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South Park’s secret ‘underground culture’ where diehard fans are making small fortunes


Television programmes: South Park. Cartman and friends

Your South Park collection could be worth more than you’d think… (Picture: Comedy Central)

An expert has revealed that diehard South Park fans could be sitting on a small fortune thanks to a sense of ‘underground culture’.

The long-running animated series has built up a loyal fanbase over its dark humour and parodying, with more than 300 episodes having aired since 1998.

But despite the fact they can all be streamed online for minimal subscription fees, boxsets are proving to be a surprising hit.

Speaking to Metro, pop culture PR expert Mike Drake, who has a background in the toys and collectibles industry, explained: ‘You could turn on your TV, and you could stream South Park whenever you like, however, the boxsets have continued to sell since the series began.’

He added that he believes it’s part of ‘an underground culture’, continuing: ‘You’re passing it among friends and being like, “Oh my god, disc five, episode three, you have to watch that,” it’s almost like the way in the 70s, an older brother might give a younger brother a Playboy.’ 

Bundles of the DVD boxsets are being sold on eBay for between £50 and £100, however, the collection in its entirety, with 58 discs from seasons 1-21, are reaching more than £500 on Amazon.

Diehard fans are sharing boxsets among themselves, despite cheaper streaming alternatives (Picture: Comedy Central)

And they’re not the only adult cartoons that are selling for far more than they’re worth.

Mike revealed that some boxsets are in high demand, despite drawing in criticism from collectors.

The Simpsons, which has been running from 1989, has launched countless toys and memorabilia, with episodes across 36 seasons having been on air and available to watch for free for decades.

Talking about one collection of The Simpsons’ boxsets that are so desirable they went up in value after being axed, Mike explained: ‘One of the things that DVD collectors hate, when you ask them, is they don’t like things that are in boxes that can’t go on a shelf, and for the first series of Simpsons DVDs, they divided the seasons up in tin character heads, so like season one might be in a tin Homer head, and you’d open it up.

The Simpsons’ toys and collectibles have proven to be huge hits (Picture: 20thCentFox/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

‘The problem was, you couldn’t fit them neatly on a shelf, you had to display them some other way. So many people complained about that that they stopped doing it after the initial five family members. And then for season six, they went with a regular box.

‘But then for season seven, they went back to shapes because even though everyone had complained and said stop, when they stopped, everyone was like, “Why did you stop?”

‘They went back to that and the original seasons in the tin boxes (because now they do normal boxes) are more desirable, and I believe there was a reissue of the sixth season in a shaped box that went up in value.’

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Source:: Metro

      

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