Why Must We Afraid Of Labubu: Its History and Controversy
The mainland China company Pop Mart has already made 3.04 billion yuan in 2024 with the Hong Kong-made brand The Monsters. Perhaps you will say, you have never heard of The Monsters in Hong Kong. But have you heard of Labubu?
I believe many Hong Kong people can't guess that we could create a god-level IP, that can beat Sanrio, Jellycat, and even the popular Chiikawa. It can be popular in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, the UK, and the US. It is invincible in the world.
Behind it is just a furry, nine-toothed, hideous monster-like creature. So, where did this Labubu come from? Why could it become a global trend? The reasons behind it are terrifying, so let's explore it in this episode of Code to Wealth.
The Origin of Labubu
Labubu is a character from The Monsters series. Her origin is actually very decent.
The creator of Labubu is Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung. He was born in Hong Kong in 1972, lived in Yuen Long, and moved to the Netherlands with his parents in 1978.
At that time, he needed to learn new languages through picture books, which had a significant impact on him and became the creative nourishment for Kasing to make children's books. To tell his story, Kasing decided to draw picture books.
After graduating in art in 1995, he returned to work in Hong Kong on the eve of its handover to China. At that time, he was just working for others, but later, because of his girlfriend, he immigrated to Belgium and transitioned from drawing illustrations to working on picture books full-time.
He met Howard, the owner of How2Work, by chance. Starting in 2011, Kasing began collaborating with How2Work to produce some art toys.
At that time, Kasing proposed to Howard to create a series of monster works. But Howard suggested that Kasing postpone The Monsters to avoid being mistaken for Japanese products, so it wasn't until 2015 that The Monsters were launched.
At that time, Labubu was just a minor character.
From 2015 to 2025, there have been ten years. Things change a lot in ten years, and what everyone sees now is no longer the original Labubu.
In fact, when interviewed by Ming Pao, Kasing mentioned that he preferred the original design.
In the old design, Labubu's appearance was more angular, with slender limbs, and her eyes looked fiercer. It seems more in line with her fairy-like and somewhat annoying character.
But today, she has become more rounded in appearance, with thicker limbs and watery eyes, resembling a cute baby, but her character is more like a monster. The result seems a bit contradictory.
So, many people find her appearance a bit awkward. Is she lovable or ugly?
Although she was originally designed as a minor character, during that time, The Monsters' world had already defined some of Labubu's characteristics.
They first appeared in the picture book The Story of Puka. Labubu's race is actually a kind of elf living in the forest, all female, tailless, over a hundred of them, that exist for some unknown reason.
As for the one with a tail, it will be a male, Zimomo, the leader of the tribe, and it is the one and only.
As for Mokoko with a heart-shaped nose and the black angel King Mon, they were actually created for events and did not exist in the main story.
Over the four years of releasing the series, The Monsters began to slowly accumulate popularity and gather a loyal fan base. However, if things had continued this way, Labubu will still be a hidden gem, overshadowed by other popular figures. However, a series of coincidences later would propel her onto the international stage and even to the forefront of the fashion.
The Rise of Labubu
The mainland's trendy toy company Pop Mart began to take notice of The Monsters series, so they started reaching out to Kasing Lung, aiming to exclusively represent The Monsters. Finally, in 2019, Kasing signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Pop Mart.
As for why Pop Mart could be so courageous in securing this exclusive representation, we need to look at its successful and crazy business model.
Pop Mart reaches out to artists for licensing, then starts producing, designing, and selling trendy toys.
In terms of production, they invest heavily in making molds so that these trendy toys can be mass-produced, lowering the entry threshold.
Learn more: Pop Mart Crafting - How your collections are made
For sales, Pop Mart's most powerful trick is blind boxes, everything in blind boxes. Not just these models, even those simple key chains can be put into blind boxes, releasing the entire series in this way. It can not only attract collectors, but also make some people keep buying. This design full of probabilities can earn them a lot of money.
And it is not the first time that Pop Mart has reached out to Hong Kong artists, and it has a living success story.
In 2016, Pop Mart cooperated with Kenny Wong, the creator of Molly. Before that, Molly was already famous in the trendy toy industry, so Molly has always been the backbone of Pop Mart since then. It will not be until 2024 that Labubu can surpass her.
With The Monster series officially joining Pop Mart, Labubu began her global conquest. With Pop Mart's mass production and blind box tactics, she began to appear all over the world and even got endorsement from celebrities.
In 2024, Lisa from Blackpink began showcasing Labubu, introduced by her Thai friend at the beginning of the year. As a result, once Lisa promoted it, Labubu immediately became the most sought-after doll in Thailand, a must-have item. Influencers and local celebrities follow suit, wearing it, and even dignitaries wear it to set off. Even the tourism bureau used it to promote Thailand's tourism.
You heard it right! A Hong Kong doll has become a tourism ambassador of Thailand. Awesome! Awesome!
Learn more: Lisa's Secret Obsession with POP MART | Vanity Fair
Following this, Labubu was featured in countless unboxing videos from around the world, further attracting people from all over the world to buy, then more celebrities from different places fell for her, such as Charmaine Sheh, Maria Cordero, Hins Cheung, Rihanna, and even Beckham. Awesome! Awesome!
International celebrities who have openly shown Labubu:
- 🇹🇭 Lisa @ Blackpink
- 🇰🇷 Rosé @ Blackpink
- 🇧🇧 Rihanna
- 🇬🇧 Dua Lipa
- 🇬🇧 Central Cee
- 🇺🇸 Lizzo
- 🇺🇸 Kim Kardashian
- 🇺🇸 Emma Roberts
- 🇺🇸 Chris Evans
- 🇺🇸 Brad Pitt
- 🇺🇸 Simone Biles
- 🇬🇧 David Beckham
- 🇮🇳 Sharvari
- 🇭🇰 Charmaine Sheh
- 🇭🇰 Maria Cordero
- 🇭🇰 Hins Cheung
- 🇹🇭 Araya Alberta Hargate
- 🇸🇬 Jeanette Aw
- 🇸🇬 Willabelle Ong
- 🇸🇬 Kim Lim
- 🇯🇵 Ayumi Hamasaki
In the end, because of the chain reaction brought by Lisa, Labubu finally became the most popular brand in Pop Mart, and in 2025, she overshadowed all other trending toys, completely conquering the world.
The Chaos of Labubu
But a doll rising in this manner can lead to a serious issue. After all, blind boxes are controversial.
Overconsumption
A person can choose to buy several for one or even to collect a set, and then find that some of them are not needed. This is an over-consumption.
Reselling
And you could choose to avoid this risk by looking for some in the secondary market to avoid unnecessary losses. But in fact, when speculators find out that you deliberately search for one in the secondary market to avoid these risks, then there is an opportunity for them to exploit.
They can choose to be resellers, without any love for the doll but seeing it as an investment. Since you only need one, they might as well drive up the price. You might choose to spend more to avoid unnecessary investment risks, buying fewer dolls but deliberately selecting one at a higher price than the original.
For example, suppose there is a blind box that sells for 100 dollars, and there is a special edition where only 1 in 100 boxes contains it, you would typically need to buy 100 boxes to have a chance of getting one. But now a reseller appears and tells you that you can get one for 12,000 dollars.
At this point, you might think, should I really buy 100 boxes or would I rather pay a bit more, 12,000 dollars, to directly get one, so as not to fill up the house with unnecessary items?
Then I might as well accept this resell price just to get one and spend 12,000 dollars.
Is there a market for this?
So for some people, Labubu is just an investment. They are speculators, not genuinely fond of the brand. How much respect does this show for the original creator?
Promoting Gambling
Reselling is just one of the problems. Blind boxes themselves will definitely bring about some form of gambling. Blind boxes always have probabilities. When you have a favorite and want it, although blind boxes do not count as gambling, when you draw for one like drawing lots, you are using a gambling mentality to approach them.
So when some people genuinely choose to select blind boxes, a series of dubious behaviors can follow. In their pursuit of a good result, they keep creating rituals around buying and unboxing.
For example, abandon online shopping, abandon vending machines, just choose the nearest store with the best luck to buy from. Then when you pick a blind box, you carefully examine its packaging to see if it has been tampered with. You might shake it near your ear, trying to hear something, even though in reality you can't tell what is inside. When you pay and start unboxing, you deliberately close your eyes, slowly open the box, and use your hands to feel around before taking the doll out, only opening your eyes after it's fully revealed.
There are so many rituals... you'd think you were watching a gambling movie.
Bad for Underage
Even if you're choosing a blind box for a specific item, there's already a gambling mentality involved. But the biggest problem is, blind boxes have no age restrictions. Could this easily lead children and teenagers to develop a gambling mentality? Could this lead them to start buying blind boxes as children and end up in casinos as adults?
Is the original intention of The Monsters to enlighten and educate children, or to corrupt and poison them?
Conclusion
The original creator, Kasing Lung, also mentioned that he wanted to publish a story every year, followed by merchandise, with both lines running concurrently. But now, Labubu's frenzy has gone so far that there aren't enough stories to support Labubu's character.
People would rather like Chiikawa, with a story and substance, a sense of relatability, and are less inclined towards Labubu, especially in East Asia. This is understandable.
The biggest issue is that when the lore of The Monsters is still insufficient, it still has such crazy popularity. Could it be purely for blind boxes, for gambling? In this way, the more popular it is, the more afraid we should be.
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