>>10231235I have to disagree; Nendos, Funkos and "art toys" like
>>10231235 are all basically the same to me and to a lot of other people. Funko is just the cheapest and nastiest of the 3. Nendos have some place on /toy/ being at least slightly articulated, with accessories and unique sculpts (they're still bobbleheads I'd never buy). Art toys that follow the Funko modus operandi of just being repaints at least do so by collaborating with a large variety of actual artists (they're still NFT tier wank). Funkos manifest the worst aspect of both; soulless, disproportionate clones designed only to prey on weak consumers sense of artificial scarcity and nostalgia. Literal goyslop.
The art toys and Sofubi that /toy/ love are undeniably in a different league altogether. A single artist or smaller studio doing a run of unique toys that they've designed, financed and produced themselves. Its not even that it's limited or exclusive, it's that these toys are outside the crushingly boring cycles of the same established IPs and safe market projections. They capture a simpler era of toymaking. It's the passion of design manifested for me; the freedom to use experimental materials, finishes and paints that I don't see anymore from modern toy companies. It's also nice to be paying towards production costs instead of corporate profit margins and IP/Brand tax.
tl;dr Funko, Mattel, Hasbro, Bandai etc look only to toe the line on what their consumer base will possibly tolerate for the highest possible return. They're lead by people passionate about cashflow and stock prices. The appeal of art toys on /toy/ is a break from that mentality.
