What Happened to Youtooz?

by Finn, Grade 7

So, we’re back to this I guess. Yes, I am still obsessed over these figures, and since it’s been a while since I wrote an article about them, I think it’s about time (That joke will be explained later on in the article.) to talk about Youtooz. So, let’s talk about what happened since we last talked about them.

What are Youtooz Doing Now?

Youtooz are still doing figures, plushies, and plushie keychains of people, memes, or moments on the Internet. In that field, not much has changed. But the figures they are producing are way different.

The Licensed Figures

Remember when I said “it’s about time” and I’d explain it later? Well, I’m doing that now. So, since we last talked about Youtooz, they’re doing a lot more with brands. They’re still doing some plushies and figures of the emoji Collection, they’ve released figures of Angry Birds and even figures of Crash Bandicoot. Yes, the Crash Bandicoot, with the about time joke referring to the series’ latest game It’s About Time. And we’ve gotten more details on more licensed figures from last time, so let’s talk about them!

Arthur: 2 more figures will be releasing some time in December.

Baby Nut: Released soon after the article was published and a Kool-Aid Man figure and plush were teased from an article talking about the partnership between Planters and Youtooz.

John Wick: Confirmed to not be in the works anymore, with the Sony license probably referring to the Angry Birds line since the designs are based on the Angry Birds movies that Sony helped distribute.

Snoopy/Peanuts: Released over the summer and a retail-exclusive Snoopy is coming soon to a certain chain of collectibles stores.

Mega Man: Confirmed to still be in the works and planned to release in January.

Cuphead: Confirmed to be a collection still in the works with the first figure releasing in November or December. The collection is also confirmed to only have 4 figures made.

emojis: Read the paragraph before this list.

(Note: While reading this over again, I realized that I missed something really important.

That was the Ripndip collaboration which released a few weeks ago and had the first piece of Youtooz licensed clothes ever, being a shirt with a pocket and a hoodie. I probably should have mentioned this earlier since this is a really important collaboration, but here it is now at least.)

There have been a few other collaborations (Like Dino Swords with 100 Thieves and MSCHF) that I’m probably missing, but these are the important ones.

The YouTuber/Meme Figures

With the YouTuber and meme figures, nothing really changed except for 4 things. The first thing is that as I observe the new figures come out, I realize that the design has been better than some in the past. I don’t know if that’s because they have a lot of good ideas or if they have a better budget for making and designing the figures, but that’s something cool that I noticed. The second thing that I’ve noticed is that they’ve been letting smaller creators get figures more often, but with lower stock than usual. For example, Dead Squirrel is a YouTuber that has about 400,000 subscribers and sold out in under 2 hours. The third thing that I’ve noticed is that they’re starting to reach out to other merch sites rather than just youtooz.com. For example, the previously mentioned Ripndip drop was sold on their site and the Nelk drop was sold on their site, selling out only slightly slower than Dead Squirrel. And the fourth and final topic is the amount of figures have been greatly increasing. For example, on average we used to maybe get 10-15 figures a month in January. But now we get about 20+ figures a month. The main reason for this is to keep Youtooz growing and sustainable. Some people have been annoyed by this, and Youtooz has even publicly stated that fall and winter will have way less drops than late spring and all summer. And that’s all for the other figures. But, let’s talk about one of the most controversial topics over the summer.

The Shipping and Quality

Over the summer, along with loads of figures releasing, loads of figures have been shipping and have been arriving to people. But people have been noticing a decrease in quality for some figures. And when Jackscepticeyes began to arrive, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. People began complaining about how rough various pieces like the hair looked, and were demanding a refund. During this, Youtooz said that one of their warehouses has been decreasing in quality, and the first delay happened to make sure that the best quality was assured. And for those who bought a Jackscepticeye, they were offered a replacement. So, people waited and eventually got their figures. Later on in the summer, 2 more delays happened, delaying figures like Austin, Technoplane, Chewie, and a few others. Towards the end of the summer, one final delay was announced, delaying the original 3 figures in the emoji Collection and 2 figures in the Bob Ross Collection. And recently, there has been more consistent shipping, with a lot of delayed figures being shipped out and delivered as we speak. Even some figures like Dead Squirrel or Crying Carson are shipping more than a month early. But, as the figures arrive, people notice a very consistent pattern: the figures have yellow skin. If you look at a recent figure for a minute, you might not see it, and it maybe isn’t even on that figure. But if you look at others for a second, you’ll clearly see the yellow skin. Youtooz has said nothing about replacements for the skin tone, but have promised to slow down shipping slightly to make sure this problem doesn’t happen anymore.

And as far as I can remember, you’re now all caught up! To say the least, it was an “exciting” summer and Youtooz seems to be growing more than ever. And even in 2021, I hope that I’ll have the honor of supporting Youtooz for as long as I can.