Has the bottom fallen out of the Funko Pops market?

g.man wrote:

HMV poised to go into administration again. Time to spend those vouchers before they're worthless peeps!

Gav still working there?

Jaco wrote:

Amazon (and other internet retailers, natch) really have done a number on the traditional high-street games/movies/music stores, haven't they? It's inevitable that they'll all disappear eventually, but I will miss them. I still much prefer to browse physical shelves. Although having said that, I rarely have the time these days, so end up just hitting the internet. ... Dammit, this is all my fault, isn't it?

It's beyond that now. Lots of people have stopped using physical media altogether. I doubt if there's been a page worth of discussion about 4K blu ray, even though loads of people here have an xbox that'll play the things.

I'm not sure the high street is fucked but big department stores sure are and shops selling stuff that nobody wants anymore sure are and shops selling stuff that you can get off the internet and never need to look at to see if it's what you want sure are.

Businesses need to adapt, as always.

I'm keeping well out of this, here. I'll just get annoyed and confrontational about it.

As for the High st.
One problem as far as I can tell is they seem to use the pre-crash market as an average when in fact it was bloated and built on a foundation of pushing bad credit with store cards.

Post crash people wised up to it, didn't have the money and found new things to do with their time other than consume.

We shouldn't be talking about "saving the high street", why the fuck should we shed tears for companies run by the likes of that Cuntrag Phil Green.
Our focus should be on how we utilise these spaces in ways that reflect what people want and that can also provide jobs for those left jobless.

I'd still rather have physical media than digital files you never really own, and that can be revoked at any time.

I moved over to digital for music a few years back, getting rid of a pretty huge CD collection at the same time. The space saved has been useful, but I wish I'd never done it, I'll be honest.

As for movies and games, I think I own about 400+ movies, and maybe 4 of those are digital. In regard to games - other than freebie GWG stuff, I only ever buy physical (if it's available). I can't see myself giving up physical media until I have absolutely no choice.

@Tempy
Those many people are still very much a niche.
You could probably run a small indie shop covering that in places like Edinburgh and London where there is a concentrated population of film buffs.
Its a bit like indie bookstores. They can survive to serve that niche and are generally well loved by their patrons but they aren't ever going to be a big retailer that is known up and down the country.

@Jaco
That's fine and there are others out there like you but you are a dying breed.
It isn't only the format that is changing but consumption habits as well.
Less and less are people sitting down to listen to an album start to finish. Movies and TV are becoming binge and bin affairs.

As a massive user of spotify too i’m not some neo-luddite, I just know that digital isn’t anywhere near ready to replace physical yet.

Also when I say the high street is fucked i’m talking about it from the perspective of the employment impact it will have, as I mentioned in my post. No one is planning around automation, and people may well die because of this. We’ve known it’s been coming since the 70s, even earlier, but no-one will do anything about it.

But it’s ok, May, Mogg, et al. Poor people deserve to die. We don’t deserve good mental health, or benefits, or anything really. We don’t even deserve decent housing if it effects land lords. Crush us in the fucking wheels, you massive Tory cunts, at least you greased your palms with Brexit.

The battle to provide a living during further automation requires a level of intelligent thought not provided by the likes of our current government.

Are they that good for those at the bottom though?
Generally people are satisfied by an 8 pound a month Netflix subscription. A single DVD could cost double that.
As for having to move, well fuck moving crates of DVDs every 6 months and having them take up space in ever shrinking living spaces.

We can talk about the needs and wants of individuals but if there was that much demand HMV wouldn't be fucked.

I used to like collecting discs but fuck that noise now. I have a ton of blu rays I've never even watched and within a few years will probably have nothing to watch them on anyway. Give me digital any day, I don't care if I don't really own it. Why would I want to own something I'll probably only watch once anyway?

Like I say I was talking about physical vs digital, not HMV

Tempy wrote:

Physical matters. It can be sold on, it can be kept, it can be swapped and traded, it is more convenient for poorer people, people in sheltered accommodation, young people, and so on.

This. Absolutely this. Also, the move to online/streaming means that your choices are limited and guided (especially younger people) by the marketing algorithms and interests of the big internet companies.

As a young wastrel, I discovered a wealth of cinematic treats via the local library and by browsing the shelves at my local Blockbuster. I doubt the same variety will be as easily accessible online as companies like Netflix are invested in pushing their own or certain types of content, depending on who their algorithms think you are.

Then there's the fact that I'd swap games/CDs/films I'd watched and wasn't fussed about keeping, or I'd trade them in / sell them. No way could I have afforded to consume as much media as I did otherwise.

Tempy wrote:

Digital is luxury, even my cheap ass spotify sub is reliant on hundred of pounds worth of technology.

Yeah, I've made this point before here. The gradual spread of content across multiple (paid-for) providers means it's actually costing us a lot more to consume media these days.

Back in the day, you bought your TV, a TV licence and that was that. You had access to everything, for free. If you wanted to watch a new film you'd go to the cinema or rent/buy a VHS/DVD. If you bought it, you could always trade it back in, swap it or sell it if you decided not to keep it. That way your overall outlay was actually relatively low.

Now, just to actually get started at home, you need good, stable fibre broadband, a decent computer / phone / tablet, a TV and a TV licence. Then there's the content (assuming you want access to everything, like we used to have). Anything half-decent isn't on free-to-air terrestrial these days, so you need a Netflix sub. Only they don't have all the decent stuff either, so you also need a Prime account, a Sky package and a Spotify sub. Oh yeah, and Apple Music. And soon you'll need a Disney sub if you want to access Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Fox or Pixar content. Then there are all the other studios and media empires lining up to offer their content exclusively through subscription models. The supply of entertainment is becoming so fractured and expensive that soon it really will be almost impossible for the average household to have the kind of unfettered access we had in the 80s.

Not what I'd call progress.

Oh yes, I sometimes forget that basic morality got dropped once we moved into the digital age...