I thought I was strong. Then I saw their strange, toothy smiles.
The Labubus — little plush monster toys specifically marketed at adults — hooked me. Over the next weeks, I embarked on an adventure of internet rabbit holes, hourslong TikTok livestreams, and several nights playing a game online before I finally learned a trick from Reddit that helped me snag one.
I’m far from alone in my obsession: The Labubu craze has taken hold in the US, Asia, and the UK. There’s something mesmerizing about the creature, originally created by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung a decade ago. Now it is part of “The Monsters” line from Pop Mart, a Chinese toy company whose 2024 revenue doubled from the year prior, thanks in part to the “particularly impressive” performance of these crazy little creatures.
Labubus first became popular overseas, as my colleagues in Singapore chronicled all the way back in November; we’re just the latest country to catch the fever. In just the last month, US search interest in Labubus has spiked — and Americans are scrambling to get their hands on them. They are part status symbol, part weird little guy, and part bag accessory. Indeed, once they came across my social media feeds, I went from thinking “What is that?” to “I must have one.”
But it turns out that’s easier said than done. The smaller Labubus that people hang on their bags start at $22, and the larger ones go up to $180, but you can’t just go to a store or website and buy them. Instead, I entered the new world of Labubu “drops” — the timed releases of the monsters on their official web home — and learned that, to buy an authentic Labubu, my journey had only just begun.
First came the Pop Mart TikTok lives: In the latest iteration of live shopping, the company holds live streams on TikTok where Labubus may or may not be offered. You have to bide your time and act fast to get a Labubu this way. Unfortunately, I am a brain-rotted geriatric Gen Zer and did not have the patience to stay on a livestream for what could be hours, though in the process, I began to understand the appeal of having QVC blasting on a TV in the background.
Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
The next method was going in person to a Pop Mart. There are a few stories in New York City, but there’s no guarantee that they’d be stocked. Pop Mart paused in-store sales in the UK due to long lines, so I wasn’t entirely sold on going in person.
This is where my animal brain came in: The harder it became to get a Labubu, the more I wanted one. Its comforting texture, popular appeal, and exclusive availability created a perfect storm of psychological urges to get me to spend my money, and, as it seemed only harder and harder, all I wanted to do was buy one of these little monsters.
In the meantime, I did get two Lafufus, knock-off Labubus that have become ubiquitous at New York City street stands and gift shops. They are horrifying, and I love them. I named one after one of my editors, who isn’t quite sold on the hype around the cute monsters.
Juliana Kaplan
Finally, I came across a new method for acquiring one of the monsters: Pop Mart launched a live game called Pop Now. Every night at a certain time, players have a chance to click through numbered virtual boxes containing Labubus, and, if you are fast enough to click on one before another player, you can virtually shake it and claim your prize. Then — and only then — would you get the privilege of buying one.
I spent several nights toiling away at Pop Now to no avail. Finally, I checked the Labubu subreddit, which is filled with similarly enthralled (and very helpful) folks. From them, I learned that changing a few numbers in the URL to pull up different numbered lots would allow me to view boxes that aren’t necessarily public-facing yet. This basically entailed me putting random numbers into the middle of the URL, while preserving the numbers at the start and end of the URL because they demarcated the type of product I was looking for. Thus, I snagged my Labubu. It’s on the way from China, and it’s pink, aka lychee berry; I am very excited.
Do I think my Labubu will solve all of my problems? No. Did I need one? Probably not. But the thrill of the chase got me; it is, after all, a consumer tale as old as Beanie Babies and other trinkets. It also shows what Americans are willing to spend on right now, even with economic concerns and tariff confusion — it turns out we just want weird little guys.
Are you a Labubu lover, hater, or hopeful buyer? Do you have another product obsession? Contact this reporter at [email protected].
