Since their debut in 2019, Labubu dolls have gained unexpected popularity in 2025, resulting in fervent demand in Australia. Pop Mart observes massive queues as fans wait for restocks, reminiscent of past toy crazes. The phenomenon has drawn interest not just from children, but also from adults, highlighted by celebrities like Rihanna and members of K-pop embracing the trend. Labubu figures range from affordable keychains to expensive collectorâs items, with some selling for up to A$1,580, raising questions on the price of childhood joy amid nostalgia-driven buying behavior.
Child, sit by me and let me tell you the tale of when I, as a nine-year-old, somehow blackmailed my mother into chaperoning me to the Northgate shopping centre, Hornsby, before dawn, so we could be first in line to acquire a soft-bodied, vinyl-faced Cabbage Patch Kid with a unique birth certificate.
Well, you can snaffle Labubu keychain figures for a lobster or two, but joy's price tag comes in at A$300 for some popular models of Labubu on eBay, and goes up to a truly eye-popping $1,580 for some items on the Pop Mart website.
The explosion of Labubu popularity can be traced to the appearance of the toy, not with aspirational child models in a heavily capitalised, after-school-television marketing campaign, but in the possession of adults.
If this isn't aggressive sales hyperbole, it's an admission of touching innocence from someone too young to know about the Cabbage Patch Kid riots of 1983.
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