Is It a Toy? Is It Art? Everyone Agrees It’s a Collectible

Featured on nytimes.com

It stands four feet high, looks like a squat monkey with a giant head and doubles as a chalkboard that can be drawn on and wiped clean. And it costs $5,000.

Is it a toy, or is it art?

Even the toy industry is split. The statue, known as Monsta Munny, is part of a growing category of collectible figures called designer toys. Kidrobot, the statue’s maker, leans toward calling them art, while its leading competitor, Funko, sees them more as toys.

No matter how such designer toys are labeled, consumer demand has made the sector a booming business.

Sales of all collectible toys — a category that also includes action figures, miniature figures and trading cards — surged 33 percent in 2016, according to the NPD Group. That has helped the toy industry’s overall sales rise 5 percent last year.

Designer toys, whether oversize or pocket-size, are typically made from materials like resin, vinyl or wood. Some are original designs by urban artists, but most have pop-culture roots, which has led to brisk business for the figures at fan conventions like Comic-Con International and at specialty shops where they are sold. The entertainment industry has been quick to license characters for designer toys to promote movies, TV series and video games.

Larger figures are produced in limited editions, making them highly valuable to collectors. Smaller toys are often sold in blind packaging, similar to trading cards, giving the buyers an extra thrill of mystery. That has led to a trend called unboxing, in which excited fans open an entire case all at once in the hope of getting a rare figure and posting the frenzy on YouTube.

Kidrobot, based in Boulder, Colo., is considered a pioneer in the field, having brought designer toys to the United States from Japan in 2002. But it has been overshadowed by Funko, a fast-growing toy company in Everett, Wash., that started out making bobbleheads in 1998 and wound up dominating the market for collectible toys.

Both companies make similar products, sometimes of the same character, like Batman, Bugs Bunny or Homer Simpson. But they have different business strategies, and neither thinks of the other as a rival.

Frank Kozik, the chief creative officer at Kidrobot, said he was grateful for the growth and attention that Funko has brought to the industry. “Funko has done the genre a huge favor,” he said. “Through their success, they opened the world to us.”

Click here to read the full article.