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At CES 2026, AI toys, companion robots, and smart hardware occupied nearly every corner. But among the plushies and blinking lights, two startups stood out: HeyMates and Buddyo. Both are betting on the same trend: the collectible figure boom, supercharged by AI.
The core concept: place a figurine on a smart base with speaker, microphone, and glowing light ring. Through a companion app, the base runs an LLM chatbot tuned to that character — complete with wake words and inside jokes. Soon you’ll chat with Einstein about relativity or debate rebellion suppression with Darth Vader from your desk.
HeyMates: The AI-powered Funko Pop
Olli has already licensed its BuddyOS to multiple toy makers, and now it is building its own hardware: HeyMates — figures resembling Funko Pop collectibles, each base containing an RFID chip. Olli launches on Kickstarter later this year with three debut characters: Einstein (science and creativity), Zara (a tarot reader dispensing mystical advice), and Chandler — an ambitious attempt to recreate the sarcastic humor of the beloved Friends character (poignant given Matthew Perry’s 2023 passing).
CEO Hai Ta predicts this market is about to explode. His vision: secure top IP licenses and celebrity likeness rights — essentially, redefine Funko Pop through AI before the copycats arrive.
Buddyo: Make Your Amiibo and Labubu Talk
Buddyo CEO Yijia Zhang takes a different approach. He doesn’t want to replace Funko Pop — he wants to build a platform that works with all figurines. His inspiration: Nintendo’s Amiibo. As a Nintendo superfan, Zhang built Buddyo so his Amiibo could do more. Buddyo sells AI Pods — smart bases with slots matching Amiibo dimensions, using the same NFC technology. They also sell NFC sticker bases for Funko Pop, bobbleheads, or Labubu. A larger statue base is coming.
Since existing figures lack personalities, Buddyo’s app handles this: take a photo, name the character, and AI auto-generates a backstory. It knows Stitch is an alien experiment and Mario yells “It’s-a-me!” Buddyo also offers a community-sourced voice library — a clear move to stay out of Nintendo’s famously aggressive legal crosshairs.
Why Collectibles?
Zhang, a former Google Assistant engineer, explains: people already have deep emotional connections with their collections, something a new IP toy cannot replicate. HeyMates is more focused (each character specializes in one domain). Buddyo, built on ChatGPT and Gemini, is a general-purpose AI assistant with a character’s face. Whether AI toys have genuine market space remains debatable, but layering AI onto collectibles is the most convincing case yet.
Funko is not involved — and is mired in its own crisis. Two months ago, amid slowing sales and tariff shocks, Funko warned investors of “substantial doubt about its ability to continue.” Will a cornered Funko embrace AI? Or will its inertia leave the door open? The era of talking collectibles has already begun.
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