Funko Pops, to me.
I understand that some of them are fairly overpriced, but I also really like them as is. It doesn’t work on all characters, but it sometimes work on a lot and there’s so much representation and variety that it’s good to have a few.
If people want to talk about waste of plastic and vinyl, they should bark at the companies who make teeny tiny figurines that serve no purpose and have so little detail that spending any money on them is a waste.
I always took “vanilla” meant more “safe” or “not experimenting”, as in choosing what you know people like (vanilla) instead of trying to do something braver that not as many people will like.
That’s a fair usage. But I will always stan this stinky spice when people use it to mean plain or boring!