This Figment popcorn bucket craze is interesting, to say the least. The adorable little lavender-colored popcorn bucket is made in the likeness of the lovable Figment character from EPCOT’s Journey into Imagination attraction.
Guests at EPCOT on Friday when the International Festival of the Arts opened waited in line for as long as six hours to have the chance to purchase one. Or two. Or several. Figment immediately started popping up on resale sites like eBay, Mercari, and Poshmark, and for prices sometimes 8 times what he was going for in the parks.
Some Guests even set up shop at EPCOT and sold the buckets to other Guests. And then there were some who chose to share a bit of that Disney magic and Figment imagination with others, like a man who waited in line for 4 hours, bought 2 Figment buckets, and then gave them away–one to his mom for her birthday and one to a total stranger standing at the end of the line for the chance to purchase her own.
Then the Figment buckets began to show up on eBay, but rather than plastic, they were paper. A bit of Disney humor made its rounds on the eBay platform as sellers posted drawings of the wildly popular buckets. Fans could bid on drawings of the buckets, and the proceeds would be directed to charities.
In one particular case of a drawing listed on eBay, 90% of the proceeds were to be directed to Habitat for Humanity. Seller juliaki1 listed a drawing of the Figment bucket and noted in the title of the listing that the drawing wasn’t great: it was listed as a “Bad Artwork Sketch” of the bucket. The seller even promised a bag of microwavable popcorn with the drawing because, as she posted, “what is sadder than a popcorn bucket without popcorn?”
But the seller, Julia, became suspicious of the bids. The bidding was ended, and the listing was closed when the winning bid reached an unbelievable $10,000. She was hopeful, though, that the bids would be legitimate, and if so, it was her goal that the seller go through eBay to make the donation to Habitat for Humanity.
As it turns out, however, Julia’s suspicions were correct. She tweeted about the scenario with a lengthy post that detailed the events of her Figment drawing scenario.
Julia tweeted that she had an idea after learning that the highest bidder had placed bids unintentionally, especially since she wanted Habitat for Humanity to benefit.
Julia started a bidding event of sorts today to benefit Habitat for Humanity. She will photocopy the original drawing–making 100 copies in all (keeping one copy for herself). She will mix up the copies and include the original so that it’s a complete surprise about which buyer will receive the real drawing!
“On Tuesday, January 18, 2022, at 12 PM ET, I’ll be listing an item on eBay of the bad Figment sketch artwork with a buy-it-now price of $10. Like the original listing, 90% will go to Habitat for Humanity,” Julia tweeted.
It sounds like a win-win for fans and for Habitat for Humanity as well!
But Julia is taking it up another level: she’s creating a logo for offerings at TeePublic.com with the phrase “Anything is Art if You Use Your Imagination!” She’s setting it up so that 50% of the profits for 2022 will be donated to World Central Kitchen. Julia said the guaranteed donation will be $100.
We are happy to announce that Julia’s listing is doing well, and as of the time of this post, the listing has made $270 for Habitat for Humanity! If you want to get in on–as Julia calls it–a piece of internet history, while making a contribution to a worthy cause, you can view her listing here.
