What do you think got way too much hate than it should've?
Funko Pops, to me.
I understand that some of them are fairly overpriced, but I also really like them as is. It doesn't work on all characters, but it sometimes work on a lot and there's so much representation and variety that it's good to have a few.
If people want to talk about waste of plastic and vinyl, they should bark at the companies who make teeny tiny figurines that serve no purpose and have so little detail that spending any money on them is a waste.
Imo they aren't getting nearly enough of hate they deserve. I'm not against figure collecting in general but FP are the ugliest motherfucking thing i ever seen in this department, for the same amount of resources, labour and energy they could produce something much better. In fact, a consistent long serie of figures faithful to the original (not ultra-deformed) across so many franchises would been great, but alas only thing there is are those unholy abominations.
I also take issue with buying something that does nothing. “Oh I’m going to put this on that shelf and never touch it again”. It screams cash grab. They’re made of brittle plastic so you can’t play with them. And as you say, they’re ugly.
I would argue that collecting things having purely aesthetical value is also legit, though there is an issue about manufactured demand and role of merchandise in popculture, but fair enough.
I collect comics, which are (printed, yes, but) art made by people. Sometimes I'll sell off a run, some I'll keep forever because they're fantastic. Different strokes ig.
It definitely can be, for example art is very often hoarded as form of investment, and this can be a much lower-price form of the same, but not necessarily. I would say the more those things price is, the more chance for hoarding.
That is, economically. If you mean hoarding as in psychology probably it's more depending on person, a lot of people i know including me were collecting more or less useless things but nobody i know went into true hoarding problem and most of those people at some point got bored and got rid of their collections. Other than above personal experience, idk.
I'm a woodworker, youtube often recommends me woodtube content. Tool reviews, project builds, shit like that. And occasionally "How I made $15k making these" with a thumbnail of a guy holding a simple pine triangle.
Turns out he miter saws triangles out of pine, stains them, paints the tip of them white, and now it's a mountain, which he sells on Etsy for damn near $30 for three. They are functionless and do nothing. And there's apparently a demand for them.
I refuse to sell trinkets like that. If I make anything, it will have some function. Maybe I will take some off-cuts and band saw out some apple-shaped coasters or something because keeping the condensation from your drink from puddling on your nice new table is a thing and it might as well be a fun shape, but I will always be that one step away from "pieces of wood to clutter your house with."
On my own projects (some of which you can find in !woodworking@lemmy.ca) I end up having narrow off-cuts, often from ripping boards to width. I save these up and when I'm sick of having them around I glue them up into panels, cut them into squares and make coasters out of them. They don't really match anything other than they're made of the same species I tend to work with.
Yes, but english language call "art" literally everything made with even a slightest hint of intention, which those things had to be because there is no other purpose (except lining the pockets of publishing mafia).