Funko Pop maker admits it might not survive another year as sales crash

Article on dexerto / archive

Funko has warned investors that it may not survive another year after reporting a sharp decline in sales and issuing a formal notice about its financial stability.

The collectibles giant behind the Pop Vinyl brand posted net sales of $250.9 million for the third quarter of 2025, down 14% from the same period last year, and recorded a net loss of roughly $1 million, according to its latest financial filing. The company cited falling demand, higher tariffs, and tighter retailer inventories as major challenges in what it described as a “difficult retail environment.“

Funko’s troubles follow years of explosive growth fueled by its vinyl collectibles, which once dominated shelves at Walmart, Target, and comic book stores. But as overproduction flooded the market and consumer interest waned, the company’s once-steady profits began to collapse. Reports from industry tracker ICv2 show that Funko’s U.S. sales plunged 20% year-over-year, accounting for most of its overall revenue drop.


“Substantial doubt” over Funko’s future​

In its latest SEC filing, Funko said there is “substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern for the next 12 months,” acknowledging that without new funding or an acquisition, it could breach loan covenants and default on debt obligations. The company has roughly $250 million in total debt and has already amended its credit agreement twice in 2025 to secure covenant relief.

Funko says it will focus on smaller product lines such as Bitty Pops, blind-box collectibles, and its Pop Yourself kiosks while “exploring strategic alternatives,” including a potential sale. Once a billion-dollar powerhouse of pop-culture merchandise, the company now faces its most uncertain year yet.
 
Getting mad at Funko pops is like getting mad at those metallic magnetic enamel "disc plate" squares people could buy of pulp culture movies and hang on their wall. Harmless cheap thrills for those who enjoyed them.
Hard disagree here.

These companies know what they are doing. They know the psychology that dominates the mind of a consoomer and they absolutely use that to push their pennies worth of plastic garbage.
 
I wouldn't have minded them so much if they were bobble heads.
one time I got K-9 from Doctor Who as a present
you can't really funko that design too much
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What was the appeal of these things? Well, part of the aesthetic is to widen the heads, making the characters look chubby:

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It’s literally a way for fatties to feel connected to their favorite characters.
 
Gamestop is suffering that fate now. They have more plastic "Nerd Culture" trash than actual video game stuff. Virtually none of it is profitable, it takes up a ton of space, and they're contractually forced to keep buying it.
I couldn't tell you about toys r us, other than they were clearly losing out to online retailers and walmart/target. But gamestop? They tried adding generic nerd merch to the stores years ago when they bought thinkgeek and that didn't work. Then decided to expand into the pop culture bullshit like funko pops. The latest thing they've been trying for a bit over a year now is buying and selling graded pokemon and MTG cards as well as offering to ship your cards to PSA to get them graded for you(which makes no sense because you could just do it yourself).

Gamestop being flooded with funkopop bullshit is a symptom of their problems, but definitely not the cause. Remember how gamestop used to make money? You buy a $60 game, get tired of it, sell it to them for $5 or $10 in credit, and they'd flip it for $40. They had ebay, craigslist, and then eventually facebook and other sites as competition, and it got to the point where the only reason to do it was convience(or getting rid of stolen shit). PC gaming has long since moved to digital sales, with the ps4 and xbox one era digital sales of games on console took off a lot more than they had the previous gen, and that meant less product for Gamestop to be able to basically rip people off over. They hate the idea of consoles without physical media, not because they give a shit like consumers do(or at least pretend to since most of the physical games now are useless without massive patches or don't even have the game on the disc). There's no midnight openings at Gamestop with 100 people lined up outside anymore because anyone wanting the game the soonest just pre-installs the thing after they bought it online.

That's why Gamestop has been so fucking desperate for the past 15 years to try and find something they can sell or buy and then flip. That's why Gamestop was about to be a penny stock and those memes happened, it's why they've had to close hundreds of stores(I used to have at least 3 within a 15 minute drive, now it's about 20 minutes to get to one).
 
Funko pops are ugly, anyway. I never understood the appeal, and I say that as a figma/nendoroid enjoyer filthy weeb.
Oh well, if the prices are gonna plummet I might have to buy a Hulk figure to customise for the lulz.
 
The interesting part (to me) is that of all the people I've ever seen with Funkos, either on the Internet or in person, I don't think a single one of them has had their Funko Pops out of the box. In fact, I believe that all of them are still factory sealed.
 
Funko pops are ugly, anyway. I never understood the appeal, and I say that as a figma/nendoroid enjoyer filthy weeb.
Oh well, if the prices are gonna plummet I might have to buy a Hulk figure to customise for the lulz.
The appeal is literally that
1. They are cheap, soulless and uniform, and thus make the perfect inoffensive cubicle decorations. Nobody at the office is gonna look at you weird for having a Star Wars funko pop or two on your desk, and if it gets damaged/stolen it's no big deal, it was only like ten bucks anyways.
2. They cover every IP you can think of and a hundred more you didn't even know existed. For a lot of niche IP's they're probably the ONLY easily-accessible merch you can find of them. If, for some godforsaken reason, you wanted a figurine of the fucking Morton salt girl, Funko's got you covered:
1762727321368.png

So yeah they're literally made to be cheap normie-friendly collectibles that cover every conceivable niche, the problem is that there's a very good reason no other company is making fucking Morton salt girl figures, making a product with a total market of maybe a dozen people worldwide simply is not a viable business model outside of ultra high end luxury/designer shit and Funko Pops are most certainly not that.
 
Anyone I met who collected these things were almost invariably mentally stunted and incapable of keeping up adult responsibilities. Having one or two? OK. Whatever. But you have a shelf full of them? yeah.. you're a retard who can't manage to make an appointment with a phone call.

The all look the same, too. I just never got it.
 
Thank God they might tank. But the consumer slop will not end, it is just getting replaced by those satanic looking Labubos. Although Funko pops were more of a thing soy drinking male redditors collected and the Labubos is more of female thing I think there is a decent crossover between the two consumer bases.

Funkos are just soulless and they don't even do a good job of representing the IP they are trying to emulate. The little beady eyes, the fact they literally use the same body style for every single character and they are just different colors of plastic. I hated when stores replaced anything of value with them and had entire walls just for them. Now they can't seem to get rid of them.
 
Funko pops are ugly, anyway. I never understood the appeal, and I say that as a figma/nendoroid enjoyer filthy weeb.
Oh well, if the prices are gonna plummet I might have to buy a Hulk figure to customise for the lulz.
The Hulk Funko Pop is bigger than the rest
The Hulk Funko Pop is bigger than the rest
The Hulk Funko Pop is bigger than the rest
 
The interesting part (to me) is that of all the people I've ever seen with Funkos, either on the Internet or in person, I don't think a single one of them has had their Funko Pops out of the box. In fact, I believe that all of them are still factory sealed.
The appeal is literally that
1. They are cheap, soulless and uniform, and thus make the perfect inoffensive cubicle decorations. Nobody at the office is gonna look at you weird for having a Star Wars funko pop or two on your desk, and if it gets damaged/stolen it's no big deal, it was only like ten bucks anyways.
2. They cover every IP you can think of and a hundred more you didn't even know existed. For a lot of niche IP's they're probably the ONLY easily-accessible merch you can find of them. If, for some godforsaken reason, you wanted a figurine of the fucking Morton salt girl, Funko's got you covered:
Ver archivo adjunto 8148155

So yeah they're literally made to be cheap normie-friendly collectibles that cover every conceivable niche, the problem is that there's a very good reason no other company is making fucking Morton salt girl figures, making a product with a total market of maybe a dozen people worldwide simply is not a viable business model outside of ultra high end luxury/designer shit and Funko Pops are most certainly not that.
That's exactly why I never understood the appeal at all. Putting a lot of money into plastic crap is one thing, I have and still do that myself, but Funkos are literally EVERYWHERE. If I go to my local Gamestop, comic book store or general nerdy niche stores, they will have shelves upon shelves of the same ugly fucking things. The designs are milquetoast and kind of inoffensive but that's why I hate them. They aren't cute chibi versions of your favourite super hero or horror movie villain, they look retarded 99% of the time. Those empty, black dot eyes haunt me.

Collectibles kept in their original packing makes sense if it's a flavour of FOMO or limited edition, or it's something ridiculously expensive like a LEGO set from the original Star Wars trilogy, released back in the 80's.

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15 dollars for this crap
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31 dollars for this crap
Both are utterly valueless pieces of mass-produced and yeah, the funko is half the price of the Pop Up Parade Dio, but the PUP has way more style to it IMO than the funko.
86428_POP_TheOffice_S11_MichaelS.png
Guess the character.
 
The Big Bang Theory and its consequences, really. That show made being “nerdy” trendy, so a bunch of people who typically wouldn’t associate with the subculture all suddenly piled on. The “I Fucking Love Science” types of people who barely skirted their way through school, but are suddenly intellectuals because of their new interest in nerd culture. The late 2000s were truly devastating for nerddom in general and everything associated with it is super easily marketable
 
I remember a couple of years ago, when they were literally dumping unsold Funko Pops into landfill by the hundred.
The E.T. treatment and there's still worse to come... my God, this going to be an apocalypse. Can't wait for all of the deliciously sweet and salty tears for the Farms to harvest.
Wtf is this guy going to do?
A flip, and not the business kind.
If, for some godforsaken reason, you wanted a figurine of the fucking Morton salt girl, Funko's got you covered:
Okay, we've finally found our official mascot for the Farms.
 
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