I wonder how much total plastic waste was generated on this stupid fucking gimmick?
That’s ok, I’m sure Labubus and other consumerism bullshit will fill the void just fine for these gambling addicts who think they’ll strike gold with some shitty plastic one day.
After watching the movie The Spanish Prisoner I can’t help but see it everywhere. Everybody buying all these products thinking they’re in on something, or that they’re getting something of tangible value, when they’re just giving away their money for plastic in a different shape.
To be fair, Labubus are actually in demand enough to hold value and since they sell in blind boxes, it makes the perceived value of rarer items even higher; like actual Beanie Babies back in the day.
FunkoPops were never in demand and never were going to be. People bought them like everything ever just intrinsically grows in value over time. Things only grow in value over time as availability goes down and desire to have them go up.
So it’s the same shitty plastic just sold in box that you can see inside of?
Yes, and that because of that is what somehow makes them worth more to a collector buying second hand. So they’re even dumber.
Finally some good news.
What will GameStop be filled with now?
Boxes with a piece of paper that has a download link on it inside.
Damn, this is already true and so depressing.
NFT with extra steps!
I was happy with digital downloads becoming a thing when Steam was initially announced. The only thing that I hate about it is the whole liscencing bullshit where they can just say “you’re not allowed to use this anymore” for any reason and not give me a refund for it.
But… That’s true of physical media, too. The liscense is about the intangible software; not the tangible thing the software is stored on. The only real benefit of physical media is you at least, presumably, have an installable thing. As long as it doesn’t need to go online to check your liscense status (such as with online authentication drm).
Definitely not customers, that’s for sure.
It will be the death of Eb games in Australia
Labubus
GamblingGacha machines containing smaller, off-brand versions of Funko pops.literally anything would be better than those beady-eyed fucks.
How the fuck do you go out of business selling overpriced plastic tat? They must have a cost price of pennies.
They’re $240m in debt, and I bet the people running it are not short of money.
Advertising and licensing costs
Good riddance. I hope the leftovers flood the markets and ruin the “collectors value” of that junk.
Wtf, they had collector value? How? They flooded the market with to much product… or did they have a Supreme business model?
All i know about those things is that people wasted money collecting them. So for those these things have or had value.
Afaik there are “rare” variants that are mixed in with the base ones. One has to know the difference. I’m sure a lot of these will end up in landfills and there will be a collectors market in 150 years.
A lot have already ended up in landfills. They’ve had at least one time wherein they made a fuckload and then sales dropped and it was cheaper to dispose of thousands rather than put them in storage for any amount of time
Almost like there’s a direct correlation between tech layoffs and the collectibles market… Who the fuck do you think was buying Funkos? It’s the dev at the cubicle / working from home.
Like seriously, who buys this stuff? Just such a cheap and cliche way of displaying your interests or values. Funkos are just the nerd shut in version of a middle-age white woman’s “live laugh love” wooden sign.
I absolutely get why they became popular, you know your Nephews favorite video game character is Claptrap… its a $15 stocking stuffer that shows you pay attention to their interests and care. Then when I saw people displaying their “Collection” and it was literally just people trying to buy them all and taking up whole rooms in their house I knew that they would monetise it to death licencing every property they could worming into every niche in existence to the point where there was absolutely no scarcity and no collector could keep up and eventually go bust.
They’re not that bad. They’re nerd Hummels. When their mom dies and they move out of the basement there will be a display cabinet waiting for them.
You nailed my husband.
You can’t just accuse someone like that in public without proof.
Can I nail him too ?
people who like to ‘collect’ stuff.
for some people owning physical representational/memorabilia is a hobby/life goal
I mean I have a few. But I’m not interested in more. I have one little (well smallish) hanging shelves thing that I put them on, and it’s full. But I’m not making it my place’s identity.
One of my former housemates went crazy with em. Not quite hoarder level, since he kept them in his room and not throughout the house (just like I do mine). But he bought enough that he was on a rotating basis of selling them at garage sales while buying different ones. I don’t think he was trying to profit, as he sold most at $5-10 I believe, but he has a phase. I think I’ve got like 10 with 10 amiibo on that shelf, and yeah it’s kinda cringe, but I’ve made my peace with it.
Like seriously, who buys this stuff?
I have coworkers all over the floor with some Funko or its derivative on their desks.
Sales of Funko Pops are down.
Sales of generic plastic crap remains sky high.
Regarding collectibles, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
But get your eyes checked from time to time.
Purpose-made collectibles sit just above gambling on the hierarchy of scummy (but legal) business models, IMO. Just as gambling preys on certain kinds of vulnerable personality traits, so too does collecting.
The trick is to collect something that retains its value or even appreciates in value over time. Which is not the case with any artificially made-to-collect items in the first place. Those only rely on your gambling trait to be tickled. All those people standing in queues for pokemon cards? Very few of them give a single shit about pokémon or the card game. They’re just gambling that they’ll get high value cards they can resell. It’s just not the same thing.
pokemon launch yesterday at my FLGS was incredible, they unilaterally declared kids get to cut to the front of the line and imposed sales caps. TPC guy there delivering additional boxes thought it was absolutely hilarious. So many butthurt adults there just to get the ebay cards being asked to leave, absolutely beautiful to see.
the point of collecting things is to collect stuff you actually want to collect, if your collecting thing because they might be valuable later on you should cut all the middleman out and just gamble on the stock market like everyone does (thats atleast reliable $ once you learn the rules)
(thats atleast reliable $ once you learn the rules)
lmao
its the worlds largest casino, and bunch of rich degenerate gamblers throw $ into it constantly. long as uncle sam’s money printer goes unimpeded the bull market will continue.
where do think all these rich cunts put all this $ they get from our taxes? they don’t spend it…spending it requires effort, they just gamble with it. learn how to facilitate/profit off of their gambling and you have all the $ any normal person could want.
it is unironically infinite $, to an extent. there are…scaling/effort issues…beyond 500k or so
it’s honestly a sick fucking joke, when you realize just how easy $ has been to get your whole life (if you started out working class, like me). when that fact of life clicks for you it really puts all those years you wasted stuck in the labor trap into perspective…years you can never get back…makes working a job painful (even for yourself), once you’ve tasted the other side crossing back is hard
Is it possible to make tons of money on the stock market? Sure, if you’re Nancy pelosi and you’re privy to information that will impact market movement and can have your husband, who runs an investment firm and therefore has access to insane amounts of capital, basically cheat with that info. Or if you’re some ceo who has friends in the industry that let you know what stocks to short, or whatever.
But you, the retail investor, who has none of these connections? You are gambling and basically sending them even more of your money when you inevitably lose. Buy nvidia puts at least
8-10% pretty easy over the long run
don’t gamble, index funds
you really don’t get it. when you know how it all works, it’s not gambling at all…it’s just a matter if risk vs. reward. win, loss, and payout ratios… have made more in the last 3 months (when it finally clicked for me) than the last 7+ years working.
zero risk whatsoever (time/value concerns, sure. but essentially no risk of loss of capital). not shorting anything, not buying the obviously overpriced mainstream stuff. just positioning on incredibly obvious and telegraphed moves on smallcaps before they pump.
and I’not even being that aggressive with it, I could have 10,000%+ gains (ytd) instead of 4000% if I really doubled down when 99% certain of a scenario.
its…so fucking easy. it truly pisses me off how easy it is, to get stupid amounts of $. until this last month I was still in some kind of denial phase, but now…the more I learn and the more confident I get…fuck this country man…really. it’s all a fucking joke to these rich cunts ratfucking this country while everything collapses around them, it really is.
now, obviously there’s the old adage “everyone’s a genius in a bullmarket” and scaling problems (as eventually you become the whale everyone else is trying to get a piece of), but I’m confident I’ll make it through this crash coming.
I’v taken out my seed capital and then some, I’v got my tax burden calculated and planned for, solid dividend stocks bought at fair value that’ll hold up during crash etc…it really is just easy as fuck, once you know how it all works.
the issue I’m having is…wtf do I even do with all this $. I…don’t really have a family or anything, the constant exploitive boom/bust cycle perpetuated on this country destroyed my family ages ago (which, ironically…i guess I’m a part of now). I moved around so much as a kid I don’t even really have a community to back to either…
Why not just buy index ETFs?
If I’m going to collect something, it’s because I want those things to be able to use them, like video games or seeds. Collecting ugly plastic dolls is just a waste of money. The stock market will beat that every time over the long run.
it’s mostly limited time limited time collectables I have an issue with. It’s less of an issue if you can actually think about it before you buy it.
Yeah. Fuck GW sideways with a rusty pineapple.
The Codex Astartes approves this action.
Is that because people who like ugly dolls switched to Labubu?
I don’t think there’s that much crossover.
My cringe nerd friend has hundreds of funkos.
My cringe fashion friend has a dozen labubus and outfits.
Good fucking riddance, just about every nerd junk shop had a whole wall of these ugly things.
I have been looking for this gif!
Glad to help. I love that movie.
What is this from?
Waterworld! If you watch it, try to find the Ulysses Cut.
I have 1 funko of mr rogers that was a gift. I never understood the appeal of these things.
I have four.
Also gifts.
Also unopen and buried behind other junk.
Those collections are about to get more valuable, like beenie babies.
*Like Tulips
Aging like fine milk.
Isnt that just cheese?
No, cheese has other ingredients necessary to keep it from spoiling.
What is “fine” milk if not milk with culture?
There it is!
Aaaany day now.
Funko just needs to make statuettes. Stop with the weird looking stylized heads and make the actual characters.
People would collect the hell outta them.
There’s already 8 bajillion companies doing that. Been to a mall lately?
A mall?.. Is that some kind of boomer thing?
Yes, today… and yesterday. There is a theater at the mall.
