april 2, 2025

the other day, i found myself thinking about those fairy figurines you see in lots of gift shops.

i had two questions: 1) who is making these, and why are striped socks such a thing?

2) who is buying these? i would have thought sweet old ladies, but so many of them are edgy or sexy?? i was struggling to understand the target demographic.

as it turns out, there is an artist who designs a lot of them--specifically, the ones with striped socks! her name is Amy Brown, and you can support her artwork on her site! As i poked further i found more artists, like Anne Stokes or Myka Jelina (HOLY SHITTT her stuff is so cool she's like goth Lisa Frank!).

it seems manufacturing companies go to these fantasy artists and license their work for figurines, t-shirts, blankets, etc. honestly it sounds like a dream gig.

yet after all this, question 2 remained unanswered. who are these things *for*? i know there's usually a pretty big like unboxing/collecting community on youtube, so it's the first place i checked. disappointingly, there were only one or two videos of people showing off their collection, certinaly not enough to get a good sample size. (although it did make it clear that people seem to collect *within* a certain aesthetic--one video i saw was mostly really cute fairies playing and relaxing, with 1 sort of gothy girl in the mix)

then i found this video. i googled Vampyre Cosmetics hoping any user reviews would provide a look into the demographic.

so... fascinating. what a rabbit hole. the owner gives her side of the story here in a tiktok. seems like a rough situation for everyone involved. but i was still searching for an answer to question number 2.

as i aimlessly browsed the different online shops selling fairy statues, trying to think of which lead to follow next, i saw a figurine that made me say "oh that's sick as fuuuuck". And then it happened again. and then i looked down and realized that my favorite t-shirt, which i am currently wearing as i write this, is available for sale on their website.

I am the target demographic. i would for sure have a million of these if they weren't so expensive and breakable. and with that in mind i need to get the fuck off this website before i spend 200$ on t-shirts and hot dragon ladies.

(if you collect these kinds of things, I'd love to see your collection! you reach me at boredomarchive@pm.me)

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