A fluff ball with a monster face: what explains the luxury appeal of Labubu dolls? | Van Badham

Recent “drops” of the toy in Australia have seen queues form for blocks around its distributor, Pop Mart , with 3am -risers racing to meet the arrival of restocked merchandise.

The doll's price tag comes in at A$ 300 for some popular models of Labubu on eBay , and goes up to $1,580 for some items on the Pop Mart website.

Pop Mart has replicated the restricted-supply concept of distribution that drove the Beanie Babies craze, releasing waves of variations, some in very limited numbers, and then cutting them off creating hype around new releases.

Fads catch on because they encapsulate a convergence of social anxieties, technological shifts, and shared desires that we may struggle to articulate but attach to with instant familiarity.

In this framework, the doll becomes a totem for collective introspection.

Maybe a fluff ball with a monster face is the comfort object that today ’s bleakness recognises.

Maybe the fantasy of limited availability substitutes for creativity or specialness.