Do you remember Beanie Babies? The little bean filled fluffy toy that everyone had to have? They became so popular that someone was actually killed over them.

Have you heard of Funko Pops? They are these little guys:

They're actually extremely popular right now. There are many different styles from many different licenses, including "Harry Potter," "Sesame Street," "Game of Thrones," the tv show "Friends" and even presidential candidates.

But there's something similar going on with Funko Pops that we've seen before, and that is that they are very similar to the Beanie Babies fad. Here’s why:

Collectibility

If you’re confused as to why these became popular, just look at them. They are adorable as hell and look amazing on a shelf.

Stick a few of these up in whatever room you have and you instantly have some pretty awesome decorations. When you factor in the limited edition ones and the store exclusives, you have the makings of a simple collectible product.

Beanie Babies were like that when they came out. There were so many and were so adorable that everyone in the family had at least one in their room. There were many memorable Beanie Babies, the most well-known one being the Princess Diana Memorial Bear. Add in the fact that the company constantly “retired” different figures on a whim, and you had something that everyone, including literally their mother, had to have.

The craze.

Beanie Babies actually didn’t really start getting popular until the late '90s. They were originally for kids with some allowance money to spend on. Then something happened: people went insane for the stuffed animals with the red tag on them. A divorcing couple actually split their Beanie Baby collection in half in front of judge. They were that popular.

Funko Pops are a lot like that now; people camp in front of stores just to receive a new and exclusive vinyl toy under five inches. There are communities out there, watching which store has the newest items that just came in. People pride themselves on discovering one in the wild; that is a regular store that they originally were at. The reddit page for Funko Pops is filled with proud collector’s giving tips on how to collect and what constitutes as something being mint. It’s so big now, that they have become staples of comic conventions nation wide.

Turnover prices.

There are Beanie Babies still worth over $600,000 right now, those mainly being the mint condition Princess Diana Bear in a plastic case, and this is after the initial craze of the stuffed animals died down. Beanie Babies were flipped, or bought and resold, for 1000-percent of its original price.

The same things are actually happening to the Funko Pops. Turnover rates for the little collectibles are ridiculous, especially if they are store/event exclusives, and discontinued. A quick hop on over to Amazon will show that the Target exclusive Zur En Arrh Batman, which is essentially a recolored Batman, has gone up in price by 1500-percent since its release. That’s $150 for an item that was released a month ago for about $10.

Flippers, people who solely purchase items for the resell value, are a bane in the Funko Pop community, and with good reason, as they muddle down the activity. It can be argued that flippers of any collectible causes a decline of the fad.

The crash.

There was a turning point for the Beanie Babies. One day, when the company announced which toys they’d retire (a practice that constantly kept the market fresh with rare items), people watched Ebay, waiting for the prices to skyrocket. But nothing happened. That was in 1999, what was the equivalent of a market selloff. The thing is that people previously were perfectly happy buying a Beanie Baby at $500. The same can be said about Funko Pops at the moment; right now, there are some going for over $500, and people are happily paying those, so long as it’s in good condition.

Remember those Zur En Arrh Batman I was talking about just a moment ago? Well people are now starting to outright refuse flipper prices for the them, with many of the one’s on sale for 15-times their price just sitting on the metaphorical shelves, collecting dust, just waiting to be bought.

Whether Funko Pops end up just like Beanie Babies, another embarrassing obsession we reminisce about in regards to the ‘90s, is almost irrelevant. Times do change, and although Funko Pops are a current collectible fad, they are a fad that has gone longer than the Beanie Babies craze. And the community of Funko Pop collectors will grow, with new editions and licenses coming out seemingly every day, showing us that no one can ever be be safe from these kinds of collectibles.

No one.