Chinanews client, Beijing, April 3 (Reporter Xie Yiguan) "Are you buying a bear? The one that appreciates ten times a year."
Recently, the “post-90s fried bear earns tens of thousands of yuan at most”, but this bear is not another bear. It is not a polar bear or a brown bear, but a “building block bear” that is quickly emerging from the circle.
A bear, harvesting a lot of fans
Many people will associate it with a "violent bear" when they hear of the building block bear, but the two have nothing to do with each other.
The building block bear is also called BE@RBRICK, which is a toy produced by the Japanese company MEDICOM TOY. BB, bearbrick, Jack Brick, and Variety Brick are all its nicknames.
The screenshot is from the official website of Jengmuxiong.
Although the building block bear has only recently made a large-scale appearance in the country, in fact, the building block bear is already 20 years old.
In May 2001, its founder Akashi Ryuhiko designed a souvenir for a toy fair in Tokyo-a thumb-sized white plastic bear. This bear, which can be used as a mobile phone pendant, was loved by the guests of the fair. .
Therefore, the building block bear was launched in August 2001.
At present, there are mainly 5 sizes of building block bears on the market, 50% of 35mm, 70% of 50mm, 100% of 70mm, 400% of 280mm and 1000% of 700mm.
In terms of price, except for some scarce limited models that sell for tens of thousands of yuan, the selling price of 1000% size brick bears is mostly between 3000 yuan and 4000 yuan, and the selling price of 400% size brick bears is mostly between 700 yuan and 900 yuan. In between, the 100% size building block bear will have a blind box series, the market price of the whole set is about 1,000 yuan, and the price of 50% and 70% size is below 100 yuan.
The screenshot is from the official website of Jengmuxiong.
Originally a toy, why can the building block bear stand out in the fashion industry and now become a member of the roasted seeds and nuts?
This is due to the joint design with various world trend elements.
Every year, the building block bear company invites brands, designers or artists from different fields around the world, based on the shape of the doll, let them use their imagination to transform the classic and cute building block bear doll.
The cross-border linkage has allowed the building block bears to continue to rise in value, and even enter the ranks of works of art.
For example, in 2008, the 1000% size brick bear designed by the Chinese artist Yue Minjun for the brick bear sold for a sky-high price of 126,000 pounds.
The popularity of celebrities and trendy people from all walks of life has also made the building block bear quickly become popular in China.
Jay Chou, Huang Zitao, etc. have exposed the collection of building block bears. In the second season of the variety show "The Trend Partner", the building block bears also appeared frequently and became the favorite of the protagonist Chen Weiting. Repeatedly staged the painful parting of love, full of topics. .
Screenshot from the show video.
"In the beginning, I was curious to see that a star bought so many building blocks, so I bought one and found that it was really good-looking. From then on, I was in the pit." Bearbrick super talk host "Little Monster" on Weibo ( (Screen name) told a reporter from Chinanews.com.
With unlimited joint names + different prices + celebrities bring goods, the crowd of building block bears continues to expand.
In the "Bearbrick" Weibo super chat, there are 120 million readings and nearly 5,000 posts; on Douyin, the topic of "bearbrick" has been played 110 million times; on video social platforms such as station B and Xiaohongshu, there are also some problems. Popular science, unpacking, and collection videos of Little Building Block Bear.
A bear can sell for up to 300,000 yuan. Why can it be so high?
Recently, one of the obvious feelings of Chaohua host "Little Monster" is that the circle of playing bears is getting bigger and bigger.
"It can be said that it has expanded exponentially. On the one hand, the recent increase in variety shows and media publicity has made more people aware of this. On the other hand, the shoe market has been basically paralyzed recently. Young people may choose the'bear' market and make the building blocks bear. The price of the country is'rising and boats rising'."
"Before, a Qianqiu series of building block bears took about 10,000, and then more than 30,000 shots. Because I played earlier, I still have a lot of precious 100% size building block bears, many of which are blind boxes of 69 yuan. Yes, it can now be sold for 900 yuan-1500 yuan." Another Weibo Bearbrick super talk host "Pang Fat Xiong" introduced to a reporter from Chinanews.com.
According to the description of "Fatty Bear", "I just entered the'Bear Pit' just because I liked it at the beginning. When no one was playing, he was already playing." He didn't care much about appreciation, but he didn't expect the price of building blocks to rise. so much.
"The building block bear is naturally appreciated by more people." The little monster said that he had once held a 300,000 building block bear, and there was only one bear in the world.
The reporter noticed that on the Dewu APP, the highest-selling agent BE@RBRICK Van Gogh self-portrait series was 1000%, the platform selling price was 6289 yuan, and the selling price was displayed as 3150 yuan, and the price was directly doubled.
Some limited editions have been sold at a price of tens of thousands of yuan, but they have now reached hundreds of thousands of yuan.
For example, the selling price of BE@RBRICK karimoku×MMJ Mastermind JAPAN Walnut Wood Grain Prosperity 400% is 23,800 yuan, and the current selling price is 168,999 yuan.
Screenshot of Zidewu APP.
Why can the price of building blocks bear so high?
This starts with the selling mechanism of the building block bear.
At present, the mainstream purchase channels for building block bears in China are divided into three types: official websites and other online websites, private dealers and trendy goods platforms.
According to a player's sharing, the official website of Japan will announce the agency and limited models around the 23rd of each month. The agency models will generally be shipped in N months, while the limited models will only announce the sale information.
If you book through Xianyu or some private merchants on Taobao, you only have to pay for it, and you need to ship it according to the official estimated time. At the same time, you must pay attention to distinguishing whether the seller is reliable.
If you buy through platforms such as Dewu APP, the price will be inflated, and the platform will open the original box to shoot the flaws, which may affect secondary sales.
Screenshot from Taobao.
The limited sale and long delivery cycle have given the building block bear market space for speculation.
In addition, the 100% size blind box series of the building block bears, there will be basic models, transparent models, pattern models, horror models, hidden models, etc.
The excitement and surprise brought by the unpacking process attract players' continuous investment, and at the same time, in order to obtain some limited funds, buyers will also conduct transactions, creating a premium space.
Since last year, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, many players can only choose domestic channels to buy. Players flock to domestic e-commerce platforms and second-hand trading platforms, which has also led to the emergence of an army of "speculation bears".
Follow the trend to stir up bears,
and be careful to become "living chives"
From the perspective of the industry, speculating on bears is the same as speculating on shoes and funds. If you do not understand the industry and follow the trend, you may also be involved in a "bear market."
Take the BE@RBRICK Van Gogh self-portrait series mentioned above as an example. Although it is not a limited edition, it is highly sought after due to its design. The 1000% specification was once fired to more than 10,000 yuan, but it has since fallen to the current 6 Thousands of yuan.
Take screenshots from the Ziduo platform.
“The price of many brick bears has been falling recently.” “Little Monster” told reporters, “In this circle, only the dealer makes a profit without losing money. You don’t lose money if you buy it because you like it, but you may lose money if you want to come in and make money. ."
From the point of view of the "chubby bear", the building block bear is the most worthy investment in the current trendy toy field, but it is more difficult to make a steady profit.
"After all, investment is risky, but if you lose more than 30% of the speculation bear, unless you don’t understand it at all or you are not calm enough. Because the risk of building block bear investment is relatively low, but the relative return will not be very high."
"The enthusiasm of the building block bear reflects that the economic development has reached a certain stage, and the purchasing power has shifted from consumer staples to consumer optional goods." Yang Chang, chief analyst at Zhongtai Securities, believes that the problem is that the demand side tends to show rapid changes at this stage. The characteristics of the transfer, whether the long-term demand for specific commodities will continue, is still uncertain.
The famous economist Song Qinghui said, "Will the building block bear be the next trendy shoe or blind box to be fired? The answer is yes. Any product that meets the characteristics of'new, strange, special' can be used for speculation. , But as speculators’ attention greatly diminishes, the law of diminishing marginal effects will appear."
In addition, “commodities such as building block bears can often be priced higher by controlling supply. However, the control of supply may also be broken, which means that building block bears are still unstable compared to other investment methods." Yang Chang said .
Have you bought a brick bear? Has it appreciated recently? (Finish)