>>6741528consider the following:
A large demographic of the pop cult following are 30 and 40 something poor idiots that see this as an investment(consider that story in your OP is between two 30 somthings), it's the same mentality that lead to beanie babies rise to power. Really that's all they are: beanie babies pop culture edition. But unlike BBs Funko has played a smart hand and hasn't gotten blind with greed(yet), they just steadily let the market exist and pump out hot flash pops that general masses would buy(such as season 3 R&M pops just as the season ended, Jurassic Park pops rolling out as a new film is being advertised ) while churning out the cheap licenses for the hoarders (Garbage pal and Fraggal Rock which are some of the cheapest pop culture licenses to date) also they try to make the right production runs to ensure sales stay steady.
In short miserable people love easy hobbies that can make them feel good and anything can be addictive. This is no different than TF or SW fans that have rooms on rooms full of their favorite obsession however unlike those the entry level is very low and easy to manage, thus Pops are successful.
