Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Welcome to CD voice. Keep exploring. Keep learning. Let's do a deep dive today. So picture this creature, round face, pointy ears, and this, uh, grin showing off nine teeth. Definitely not your typical cute character. Right. And then imagine that figure selling at auction in Beijing for this over 1 million RMB. Wow. Yeah. And that's not hypothetical. That's
It's kind of a snapshot of how huge this character from Pop Mart, the Chinese pop toy giant, has become globally. It really seems to have just exploded. Right. From like a niche thing to everywhere. Completely. And the sources we're diving into today, these articles and notes, they really chart that incredible trajectory. So our mission here is to figure out how, right, how did this specific character,
ugly, cute toy become this massive sensation? What's the real appeal? And I guess, what does it tell us about, you know, culture in the market today? Exactly. It's more than just a hot toy. It's a really interesting look at how culture spreads now, how things connect people across borders in ways you wouldn't expect. And what's wild is Labubu wasn't like an instant hit right out of the gate, was it? It was kind of just there for a while.
That's right. The character series, The Monster, which LaBooBoo belongs to, it's been around. But things really shifted like dramatically in April 2024. That was the turning point. Okay. So what lit the fuse? What happened? Celebrity. Plain and simple. Lisa from the group Blackpink Thai Celebrity, huge global reach. She started posting LaBooBoo figures on her social media a lot. Ah, okay. The Lisa effect.
That makes sense. What did that do immediately? You could literally watch it happen in the data. Google searches for Labubu just boom, spiked. Especially in Thailand at first, but then it rippled out really fast. So a celebrity spark kicks it off and then it just spreads. Yeah. How did that work globally? What was the pattern? It was pretty classic diffusion actually. It started with the
core fans you know the collectors who were already into designer toys the early adopters right then it moved to what you might call peripheral groups maybe Lisa's fans who weren't toy collectors before just people seeing the buzz in their feeds and
And from there, it jumped to the mass audience globally. And you started seeing it pop up in really unexpected places, right? With people you wouldn't associate with toy collecting. Totally. It wasn't just in collector forums anymore. Suddenly, you're seeing Labubu keychains hanging off the bags of like Rihanna, Dua Lipa, David Beckham. Seriously. Beckham. Yeah. I mean, people totally outside that usual demographic, that kind of mainstream visibility. That was something new for this kind of...
niche character. It really jumped from collectible to almost like a mainstream fashion accessory or something. And the sales numbers reflected that surge, didn't they? Especially in places like the U.S. where Pop Mart maybe wasn't as big before. Oh, absolutely. Look at North America. April 2024, the Heartbeat Maguro and Labubu 3.0 series drops online. 20,000 units allocated for that launch. Gone. In seconds. Literally seconds. 20,000 units in seconds. That's just...
That's insane demand. It really is. I get this. That same month, Pop Mart's app hit number one on the U.S. app store's shopping chart. Wow. Ahead of Amazon, ahead of everyone. For a time, yeah. First time ever, a Chinese toy brand topped that chart. It showed just how quickly they were breaking into that market. Okay, so when you have that kind of crazy demand hitting the limited supply, especially with blind boxes. Yeah.
What happens to the resale prices? They exploded. Just went nuts. The value for Labubu figures, especially the rarer ones or the really popular editions, jump from, you know, maybe a few times retail to, well, some reports showed over 100 times the original price. 100 times. OK. Yeah. That's moving way beyond just collecting for fun. That's serious speculation territory. And the whole thing was just amplified by this massive social media engine. The sources point to TikTok data.
Over 1.6 million posts tagged the boo-boo. 1.6 million. Yeah. And the user videos, you know, people doing unboxings, customizing them, swapping outfits, just showing them off those videos, collectively got over a billion views. A billion views. That's not just watching. That's active participation. People are creating content, building this whole digital world around it. ♪
It stopped being just a product and became like a cultural thing, a connector, an emotional bridge, as one source put it, for young people all over the world. They weren't just buying a toy. They were joining a phenomenon.
And Pompard seems to have been pretty smart about nurturing that, helping it fit into different places with what the sources called creative localization. Yeah. And that's where China's manufacturing power actually became a cultural tool. They could churn out variations quickly. Think about Labubu showing up next to Van Gogh or Da Vinci paintings at the Louvre. Right. I saw that. Or becoming a blue Merlion figure in Singapore or getting a special water lantern festival version in Thailand.
So same core character, but with a local flavor. Precisely. It helped Labubu feel relevant and, you know, kind of local everywhere, even while being this global thing. It showed how manufacturing muscle could help bridge potential cultural gaps. OK, so we've got the how the celebrity spark, the digital wildfire, the market craziness, the social buzz, the smart localization. But still.
Why? Why Labubu specifically? In a world full of cute toys and blind boxes, what made this one connect so deeply everywhere? That's the million dollar question, isn't it?
Or the Million R&B question, maybe. And it gets us to the unique appeal beyond just the blind box mechanics. We can start with some general reasons Pop Mart resonates with Gen Z overall. Like the whole collecting thing being popular again? Kind of childlike, almost. Yeah, the sources mention that Gen Z seems drawn to these seemingly childlike activities, like collecting toys. It's often about
finding some kind of emotional connection, identifying with a character, maybe even a bit of nostalgia for something simpler. And the blind box format itself is key to Pop Mart, right? That whole surprise element. Oh, absolutely fundamental. The blind box gives you that thrill, that little dopamine hit of not knowing what you'll get. It fuels repeat buys, the urge to complete a set, find that rare one. It makes buying at an event almost a ritual. It really does. The sources talk about
Unboxing is this source of like ritualistic joy. People do it alone to unwind or together with friends. It builds connection. Pop Mart has tons of characters, lots of blind boxes. Why did Labubu break out? This is where the ugly cute thing comes in, yeah? This seems to be the crucial factor. Labubu's design.
It deliberately goes against the grain of standard cuteness. It's not trying to be conventionally adorable. Remind us of the look again because it is really distinctive. Okay, so you've got the round face, which is kind of innocent, but then these sharp pointed ears standing straight up. And the main thing, that super wide kind of mischievous grin showing all nine pointy teeth. Nine teeth. It's so specific. Right. It mixes this fairy tale vibe with something rebellious, mischievous, maybe even a little dark,
"Undisciplined playfulness" was a phrase used to describe it. It's totally different from, say, a super soft, gentle Japanese mascot like Kumamon. It's definitely weird. A little bit off-putting, almost, but in an intriguing way. Exactly. And that ugly cute look, the sharp teeth, the sly look, that slightly sinister vibe, it seems to resonate because it messes with our expectations of cute.
The sources suggest this ties into a bigger cultural thing called aesthetic fatigue. Aesthetic fatigue? What's that? Basically, the idea that people, especially younger consumers, are just tired. Tired of being bombarded with characters and products that are perfectly cute, flawlessly designed, big innocent eyes, tiny mouths, you know the type. Yeah, the overly saccharine stuff. Right. So there's this cultural shift where weirdness starts to look beautiful and things that might seem ugly or imperfect actually feel charming. So...
In our world of Instagram filters and perfect digital selves, Labu's weirdness feels...
more real, more authentic. That's exactly the argument. In an era obsessed with perfection, Labubu's oddness feels genuine, relatable. Its look becomes a kind of badge of authenticity. And that authenticity, it seems to tap into something deeper emotionally for Gen Z. The sources talk about it being like an emotional stand-in, a surrogate. Yeah, this is a really interesting angle. Think about the pressure young people are under today. Stress, anxiety, it's a lot.
Le Boubou's slightly grotesque, rebellious look can almost be like an outlet for those feelings you can't always show. How so? Well, that wicked little smile, for instance. It can feel like it's kind of mocking the rules, the pressure to conform, the rigidity of society. Like your little plush partner in crime against having to be perfect all the time. Kind of. And the creator, Cassing Lung, actually said something along those lines. He was quoted hoping Le Boubou isn't just a toy, but a mirror of young people's hidden inner selves.
It represents the symbolic rebellion pushing back against that constant pressure for perfection. Wow. Okay, that explains the emotional connection. And then you layer on top of that unique look and feel the whole collecting game driven by scarcity. Scarcity is huge, massive driver of desire and status.
The sources mention the odds for getting a rare or hidden Labubu are really low, like 1 in 144 according to Popmart's own reports. So finding one is genuinely tough. It's not just marketing hype. Right. Which means owning a rare one isn't just about the toy itself. It's like getting a membership card to an exclusive club. That's a big reason for those crazy resale prices over 20 times retail for hidden ones isn't unusual.
Pop Mart really nails using that scarcity to build these tight fan communities through what the sources call ritualized consumption. The whole experience, the hunt, the unboxing, the trading, showing it off. Exactly. So you put it all together. The unique, ugly, cute look that taps into aesthetic fatigue, the emotional connection as this kind of surrogate self, the thrill of the blind box hunt, and the status from scarcity in community. Labubu ends up being way more than just a toy. It's a statement. Personality.
A plush reflection for a generation that seems to value individuality, embraces contradiction, it's ugly and cute, and maybe prefers emotional honesty over polished perfection. Okay, so given this massive rapid rise in the intensity around it, are there potential problems, concerns popping up? Oh yeah, the sources definitely raise flags about the market maybe getting too hot, potentially overheated. When something gets this desirable, you inevitably see problems like...
tons of speculative reselling. - All the birds jumping in. - Exactly, which can push prices way beyond any reasonable value. And it also opens the door for counterfeits, for piracy. It can lead to irrational buying, where people are grabbing them purely as an investment, not for enjoyment. - Right, where the line between loving the thing and hoping it makes you money gets really blurry. - Very blurry. There's a genuine risk of a speculative bubble in this designer toy space if things aren't managed carefully.
The point's made that Pop Mart needs to kind of stay focused on its original mission, you know, bringing joy to keep things healthy long term and stop the market from imploding under speculation. Makes sense. Beyond the market stuff, Libubu's success is also seen as having a bigger cultural impact, right?
especially for Chinese cultural products globally. Yeah, this is a really significant point. The sources frame LoBubu as kind of rewriting the script for global designer toys. It shows that a character born in China can achieve this level of worldwide cultural impact. For ages, China was mostly known for making things, the manufacturing powerhouse. The world's factory. Right. But LoBubu demonstrates that China can now command a cultural premium on the world stage.
It's proof that Chinese pop culture IP can not only play globally, but actually lead trends and resonate deeply internationally. And this is all happening against a backdrop of, let's be honest, pretty significant geopolitical tension and a lot of scrutiny on Chinese brands overseas. That context is definitely important. You've got trade disputes, tech crackdowns, just general suspicion towards Chinese companies in many Western countries. And yet
This weirdly adorable figure, as someone called it, seems to have quietly sidestepped a lot of that. How so? Well, it's undeniable.
undeniably Chinese in origin from a big Chinese company. But its appeal seems universal enough that it's managed to integrate, to blend in across different cultures, maybe without setting off the same alarms or barriers. So it kind of bypasses the political noise because it connects on a more basic human level. That seems to be the idea. Its appeal taps into things young people want everywhere, whether they're in Shanghai or Stockholm or Sao Paulo. That desire for a little bit of joy, the fun of surprise, the need to express yourself.
"La Boubou" is just quirky enough, just expressive enough to hit that note regardless of where it came from or the wider political climate.
So wrapping up this deep dive then, what are the big takeaways from this whole Labubu story? Well, we've seen how a character can go from kind of unknown to a global craze, really kicked off by celebrity power, and then spread like lightning through digital culture. We looked at how smart marketing, like the blind boxes and playing up scarcity, built this intense demand in these strong communities. And really got into that ugly cute thing, how it's not just a look, but taps into bigger shifts, like being
being tired of perfect aesthetics and meeting emotional needs acting as a mirror, a symbol of rebellion almost. Right. And while there are definitely real concerns about market speculation, Labubu's success feels like a significant cultural marker. It symbolizes changing tastes, sure, but also the power of resonant cultural products to cross borders and connect with universal feelings, even when the world feels pretty tense and divided. It really makes you think, doesn't it?
about the power of design that dares to be different about the psychology of why we love collecting why that surprise element is so addictive and just how these simple objects these toys can end up reflecting so much about a generation's anxieties and desires
And maybe the final thought, the really provocative one that comes out of looking at all this. LeBoubou obviously hasn't solved the world's problems, but its journey kind of reminds us that maybe globalization isn't dead. Maybe it's just gotten a whole lot weirder. And unexpectedly, maybe a whole lot cuter, too. Thank you for joining us. Remember to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. Stay curious and keep exploring. See you next time.