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Forum - View topicINTEREST: Better Late Than Never: KPop Demon Hunters Lego Sets, Nerf Swords, Squishmallows, … &
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Akamaru_Inu
 Subscriber Posts: 118 Location: Florida |
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The “better late than never” thing is a little insulting, not going to lie. Toy production and merchandising takes a lot longer than people think, and nobody knew the movie was going to be as big as it was. Hasbro, Mattel, or LEGO can’t just snap their fingers and magically have a toy ready to go if something is a runaway success (remember the toy shortage issues the original Frozen faced when it blew up). Toys have to go through merchandising agreements and contracts, design (including packaging) and sculpting, and pass quality assurance and safety standards before they can be sold.
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1782 |
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I know, this isn't as simple as some people think it is, this also reminds of what happened with the original Star Wars Ep. IV toyline, nobody believed the movie was going to be a success, so Lucas gave the toy rights to Kenner, which was one of the smaller toy companies and apparently they didn't make enough toys to satisfy the demand, so they have to sell cardboard certificates during the holiday season so that kids could exchange them for the toys once they were available. Going back to K-Pop: Demon Hunters, I wonder how well the official merchandise is going to sell, the movie is still popular, but I've seen a lot of bootleg merchandise, which it's obviously of dubious quality, just a couple of months after the movie premiered on Netflix. I had to admit that some of the bootleg toys are kind of impressive, particularly some 3D-printed figures, though they don't look as great as the official merch. I wonder how much money would have been made if K-Pop: Demon Hunters' toys were readily available soon after the movie premiered. |
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Ashen Phoenix
 Posts: 3042 |
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Well said. I don't know nearly as much of the ins and outs of merchandise production as I'd like, but I wholeheartedly agree. It's unpredictable what will be the next Big Thing, and our expectation of instant gratification is at a ridiculous all-time high. |
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Tanteikingdomkey
 Posts: 2468 |
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I know I am guilty of wanting stuff right after I experience it, and a lot of companies knowing that and having it right there at launch so when we get honestly great and creative stuff like kpop DH or dispatch ETC that is treated poorly by the industry during it's development only for it to be recognized and lauded for how good it is it does take a long time for it to happen because thats how you get quality products.
Am I the only one who thought that furbies where actually dead up until now? I will say I get what they where going for with the purple one not the blue one |
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groovysunbeam
 Posts: 82 Location: Belgium |
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No mention of the Hot Toys figures? Those might be the only ones I might get for... reasons. Mainly Zoey who is best girl.
I wonder how many of these toys will sell and how many will warm the pegs and shelves. K-Pop Demon Hunters has a very wide audience but I wonder if they're the kind to buy toys and stuff like this or are just satisfied with a Funko Pop or key-chain off Etsy and will call it a day. Especially kids. I know all the buzz of the movie online is from adults but do kids themselves like the movie enough to buy kids toys of it? I guess we'll see. I can't blame companies for not anticipating the movie doing well or even consider merchandise because we've seen plenty of stuff fail to sell. Even Star Wars's Disney sequels had trouble selling stuff and were reluctant to put out merchandise. Either way I can't wait for Netflix and other companies to learn the wrong lesson from this movie's success though and make a bunch of copycats and similar movies and then wonder why they never got the same kind of success as this one. I anticipate a huge wave of K-Pop Demon Hunter-like things in the next couple years.
The OG style Furbies basically were. The new ones have been around awhile but aren't really my cup of tea. |
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mdo7
 Posts: 8241 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Ah, I see KPop Demon Hunters merch are still selling like crazy, I guess this will go on for quite a while.
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1782 |
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I'm pretty sure these toys are going to sell quite well, KPop Demon Hunters is still pretty popular, as I said, I still tons of bootleg merchandise where I live, it's not uncommon to see girls wearing bootleg t-shirts with characters from the movie, and despite KPop DH being kind of oriented towards girls, even boys are fans of the movie. As for why there wasn't any merchandise ready when the movie was released, from what I've heard, the Sony Pictures' decision of selling the rights to Netflix was the main reason, but I've also heard that Netflix tired to secure some deals with different companies, but they didn't think the movie was going to be a success. I'm not quite sure if other companies will try to replicate KPop DH's success, on one hand, stories about heroes fighting demons was already a thing before KPop DH, like Demon Slayer, Devil May Cry, Frieren, Doom, etc., though each of them have their own unique spin on the formula, perhaps some will try to copy the KPop aesthethic, though that would be too obvious, maybe we'll see more works focused on South Korean culture in general, but I'd say South Korea has become very popular in the last ten or so years thanks to the success of works like Gangnam Style, Parasite, Squid Game, KPop music and KDramas in general. |
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Vee-Tee
 Posts: 186 Location: イギリス |
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I think it’s because for most movies, for many years, toys and merch are all ready to go before the film releases, which sometimes results in inadvertent spoilers etc. Companies are very much playing it safe nowadays by watching the reception of a film, THEN commissioning toys and merch. Unlike the 80s and 90s, where the thought process was to make money in a short window by flogging Dick Tracey and Batman merch while the film was out, instead of keeping kids and the fanbase happy with a slower trickle of releases. At least, that’s my observation. |
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Dareell Holland Jr
Posts: 4 Location: United States |
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[quote="Silver Kirin"]
I know, this isn't as simple as some people think it is, this also reminds of what happened with the original Star Wars Ep. IV toyline, nobody believed the movie was going to be a success, so Lucas gave the toy rights to Kenner, which was one of the smaller toy companies and apparently they didn't make enough toys to satisfy the demand, so they have to sell cardboard certificates during the holiday season so that kids could exchange them for the toys once they were available. this is garbage |
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