In the Thai city of Pattaya, it is shortly after 8 pm. In one of the stores in the Central Pattaya shopping center, which is only a few meters from the sea, enthusiastic tourists clump and patiently waiting for them to reach their turn. Meanwhile, they pull out cameras, laugh, posing and in the shelves look for anything with a portrait of their favorite hairy figure.
This is how the madness that brought the phenomenon of Labub.
Sunny and her friend also stands in front of a glass showcase with colored figures. Despite the fact that in the upper left corner of the showcase shines a sticker with the inscription “sold out,” Sunny holds the box in his hands. There is the latest, the eighth catch in her collection.
See what it looks like in the Thai Pop Mart chain, where they sell Labub figurines:
“They are golden, amazing. Especially young people like them. In our country it is a popular brand that is known worldwide, and that’s why I will continue to buy Labub,” she tells us with sparks in his eyes. She gave almost a thousand euros for the most expensive character. The one he takes home today costs “only” 30 euros.
While Sunny, along with a handful of other lucky people, leave home with dream characters, other Pop Marta visitors just disappointed on the phone and try to go through the registration to which they were referred by employees.
“Most often, the Chinese, Americans and Russians come here. They really buy everything where there is a lab.
Labub as a sign of social status?
While the “Mončičák” came from Japan and experienced the peak of his fame decades ago, the creation of his younger follower Labub was taken care of by Hong Kong artist Lung Kasing in 2015. Four years later he sold the licensing rights to the production and sale of Chinese Pop Mart’s figures, which got them into a broad awareness of collectors around the world.
Pop Mart sells figures in the so -called “blind boxes”, which significantly increased their popularity. “That’s why they all want them, because it is difficult to get to them and you never know what you get. Only when you open the box, you will find out what you bought,” explains Pop Marta employee.
During our short conversation, he will stop a Chinese tourist who wanted to buy a whole carton of small labbub pendants holding a Coca-Cola drink. “No, no,” the salesman tells him and allows him to take only one box. If he wants another, they must return after them later.
We are beginning to understand that the distribution of any Labub products is governed by strict rules in Thailand. Pop Marta staff normally regulate the number of pieces that customers can buy.
Even under greater scrutiny is the sale of the characters themselves. Pop Mart regularly publishes a link on its facebook page through which one has to register in a defined time. Subsequently, in addition to the name and surname in the registration form, it also fills the passport number or telephone number. Pop Mart will then publish the dates on which the lab will be available for sale. The customer logs in for a specific date before he will have a chance to buy a figure.
Of course, without sure that he will buy the one he really is interested in. “Some return five times and buy more boxes until they get what they want,” says another employee with a smile.
When asked whether children or adults are more likely to be a passion for Labub, he answers with a slight hesitation: “Rather teenagers and adults.” The brown -haired Olga from Moscow starts our conversation at the cash register and joins his own opinion. “Labub is not bought for children, but on a purse. It’s a matter of prestige,” he says, and chooses to the east.
Her words are also confirmed by psychologist Barbora Bálintová, according to which it is unfortunately influenced by a kind of sense of belonging. “We need to belong somewhere and when there is something trendy, we want to be part of it,” he confirms.
Enthusiasts pay crazy amounts
Although Labub’s character initially recorded success, especially in Asian markets, its influence is gradually spreading across the world. The plush figure typical of long rabbit ears, big eyes and a wide jagged smile appears in many videos on Tiktok and other social networks. Her line was attacked by world celebrities such as David Beckham, Rihanna, Dua Lipa and Thai star Lisa, who pride the lab with pride hung on handbags.
It was only a matter of time before the phenomenon would arrive in our country. In Slovakia, he gradually fell into influencers and Zuzana Strausz Plačková.
“The world’s biggest trend is what Labub’s characters. The whole world is in madness, so I also decided to buy some labuba to us,” says Plačková VO, which she shared a month ago on her Instagram. At the same time, it pulls a pair of high figures in white and brown color from the boxes.
Promoting figures with celebrities on social networks is one of the basic pillars of their success. As the psychologist Bálintová explains, social networks currently function as the main trend creators, as we are watching what is currently flying.
“Just as we are inspired by recipes, design or favorite products such as drinks, collagen or chocolate, we are equally easily affected by different – not always useful – fads,” explains the expert.
In addition, trendy products are fast, visually appealing, often funny or cute. All this stimulates dopamine, colloquially known as the hormone of happiness or good mood. Each new “discovery” or product in us, according to Bálint, will cause a “little explosion of pleasure.”
According to the expert, however, specifically in the case of Labub, the fact that the characters remind us of the retro “mončičák”, which makes us an exceptional spell for us. “We have a natural tendency to run to nostalgia because it evokes a sense of security in us, especially if it reminds us of childhood,” adds Bálintová.
Interesting facts about the phenomenon of Labub
- Thanks to the huge popularity of a small figure, the Chinese Pop Mart network has become one of the most valuable toy companies in the world. The market value of the business reached $ 40 billionexceeding US competitors Hasbro and Mattel together.
- Pop Marta sales climbed to $ 1.8 billion last yearwhich is more than a double year -on -year increase and approximately seven times the leap since 2019.
- According to Allison Malmsten from the Chinese company Daxue Consulting, which specializes in market research, via viral things such as Labub, It improves the global image of China. “Like it was in Japan from the 80s to 2010, when the country came with Pokémon and Nintendo,” she told The Bangkok post.
- Each edition also includes „Secret Labubu“. In translation of a secret lab. It is an extremely rare collector’s piece, The chance of finding it is 1 to 72. It differs from other characters with a special design, color or effect.
- Labub figurines are hard to access. According to CNN portal just 5 out of 96 characters shown on the pop Marta website I actually located in stock.
- According to Google Trends, the word “labub” is especially sought after in the western parts of the US.
- The UK temporarily stopped the sale of the Labub of Characters in stone stores. The reason was security risks resulting from the great interest of people in buying them.
Beware of Lafufu
All of the aspects mentioned significantly contribute to the fact that the value of the labuba of the characters is growing sharply.
Just a few days ago, the World Media was aware that a lighted fan auctioned a 131-centimeter-high figure for nearly 1.1 million Chinese yuan, which is around 133,000 euros. At the same time, the enthusiast bought the mint green figure in the already mentioned blind box, so he had no idea what it would look like.
With reference to the Chinese media, the agency reported that a total of 48 limited labuba characters for 3.73 million yuan, or more than 448,000 euros, were auctioned as part of this auction. The average price of one character thus exceeded EUR 9 300.
Sellers in Slovakia also use above -average interest in figures. For example, at Allegro online marketplace, we found a 58-centimeter figure from the same edition that Plačková presented on Instagram for 633 euros.
On the Slovak online bazaar Bazos.sk is again the highest price 400 euros, but from the photo it is not clear whether it is an original character or just a picture. The seller claims that it is not a “pitch”, but the fact is that it is not difficult to find fraudulent dealers of Labub.
Limited editions are attractive with plush pieces, which is a great attraction for many imitators. They can sell them several times more expensive than the official purchase price. In addition to the official labub, there are so -called Lafufu, which is a summary name for the “Fakk” Labub character.
One mania alternates the other
Currently, although the world’s most viral trends are Labub’s plush character, this may change quickly. Not so long ago that collectors did not hesitate to pay heavy money for the so -called unmistakable tokens known under the abbreviation NFT (from the English non-fungible token).
These are digital uniqueness certificates for various digital assets that are recorded on blockchaine (a special type of digital database that stores chronologically sorted records, ed.
The NFT Mania was most pronounced in 2021, when artists started selling their works for millions of dollars and NFT became very popular among young collectors with cryptocurrencies. This phenomenon was accompanied by great media attention and auctions.
Among the influencers who promoted the NFT are, for example, that sold its digital artistic collection “War Nymph” for approximately $ 6 million, earning more than in her whole musical career.
The Italian fashion house also created its own fashion NFT collections. American basketball player Stephen Curry, who bought the NFT from a collection for approximately $ 180,000, joined the world of digital collector tokens.
