Last week’s Labubu launch makes a useful research exercise: what might be causing the character’s decline, and what does the answer say about adults and play beyond toys? POP MART put the new series on sale with Labubu dressed as a cat, and resale prices split within a day. The secret figure traded at close to seven times the box price, while the cheapest listings for half the standard figures fell below it. Analysts said larger production runs had punctured the resale bubble, and some headlines have already declared Labubu dead. Many collectors objected to the design. It keeps Labubu’s pointed elf ears and stacks a pair of cat ears above them, and commenters on the official account called it odd and AI-stitched. POP MART’s US help page says a blind box opened online is “considered consumed, similar to a digital product.” Read together, the complaint and the policy describe two products in one box: a surprise that ends at the reveal, and a face owners know well enough to defend.
