‘Funkos’: the toys that are not played with and are worth more than 500 million euros

The ancient Greeks called the set of ideal proportions canon. A statue by the classical sculptor Lysippos (390 BC) has a height proportional to seven times the size of his head, and this delicate proportion represented the ideal of beauty for centuries. A funko It measures about 10 centimeters, has a head several times larger than its body and a commercial success that could be the envy of even the sculptor himself at the court of Alexander the Great: in its last full year (2021), Funko Inc., which is listed on the Nasdaq market, it had sales of 1,029 million dollars (944 million euros), 57% more than in 2000, and earned 67.88 million.

Los funkos They are toys that are not played with. According to the company’s data, its main buyers have an average age of 35 years. They are collector’s items, but they also have a high number of occasional buyers: of all their customers, 36% are collectors, 33% declare themselves occasional fans, and 31% are active buyers, that is, they buy them as gifts. and have more than one.

The American company, which is worth 559 million dollars (512 million euros) on the stock market, has more than 1,000 active licenses that give it permission to reproduce and market characters from Harry Potter, Disney, WWE, Fortnite, DC or Marvel, among others. others. It was precisely these last two that allowed him to reproduce the superhero figures with which the company took off a decade ago, during the San Diego International Comic Book Convention (USA).

Although the company’s is a success story, in recent times it has not been able to avoid the adverse economic situation. In its latest presentation of results, corresponding to the third quarter of 2022, revenue between July and September broke a record (374 million, 36.6% more), but the market expected even higher figures. On the other hand, high costs took their toll on net profit. As a result of this slowdown, the company’s managers were forced to lower their earnings forecasts for the year as a whole in November. The billing range went from 1,329 and 1,380 million in income to a slightly more cautious one, which oscillates between 1,319 and 1,360 million. This profit warning affected the company’s price. When the lower earnings alert was known, the stock went from trading at $19.50 to trading at $7.92. After touching bottom, the titles were slowly rising (now they are worth $11.83), but in the last 12 months they have accumulated a loss of 31% of their market value.

Business has contacted the company to assess this setback, but no spokesperson wanted to comment. When the results for the third quarter were published, Funko attributed the slowdown in their accounts to an increase in “material” investments and a rise in expenses, which had affected their profitability. In addition to the emblematic big-headed dolls, Funko has also opted for a line of clothing and accessories and for an opening to the world of NFTs or non-expendable tokens, linking its physical products with the digital environment.

an investment

The most dedicated collectors also see this product as an investment. Juan López treasures in his house in Madrid, perfectly ordered, 1,500 figures of different themes that have an estimated value of 35,000 euros. It all started with a gift “back in 2015 ″, he says. López recounts that two funkos de Wolverine and since then he has dedicated himself to completing his collection by acquiring the products “especially online”. The most expensive in the collection of him is a manga character from the series Death Note called Nightwhich cost him 210 euros.

The usual price of these little ones goes from 12 euros onwards. A collector’s item that, in principle, is affordable. Although it is complicated if it is a limited edition or a rare piece. It is told by Alberto Gracia, who runs Atlántica 3.0, one of the first stores in Spain specializing in these dolls. The second-hand and resale market is very important and in the end “availability is what sets the price,” he says. Online sales portals such as Wallapop are a common space for buying and selling, although the main problems that buyers can encounter on these platforms are price speculation and counterfeiting.

Pricing collections is difficult because prices vary so widely. To estimate its value, there are pages on the internet and a mobile application of the company itself. “Collectors use those platforms that give estimates, but the price is not real because the second-hand market is in charge. you can have a funko priced at 50 euros on those platforms and not finding it for sale for less than 200 second-hand”, says López.

When price is still an issue, there is another alternative. In a corner of Atlántica 3.0 there is a sign that says “Funkos sick”. They are products with defects in the box that have a special discount. They are not suitable for the most demanding collectors, but they are suitable for the large percentage of occasional buyers who can purchase them at a greatly reduced price.

Commercial success

The commercial success of these figures goes beyond collecting. “When an acquaintance doesn’t know what the hell to give you, there is always a funko that fits with any of your tastes”, comments the design professor at the Complutense University Ángel Serrano.

The Greek philosopher Plato held in the Filebo that “the preservation of measure and proportion is always beautiful.” A funko It is a small vinyl doll that does not meet any of these requirements: it is not realistic or proportionate. There is something that eluded the classics and that, according to Professor Serrano, explains the sales success of this company: they are cute.

To explain it, Serrano alludes to the book The power of the cute, by Professor of Philosophy at King’s College London Simon May. In this work, May explains that the cuqui phenomenon goes beyond a childish aesthetic: it is a refuge, a rest that shows us a more simplified and comfortable reality. “The funkos They are rounded, with simple, small features and are reminiscent of the drawings of our childhood”. His other great commercial success is having unified widely disparate and widely consumed themes under the same aesthetic: “You can have funkos movies, manga characters, singers… They are objects that in principle are of a non-collectible concept, but when they are unified under the same aesthetic they become a collection”, points out Serrano.

The Greeks did not count on the cuteness crossing the path of beautiful proportion. The motto of Funko, a company founded in 1998 in Everett (Washington, USA) reads: “Everyone is a fan of something.” Its more than 1,000 licenses to reproduce characters from different fields mean that almost anyone can find a product that fits their hobbies. Even for those who aren’t willing to wait until they become famous and get licensed by Funko, it’s possible to customize one of these figures and make yourself part of the collection.