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Yuewen Global IP Awards Creator Forum: The Rise of China's Global IP Ecosystem

Yuewen Global IP Awards Creator Forum: The Rise of China's Global IP Ecosystem

Yahoo03-03-2025

SINGAPORE, March 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- As a pivotal component of the "2024 Yuewen Global IP Awards", the "Yuewen Global IP Awards Creator Forum" was grandly held at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore on March 1. Representatives from China and Singapore's IP industry partners, creators, academia, and industry leaders convened at the forum with the shared goal of jointly exploring new avenues for the globalization of Chinese IPs.
"As a crucial carrier of cultural exchanges, web novel has forged a global IP industry ecosystem through global reading, global writing, and global IP development," remarked Hou Xiaonan, CEO and President of Yuewen. "IP transcends being merely a cultural phenomenon - it represents a living form of cultural expression. By deeply integrating with diverse industries, it drives coordinated advancements in content and commerce, fostering harmonious growth between culture and industry."
Ho Chee Hin, CEO of Business China, asserts that the globalization of China-originated IPs boasts unparalleled market potential while wielding significant cultural influence. He emphasized the need for collaborative efforts to propel these IPs from mere awareness to deeper appreciation.
At the forum, Yuewen and Resorts World Sentosa announced a strategic partnership. Lee Shi Ruh, President of Resorts World Sentosa, emphasized that the collaboration will forge synergies between rich literary IPs and innovative tourism experiences, pioneering a groundbreaking "Story + Scene" urban cultural and tourism paradigm.
C-Dramas sweeping the globe: New opportunities for Chinese TV series and films
In China, web novel serves as the primary source of IP adaptation for animations, TV and films. In the past year, TV series adapted from Yuewen web novels, such as Joy of Life 2, The Double, Blossom, Guardians of the Dafeng, Flourished Peony – captivated audiences worldwide, topping the ratings charts of video platforms in many countries across Southeast Asia, Europe and America.
Among the upcoming 2025 TV dramas on China's three major streaming platforms—Tencent Video, iQiyi, and Youku—37 titles adapted or produced by Yuewen accounted for approximately 10% of the total market share, reflecting the indispensable role of Yuewen's literary IPs in the industry.
The first panel discussion, themed "New Global Opportunities for Chinese-language IPs", highlighted shifts in international cultural dissemination. Karen Fu, CEO of Huace Group, underscored the need to enhance production standards and globalize premium IPs by aligning content formats with local preferences and leveraging efficient distribution channels, echoing strategies of "cultural integration" and "local partner collaboration" proposed in recent industry analyses.
Bo Li, General Manager of Weibo TV & Streaming Business, observed that the overseas expansion of TV dramas has advanced from traditional copyright licensing to a "global synchronization + localized operation" model. This evolution aligns with broader trends of rising global demand for Chinese IPs.
Huangfu Yichuan, President and Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Cinema, emphasized that the internationalization of Chinese IPs must evolve from "going global" to "strategic integration into the global market" to foster meaningful cross-cultural participation.
Wang Qiao, Vice President of New Classics Media (Yuewen's subsidiary), argued that successful global expansion requires abandoning a one-size-fits-all approach. By aligning content distribution with local consumption habits and cultural preferences, Chinese dramas can achieve organic reach and resonance.
Hui Min, Head of Licensing at Yuewen, concluded that the industry's global trajectory has shifted from isolated "individual breakthroughs" to holistic "ecosystem-level cultivation". Her remarks echoed the forum's overarching theme, underscoring that sustainable success hinges on industry-wide collaboration.
The integration of online and offline channels accelerates the commercial development of IPs
Currently, the "Goods Economy" craze is sweeping the world. Young people's demands for cultural consumption are becoming increasingly diversified, bringing new opportunities for the commercial development of IPs. In response to this trend, Yuewen created YUEWEN WONDERLAND in Singapore, attracting global fans to "eat goods" (i.e., purchase IP peripherals). The GMV of the Chinese New Year and Singapore-themed series products has exceeded 5 million yuan.
The second panel discussion, themed "IP Embracing New Global Cultural Consumption", delved into how IPs are revolutionizing cultural consumption. Ao Ran, Executive Vice President and Secretary General of China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, asserted that content transformed into innovative IP-driven formats resonates deeply with Gen Z, offering emotional value and proven commercial viability.
Zhao Fan, Director and Chief Innovation Officer of Kingnet Network Co., Ltd., emphasized that the "stickiness" of IP fandom demands proactive engagement with fan communities to glean insights for game development, arguing that co-creation with audiences is key to unlocking value across merchandise sales, offline events and more.
Jason Lin, Founder of Guangdong Jason Entertainment Development Co., highlighted that Eastern mythological stories - like Ne Zha 2 - are highly sought after by overseas consumers, with cultural exports poised to generate substantial sales dividends in overseas markets.
Samuel Huang, CEO and Founder of ELSKA, highlighted that Chinese IP derivatives products at international exhibitions have exceeded expectations, underscoring the need for more hit IPs to attract global attention.
Lee Shi Ruh, President of Resorts World Sentosa, reaffirmed the resort's commitment to "leverage IP storytelling to pioneer immersive experiences and redefine ways to enjoy integrated resort ecosystems." She pledged to "curate high-quality peripheral products and embed outstanding IPs into every corner of the property to deliver memorable experiences for every guest."
William Hou, Head of Merchandise at Yuewen, concluded that "only deep cultural resonance, cutting-edge technological integration, and consumer-centric innovation can transform IPs into global cultural bonds uniting youth worldwide."
Under this vision, YUEWEN GOODS, Yuewen's IP derivative brand, recently secured domestic distribution rights for Ne Zha 2's derivatives.
Web Novel, One of The "Three Driving Forces" of China's Cultural Globalization
Web novel, film and television, and gaming have become the "three driving forces" for the overseas expansion of China's cultural industry. As a pioneer, Yuewen not only exports Chinese web novels but also cultivates global original authors. As of November 2024, WebNovel, Yuewen's overseas online reading platform, has launched approximately 6,000 translated works of Chinese web novel, hosted about 449,000 overseas online authors, and attracted nearly 300 million visitors across more than 200 countries and regions.
Hou Xiaonan revealed that Yuewen's global author network includes 2,417 Singaporean contributors and that Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia rank the top countries with the highest numbers of Yuewen-affiliated writers. Notably, the Philippines alone accounts for over 100,000 authors on WebNovel, underscoring the region's vibrant creative landscape.
The last panel discussion kicked off the creative exchanges between China and foreign countries. JKSManga, a British web novelist, emphasized that web novels empower universal storytelling, letting readers shape value and bypass traditional publishing constraints.
Yow Cheun Hoe, Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University, highlighted how web novels evolve through reader participation—transforming fragmented content into epic, collaborative narratives spanning hundreds of thousands or even millions of words.
Heng Sao Tian Ya, Yuewen Platinum Author, distilled online literature's essence into five pillars: "New" (digital-first formats); "Extensive" (cross-generational appeal and universal accessibility); "Fast" (real-time updates and dynamic content evolution); "Abundant" (vast libraries, epic-length narratives, and daily fresh content); and "Satisfying" (immersive, emotional resonant experiences).
Zhi Zhi, another Yuewen Platinum Author, likened web novel authors to "dream-makers" who craft emotional safe havens and outlets for readers. She stressed that authentic emotional expression is key to unlocking cross-cultural acceptance of narratives.
CKtalon (Jeremy Oon), the English translator of Lord of Mysteries from Singapore, reiterated that web novels serve as a vital cultural bridge, fostering international dialogue. He expressed his aspiration for sustainable global development of web novels, envisioning them as an even stronger cultural adhesive that transcends borders and enriches cross-cultural understanding.
The "2024 Yuewen Global IP Awards" was held on February 28, attracting over 3,000 attendees from cultural, industry, and fan communities. The event was live broadcasted on Tencent Video and its overseas platform WeTV, reaching more than 40 million viewers globally. It celebrated the achievements of Chinese IP creators and adaptations while highlighting the growing global influence of Chinese-originated IPs, with approximately 92% of the awarded works having been internationalized.
Media Contact: Wendy LiuEmail: ywpr@yuewen.com
About Yuewen
Yuewen (HKEX: 0772 China Literature Limited) is a culture and entertainment group that was founded in March 2015. It focuses on creating and developing intellectual property (IP) derived from online literature. Yuewen has a diverse portfolio of well-known brands, such as QQ Reading, Qidian, New Classics Media, and Tencent Animation & Comics. It serves as a platform for tens of millions of creators and a rich reserve of literary works across 200 genres, catering to hundreds of millions of users. Yuewen is renowned for its celebrated IP portfolio, which includes popular titles like Joy of Life, My Heroic Husband, Candle in the Tomb, The King's Avatar, Soul Land, and Nirvana in Fire. It has successfully expanded its reach across various media formats, including audiobooks, animation, comics, films, drama series, games, and offline merchandise.
For more information, please visit https://www.yuewen.com/en/.
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How I Accidentally Inspired a Major Chinese Motion Picture
How I Accidentally Inspired a Major Chinese Motion Picture

Atlantic

time2 hours ago

  • Atlantic

How I Accidentally Inspired a Major Chinese Motion Picture

In December, a friend sent me the trailer for a new Chinese movie called Clash. It's a sports comedy about a ragtag group of Chinese men who start an American-football team in the southwestern city of Chongqing. With the help of a foreign coach, the Chongqing Dockers learn to block and tackle, build camaraderie, and face off in the league championship against the evil Shanghai team. Funny, I thought. In 2014, I wrote an article for The New Republic about a ragtag group of Chinese men who'd started an American football team in the southwestern city of Chongqing. With the help of a foreign coach, the Chongqing Dockers learned to block and tackle, built camaraderie, and—yes—faced off in the league championship against the evil Shanghai team. The Chinese studio behind Clash, iQIYI, is not the first to take an interest in the Dockers' story. My article, titled 'Year of the Pigskin,' was natural Hollywood bait: a tale of cross-cultural teamwork featuring a fish-out-of-water American protagonist, published at a moment when Hollywood and China were in full-on courtship and the future of U.S.-China relations looked bright. It didn't take much imagination to see Ryan Reynolds or Michael B. Jordan playing the coach—a former University of Michigan tight end who'd missed his shot at a pro career because of a shoulder injury—with Chinese stars filling the supporting roles. Sony bought the option to the article, as well as the coach's life rights. When that project fizzled a few years later, Paramount scooped up the rights but never made anything. Now a Chinese studio appeared to have simply lifted the idea. I texted Chris McLaurin, the former Dockers coach who now works at a fancy law firm in London. (Since my original article published, we have become good friends.) Should we say something? Should we sue? At the very least, one of us had to see the movie. Fortunately, it was premiering in February at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. I booked a flight to the Netherlands. The movie I saw, which came out in Chinese theaters last month, did not alleviate my concerns. But the film, along with the conversations I had with its producer and director, provided a glimpse into the cultural and political forces that led to Clash 's creation. Indeed, the trajectory of the IP itself—from the original article to the Hollywood screenplays to the final Chinese production—says a lot about how the relationship between the United States and China has evolved, or devolved, over the past decade. What began as a story about transcending cultural boundaries through sports has turned into a symbol of just how little China and the U.S. understand each other—and how little interest they have in trying. I went to China in 2011 because I had a vague sense that something important was happening there. I moved to Beijing, with funding from a Luce scholarship, and started looking for stories. They weren't hard to find. The years after the 2008 Beijing Olympics turned out to be a remarkable era of relative openness. Many international observers saw Xi Jinping's rise in 2012 as the beginning of a period of liberalization, the inevitable political outcome of the country's growing prosperity. For journalists, China was a playground and a gold mine at once. We could travel (mostly) freely and talk to (almost) anyone. Along with the wealth of narrative material came a sense of purpose: We felt as though we were writing the story of the New China—a country opening up to the rest of the world, trying on identities, experimenting with new ways of thinking and living. The story that captivated me most was that of the Chongqing Dockers. It was one of those article ideas that miraculously fall in your lap, and in retrospect feel like fate. I'd heard that McLaurin, another Luce Scholar, had started coaching a football team in Chongqing, so I flew down to visit him. The first practice I attended was barely controlled chaos: The team didn't have proper equipment, no one wanted to hit one another, and they kept taking cigarette breaks. 'It was like 'Little Giants,' except with adult Chinese men,' I wrote to my editor at The New Republic. He green-lighted the story, and I spent the next year following the team, as well as McLaurin's efforts to create a nationwide league. The movie analogy was fortuitous. Just before the article was published, Sony bought the IP rights, as well as the rights to McLaurin's life story. The project would be developed by Escape Artists, the production company co-founded by Steve Tisch, a co-owner of the New York Giants. Maybe the NFL, struggling to break into the Chinese market, would even get involved. The deal changed McLaurin's life. Sony flew him and his mom out to Los Angeles, where a limo picked them up at the airport. He met with Tisch and the other producers. They floated Chris Pratt for the role of the coach. One executive asked McLaurin if he'd considered acting. McLaurin also met with high-level executives at the NFL interested in helping establish American football in China. He'd been planning to apply to law school, but now he decided to stay in Chongqing and keep developing the league. In retrospect, the China-Hollywood love affair was at that point in its wildest throes. As the reporter Erich Schwartzel recounts in his 2022 book, Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy, China spent the late 2000s and 2010s learning the craft of blockbusting by partnering with Hollywood filmmakers and executives. Hollywood studios, meanwhile, got access to the growing market of Chinese moviegoers. (In 2012, then–Vice President Joe Biden negotiated an agreement to raise the quota of U.S. films allowed to screen in China.) It was, in effect, a classic technology transfer, much like General Motors setting up factories in China in exchange for teaching Chinese workers how to build cars. Erich Schwartzel: How China captured Hollywood With a potential audience of 1.4 billion, every U.S. studio was trying to make movies that would appeal to the Chinese market. This led to some ham-fisted creative choices. The filmmakers behind Iron Man 3 added a scene in which a Chinese doctor saves Tony Stark's life, though it wasn't included in the U.S. cut. The Chinese release of Rian Johnson's time-travel thriller, Looper, contained a gratuitous sequence in which Bruce Willis and Xu Qing gallivant around Shanghai. In the same film, Jeff Daniels's character tells Joseph Gordon-Levitt's, 'I'm from the future—you should go to China.' The threat of being denied a Chinese release also resulted in countless acts of self-censorship by Hollywood studios. Sony changed the villains of its Red Dawn remake from Chinese to North Korean in postproduction, and removed a scene showing the destruction of the Great Wall of China from the Adam Sandler film Pixels. In this environment, Hollywood put a premium on stories that could appeal equally to American and Chinese audiences. That usually meant going as broad as possible and leaning away from cultural specifics, as in the Transformers and Marvel movies. But in theory, another, more difficult path existed, the Hollywood equivalent of the Northwest Passage: a movie that incorporated Chinese and American cultures equally. This could be a breakthrough not only in the box office but also in storytelling. It could even map a future for the two countries, offering proof that we have more in common than we might think. The producers at Sony apparently hoped that a 'Year of the Pigskin' adaptation could pull off that trick. 'The movie we want to develop is JERRY MAGUIRE meets THE BAD NEWS BEARS set in China,' Tisch wrote in an email to Sony's then-chairman and CEO, Michael Lynton. 'This is the perfect movie to film in China.' But there was a puzzle built into the project. 'The struggle for me was trying to figure out who the movie was for,' Ian Helfer, who was hired to write the screenplay, told me recently. His task was to create a comedy that would be a vehicle for a big American star while appealing to Chinese audiences. But nobody in Hollywood really knew what Chinese audiences wanted, aside from tentpole action movies. They seemed happy to watch Tom Cruise save the world, but would they pay to see Chris Pratt teach them how to play an obscure foreign sport? Helfer's vision mostly tracked the original article: An American former college-football star goes to China and teaches the locals to play football. Everyone learns some important lessons about teamwork, brotherhood, and cultural differences along the way. He turned in a draft and hoped for the best. Most Hollywood projects die in development, and the autopsy is rarely conclusive. Exactly why the Sony project fizzled is not clear. Helfer said he'd heard that Sony's China office had objected to the project because it didn't feature a Chinese protagonist. Whatever the reason, when the 'Pigskin' option came up for renewal in 2017, Sony passed. By then, the China-Hollywood wave was cresting. The Zhang Yimou–directed co-production The Great Wall, released in 2017 and starring Matt Damon, flopped in the United States. That same year, the agreement that had raised the quota of U.S. films in China expired. Xi Jinping, who was turning out not to be the liberal reformer many Westerners had hoped for, railed against foreign cultural influence and encouraged homegrown art. His plan worked: Although China had depended on the U.S. for both entertainment and training earlier in the decade, it was now producing its own big-budget triumphs. In 2017, the jingoistic action flick Wolf Warrior 2 broke Chinese box-office records and ushered in a new era of nationalist blockbusters. At the same time, however, U.S. box-office revenues had plateaued, making the Chinese market even more important for Hollywood profits. After Sony declined to renew, Paramount optioned the rights to 'Year of the Pigskin,' and the development gears ground back into motion. This time, there was apparent interest from John Cena, who was in the midst of a full-on pivot to China, which included studying Mandarin. (He hadn't yet torpedoed his career there by referring to Taiwan as a 'country' in an interview, after which he apologized profusely in a much-mocked video.) The Paramount version of 'Pigskin' died when the studio discovered belatedly that football wasn't big in China, according to Toby Jaffe, the producer who'd arranged the deal. 'They realized that it wasn't well-suited for the Chinese market,' he told me recently. 'So the reason they bought it for maybe wasn't the most logical analysis.' The option expired once again in 2019. The coronavirus pandemic snuffed out whatever flame still burned in the China-Hollywood romance. McLaurin's China dreams were fading too. His hopes for a broad expansion of American football in China—he had started working for the NFL in Shanghai—seemed out of reach. He left China and went to law school. I figured we'd never hear about a 'Pigskin' adaptation again. When I met the Clash producer and screenwriter Wu Tao outside a hotel in Rotterdam in February, he greeted me with a hug. He told me he couldn't believe we were finally meeting after all these years, given how our lives were both intertwined with the Dockers. 'It's fate,' he said. Wu has spiky hair, a goatee, and an energy that belies his 51 years. He was wearing a bright-green sweater covered with black hearts with the words THANKYOUIDON'TCARE spelled backwards. We sat down at a coffee table in the hotel lobby alongside the director of Clash, Jiang Jiachen. Jiang was wearing computer-teacher glasses and a ribbed gray sweater. Wu, who'd produced and written the script for Clash, right away called out the elephant in the room with a joke. He had stolen one line from my article, he said with a chuckle—a character saying, 'Welcome to Chongqing'—but hadn't paid me for the IP. (This line does not actually appear in the article.) 'Next time,' I said. Wu said he'd been working as a producer at the Chinese media giant Wanda in Beijing when, in 2018, he came across an old article in the Chinese magazine Sanlian Lifeweek about the Dockers. He'd already produced a couple of modest hits, including the superhero satire Jian Bing Man, but he wanted to write his own feature. He was immediately taken with the Dockers' story, and a few days later, he flew to Chongqing to meet the players. They mentioned that Paramount was already working on a movie about the team, but Wu told them that an American filmmaker wouldn't do their story justice. 'In the end, Hollywood cares about the Chinese market,' Wu told me. 'They don't understand China's culture and its people.' He paid a handful of the players about $2,750 each for their life rights, and bought the rights to the team's name for about $16,500. Wu also met up with McLaurin in Shanghai, but they didn't ultimately sign an agreement. 'I understood that, in his head, this was his movie,' Wu said. But Wu had his own vision. Shirley Li: How Hollywood sold out to China Wu got to work writing a script. By 2022, he'd persuaded iQIYI to make the movie and gotten his script past the government censorship bureau with minimal changes. In summer 2023, they began shooting in Chongqing. Wu told me that he'd set out to tell the Dockers' story from a Chinese perspective. 'It's easy to imagine the Hollywood version, like Lawrence of Arabia,' he said. 'A white Westerner saves a group of uncivilized Chinese people.' Even if he'd wanted to tell that kind of story, Wu knew it wouldn't fly in the domestic market. 'We're not even talking about politics; that's just reality,' Wu said. Jiang added, 'It's a postcolonial context.' This argument made sense to me in theory, but I was curious to see what it meant in practice. That evening, I sat in a packed theater and took in the film. Clash opens with a flashback of Yonggan, the hero, running away from a bully as a kid—behavior that gets him mocked as a coward. (His name translates to 'brave.') It then cuts to adult Yonggan, who works as a deliveryman for his family's tofu shop, sprinting and careening his scooter through Chongqing's windy roads, bridges, and back alleys. When Yonggan gets an urgent delivery order from an athletic field where a football team happens to be practicing, the team captain watches in awe as Yonggan sprints down the sideline, takeout bag in hand, faster than the football players. He gets recruited on the spot. Although Clash has the same basic framing as the American film treatments—an underdog team struggling against the odds—the details are original, and telling. Instead of focusing on the coach, the story centers on Yonggan and his teammates, each of whom is dealing with his own middle-class problems: Yonggan's father wants him to give up his football dreams and work at the tofu shop; the war veteran Rock struggles to connect with his daughter; the model office-worker Wang Peixun can't satisfy his wife. The coach, meanwhile, is not an American former college-football star, but rather a Mexican former water boy named Sanchez. He wanted to play in the NFL, he tells the players, but in the U.S., they let Mexicans have only subordinate jobs. The sole American character is, naturally, the captain of the evil Shanghai team. Notably, there's no mention of 'American football' at all; they simply call the sport 'football,' which in Mandarin is the same as the word for 'rugby.' As for the tone, it's hyperlocal in a way that feels authentic to the material. Characters trade quips in rat-a-tat Chongqing dialect. Jokes and references are not overexplained. The film has a catchy hip-hop soundtrack featuring local artists. It also embraces tropes of Chinese comedy that might feel cringey to American audiences: abrupt tonal shifts, fourth-wall breaks, and flashes of the surreal, including an impromptu musical number and a surprisingly moving moment of fantasy at the end. (There are also the predictable gay-panic jokes.) I had been dreading a lazy rip-off, but this felt like its own thing. To my surprise, the audience—which was primarily European, not Chinese—loved it. At both screenings I attended, it got big cheers. When festival attendees voted on their favorite films, Clash ranked 37th out of 188 titles. (The Brutalist came in 50th.) After watching the film, my griping about the IP rights felt petty. Sure, Wu had blatantly lifted the premise of my article. (I looked up the Chinese article that Wu claimed first inspired him and saw that it explicitly mentioned my New Republic article, and the Sony movie deal, in the first paragraph.) But he'd done something original with it. It occurred to me that even if Wu had taken the story and reframed it to please a domestic audience, I was arguably guilty of the same crime. Just like Wu, I had been writing for a market, namely the American magazine reader of 2014. American narratives about China tend to be simplistic and self-serving. During the Cold War, China was foreign and scary. In the 1980s, as it began to reform its economy, American reporters focused on the green shoots of capitalism and the budding pro-democracy movement. In the post-Olympics glow of the 2010s, American readers were interested in stories about how the Chinese aren't all that different from us: See, they play football too! Or go on cruises, or follow motivational speakers, or do stand-up comedy. I was writing at a cultural and political moment when American audiences—and I myself—felt a self-satisfied comfort in the idea that China might follow in our footsteps. What Hollywood didn't realize is that Chinese viewers weren't interested in that kind of story—not then, and certainly not now. Part of me still wishes that a filmmaker had managed to tell the Dockers story in a way that emphasized international cooperation, especially now that our countries feel further apart than ever. But the liberal-fantasy version was probably never going to work. I'm glad someone made a version that does.

The Wildest Controversies and Scandals Surrounding the Viral Labubu Dolls
The Wildest Controversies and Scandals Surrounding the Viral Labubu Dolls

Yahoo

time6 hours ago

  • Yahoo

The Wildest Controversies and Scandals Surrounding the Viral Labubu Dolls

We need to talk about Labubus. And no, Labubu isn't some off-brand kombucha or a Goop-approved fertility crystal. It's the name of those fuzzy toys with bunny ears and toothy grins that Gen Z and millenials seem to be losing their collective minds over. The buzz for Bubus has grown so loud that it even made its way to the Jenna Bush Hager-led fourth hour of the Today show this week. The Labubu was first introduced in a 2015 children's picture book created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung called The Monster Trilogy. Inspired by Nordic mythology, the Bubu are tiny elvish creatures with nine serrated teeth and pointy ears. They're also canonically female. Following the success of his book, Lung signed a deal in 2019 with Pop Mart, a Chinese-based toy company known for 'blind box' collectibles—a figurine sold in sealed packaging so that the item is unknown until opening—to create the first line of Labubu plushie charms. Since then, the toy has gone from a niche collectible item to a global sensation. While the Bubus come in many forms, from vinyl figures to pendant charms, the most popular iteration is the keychain. You can find them dangling from TikTokers luxury handbags, high schoolers backpacks, and proudly flaunted by celebrities like Rihanna, Lisa from Blackpink, and Dua Lipa. The Labubu collections are so popular that in 2024, Pop Mart generated $410 million in revenue, with its total revenue clocking in at a jaw-dropping $1.81 billion. It's so popular that some are even calling the toy 'tariff proof,' as President Donald Trump's trade war has done nothing to slow down the Bubu consumer demand. But like so many cultural obsessions that came before it, the Labubu craze hasn't been without scandal (or chaos). From full-on brawls to counterfeits to a thriving criminal underground, here are some of the wildest controversies surrounding the viral plushie that we could find. Why are people getting into fistfights over the Labubus? Well, it's thanks to a little phenomenon known as manufactured scarcity—a term for when companies create a false perception of limited availability, even when they could theoretically manufacture more products. You see, Pop Mart restocks their Labubu collections every week, from the immensely popular 'Exciting Macaron' series to the 'Fall in Wild' series. The restocks happen online on Thursdays and in stores on Fridays. But despite these weekly product drops, the Bubus often sells out in a matter of seconds. And no, that's not an over-exaggeration. Due to Bubu scarcity, people have taken to camping outside Pop Mart stores hours and sometimes days before the Friday restock. Don't believe me? Take a look at this recent video published by NBC Chicago, which shows hoards of people camping outside the Pop Mart store in anticipation of its opening. People are so desperate to get their hands on a Bubu that full on brawls have been happening at Pop Mart stores across the world. In the UK, the fights got so out of hand that the company decided, for the moment, to stop selling the toys in the region's stores. Pop Mart said they made this decision to figure out a solution to 'prevent any potential safety issues.' Typically, a single 'blind box' Labubu cost anywhere from $21 to $27, with a whole box coming in at around $167. However, thanks to the Labubu craze, resellers are jacking up the prices to an eye-boggling amount. On eBay, a limited edition Bubu is currently on the market for $9,500. On StockX, another popular online marketplace, a Labubu x Vans limited edition doll is going for almost $3,500. With the rise of Labubus came the Lafufus—fake Labubus. Although it can be hard to tell the difference between the 'real' and 'counterfeit' versions, most people find that the Lafufus have slightly off coloring, sometimes lopsided smiles, and an incorrect number of teeth. The Labubu criminal underground is thriving. Just last month, a Pop Mart shipment of Labubus in the UK containing the figure Hirono got intercepted by a group of thieves, who stole over $202,000 of product. A month before that, thieves stole around $27,000 worth of Labubu products from a store in Somerset, England. People are also getting their Bubu toys stolen right off their bags. For some, the fear of getting robbed has gotten so intense that they are now taking out insurance for their Bubus when they travel abroad. 'It might seem ridiculous to insure a toy, but it speaks volumes about how emotionally invested people are in what they pack,' Peter Klemt, chief of Australia's division of Passport Card, a travel insurance company, said to the New York Post. 'When you consider some Labubus are now selling for nearly $652 (1,000 AUD) on resale sites, it makes sense why they want to protect them,' he added. Maybe it's because the Labubu creatures look a little mischievous, but some people (religious people) are starting to believe Labubus are demonic. 'They. Are. So. Creepy,' a Bubu hater wrote on Reddit. Others in the thread agreed, with one Redditor even claiming that the doll was straight up 'evil.' On TikTok, a user posted a video talking about how they bought a Labubu at a thrift store, and immediately after, they almost got into a car accident. Then, they started experiencing health issues, which apparently only got better when they threw their Labubu out. After the demonic conspiracy theories became popular, Pop Mart uploaded a post for 'April Fools,' announcing they are recalling the Bubu toys for suspicious 'supernatural' behavior. Maybe the demon Bubus cast a spell on everyone and that's why people are so obsessed? Just some food for thought.

Popit Games Tournament Early Access Launches June 7th with $500,000+ Prize Pool
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Popit Games Tournament Early Access Launches June 7th with $500,000+ Prize Pool

Mobile Gaming Tournament Opens to Players Worldwide via Steam and Android SOFIA, Bulgaria, June 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Acki Nacki, the fastest blockchain possible, today announced the launch of Popit Games, a multiplayer roguelike deck-building card game, with a highly anticipated Early Access period beginning June 7, 2025. The launch coincides with the game's official availability on Steam, with availability on other platforms upcoming. This limited-time Early Access window runs through June 15, 2025, giving players exclusive first access to play Popit Games pool before the main tournament begins, letting players compete for the game's $500,000+ tournament prize. Popit Games showcases Acki Nacki's breakthrough consensus technology, which reaches finality in just 2 communication steps, the fastest theoretically possible. With full decentralization and security assured, Acki Nacki boasts a community of 5 Million-plus members, many of whom will be vying for the top spot in the tournament. Following the Popit early access period and tournament, Acki Nacki will debut its mainnet launch, which is slated to arrive later this summer. "We're thrilled to bring Popit Games directly to players' mobile devices in a dedicated app," said Mitja Goroshevsky, GOSH Co-founder and Acki Nacki co-author. "The Early Access period represents a crucial opportunity for players to master the game's strategic depth before the main tournament begins. With over $500,000 in prizes at stake, we want to ensure every player has the chance to compete at their highest level." The upcoming Popit Games Tournament features $100,000 in cash prizes for the top 16 players and teams, $400,000 worth of Node Cores for places 1-1000, and 850,000,000 Boosts for places 1-10,000. Boosts enhance user rewards based on their contribution to network security through Acki Nacki's mobile verification system. The tournament will be covered live in several languages by top YouTube and Twitch commentators. Popit Games combines strategic deck-building with competitive multiplayer action, where players strategically create and finalize blocks while competing to surpass set block limits. The game's programmable card sequences allow players to boost their scores while potentially sabotaging opponents, creating dynamic matches that reward strategic thinking and quick adaptation. The tournament features dual leaderboards for both individual players and team competitions. The Early Access period allows players to practice and strategize with the tournament beginning immediately after the Early Access window closes on June 15. The game features a "Best of All" format where players build and maintain the highest possible block throughout the tournament duration. Popit Games will be available for download on Android and PC beginning June 7, 2025, with availability on other platforms upcoming. The Early Access period runs through June 15, 2025. The main tournament runs June 15-22, 2025, with registration available through the official tournament website. For more information about Popit Games, the Early Access period, and tournament registration, visit or follow @ackinackichain on Twitter. Media Contact:M Group Strategic Communications (for GOSH)GOSH@ About GOSH GOSH is the core contributor to the Acki Nacki blockchain, founded and led by former CTO of TON Labs Mitja Goroshevsky. The company recently raised $6 million through its pre-launch node sale with participation from leading investors including Kingsway Capital, Hack VC, K5 Global, and Original Capital. About Acki Nacki Acki Nacki is the fastest blockchain possible. Based on a breakthrough consensus protocol, the Acki Nacki network reaches consensus in 2 communication steps, the lowest number possible in any interactive network, meaning that by design Acki Nacki finalizes transactions faster than any other blockchain that can be built. Acki Nacki has a community of over 5 million users in its mini-app that allows anyone to verify blocks by playing a simple interactive game on their mobile phones. This means players contribute to network security and mine Acki Nacki network coins as block rewards. Acki Nacki is a decentralized blockchain. There is no token pre-mine, airdrop, token generation event, investor or team allocation. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE GOSH Sign in to access your portfolio

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