[Trevor Krainik]

It is obvious that Funko is after the DT money that they are missing. With the announcement of the Paka-Paka Soda Cats blind boxes at GameStop and now this new Funko X Ron English, I would expect to see several more announcements like this through the end of the year. I think Funko is probably a little frustrated because they were a little ahead of their time with Hikari. If they released them for the first time now, Hikari might have done better. But now there is a stigma attached to that name.
I feel like this is an attempt at making Funko more legitimate in the DT world .. but it almost brings the other companies like Superplastic and Kidrobot to their level. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It just seems like these larger companies are not only embracing but pursuing the mainstream. They are not just trying to get licenses to put on their platforms, they are trying to brand those platforms as characters. Virtual influencers, gaming apps, short films … they are following the Lego model. Again, not knocking success and expansion. I am just not sure it fits into my idea of what designer toys are.

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