The 1:6 vs 1:36 Chase *Discussion*

[gokou105]

So a few years back the Chases were 1:36 and the complaint was that they were too hard to find and outside of extreme luck (or constant hunting) you really never found one "in the wild"... At some point the 1:6 Chase ratio happened, and now it's almost become too easy to find where as finding one "in the wild" is perhaps less about hunting and luck and more about who manages to line up early enough on a shipment day.

That being said...today's POP collector community is vastly different than what it was even 2-3 years ago, and so on and so forth. So with today's community...do you like the 1:6 or prefer it move back to 1:36?

Some retailers take the chases out from the case now and put it in the back or on the counter which defeats the purpose of finding it in the wild. It's more like who can camp outside of hot topic first gets the chase.

[gokou105]

Well I’m not sure which camp I’m in. Back when they were 1:36 I found more chases in the wild but I also had much more time to hunt. I think I found 4-5 in the wild. Once they hit 1:6 and people started lining up, I had to be at work, counldnt line up and missed out on the chases.

The nice thing is that the secondary market isn’t teeeible if one is patient. So it’s sort of a double edged sword. I’m still not sure how I feel.

Lara

I use to find chases almost once every 2-3 weeks but it was when Funko was not as popular and not much people collect. Therefore, the chases were easier to find even though it was 1:36. Nowadays, some retailers just take it out from the case and put it behind the counter or in back because they don't want people messing up their display. It was fun finding them in the wild.

[gokou105]

I would think if they went back to 1:36 people would line up even earlier and more issues would occur.
Making something more rare isn't going to make it less desirable.

Especially that the community and fan base grew so much from the 1:36 era.

[allcutethings2]

I much prefer the 1:6 ratio. I like chases because they are variants on my favorite characters, not because they are a chase. I don't start collecting a line or character just because it's a chase. I don't really have a "chase" collection. Nothing against those who collect that way, it's just not for me. So the hunt or perceived value doesn't affect my purchase satisfaction. Finding a character I want does. So if it's a chase, I'll be happy I found that variant, not just that I found that character with a chase sticker, if that makes sense. I'd dislike a 1:36 chase of my favorite characters, because I think it'd be harder to complete a couple of my collections.

And with the growth of the community, the percentage of collectors finding chases seems to be the same. With more people looking, even with a 1:6, they're still hard to find.

[HockeyDad]

Here is where I stand.
I am not a fan of the 1 in 6 chases. It almost feels like a participation trophy award type of chase.

Stores don't realize, or maybe they just don't want to deal with it, but having chases put out every morning is hurting them in the big picture. If people know that if they are not able to line up at opening to get a chase, guess what they won't even bother popping in to check. And the store loses out on a potential impulse buy or someone doing other shopping they need to do while there.

I prefer going back to 1 in 36, don't advertise what's new or put out the chase first thing in the morning. Just at some random point or random day put a chase out on the floor. Give people reasons to try to pop in your store because you'll never know what you might find.

Agree on the "won't even bother popping in to check" ... I've given up on getting chases from HT now and rarely go in store unless there's an exclusive we really want. If there's enough that I want and there's a deal, I'll buy online and have it shipped. Even with Hot Cash, I'll buy online instead.

[popsnorthwest]

1/6 is best for people who want to collect

[Toronto]

Well EBgames - Chases are for preorders so you'll never find them in the wild unless it is undesired (Valerian).

No return back to 1:36 as I have only gotten 2 chases in the wild, one undesirable and another blind box.

Make pops with chases Blind Boxes a s I'll be down for that.

[cheekylyssa]

I keep seeing complaints that it’s easier to find, but I sure don’t find any unless I’m there when a store opens and just stocked it. There is a tendency for folks to buy up the chases immediately as trade bait, so it doesn’t seem to me there is much difference to the average collector whether it’s 1:6 or 1:36 other than the secondary market tumbles very quick. So I’m fine with the 1:6 because I feel at least I have a chance to find it close to retail price.

[cheekylyssa]

Oops duplicate post

[deejaylunchbox]

The 1:6 ratio began if i'm not mistaken with the Green Goblin chase. It was the first marvel chase that was also a store exclusive.

I think the 1:6 ratio is ok because to be quite honest some "chase" figures are just plain lazy to the point where aside from the new ratio, it just waters down the "chase" branding.

As stated the landscape of funko pop collectors has vastly changed in the past 3 years. Going BACK to a 1:36 ratio would be detrimental however i don't think any formula will be a blanket satisfaction. There will always be those that still complain. For the most part I don't find it NECESSARY to have every single chase.

Maybe what funko could do is do what some comic companies did years ago and have multiple chase figures. I think they should lower the amount of characters that get a chase and for those that do get chases, make them in a variety of different variations and ratios, 1:6, 1:12, 1:36.

[TheMerchantMan]

I've never seen chases for ANY Funko products (barring some with severely damaged boxes at my local B&N) in the wild but I have a feeling that's due to being in close proximity to Frank and Son's.

That said, I prefer the the 1/6 chances since that means I can feel comfortable buying half of that and still have some hope for a chase (even if it is flawed logic) although I do wish that Funko would quit it with store-exclusive chases *cough*hottopicHadeschase*cough*. One personal wish I have is that more stores discouraging line-ups for chases and and stores not posting about receiving chases in shipments via social media posts (again, HT is a big offender here).

[The Head]

One personal wish I have is that more stores discouraging line-ups for chases and and stores not posting about receiving chases in shipments via social media posts (again, HT is a big offender here).

Hot topic is not supposed to post if they have chases or not. They are supposed to post what pops they got in, but be silent re: chase pieces. YMMV though so I'm sure some are not abiding by that.

[jyc123]

One personal wish I have is that more stores discouraging line-ups for chases and and stores not posting about receiving chases in shipments via social media posts (again, HT is a big offender here).

Hot topic is not supposed to post if they have chases or not. They are supposed to post what pops they got in, but be silent re: chase pieces. YMMV though so I'm sure some are not abiding by that.

Yea, that been the trend with my Hot topics. No chases posted

[dcooperfl]

So a few years back the Chases were 1:36 and the complaint was that they were too hard to find and outside of extreme luck (or constant hunting) you really never found one "in the wild"... At some point the 1:6 Chase ratio happened, and now it's almost become too easy to find where as finding one "in the wild" is perhaps less about hunting and luck and more about who manages to line up early enough on a shipment day.

That being said...today's POP collector community is vastly different than what it was even 2-3 years ago, and so on and so forth. So with today's community...do you like the 1:6 or prefer it move back to 1:36?

I prefer the 1:36. I like rarer items and back then there wasn’t a chase hunt all the time. If you found one that was awesome. The real issue with 1:6 chases in my mind is they are really like what exclusives used to be. They are that easy to find and just a small variant.

[Lakers]

So a few years back the Chases were 1:36 and the complaint was that they were too hard to find and outside of extreme luck (or constant hunting) you really never found one "in the wild"... At some point the 1:6 Chase ratio happened, and now it's almost become too easy to find where as finding one "in the wild" is perhaps less about hunting and luck and more about who manages to line up early enough on a shipment day.

That being said...today's POP collector community is vastly different than what it was even 2-3 years ago, and so on and so forth. So with today's community...do you like the 1:6 or prefer it move back to 1:36?

I prefer the 1:36. I like rarer items and back then there wasn’t a chase hunt all the time. If you found one that was awesome. The real issue with 1:6 chases in my mind is they are really like what exclusives used to be. They are that easy to find and just a small variant.

They should have both. The 1:6 shiuld be the chase with a small variant, and the 1:36 for the ones there are rare and different.

[yanban]

I miss the blind luck etc.. less fights and altercations I feel too

The fights are really bad. That is what happens when money gets involved.

[yanban]

I think both ratios should be implemented. Like how Hot Wheels has Treasure Hunts and Super Treasure Hunts. Funko can have chases (1:6) and super chases (1:36)

I tend to like this - would love to see some at 1:36 and some at 1:6 especially with the number of chases they release now.

[yanban]

A possible solution is to not include a chase sticker on them.

The people who buy all the chases are also the people that know easily the differences if you can see the pop. I do not think removing the sticker would help honestly.

[yanban]

The chases being 1:6 hasn’t made them easier to get for us in SD since there are so many resellers camping out to get them first. Hopefully with some store policies changing it will cut down on the resellers scooping them all up so collectors have a shot at them again.

This is true for LA as well.

[brooklyn_geek]

Here is something that gets lost in these conversations...the chases are great for the Funatics but they actually exist to sell more cases to retailers! When I first started my business the 1:36 ratio was the standard. So essentially in order for us to get a chase figure we would have to order a case of 36. It's a harder sell for Funko to get us to buy 36 figures for 1 that we can sell at a marked up price than it is at the 1:6 ratio. That's all it is. So basically now we can sell a bundle of a chase and the common and only have to sell 4 pieces from a single case of 6...before if we did a bundle we would have 34 common figures left over...causes space issues etc. There are too many chases now and the repaints are getting really lazy...I am not impressed by Vince McMahon's pink coat chase...

[babasdada]

With so many people collecting... 1:6 is probably better. People get a 1:36 and they think it's gold... still waiting for the grady twins (which is also target excl chase... even worse) to go down... Might be waiting a long time.

[valorandvellum]

In general, I like the 1:6 chase. I miiiiiiiiiiight be ok with 1:36 IF it's only for common chases. Store chases as 1:36 is just way too difficult (as we saw with the Grady Twins).

[supertoygiant]

Here is something that gets lost in these conversations...the chases are great for the Funatics but they actually exist to sell more cases to retailers! When I first started my business the 1:36 ratio was the standard. So essentially in order for us to get a chase figure we would have to order a case of 36. It's a harder sell for Funko to get us to buy 36 figures for 1 that we can sell at a marked up price than it is at the 1:6 ratio. That's all it is. So basically now we can sell a bundle of a chase and the common and only have to sell 4 pieces from a single case of 6...before if we did a bundle we would have 34 common figures left over...causes space issues etc. There are too many chases now and the repaints are getting really lazy...I am not impressed by Vince McMahon's pink coat chase...

Good point, makes sense if you are a retailer.

[Tynett]

So I'm a fan of the rarer the better. Not for reselling because to be honest the likelihood of my collection going anywhere when I'm alive is slim to none but I love knowing that the item is special. When I started buying art, I bought from bed bath and beyond, pretty pictures but mass produced. As I matured in my collection I moved to limited editions and then one of a kind pieces. I love commons too, but there is something about knowing what you have is special and only a few people on the planet have one. I love that feeling and so will always prefer that to having it more readily available even if I'm not one of the lucky few.

[fischmioli]

One personal wish I have is that more stores discouraging line-ups for chases and and stores not posting about receiving chases in shipments via social media posts (again, HT is a big offender here).

Hot topic is not supposed to post if they have chases or not. They are supposed to post what pops they got in, but be silent re: chase pieces. YMMV though so I'm sure some are not abiding by that.

And that’s sort of the con with having 1:6 chases. Even with Hot Topic not posting that they received a chase people can safely assume that they did receive a chase because it is so common.

[POPianato]

Those of you wanting 1:36 can feel free to give me your next 5 chases just so you can enjoy your odds!

[Batcavehero24]

Let's meet in the middle, 1/18. Funko has grown, but not to the extent of having 1/6 chases, especially when most chases are very lazy.....

[lcarus83]

The only Chases Ive ever really wanted for my collection are the GITD Jason, Michael Myers and Gremlin. Never cared for the Freddy Krueger because the glow just seemed weak due to his color scheme. Oh and the Jack from The Shining is pretty cool. Aside from those, I never really cared for them.

The only ones Ive found at stores for retail price are Batman, Sub-Zero and twice I found Vampire Spike. I ended up trading them all for other stuff though.

[PopPChulo]

To be honest - I think that they should keep certainly lines 1:36 - you know like Horror and Pop Rock! Chases. I think they should stay with that whole 1:36 motto. I believe that it makes them that much more special.

[cptuff1969]

I think 1:12 would be good

[Goldberger]

I think the advent of the "facebook buy/sell/trade" groups has made it ecen harder to get chases, now. Some groups are stepping up and puttin rules into place to prevent chasers from treating employees horribly and giving them a place to flip their crap. We have a local chaser who's been kicked from every local group, because of an incident during the Hot Topic Pandapool. My wife was waiting at the mall at 5:30am to get it for our son, who is a hardcore Deadpool fan. This chaser threatened to push her down to get to Hot Topic's doors first when the mall doors opened. He harassed her, a friend of ours, and a few other collectors while in line and even afterward. People hace just gotten crazy.

[KidMarvel]

I think the advent of the "facebook buy/sell/trade" groups has made it ecen harder to get chases, now. Some groups are stepping up and puttin rules into place to prevent chasers from treating employees horribly and giving them a place to flip their crap. We have a local chaser who's been kicked from every local group, because of an incident during the Hot Topic Pandapool. My wife was waiting at the mall at 5:30am to get it for our son, who is a hardcore Deadpool fan. This chaser threatened to push her down to get to Hot Topic's doors first when the mall doors opened. He harassed her, a friend of ours, and a few other collectors while in line and even afterward. People hace just gotten crazy.

Don't understand why people have to get physical and ruin collecting for so many others. Can't imaginr what he would do for 1:36.

PS hope your son managed to land his Pandapool

[Goldberger]

I think the advent of the "facebook buy/sell/trade" groups has made it ecen harder to get chases, now. Some groups are stepping up and puttin rules into place to prevent chasers from treating employees horribly and giving them a place to flip their crap. We have a local chaser who's been kicked from every local group, because of an incident during the Hot Topic Pandapool. My wife was waiting at the mall at 5:30am to get it for our son, who is a hardcore Deadpool fan. This chaser threatened to push her down to get to Hot Topic's doors first when the mall doors opened. He harassed her, a friend of ours, and a few other collectors while in line and even afterward. People hace just gotten crazy.

Don't understand why people have to get physical and ruin collecting for so many others. Can't imaginr what he would do for 1:36.

PS hope your son managed to land his Pandapool

I know right! My wife was able to get it. The chaser got there, 30 minutes after my wife and our friend. He got nothing. He didn't even grab the regular. He admitted he just wanted it for trade bait. There was only 2 chases in sight before they opened. My wife got one, and our friend got the other. A guy in line stood up for my wife, and shutdown the chaser. He actually found a 3rd chase at the checkout, because the chaser was too busy stalking my wife and our friend to notice the 3rd one It was rather hilarious. Then he was blowing up that guy and one of the lical group admins on facebook, saying they owed him a chase. He even started a facebook group called "Honest Pop Collectors." You should check it out. It's hilarious. He even has rules for lining up at stores and flipping

[KidMarvel]

I think the advent of the "facebook buy/sell/trade" groups has made it ecen harder to get chases, now. Some groups are stepping up and puttin rules into place to prevent chasers from treating employees horribly and giving them a place to flip their crap. We have a local chaser who's been kicked from every local group, because of an incident during the Hot Topic Pandapool. My wife was waiting at the mall at 5:30am to get it for our son, who is a hardcore Deadpool fan. This chaser threatened to push her down to get to Hot Topic's doors first when the mall doors opened. He harassed her, a friend of ours, and a few other collectors while in line and even afterward. People hace just gotten crazy.

Don't understand why people have to get physical and ruin collecting for so many others. Can't imaginr what he would do for 1:36.

PS hope your son managed to land his Pandapool

I know right! My wife was able to get it. The chaser got there, 30 minutes after my wife and our friend. He got nothing. He didn't even grab the regular. He admitted he just wanted it for trade bait. There was only 2 chases in sight before they opened. My wife got one, and our friend got the other. A guy in line stood up for my wife, and shutdown the chaser. He actually found a 3rd chase at the checkout, because the chaser was too busy stalking my wife and our friend to notice the 3rd one It was rather hilarious. Then he was blowing up that guy and one of the lical group admins on facebook, saying they owed him a chase. He even started a facebook group called "Honest Pop Collectors." You should check it out. It's hilarious. He even has rules for lining up at stores and flipping

That made my night! First in front of the store!

[91shawny]

I personally feel like, along with others, that going back to 1:36 would spike the resell in the community and if thought people camping out to make a quick buck was bad before, it will multiply by many times. At the same token, the 1:6 chases still have caused many annoyances and does take the satisfaction of acquiring said chase.

What I'd like to see happen is less 1:6 chases and more store variants, because lets be honest, a color change on an outfit is somewhat a waste of a chase as opposed to just giving the variant to another store.

Not every line needs a chase and some variants can literally just be a regular common.

The only good thing about 1:6 now is if you are patient, the value from a chase initially being released goes from 40 to like 15 to 20 after a while.

Let's be honest, as great as the funko community is, there are some demons that will make reverting back to 1:36, a really bad time

[91shawny]

One personal wish I have is that more stores discouraging line-ups for chases and and stores not posting about receiving chases in shipments via social media posts (again, HT is a big offender here).

Hot topic is not supposed to post if they have chases or not. They are supposed to post what pops they got in, but be silent re: chase pieces. YMMV though so I'm sure some are not abiding by that.

And that’s sort of the con with having 1:6 chases. Even with Hot Topic not posting that they received a chase people can safely assume that they did receive a chase because it is so common.

That doesn't work for every HT tho because my local got pandapool in and did not get one chase at all, mind you I got there at 4:40 and another collector was there. I was so upset

But notice how early I had to get there just for a chance at the chase, sad isn't it?

[The Head]

And that’s sort of the con with having 1:6 chases. Even with Hot Topic not posting that they received a chase people can safely assume that they did receive a chase because it is so common.

That doesn't work for every HT tho because my local got pandapool in and did not get one chase at all, mind you I got there at 4:40 and another collector was there. I was so upset

But notice how early I had to get there just for a chance at the chase, sad isn't it?

Exactly. Mine got 20+ pandapools and no chase. I know the HT associate too so I trust what she is telling me. She had a line before she got in at 7am and had to let them down easy. Of course, people accused her of lying. Sometimes people don't understand that the ratio is a funko wide ratio and that stores routinely repack stock before sending it out to the stores so just because the ratio is 1:6 and a store gets 6 pops, doesn't automatically mesn they have a chase.

[Goldberger]

Don't understand why people have to get physical and ruin collecting for so many others. Can't imaginr what he would do for 1:36.

PS hope your son managed to land his Pandapool

I know right! My wife was able to get it. The chaser got there, 30 minutes after my wife and our friend. He got nothing. He didn't even grab the regular. He admitted he just wanted it for trade bait. There was only 2 chases in sight before they opened. My wife got one, and our friend got the other. A guy in line stood up for my wife, and shutdown the chaser. He actually found a 3rd chase at the checkout, because the chaser was too busy stalking my wife and our friend to notice the 3rd one It was rather hilarious. Then he was blowing up that guy and one of the lical group admins on facebook, saying they owed him a chase. He even started a facebook group called "Honest Pop Collectors." You should check it out. It's hilarious. He even has rules for lining up at stores and flipping

That made my night! First in front of the store!

I died laughing when I saw it Too funny! Apparently, he hasn't been back to HT since the incident.

[Rpiccioni1]

My store had at least 6. The line started at 6am. I got there at 9:30 am to pick up a internet order. They handed out tickets to the people in line. It was hard to see them on counter and know I couldn’t get one. So I ordered 6 on line and got lucky to get my 1st chase. I kept 2 regular, and sold the other 3 for $10.

[philipali]

My store had at least 6. The line started at 6am. I got there at 9:30 am to pick up a internet order. They handed out tickets to the people in line. It was hard to see them on counter and know I couldn’t get one. So I ordered 6 on line and got lucky to get my 1st chase. I kept 2 regular, and sold the other 3 for $10.

nice strategy here