I've heard of Labubu without thinking much about what they were. It just sounded like something Yogi Bear might say if French people visited Jellystone. Apparently they're these little toys reminiscent of Teletubbies and/or Troll dolls, which is not surprising. What might be a surprise is how they're being sold.
It’s easy to dismiss the Labubu Craze of 2025 as just the latest in the long line of tulip manias for toys. The fact that consumers are rushing to spend anywhere between $25 and $150,000 a pop on maniacally grinning monsters designed by Chinese-Dutch artist Kasing Lung is eyebrow-raising, but not unprecedented.
But in the 2020s, the script has flipped on who the dolls are actually designed for. Parents once bloodied each other to put the toy du jour under the Christmas tree for their children, as in the so-called Cabbage Patch Kids Riots of 1983, or later skirmishes over Beanie Babies or Furbies. Now men and women are eagerly lining up outside designer toy shops to secure Labubus for the only children in their family—themselves. Collectors, mostly in their twenties and thirties, post Labubu unboxing videos on TikTok with the reverence of a gender reveal party. Recently in Washington, DC, a crowd of Zoomers met up for espresso martinis and photo-ops with their fuzzy toys; in Los Angeles, hundreds packed into a club for a Labubu-inspired rave.
Be careful out there. I can't think of many more embarrassing phrases to come up at your emergency room visit than "Labubu-inspired rave."
Fad toys that people who are―God help us!―old enough to vote and maybe run for office are bad bets for the collectibles market. If no one or almost no one is buying them for actual children, it's unlikely that kids will grow up to have nostalgic feelings toward them and seek them out when they get older. You could try selling your collection on eBay in fifteen years and find that it hasn't even kept up with the rate of inflation.
Of course at least you'll have something solid, something that actually exists in physical space. It's an edge over Bored Apes.
2 comments:
Ryan Zickgraf pretty much covered that topic, didn't he? Anything I might add would only add redundancy to the mix. It's understandable that kids want something of their own in order to distinguish themselves from the last generation of kids.. But young adults aren't kids and these things appear to be another microtrend as opposed to something you'll treasure for years. What's interesting is what's indicated by the speed at which one craze overtakes the last one.
Western culture isn't decadent in the traditional sense, but its shallowness is disturbing. The internet and related media is flooded with uninspired, poorly argued opinions, and there’s so little room for real depth or intellectual engagement it makes people susceptible to being content with what is available. Labubus are available - and the blind box thing makes them appear more interesting in the short term.
I agree that they exist in physical space makes them far superior to NFTs. It's amazing what people who have too much money and nothing to do will fall for every craze.
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From Jer:
one of my favorite kidults: x.com/provemewrong411/status/1968711303595258050
It's natural to wish yourself back into a blessed state of childhood innocence, and people have been doing so forever. Read Blake or Wordsworth. But just acquiring toys won't put you back in a childlike state, happy or otherwise. And the microtrends don't look like a lot of things happening so much as they resemble nothing happening.
The internet, rather than allowing the masses to engage in debate democratically and have a say, has resulted in users futilely smashing their heads into other people, most of whom appear to be idiots. I wouldn't necessarily say that was the plan all along--although who knows?--but it has turned out to be convenient for some at the top. Makes you wonder what their future plans are.
I mean, at this point the dumb craze industry is one of the prime movers of the economy.
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Why should Eastern Europe not get its own Imelda Marcos, I guess.
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