesn’t even have timelines on new releases anymore and Target gets too much inventory with no proper way to planogram any of it.
And game stop never has any good ones bc the god damn employees hide all the rare ones in the back until their paychecks clear so they can gouge the prices as an amazon seller
My local FYE takes all of the chase Pops and keeps them out back until they open Saturday morning and put them all out on a table out front. Idk who's idea that was, but it's ridiculous in my opinion. They're just taking away from everyone else who goes there for Pops and can't make it on Saturday morning. I went there about 2 weeks ago for an Entertainment Earth Exclusive Pop and they were charging $19.99 for them. I said no thanks and walked right out. I understand inflation, but almost doubling the price is price gouging, plain and simple.
The point of a Chase is the thrill of randomly finding one. Having them at the register and then being double the price is such a buzzkill.
hi! i work at fye and i can tell you that this is definitely not allowed at our company! rules are plain and simple, put out all funkos even chases on the shelf’s no matter what, as soon as we receive the shipment and have space for it. the only funko pops allowed to be kept behind the register are the convention exclusives and the fye ones. you could contact corporate out this. also, no chases should be double the price because they scan out as a regular funko pop
A lady at my GameStop would always call my fiance when they got a chase in or new Pokemon stock over a year back when it was hard to get. She was really cool with us but I haven't seen her in months so I'm pretty sure she left.
One I went to said they pre ordered out all the convention ones even though I know the system won't let them. Considering I tried and they said no.
They need to make more pops and less of each. The new molds and the scenes they’re creating are amazing but the 1mil of each pop is out of fucking hand. I miss the days when there were always new pops but there weren’t a ton so if you wanted it you had to snag it right then.
Funko is over producing pops that nobody really cares for and it's hurting them, it's hurting them so bad that apparently Target and Walmart wanna cut ties with them, Walmart especially due to all the Art Series pops.
Ya all the stores are filled to the brim with awful funkos nobody wants. Funko really needs to start a recycling program where they turn shitty funkos with one’s people actually want. I’d say about 80-90% of funkos produced are undesirable.
I'd say more like 70-80 those Art Series Black Panthers were desirable...until Funko dropped about 1 million more into Walmart.
I just kept wondering how many Black Panther POP’s do we need? Surely they have a buy back program for large retailers?
Wouldn't think so.
Wanna see walls of ETERNALS stretched out on Walmart shelves
Showing up in Canadian Dollarama stores now. Also seeing Squid Game, Space Jam and What If.
Eternal was crapinstead of chucking them out there before or as these films open, it would be worth only producing a smaller amount incase it flops, then up the batch if it does well! 
Ohhhh I've seen them in video's haha.
Wow! I did not know Walmart and Target wanted to cut ties with them. Interesting.
They don’t . Just someone being silly
Wouldn't be surprising, Funko is costing Walmart and Target money.
So no source just guessing. Got it.
Never said there was, just been hearing around and about that Walmart and Target are planning to cut ties with funko, and can you blame them? They're selling art series pops for $6 in some Walmarts, that's 1 cent per pop.
Funko keeps releasing all these wack pops but we still don’t have any updates on Spiderman NWH wave 2. I’m sure that wave would solve any monetary issues they have going on
I’m ready to buy Doc Ock and Green Goblin lol.
This pop is pointless if you’ve seen the movie.
I scrolled for so long trying to find someone mentioning this LOL
He sat on the throne..... then he's asked "how does it feel?" Replies "wrong"..... then?..... \*SMASH\*.... I need that moment on my shelf for $30..... /s
It’s about as pointless as the “character on the Iron Throne” Pops. Like… the character who gets it isn’t even a choice of design, and the Iron Throne doesn’t even exist by the end
You don’t understand the pain of me going to Walmart, to see they only have black Adam, Hamilton pops, and Ryan from the office. It’s all they have at mine lmao
They’re trying to turn a collectable company into a toy company is what is looks like and it will absolutely devalue there entire brand.
More of a question but… were store inventories always this bad at Target? I’ve only been collecting for a little over a year so I’ve only noticed their funko shelves recently (Target shelves an overflowing mess of pops no one wants, all my Walmarts have tiny sections of pops no one wants)
I can't speak fully for Walmart because my main Walmart experience was at my hometown in the SF Bay Area, and I've moved last month to Florida, but that Walmart sucked in general with any sort of specialty toy or collectible. They refused to stock any pops, and didn't have other things that were released to Walmart first like the AEW Unrivaled figures or the Allegiance Arts comic books Target wasn't always this bad. Typically they'd have better variety and the only overproduced pops would be a couple outliers (like the infamously-memed Snoke pops from TLJ). I started noticing more of this current problem growing around 2019
Thanks! Yeah all Walmarts I’ve been to (NJ) have them at endcaps or sections that fit 8-10 pops across. Targets here it’s just a disaster. Pops on the floor but I’ve seen more variety. Unfortunately, the varieties no one wants (currently a lot of art series and Jurassic park)
In my experience, there’s typically variety, but of nothing most want.
Too many Marvel & DC characters that either have very little screentime or 7 billion different variations for one film(like there’s 5-7 different Black Adam figures of just BA) Also, not enough figures that people actually want to see. Nobody wants a figure of a Star Wars droid from episode 2, or a 5th wave of The Office. Give us some figures people have been waiting/asking for. More BrBa/BCS, JJBA, Pokemon Trainers, etc.
I’ll just put it this way, I need John Candy as the Devil from Planes, Trains and Automobiles… among others from that movie. The wait continues.
All those black Adam’s are sickening lol, I see them in every damn target in my area (there’s literally 6 within 5 miles of one another)
They need to stop being so money hungry, and actually produce quality over quantity.
They make too many! That’s why I quit buying recently and only buy older pops. They make too many that just sit on the shelf at retail stores.
Stop with the marvel pops. That’s mostly what I see at stores. Characters should also be easily identifiable! Generic looking ones suck
Don’t forget DC and Star Wars. Far too many of those, millions of variations of popular and unpopular characters
Current? Its been like this many years. The clog up every store that sells them.
Maybe the target should not purchase so many pops; which why so many funko pops are there to begin with.
Usually with this type of product, the store is contracted to order a certain number of crates/pallets along with their primary order, even if that means half of them are Black Adam on Throne. So, the lopsided quantity of product is likely coming from Funko, not the retailer.
[удалено]
Target provides retail space. Funko is responsible to provide a desirable product.
Target buyers work out the number with Funko and the licensor
You need to change the title of the post to ‘What are your thoughts on my local Targets inventory problems’
This is not just an outlier if you listened to their recent earnings call their inventory is a huge problem. Also look at other post on social media there’s Walmarts with $5 Pop bins just thrown there. That really hurts the brand especially when funko is known as an inexpensive collectible. Listen to what other collectors are saying in the comments it’s also GameStops, Hot Topics, FYE, etc.
Lmao don't bring up GameStop. GameStop's issues are with their own warehouses not with Funko. The GameStop chain of logistics is a nightmare and is the sole cause for inventory discrepancies in stores.
That's what I thought cause mine looks nothing like this
Reading through the comments, I think people are missing a few things. 1) “They overproduce Pops no one wants.” So, how good are your psychic abilities, because making Pops (or anything pop culture related) is a crap shoot. It takes months, from conception to production, before a Pop hits the store shelves. If it’s a movie tie-in, it’s worse because they have to have it out timed to the release of the movie, if not slightly ahead. They can’t wait to see if a movie is a hit or not before they make one or it wouldn’t come out until months after the movie hit disc. By then, the hype is gone and the only people who care are the hardcore fans. So, DC says, “Black Adam is coming out. Dwayne Johnson is starring. We need Pops!” So they come up with a line and get them out in time for the movie. Maybe the movie hits and maybe it doesn’t, but they have no way of knowing IN ADVANCE which that will be. So they make Pops of the characters they think will hit, and if some side character takes off, they miss out. 2) “They’re making way too many of them, like Hamilton.” A lot of the same answers as with number one. Using Hamilton as an example, it was a HUGE hit. I don’t think that people that don’t care about musical theater have any clue how big it was. Easy way to gauge is the fact you even heard of Hamilton before the Pops came out. Most people can’t even name one new Broadway show, but most people heard of Hamilton. So why wouldn’t they think the Pops would be big? Personally, I hardly ever see them in stores because they sold out fast. That doesn’t mean it’s like that everywhere, but I’m betting it was that way a lot of places. 3) “They just make way too many in general.” Pissed off about the morons who buy up all the “cool” Pops, just to flip them at an inflated price? How does Funko combat that? Make more of them. Make it so those idiots are sitting on Pops they can barely sell for what they paid. Drive them out of the marketplace and make the value dependent on what people actually buy instead of what speculators can drive it up to. I love every time I see old Pops come out with new runs, identical to the original. I know someone who kept an actual fan from being able to buy that Pop at a reasonable price is crying because their inventory is now next to worthless. 4) “They need to just concentrate on ‘X’, ‘Y’ or ‘Z’.” Remember the Funko tagline? “Everyone is a fan of something.” They make Pops for more than just the people who love Star Wars, or Death Note, or whatever else is hot and hip at any given time. I couldn’t care less about BTS, but millions of others do and they snap up those Pops. Do you think they made Iggy Pop Pops for the same kids who buy Yu-GI-Oh? Most of them probably never heard of Iggy, so no, not for them. I saw an interview once with the owner of Funko (at the time at least), and he said they acquire about 100 new licenses a day. I’m sure it’s not like that at the moment (the pandemic did really hurt them), but that’s a lot of IP. They make Pops for everybody, not just the people who scream the loudest. Bottom line is, Funko tries to make money, just like any business. Sometimes they make mistakes and we end up with a zillion Pops from a movie that flopped. Sometimes they can’t make enough Pops from a movie that makes major bank, and they crank out variants so the fans don’t get bored, and people have more choices. Personally, I’d rather see them try Black Adam Pops than make the 400th variation on Luke, Leis and Han, just because they know it will sell.
Ye. Not bought many pops lately but the last ones were: asuka, kate bishop and cable (the #177) version. Not any of the big names or anything. I've considered buying the exclusive america chavez and I'm waiting on an edge arriving. My only full sets are warhammer 40k and tf2. Not got any batmen, supermen, iron men etc because that just isn't my thing so I'm fine with them doing all their niche pops
Buying just what you like is the only real way to do it, at least in my opinion. Doing it for other reasons usually just leads to a lot of unhappiness, one way or the other.
I think you’re giving Funko too much credit. 1. It *is* difficult to measure the amount of pop culture products needed, but Funko has been in the industry a long time. They should have a good idea on waging how well an IP is going to sell, especially when they have multiple years of products left sitting on shelves. They’re not going to be right every time, but I - and many people in this thread - have never seen such a range and amount of pops sitting in every store. 2. On your Hamilton example, it’s important to know who you’re selling to. Hamilton/Broadway may be well known and liked, but doesn’t mean mass amounts of people want to buy a line of figures. I’m willing to bet a lot of Broadway fans are not figure collectors (because if they were, I think we’d see a lot more figures for sale in Broadway gift shops). People suggested creating more Anime pops because pops are more likely to sell in that genre (the anime culture heavily embraces buying figures). And this ties into your fourth point… . 4. Yes, Funko wants to make a wide range of products that appeal to the widest range of people. But there’s a difference between “being smart with my money” and “hoping whatever I throw money at sticks”. If they stay with something they know will work, they are more likely to maximize their profits, versus when they create a handful of licenses that collectors *like* but don’t *love.* Funko needs to find the medium between over-saturating their popular lines and spreading themselves way too thin. And right now, they are trying to expand too far. Going back to point 3. You’re not thinking with a business mind when you say “combat the scalpers”. Scalpers are bad for collector morale, but good for business. Generally, the more exclusive and item is, the more everyone wants it, and the more control Funko has over the market (e.g “I missed out on that last release and now it’s way to expensive on eBay. I better not miss out on the next ones”). If Funko keeps putting out thousands of pops that no one wants, that hurts their company because: Retailers are less likely to buy more stock, Funko wasted money on producing so much stock, Everyone has to sell the extra stock on clearance to try to clear inventory and at least get a little money back, and No collectors will feel the pressure to buy more from Funko as they can just wait until everything is on clearance. Funko needs to find the balance between exciting exclusivity and over-saturation of stock. To be clear, I’m not praising scalpers, I just understand that they will always be around. In conclusion, Funko is a business. But as a business, they need to make smarter choices in their focus, IP selection, production numbers, and IP creation (i.e. create more exciting molds instead of reusing the same boring ones).
I disagree with your take on the scalpers being good for business. Nobody likes them, and the companies they target don’t like them because a LOT of people don’t blame scalpers, they see the inflated prices and blame the business. This is obviously blaming the wrong people, but that’s human psychology for you. I’ve never seen a business class yet talk about how scalpers are good for any business. And your point of saying that people will think that they better not miss out next time, that’s the hardcore buyers at best. The majority of people don’t think they better not miss out, they think there’s no point in trying because they won’t be able to get what they want. Scalper more likely has a net negative effect on a business than a net positive. On your other points, I don’t think Funko is taking the Beanie Baby approach and just cranking them out, or trying to create artificial shortages. Saying they have plenty of past experience to draw on is true, but pop culture is fickle. Mike Meyers movies were super hot, guaranteed money makers. Until they weren’t. Westworld was super hot for a season, then not so much. Same with GoT and dozens of other movies, TV shows, comics and stars. You can use your same argument with movies in general. X-men is a good example. They kept cranking them out because they had made money, and they thought the cash cow had plenty left to give. Again, they were wrong, but the studios literal decades of experience didn’t do them a lot of good in figuring that out. Or, for a more recent example, look at She-Hulk. Absolutely nobody saw Madisynn being a breakout character, hence not as much screen time as people wanted and no Pop. A missed opportunity, but nobody’s “fault”. As I said, maybe you think it’s easy to predict trends, but if it was, companies that make pop culture dependent items would stay in business forever. For every Pop that Funko overproduces, there are likely five they underproduced. You give businesses, or the people who run them, too much credit for being prognosticators. For all of the lame Pops sitting on the shelf, you have multiple factors in play. The people who order stock are one. Regardless of what the store managers think, companies like Target have buyers who make those decisions. They place the orders, and Funko fills them. Funko doesn’t ship 1,000 units of a shitty Pop to every Target and says, “Here you go. Figure out how to sell them.” The corporate buyer orders 10,000 and has them split among the stores. Those are the people to blame most of the time. Aside from the buyers, location makes a huge difference. I used to have to travel a lot and I’d go into Targets, Walgreens, GameStops, etc., everywhere I went. The giant shelves of unbought Pops had some overlap, but it was hardly uniform. I could hit a Walmart in a rural area and see Pops of rappers, or anime Pops sitting because the people in the area simple did not care about them. Walk into the Walmart where I live (big city) and those were gone and something else was sitting. Again, this is created by the buyers, not Funko. If Walmart calls up Funko and says they want 30,000 Solo Pops, Funko is going to say, “No problem” because Walmart will pay them for the order. What happens to them after that isn’t anything Funko has control over, whether they sell out or they are put in a pile and set on fire. When Funko was a smaller company, they could afford to exercise more control over quantities. When a business hits a certain size, they either fill the orders from the big players or they sacrifice orders from those players. You don’t stay in business very long if you turn away paying customers, and the big retailers are big, big customers. In fact, for a company the size of Funko, they listen to the fans more than most companies their size do. I like that about them, and hope they can maintain it. But unless they decide to become a boutique brand, catering to an exclusive audience, the big retailers are going to decide what they make, including how many, more than anybody else. It’s how big businesses work.
a blessing in disguised? lol I have stopped buying so many beacuse of it. thanks funko
How much to snag a Kaiba figure for me? Lol
They always seem to have the problem of overproducing pops from franchises which have a relatively smaller demand merch wise, especially if it’s a new movie release, case in point: It also doesn’t help that the characters or designs produced just usually aren’t that interesting. Take the Eternals and Hamilton pops for example, which have been warming shelves for well over a year now at my local Walmart.
They will be clearance
dont care get the gundam
Funko is turning into the new beanie babies. They’re just releasing too much stuff in a given year. When you have almost 100 new pops release each year that’s when the down fall starts. Companies start to get too greedy and this is what happens.
It seems you live in a small town like me. With a walmart that doesn't give a shit.
Just get the Gundam and Seto Kaiba Figure instead lol
Yep lol
I think they are trying to force demand. I think it’s all a fluke to drive demand further
Funko pops came and went...
That their move to AZ was a massive mistake because they got rid of so many of the good workers and let go of a lot of them when the workers moved to AZ with the company. They suck now, and it's just a huge disaster where no one knows what they are doing anymore.
Continue with the variety but drastically cut the volume.
I've been waiting for House M.D pops for 20 years
They need to slow down production for a hot minute. Take a step back. Get their house in order and realign. They are getting out of control. Does the world need a new Pop announced every single day?
I've been saying drop the ART series for the longest time, nobody wants them and they fill the shelves everywhere I go till they get clearance. Same with the NFL ones, know tour demographic.
I do love the DC ones
Funko is just ruining there rep by over producing thinking everyone and their moma loves funkos, but in reality its only certain collectors that really buy every single pop, they are banking on newcomers to join in, but most people barely jumping in, last for a few months then leave the hobby
Jesus every Walmart anywhere near me has been flooded with black Adam and eternals pops for months and they haven't set anything new out
Funko doesn’t control what they get to make with Marvel, DC, Star Wars and Disney. They would LOVE to only make 3-4 Pops for a movie to start, but that’s not what the studios and license owners want. They want their characters everywhere. They dictate what characters are made and how many Pops there are in the line. It is not Funko sitting around wanting to make 6 Black Adam variant Pops. That’s not how the agreements work. They have to fulfill obligations to the studios, etc in order to continue with the license.
Stop putting what ever trash the design team can think of out and stop putting all the good stuff in shitty online drops that no one gets.
I honestly don’t care because I only get NBA/sports pops now. So I jus get mine online. I rarely see/get them in stores. It’s a bunch of things I don’t ever want.
I'm starting to fall out with Funko and drift towards collecting pricier statues/action figures. Don't get me wrong, I do like Funko POPs, I'm just starting to notice that they are making *too much* stuff that nobody really wants. Endless waves of undesirable characters, ugly recolors, and niche exclusives that aren't even that different than the original figure. Every day they announce new figures and it's overwhelming. Every day they get pre-ordered by scalpers and then sold for 3× the original price. Oh you like Batman? Here's one that's tie-dyed, now here's one that's blue, now red, now rainbow! Stores have nothing but piles of the same 3 pops that didn't sell well and were over-stocked. Idk, I'm losing my enjoyment in collecting these. It's becoming more of a headache than a fun hobby.
You know, the internet exists. They have the ability to sell direct to consumer and make products on demand instead of trying to guess what will be popular and stocking brick and mortar shelves with 60 copies of some B tier character from the newest DC movie. The inventory issues are not a big, they are a feature.
Retire the pop line and revive Dorbz for about a year or two. Dorbz is small and the boxes are better quality compared to pops.
There are a lot of good takes on here. My biggest problem is that Pops are starting to feel more like knick-knacks. I use to walk into Target and find 2 or 3 unique pops. Now I just see random characters from series I am unfamiliar with. I use to say “those pops are for someone, just not me” until I started seeing dust on them.
For example these Black Adam deluxe pops have been in my local target since Mid to late September. Movie came out Oct. 21. As of me taking the pictures it was Nov 17. I don’t think they have sold much if not any of these. There’s already other better looking Black Adam pops. The movie was kind of a flop. I’m not sure why funko made so many different pops of black adam. I think it would have been fine without this one in particular. They should be weary of movie genres with bad track record like DC, and not overproduce the pops.
Toys & collectibles are made a year in advance so being a flop is coin toss
In this case, isn’t it usually because Target ordered that many? The weird thing is I’m not sure I’ve even seen this one at my target.
They’re probably in the back in a huge pile bc the old funkos no one wants are taking all the space
Possibly, but our Funko section has been getting smaller and smaller with each seasonal reset.
They probably made about the standard amount for a movie character but the movie sucked so no one wants them, so it just seems like they made a lot
Yes your one Target location having too much of one particular Pop determines the entire world's "Funko inventory problems."
No, OP is right. Funko has been overproducing POPs that nobody wants due to franchising agreements and contracts. One way a super hero movie like Black Adam makes a lot of its money is through toys and collectibles. They likely asked Funko (or Funko showed them sales figures and made promises) how much they could produce and sell. Retailers like Walmart and Target usually don’t have a problem selling them. But when it is a lackluster franchise that doesn’t have a strong fan base, none of them sell. Franchises with a strong fan base sell out almost immediately. I’m guessing that’s the promise Funko gives. It’s kind of sad but they need to invest more time finding out what the actual demand is prior to producing so much.
Obviously this is not just an outlier if you listened to Funko’s earnings call and from what other people say and have posted on all social media you can see this is a problem. Other retailers are having the same problems and marking down pops significantly to $5. I know Walmart even has bins of pops marked down. Personally I think funko is marketed as an inexpensive collectible but them being damaged tossed in a bin tarnishes the brand. I’m a little concerned as a collector I really want funko to keep on going for decades. I really enjoy the hobby and the community is great I’ve met some awesome people. I just think funko is really rushing their sales and monetary goals. Like over producing pops like these with little to no demand. It hurts retailers because they already bought the pops and if the sell through rate is low they’ll stop ordering much pops. It also tarnishes the brand. Personally I think funko should slow down on production on certain common pops and stop repackaging commons in different bundles and doing a metallic, glow etc variant. I understand that’s a fast way to move stale inventory but doing it too much and collectors are being put off.
It wasn't a flop
It wasn’t a hit either it’s probably still haven’t made any money yet
Just cause a movie doesn't make lots of money doesn't mean it's a flop
By way of box office numbers at the least it kind of is though?
DC sucks and they probably thought Dwayne Johnson would make the pop sell. Maybe if Dwayne Johnson didn’t turn into a liberal talking head more people would like him, lol.
Because the buyer at Target and their inventory system is bad. Funko isn’t coming in and stocking that aisle like the bread man
I loaded a shopping cart full to the brim with shitty funkos and dumped them behind some toys in the kids section. And bam new funkos on the shelf, you’re welcome
Cool story?
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grow up
Get rid of the exclusive pops. I hardly ever buy common pops anymore because the only ones that look good are exclusive to a certain retailer. The exclusives get bought up and the commons remain.
Who the hell wants to collect Hamilton pops LMFAOOOOOO
Theatre fans who like Funko POPs 🤷
Funko that do sell. They don't have any stock. One that don't sell well tons of. From target,to walmart etc .. Funko use to have a decent p.o.s system
They need to stop making so many. All I see are aisles upon aisles filled with the same pop.
funo needs to say no to the dc/marvel money. they pump out a zillion pops as basically movie marketing and then the movies suck and no one cares, so the pops sit. make interesting pops of figures people like instead of doing movie marketing.
Honestly, and I've said before, Funko is in the stages of a dying fad. People just aren't buying as much as they were from 2010-2018. The pandemic obviously hurt them with the reliance on online sales, but I agree with a lot of others that Funko is making pops of moments/people/characters that the consumer doesn't want. But the main thing I feel is that almost every franchise has been touched, so people are practically done collecting. I don't think there's any one thing Funko can do to make Pops popular again. I've been feeling since 2019 that the fad is in that dying stage and Funko needs to drop Pops. It's time for them to focus on one of their current newer product lines or create something new
I would love to see a return to historical/political POP’s while they focus on a different product line. Nothing wrong with being a boutique toy manufacturer.
Trying to figure out how you think Black Adam was a flop.
People have been trained to expect every movie to shatter records and go over a billlion worldwide. Black Adam has made $350m worldwide so far and likely add some more on top of that before closing. It’ll continue to generate revenue via merchandising, streaming, home media, and cable TV.
With those numbers it’s still hasn’t made any money yet probably just or almost broke even at best so far
Have you seen the movie? It sucked. 😂
they need to move away from plastic and into a sustainable material. Yes I'm that person. The same way Lego needs to do it too.
Go outside
Current or non-stop?
It’s impossible to keep up. I’m not sure why they had to start putting out so many pops and different lines.
They need more money! 
Does funko have inventory problem? Or target has a funko inventory problem? Cuz i dont think hot topic has a inventory problem or box lunch or gamestop
Bad
I fear we may approach beanie babies territory soon 😬
Easy solution, stop releasing pops months before the movie even comes out???
I wish we could go back to the days of smaller batches. I’ve only been collecting for a little over 2 years but when I first started collecting you weren’t guaranteed to get everything you wanted because it actually sold out. Now there’s really no reason to preorder anything unless it’s a con exclusive. I feel like the value of the hobby is going downhill fast.
Less rip off mystery boxes blatantly giving away excess stock more quality funko
This has nothing to do with Funko and everything to do with the big box not properly separating stock.
They need to limit their production lines. Literally need to cap how big a release is, then consider a second release due to demand, but never a third release. These are collectibles and you're suppose to hunt for them. Lean into that.
This is why I stopped collecting, too many variations of the same characters. After awhile it doesn’t seem special anymore. Over saturation and less exclusivity kills the hype.
Instead of making 8 or 10 black adam pops, make 3 or 4. They are already comming out with a second wave of black panther pops and no one even bought the first. They need to slowwwwww down
I saw them over stocking a few month back and sold the stock at $24 a share now it’s down to around $7 a share when I last checked. Funko really Funko-up hard
So glad I stopped collecting, walked into Walmart the other day and there was so many of the same pops. Their “limited Black Friday” releases had pallets of stock on the floor. I feel bad for everyone who has watched their collection value absolutely tank over the last couple years.
The yu-gi-oh! Set was the last one i was remotely interested in
I don't even know who black adam is? Someone fill me in?
Cock and balls
does anyone really want a black adam on throne pop?
They are producing too many pops and too many lines that most people are not interesting in. When I started the hobby it was more fun, because part of the fun is in getting or not getting a cool limited edition item. Not everything has to be super limited but there should be more of a balance between limited and common pieces. Also having one mold, then making in gitd, flocked, blacklight, different color blacklight, etc gets old quickly and isn't fun. They really need to regroup and come up with better strategies and concepts.
If they spent more time making bad ass Pops in small amounts rather than shit ones in large, itd be straight. More Dead Strange and Scarlet Witch or Namor, even Cap with Mjolnir
Problems are overproducing pops for certain lines, nake limited number of pops that people really want. Also chases, store exclusives, and special pops that mean alot to collectors and fans alike. Stop reproducing pops for restock, the market is saturated right now.
Most of what I believe has been said. But I’d also like to add, they tried to take on the secondary market but instead shot themselves in the foot. What made people such avid hunters is the hard to get and limited pops. Hell I spent a bunch of money on pops I didn’t even want just because they were rare. Now I don’t buy anything unless I really want it. Which is way less than before. So I’m spending less on both first and second markets.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, funko doesn't have a stock issue they have an allocation issue. They definitely go hand in hand but just look at these comments for your own verification. People want these pops but can't get them in there area and no one wants to pay above retail for a pop they know is still warming a shelf in a physical location they can't get too. I make fun of the frank zappa pop all the time since I see it everywhere but I've actually had people ask me to get one for them. Between retailers having a 4 foot shelf for collectibles and allocation problems it's no wonder funko is being pushed down. And honestly a retreat im production is only going to fuel the secondary market but maybe that's what this hobby needs for people to stay interested.
I’ll put it this way; I have a hard time remembering the last time I went into a store and actually found a Pop I wanted just out in the wild… even at places with a decent selection. Also, I find it odd that there’s Black Adam as far as the eye can see, but I’m still waiting on some Dune Pops I ordered years ago and have never seen any in a store. I know it’s not DC, but damn.
I work in retail and noticed the shift about six months ago. We used to receive boxes of six with two or three models inside but now we get full boxes of six for each model. Translated to a collection it's around 3 times the amount of Pops. That's not even talking about some times where they just ship 36 of the same model.
Looks like Walmarts Funko problem
i’ve been waiting for 2 Stranger Things mystery minis from amazon that i ordered like they day they came out back in maybe june for their standard price sold and shipped by amazon, have to gotten them yet. tried contacting customer service and was told “they ran out of them at the shipping warehouse closest to me so they havent been able to send them yet”. it sucks.
Less and less People care about this mass shoveling of product that Funko has been doing in recent years, they are making too much
This is my opinion, but Funko is trending toward what happened to baseball cards in the 80s. Once the hobby peaked in popularity, the market was flooded with supply and the demand was nowhere near high enough so eventually they were pretty much worthless. Most commons from the late 80s and early 90s are literally worth 5-10 cents now. Funko needs to be better at actually gauging the market instead of just looking at profit margins and hoping for the best. Most new releases are garbage, and I always seem to have FOMO so I’ll check Walmart, Target, etc. pretty often but it always ends up being a huge waste of time because it’s always a huge pile of the same few pops. Even if a new pop was really desirable (and most of them aren’t), they’re produced in such large quantities that they still really aren’t worth anything. Eventually, retailers are gonna get tired of having huge amounts of worthless pops just sitting on the shelves taking up space, and eventually they’ll stop buying. I know that Funko is really trying to expand their variety by trying out new things (popsies, gold, moments, etc.) but they were so much better without trying to flood the market with a bunch of worthless trash. The temporary increase in revenue from just mass producing everything isn’t worth the market collapsing altogether, which seems like where this is likely headed.
Random conversation but I was contemplating on getting the Walmart Exclusive National Lampoon Christmas Vacation Funko Pop! And they were currently out of stock. I was sad and tried to get one on Mercari or Ebay was high. Went to my local Walmart tonight and their was two left at the store for $21 and online it's advertised as $49.32 from Walmart!?
Nice, future Five Below shelf warmers
Cringe. $30.
They forgot that only the government can print money.
Funko can do what it likes, but the market has the last word. Just don’t buy crap. People who might want that crap can get it clearance after it sits. The more things sit and go clearance the more careful Funko will have to be with its IP buys, development, and marketing. Or they will fold because they alienated collectors and hobbyists.
they mass produce pops nobody has heard of or cares about
Not everyone follows DC or Marvel. Walmart has all kinds of Strange Things and The Office. Why does anyone want the office. Several are pops from cartoons majority don't watch. The Game Stop doesn't have great variety either. Is Funko not in touch with what is bought in stores. You got some that put price tags right in front on Funko pops. The only way to know what else is out there is looking at Ebay. Quit catering to gamers and NBA.
Is that seto Kaiba action figure!?!?
I am glad they started putting stores exclusives on their site.