#Funko #Buys #Blockbuster #Hype #WorthPoint
If you thought that the nostalgic pull for Blockbuster suffered at the hands of the horrendous Netflix tribute series, think again. Blockbuster, one of the biggest names in North America for video and game rentals, has been immortalized time after time in recent years, and now the popular chain is getting the vinyl treatment thanks to Funko Pop!.
Funko Pop! is releasing six new figures in July. They will arrive in clamshells designed like VHS tape cases and will contain one of six figures. Known as Blockbuster Rewind, the series features Funko’s mascot and other characters in mock movies, with a twist included (more on this later on).
A Video Tale
The release around Blockbuster nostalgia is not to be taken for granted by any stretch—nostalgia built around the brand that filled weekends with wonderment is big. For generation X and millennials, Blockbuster is where you spent hours pouring through VHS and DVD cases looking for the one movie, television series, or video game you wanted to claim as yours for a few days. If you were a parent, you desperately searched for family entertainment or something that would keep your kids occupied for a few hours while you recuperated from the workweek.
Like many American success stories, Blockbuster started as a small business, but expansion and acquisition helped it become an international phenomenon. Originally known as Blockbuster Video, the chain with its familiar blue-and-yellow logo with big, bold lettering was the callsign for at-home entertainment. According to Vice, the chain had more than 9,000 locations worldwide at its peak. For comparison, there are currently 6,500 Wendy’s restaurants across the globe.
From the owner’s side, Blockbuster was all that and a bag of chips (to borrow some ’90s vernacular). “It was a fun business,” said Blockbuster franchise owner Alan Payne in the same Vice article. “I think all of us that were in it felt fortunate to be there. It wasn’t particularly difficult to run, and it attracted good employees. I don’t think it was complicated at all: You just had to follow the customer.”
But as successful as Blockbuster was, its downfall was even sharper. At one point, the company could have owned Netflix and ruled the streaming wars for years, but the inability to foresee the digital revolution was ultimately the company’s doom.
Now, the fortunes have reversed, and it’s Netflix that is basking in the brand of Blockbuster. First, it was a documentary about the last-surviving store in Blockbuster history, followed by the sitcom that ultimately failed to capitalize on the nostalgia and instead reeled off bad storylines and cheesy dialogue.
The call for Blockbuster swag, however, is still alive and well. Consider, for example, that a marquee sign—the kind you often see popping up on American Pickers—sold for $55,000 in 2022. A membership card, meanwhile, fetched one eBay seller more than $45 earlier this year.
“I think I’ve been a little bit surprised by that (nostalgia),” Payne further told Vice. “Even as big as Blockbuster was, it was never more than 40 percent of the [movie rental] market. Over half the people who rented movies were doing it somewhere else, but I think the name is just so synonymous with the business, that when people think about renting a video, they just think about Blockbuster.”
Funko Adding Variants
By investing in the Blockbuster craze, Funko is rolling the dice that the nostalgia will help put the company and its vinyl figures back into the collectors’ eye. As Fast Company shared, Funko experienced a major setback in its sales over its last fiscal year.
“As was widely reported earlier this year, the company underwent major layoffs, and even sent $30 million of product to the landfill,” writer Zachary Petit stated, adding that the company had a net income drop in 2022.
Unfortunately, it’s a common sight in the volatile figure market. Collector pieces, from Starting Lineup figures to bobbleheads, have been a huge market for years, but one company owning toy store shelves for an extended period is rare. Most companies have a success rate for a few years, but collector attention can be fickle and simultaneously cruel.
Funko has built a strong presence with its Pop! vinyl figures for years, making button-eyed, large-headed replicas of celebrities, cartoon figures, and just about everything under the sun. But the popularity is fading.
Now, like many of its preceding kingly competitors, Funko is going to a tried and true method of attracting collector attention. The Blockbuster Rewind set will be the first Funko Pop! series to include variant figures. A preview image, for example, showed one of the characters in black-and-white tones.
The concept of figures with a different look is hardly new to the market. Companies like McFarlane and Jakks Pacific regularly include variations in their products. In sports, for example, this comes as a different uniform. Others do color variations like Funko is exploring.
Will History Repeat?
The Funko variation experiment, unfortunately, has a bit of the aroma of a late push by Blockbuster. Toward the end of its existence, the video seller attempted to match Netflix’s DVD-by-mail service and later even tried streaming, but the damage was already done by the market’s turn away from brick-and-mortar rentals. The company-owned stores closed in 2014, with a few franchisees allowed to stay open. Today, the Bend, Oregon, location, made famous by the Netflix documentary, is the last Blockbuster standing.
This is not to say that Funko will go under if the variant experiment doesn’t work. McFarlane Toys, for example, continues to soldier on despite losing major licenses. The future of the vinyl figures, however, is dependent on innovation. If the variants and the Blockbuster nostalgia craze don’t catch on, then it’s entirely possible that the figures will be reimagined, and Pop! figures, like Blockbuster, will become a nostalgic trip down the road.
Jon Waldman is a Winnipeg-based writer. He has written for Beckett, Go GTS, Canadian Sports Collector, and several other hobby outlets over his two decades in the hobby. His experience also includes two books on sports cards and memorabilia. Connect with Jon on Twitter at @jonwaldman.
WorthPoint—Discover. Value. Preserve.
