Dec 17 2011
Are Bobbleheads Simply A Passing Fad?
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Since it often occurs with niche products using a growing marketplace, one often asks if they are a novelty, which will perish shortly after.
Bobbleheads are not any exception to this. The last few years have seen quite a few players popping up within this industry, by using highly equivalent offerings and with a similar strategy, appealing to the fun-seeking nature of potential clients, the customized nature of the product as well as the element of uniqueness.
In chats with some pleasant competitors, now you ask , often posed of how long will individualized bobbleheads retain their particular novelty status, before they become popular, and eventually commoditized.
Thought it was worth writing a few lines on the subject, given that we at 3D Small Me are firm followers that individualized bobbleheads, and collectible figurines in general will not follow that lifecycle.
To begin with, individualized bobbleheads cannot free their uniqueness status, simply because they aren’t brand new. There’s records dating centuries back, which show them being made from bamboo, inside regions of China and Japan (note how this also discredits ANY website claiming they make THE original bobblehead. There actually is no such point). If we extend the concept towards the general idea of personalized figurines, then you’ll find people have been making tiny statues of one another as long as we’ve existed.
Secondly, individualized bobbleheads are very unlikely to become mainstream due to their process. They tend to be cumbersome to produce. Understanding precisely what the client would like, asking for more information, the hard physical work involved, the product quality checks as well as margin with regard to error ensure it is that not one of the big players in the toys and collectibles industries wish to touch bobbleheads. To them it is regarded as too much headache. They’re often correct too…!
Advancements in quickly prototyping technologies could make part of this process easier, namely the production, but they are still not advanced enough, nor is actually making a custom made bobblehead top of mind on anyone’s head in terms of making a personalized item.
So in a way, exactly the same reasons in which prevent bobble heads from being a huge industry are the ones which prevent them from going extinct right after their novelty has passed.
There is one further idea, and it is the adaptability of bobbleheads like a gift, as well as what it symbolizes. If we take the example of using them as wedding wedding cake toppers, we can conclude that so long as people are engaged and getting married, and as long as there are wedding couples that want their particular wedding to become a bit quirky or enjoyable, a bobble head cake topper will be something which they’re attracted to. Now we haven’t checked wedding ceremony demographics, but chances are that weddings are not decreasing. Nor are graduations, retirements, goodbyes for that matter. Birthdays as well as anniversaries are incredibly safe.
We believe as long as special occasions are there, one thing as personal as a bobbehead will invariably have a spot alongside treasured tokens to big surprise and entertain people you like.
In an age in which it is difficult to discover a gift for individuals that already have it all, a personalized bobblehead is not likely to become a hoopla that dies out.
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