Why am I hiding from Labubus?

The psychology behind our weirdest collecting habits

It all started with a picture book in school.

Not even a scary one, just a sweet children’s book where dolls came alive at night and discussed world issues. (Don’t ask me why they were into geopolitics.)

Now, I never really played with dolls. I had no clue what to do with the poor human mimicry. But that book messed me up.

Ever since, I've had this irrational fear: What if they're all… talking about me while I sleep?

Even now, there are ZERO dolls you can see in my house.

And it didn’t help that every visiting relative brought more dolls.

Like, thanks aunty, just what I needed was a council of blinking plastic judges. In my teens, I also had the horror of knowing there was a movie about scary dolls as well.

Confession I’ve never said out loud: I found dolls deeply creepy.

Fast forward to adulthood.

I thought I was over it.

Until… Labubu came clawing back into my feed.

And suddenly, my childhood anxieties returned with a vengeance. But now they had long ears, designer price tags, and a cult following.

Wait, what's a Labubu?

If you've been blessed by the algorithm gods and spared from this, here's the lowdown:

Labubu is a mischievous creature from The Monsters series by illustrator Kasing Lung, a Hong Kong-born Belgian who teamed up with Pop Mart, the blind-box toy empire.

It's like someone took everything that made me uncomfortable about dolls and said, "Let's make this a collectible!"

Labubu was actually created back in 2015- a quirky little character with charm, mystery, and just the right amount of mischief. But things really changed in 2019, when Pop Mart, China’s biggest toy giant, entered the scene and said, “You know what this whimsical creature needs? A blind box debut!”

The thrill of not knowing which figure you’d get made it instantly addictive. And just like that, Labubu's quiet magic turned into a full-blown collectible craze.

Collectors were hooked, and soon they were chasing rare Labubu variants with the same energy we once saved for catching Pokémon in Pokémon Go.

But… Why the Obsession?

Because the internet is weird, and also:

BLACKPINK’s Lisa held one. Yes. That’s literally how it started.

She was spotted with a Labubu bag charm, and suddenly everyone wanted one.

Rihanna had one. Dua Lipa, too. Even David Beckham, Rohit Sharma and more celebrities than I can name jumped in.

Imagine buying Vimal just because my dear SRK said so. Now apply that logic to everything on your feed.

Pop Mart’s sales exploded as Labubu went from cult favourite to global icon practically overnight.

And it didn’t stop there.

Soon, Labubu popped up in designer fashion collabs, statement accessories, high-end art installations- basically anywhere creativity met chaos (the good kind).

Of course, there’s more to it than celeb worship. And it’s not the first time we’ve seen a short-lived trend.

But if not just that, then what!?

The Psychology Behind the Madness

Let’s break it down (because I’ve done some self-therapy research):

1. Limited Editions + Blind Boxes = FOMO

You don't know which figure you're getting. And you can't choose.

It’s kinda like those Pokémon cards that we got as a freebie with snacks, but more expensive.

Not knowing is half the thrill.

Since some collectibles are even rare, our brain goes: "But what if THIS box has the special one?"

2. Collector’s High

They have a series. Pirate Labubu. Zodiac Labubu. Fairy-tale Labubu. Christmas Labubu.

And our pattern-loving brains scream: "I must… complete… the set!"

Not judging, though.

I once bought 8 packets of Cheetos just for the Pokémon Tazos inside. Papa cut my allowance, and that was the end of my collecting career. (RIP to my incomplete ‘Gotta Catch ‘em all’ dreams.)

As

Rohan Banerjee

quoted in his blog on Labubus, referencing Prof. Belk’s thesis, we may not have control of our careers or our behaviour or our jobs, and we don’t have control of much of the exterior world, but we do have control of this collection. And it brings us joy when we’re able to expand it or improve upon it.

3. The Dopamine Addiction Cycle

Once the algorithm picks up on a trend, every scroll reveals another human unboxing, another person who found something you're missing. The fear creeps in slowly, then all at once your brain panics: "Am I the only one without one?!”

We’re influenced by the herd. When everyone's doing something, our brain reads it as: "This must be important/valuable/fun. I should want it too."

So you buy it. That moment of purchase gives you a little high, a dopamine rush that says, "Yes, you're part of something!" You post about it, get some likes, and feel validated in your choice.

But then the trend moves on. The thing you bought sits on your shelf, and your feed is full of the next big obsession. The cycle starts again.

It's basically a magic trick. But instead of rabbits pulled from hats, we're watching our money vanish into short-lived trends. The magician always gets the applause, and in this case, the magician is capitalism armed with excellent sleight of hand.

Chasing trends is a mix of fear, pleasure, identity, and belonging. It's not irrational– it's human. But the loop is often short, and that's part of the thrill. Kinda like a sugar high: quick, intense, and soon replaced by the next thing.

So while Labubu dolls are giving me flashbacks to my doll trauma, I get it. We all have our obsessions. Mine were Pokémon cards in snack packets. Yours might be slightly demonic-looking collectibles.

But just... maybe keep them away from me, okay?

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What’s your version of the Labubu? The thing you had to have, even if you weren’t sure why?