Yesterday Disney announced that it was pulling Furry Friends off the shelves and letting customers return them. While we think this is a good thing because too many of the pieces were flawed, what will happen to the Friends that already have been adopted? Will they increase in value despite their flaws? Let’s look at the options.
Short Term (until Disney officially announces a re-release date or cancellation):
I think the price of these figures will rise in the short term., especially in two categories: Pieces that aren’t defective AND with custom artists who want the hands. While the series is on hold every pieces will seem like a LE for a period of time.
The big questions come once Disney announces whether or not they will re-release these.
If they cancel the series:
I think even the ones with mistakes gain value, but the exact value would be determined by how good the quality of each is. The chaser may hold a tremendous amount of value to a certain percentage of collectors. Cheshire Cat could reach the levels that Obi-Wan Ghost achieved when it first came out.
If they re-release the series:
Several questions will determine the value of the first series.
1. Will we be able to easily determine the two series from each other?
- The only way this first series has long term value is if they cancel the series or if they redesign them so that the first series is easily distinguishable.
2. Do the first series’s mistakes have any extended value?
- I believe that because the mistakes are inconsistent, they do not possess any additive value in the long run. For instance, if there was a run of Patch figures without any spots, that would be collectible. Just a messed up application of the spots is not collectible.
DS has not yet responded to my email stating I don’t want to return them because they are signed, but if it means giving them up I won’t do it. I always planned on keeping half, painting half over (even before I knew they were defective) so I still plan to do that. I’ll keep you all posted if DS has any options for me.
keeping mind because they are all signed by the artists!
I also sent an email and have not yet received a response. I don’t want to return mine only because I love most of the figures in the set. I asked the how long we were able to return them and if they re-released them, if I would be able to just exchange them.
Glad that I didn’t buy any so I don’t have to dal with this mess and Cheshire cat is going for crazy expensive on ebay
Scooped up a Max on ebay real quick yesterday and today I wanted to see about Pluto and they are selling for about $20 each. Just wow. Glad I got everyone else I wanted in this set on Monday with no quality issues.
When this has happened in the past with pins, disney did not rerlease the sets. So I doubt we will see it released a 2nd time.