Toying around: Indians on the recent Labubu toy trend

New Indian Express

a day ago

If you've been doomscrolling through social media lately, chances are you've encountered the cute, yet eerie face of Labubu — the plush toy that the Internet is currently hooked on. Hanging from Ananya Panday's designer bag, featured on popular K-pop star Lisa's live streams, or unboxing videos of influencers trying to get a hold of the rare one they want, it is everywhere.
'Labubu has been popular in the Far East but has now become a global phenomenon. The past two months have seen a huge surge in their demand in India,' says Zohara Jamal, a popular lifestyle content creator.
Subhashree Panneerselvam, a Chennai resident who recently visited Vietnam, corroborates. 'When I visited, I noticed Labubu toys being sold, especially at a store located inside a theme park. But I didn't know of the trend until I saw a reel on Instagram upon coming back. I regretted not having purchased one,' she shares.
Fondly called 'ugly-cute' by fans, Labubu is a collectible character designed by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung in 2015. Inspired by Nordic mythology, the character was initially featured in Lung's picture book series The Monsters, where Labubu is depicted as a mischievous, elf-like creature, with a toothy grin and a playful demeanour. Later, it gained widespread popularity through a collaboration with Chinese toy company Pop Mart, which introduced the character as part of its blind box collectible series — a popular release in which each toy is sold in a sealed package.
Nikhil Jain, who resells these collectibles online under the banner Hype and collectibles, adds, 'Tier 1 cities in India — Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad — are blowing up now and ordering the toy. From Chennai, in fact, I get orders every day.' In the last six months, Hype and collectibles alone has sold around thousand Labubu toys and Nikhil estimates that at least one lakh Labubu toys could have been sold across online platforms, in India.
Ayesha Alikhan, a psychologist, who has noticed people jumping on the bandwagon, says, 'I've been seeing many influencers carrying these dolls. I've also seen many kids as well as middle-aged women at UB City walking around with the dolls in their bags.'
However, when the trend is assessed by the prices these toys fetch, India appears to be trailing behind the global craze. Dakshin Adyantha, co-founder (brand communications) of Ethinos, who has collected four Labubu toys so far from Mumbai, notes, 'The toys are priced as low as `3,000, which is still accessible to many. It is only when the demand surges will the prices go up further. That is how it works with collectables.'