This all started back in September 2024 when there was a huge line in a Popmart pop-up in the mall near my home. Then by October, I saw everyone wearing these ugly rabbit-mischief-looking monsters chained on their bags with a plastic cover. I was confused and amused at the same time. My local claw machine place, where I love to play the shooting game, had people going crazy trying to get a labubu macaron. I saw this guy lose so much money trying again and again to win it. I was amused and liked watching it. I said, “There’s a popmart across, you can just buy one. Little did I know how this shit works. His friend told the other girl who won the labubu in the claw machine I’ll pay you $60 for it and he told his friend, “naw, chill”. That night, I started researching them and saw they cost close to double their price for resell.
At first, it was because of its exclusivity and trend that I wanted one, and finally, out of desperation, my husband started playing on the claw machine and got me my first green Apple Labubu. I was quite sad, not excited, because what was fun was trying to get it at 9 pm ET on the Popmart website. Fast forward, I’ve gotten 5 Labubus through the Popmart website, and probably more if I had less self-restraint, and many more to resell but not collect. I’ve gotten clothes for the Labubus, and the past months have been trying to get the Zimomo.
Labubu was ugly-cute, and it started to grow on me. I think the appeal and the cult of loving Labubu is that it is a distraction from the terrible things going on in America and around the world. For $24-$27 bucks, you can escape reality. It is like a little pocket of joy that you can bring along to bring you emotional comfort, and dress it up to express your personality, bring community, and sense of fashion (Identity). During my flight to London, I was very scared to fly after several plane crashes reported back in December and January that staring at my Labubu was helping me cope, especially during the turbulence, and it made me smile. In a lot of ways, Labubu is like a transitional object, or kind of like a pet you can bring along to bring you emotional comfort when the world is full of turbulence.
It was also healing for my inner child, and a reminder to play, create, and have fun, and not everything has to be so serious all the time. “It’s something cute to make the world feel nicer,” as someone said on Instagram. I was also thinking, just like how people buy lipsticks during a recession to make themselves feel better, and it’s affordable, Labubus are lipsticks for Gen Z and Millennials during a recession or economic uncertainty. The world has become so chaotic and depressing that Labubu reminds people to play and experience joy from little, simple things. Most Millennials and Gen Z are not going to own houses or have enough money to have kids, so buying Labubus is something they can afford and own that is special.
I also find it special that the creator Kasing Lung is Cantonese like me, and Labubu didn’t blow up until 2015 when he was in his 40s, combining Netherlands culture with Cantonese art to make a toy. He was born in Hong Kong and grew up in the Netherlands. I was born in Guangzhou and grew up in California/New York.
I would like to be the Labubu of a therapist, a transitional object that can bring comfort, joy, healing, hold difficult emotions, and create a safe space for people to rest during these turbulent times. I am playful, mischievous, just like this little Nordic elf who just wants to heal people’s inner child and have fun. If this post resonated with you, and you want to work with an Asian American Therapist in NYC that can get your Labubu obsession, then hurry a book a free 15-minute phone consultation while you wait in line for your Labubu!
