The Dolls That Have Quickly Become A Pokemon-like Collection Craze
Image: Pop Mart
My exposure to Labubu, a series of little rabbit-like monster dolls dressed up in various outfits that people wear as accessories, began with an odd viral TikTok audio in which Lilz Bullz Marbella claims to have a one-of-a-kind 24-karat gold doll. This sound was attached to hundreds of videos on my feed before I ever actually saw one of these dolls, but now that the trend has broken containment, I see one of these little guys everywhere I look. Though Labubu were initially just dolls like any other, theyāve seen an uptick as a fashion accessory in the past couple of years, with Lisa, one of the members of K-pop group Blackpink, being cited as one of the major trendsetters whoās sparked the brandās worldwide success.
Lisa has been considered one of the first trailblazers for the brand ever since she posted photos of herself sporting a Labubu keychain on her bag on social media in April 2024, and then other huge celebrities followed suit. Artists like Rihanna and Dua Lipa have also been spotted with these little monsters hanging off their bags, and over the past year the dolls have exploded in popularity. It may seem like Labubu is an overnight success, but the dolls have been in production for a decade. The brand was introduced in 2015 under the company How2Work, based on a character design by artist Kasing Lung, who illustrated childrenās books with the company. The brand had another surge in popularity in 2019 when it started collaborating with Pop Mart, a Chinese blind box store. All of this was a perfect storm for Labubu to become not only a worldwide phenomenon, but the kind of collectathon craze that rivals something like PokĆ©mon cards. How do you make something desirable? Make it harder to find. Itās also made unboxing videos a popular viral trend as people try to track down the rare āsecretā doll in a blind box.
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Suggested ReadingThe craze has grown so much that Labubu is now collaborating with some huge brands. There are dolls based on One Piece and adorned with Coca-Cola logos. Pop Mart does sell Labubu dolls without the blind box struggle, but their prices vary from around $30 to several hundred. Even those pricier ones sold out on the official store, so people are clearly willing to pay a shocking amount for these things. But like any popular collectible, the lucrative scalper business has sucked the fun out of it for a lot of fans. There are reports of physical altercations at stores selling the dolls, as well as a general lack of stock as resellers descend upon new releases. While there are reports of the scalper bubble bursting, youāll still find dozens of the things on sale on sites like eBay with inflated prices.
Thatās pretty much the gist of it. Theyāre cute, rare, lucrative for scumbags, and popular with influential celebrities. Are they just a short-lived craze like Furby was in the ā90s, or might they have staying power as a sought-after collectible like PokĆ©mon? Only time will tell.
