To some, they’re quirky and cute. Others find their pointed fangs and vaguely sinister smiles unsettling. But no matter where your opinion on Labubu dolls lands, there’s no denying the grip these figurines have on the world right now.
Labubu dolls, both a sartorial accessory and hot collectible, have taken both the fashion and pop culture worlds by storm. The fluffy, sharp-toothed elves have quickly turned into one of the world’s most valuable toys, fetching sky-high prices and triggering in-store fights as customers line up to get their hands on one.
But these little monsters are hardly an overnight success. Although they’ve only recently cemented their place in the top echelons of the collectible toy market, their story dates back a decade.
Here’s what to know about the origins of the Labubu, what’s driving the pandemonium and just how far fans are willing to go to get their hands on one.
A decade in the making
While the demand for Labubu currently rests in the toy and luxury markets, the character first appeared in a series of children’s picture books by artist and illustration Kasing Lung in 2015. The Monsters, inspired by Nordic mythology, featured a playful tribe of female elves known as Labubus.
At their core, the 100 different Labubus featured in the books are friendly and eager-to-help, although their good intentions sometimes sow chaos.
Lung released a series of Labubu toys shortly after his trilogy came out, but it wasn’t until he teamed up with Chinese toy company Pop Mart in 2019 that the global craze began to take shape.
Enter the ‘blind-box’
Pop Mart, capitalizing on a relatively new type of children’s toy – the so-called “blind box” – launched a series of Labubu dolls obscured by packaging, meaning the exact figurine was a surprise until the customer opened the box.
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According to Pop Mart, the revenue generated from the first Labubu series launch “broke the sales record in the art toy category.”
While the element of surprise in certainly a draw for many, so, too, is the chance to unbox one of the line’s rare “secret” dolls.
Since that fateful initial launch, Labubu toys have slowly picked up steam — that is, until 2024, when they exploded in popularity and pushed customers, scrambling to get their hands on one, to the brink both financially and mentally.
In the past year, the Labubu hasn’t become just another collectible figurine. They are now heralded as luxury’s answer to the Beanie Baby.
While the Beanie Babies craze in the 1990s saw customers lining up outside stores, buying plastic tag protectors, hoarding and, to some, collecting an asset they believed would eventually boost their retirement funds, those small, plush collectibles had a retail cap of around five dollars at initial sale.
At its peak, notes The Street, Beanie Babies were a US$1.4 billion phenomenon. That valuation feels quaint when you consider that the Labubu has helped Pop Mart’s valuation to $38 billion — higher than toy heavy hitters Mattel, Hasbro and Sanrio combined.
Social media and celebrity fuel the fire
Part of the force driving the Labubu phenomenon is celebrity and social media working in tandem to make the toy a status symbol and viral luxury flex. Influencers are working in overdrive, showcasing Labubu unboxing videos, while Hollywood’s elite are clipping the dolls onto their high-end handbags.
David Beckham, Rihanna, Dua Lipa and Blackpink’s Lisa have been spotted showing off their Labubu collections.
Cher, too, was seen with one at a recent film festival appearance. At a recent auction, a collaboration involving Pharrell Williams, the K-pop group Seventeen and the Japanese fashion brand Sacai, a designer special edition Labubu sold for $31,250, setting a record for the highest-selling Labubu at auction.
Last week, the cast of the upcoming movie F1, including Brad Pitt, were filmed pulling Labubus from blind boxes, and Lizzo made headlines this week for throwing out the first pitch at a Los Angeles Dodgers game in high heels and a Prada Labubu keychain swinging from her waistband.
“The character has evolved into a collectible and style symbol, resonating with fans who connect with its quirky aesthetic and unique backstory,” Emily Brough, Popmart’s head of IP licensing in the Americas, told The Associated Press.
More than 300 styles of Labubu (often with high-end partnerships and collaborations with companies like Uniqlo and Coco-Cola), limited editions released around holidays and dolls only released in certain countries, means that some dolls have reached the same collector tier as Birkin handbags or collectible sneakers, fetching thousands of dollars on resale sites.
Meanwhile, a secondary market for Labubu merchandise has also popped up, with fast fashion retailers and small business owners now scrambling to sell off-brand clothing and accessories for Labubu dolls.
The rise of the ‘Lafufu’
Getting your hands on an authentic Labubu is deceptively difficult. While the standard blind-box models are pretty accessible in terms of price, ranging anywhere from about $35 to $130, they often sell out in seconds, just to reemerge on resale sites for five times the price, or more.
Pop Mart’s online store releases a Labubu drop every Thursday morning and in stores the following day, but long online queues and no physical Pop Mart stores in Canada mean lots of disappointed fans miss out each week. Of course, there are always other retailers, like toy stores and Amazon, but reports indicate that those retailers are just as overwhelmed by wannabe Labubu owners and sell out almost immediately after a restock.
Like all things trendy, there are many retailers looking to cash in on the Labubu craze and, increasingly, knock-offs called “Lafufus” are flooding the market. In fact, Lafufus have created their own niche fandom around the world, with many obsessed with these “knock-off cousins.”
Of course, if you decide to dip into the Lafufu market, it’s buyer beware: these counterfeit monsters are often cheaply made, their features distorted, twisted or misprinted — or sometimes non-existent.
As one Lafufu customer told Business Insider: “My Lafufu came without eyes, so I had to superglue them on, but it still turned out really cute.”
Another Lafufu customer told the outlet that after ordering one ugly, misprinted Lafufu, she went back for more. The unsettling knock-off, she said, was part of the appeal.
“The fake Labubu offers a different serotonin rush than getting an original. It’s like, how ugly can it get?” she confessed.
