‘We’re going to need to wash your colour out now,’ my hairdresser is gentle parenting me as I stay seated, stuck in a cycle of refreshing the web page on my phone. Simultaneously, my WhatsApp notifications are coming through thick and fast. ‘Keep going’, ‘I have four but it won’t let me pay!!!’, ‘They all went within a minute!’
You’d be forgiven for thinking me and my mid-30s friendship group were trying to get Glastonbury resale tickets, when, in fact, I’m risking a John Travolta hairline for a plushie key charm. Not just any plushie key charm however – the just-dropped, V3 Big Energy Labubu.
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Chances are – even if you’re a lot more sensible with your adult money and free will than me – you’ll have heard of Labubus. You may have seen the strange-looking, gremlin-esque soft toys with bunny ears and smiling sharp teeth on your commute, attached to someone’s Uniqlo bag.
Alternatively, it might have been that picture of Rihanna, with the sold-out Lychee Berry Labubu, clipped to her Louis Vuitton Speedy.
Maybe, you’ve walked down Oxford Street and witnessed the sprawling queues. That’s where I ended up last Friday, when purchasing my new hyper fixation became impossible online.
The company behind Labubus and the one that I wish I bought stocks in years ago, is Pop Mart, a Chinese toy company. Much like those American Candy shops, Pop Marts are now ‘popping’ up everywhere.
The brand currently has six permanent stores in the UK, two pop ups (Birmingham’s Bull Ring and London’s Harrods), two concessions (Selfridges and Hamleys) along with seven shopping centre ‘Roboshops’ aka vending machines.
Pop Mart sells a mixture of toy figurines, plushies and key chains. Some are brand IPs you’ll already recognise, like Care Bears, Teletubbies and various Sanrio characters, but arguably their most popular, like the Labubu, are Pop Mart’s own creations.
These are sold as blind boxes, meaning you don’t know what colour you will get. In terms of the Labubu, there have been three main series so far: Macaron, Have a Seat and Big Energy. Each series has 6 different coloured Labubus to collect, along with one ‘secret’ version that is much rarer to find.
I first laid eyes on one of these ‘Monsters’ (as they’re known), thanks to a video by friend and content creator, James Welsh.
I knew and respected James as an honest skincare enthusiast, who I turned to for K Beauty recommendations. When he started posting blind box unboxes I was intrigued.
At first, I watched them because I enjoy his content, regardless of what he’s doing, but as I saw how excited he would get and how cute some of these blind boxes were, that feeling began to transfer to me.
The final push was my nail artist Izzy Taylor, showing me the new fluffy pink edition to her bag. Finally, seeing one in person, was the nail in the coffin for any sensibility I may have had.
To be fair, I am both a sucker for anything cute and chronically online. I love a Jellycat and anything Sylvanian Families themed. My windowsill has a vase of Lego flowers I built, and I have a Sonny Angel dressed as a carrot attached to my phone. Let’s just say I’m on the cusp of being a Disney adult, with enough self-awareness to control myself when needs be.
When I bought my first (yeah, there’s more) Labubu, it was on a complete whim. I got off the bus and there was a Pop Mart right there. At this point in time, there were no queues and I walked right in, picked one off the shelf and ripped open the plastic bag to discover I had ‘Dada’ the pink monster from the ‘Have a Seat’ series.
It was just an instant dopamine rush, so when I was planning my annual easter egg hunt (which is for my friends as much as it is for my niece and nephew), I knew I wanted to get the girls a Labubu as their final prize. I guessed they’d like them, but I didn’t realise just how much. So, when Pop Mart announced a new series of brightly coloured Labubus (Big Energy) would be launching in April, it’s safe to say we were all fully invested in getting another.
Knowing that the 12pm drop would be right in the middle of my hairdresser’s appointment wasn’t ideal, but if there’s one thing I love as much as cute toys, is the challenge of getting something that’s hard to buy. I have been this way since I set up a US postbox address to import the Givenchy lipstick Liv Tyler wore in Lord of the Rings. If it’s hard to get, I want it. Whether that’s the M&S viral cookies, the Christmas Peanut Jellycat or a Glossier themed basketball.
I become fixated on the ‘mission’, so when we had no luck buying Big Energy online, I took to the streets. First, I swapped out with my friend, who had started queuing at the Pop Mart Shaftesbury Avenue store on her lunch break, but when they sold out, spurred on by my friends, I walked to Hamleys. When the store assistant in Hamleys laughed at my request and said I should have seen the queue that morning, I still didn’t quit. Don’t get me wrong, at this point I wanted to. The shoulder bumping on London’s busiest streets, combined with our first heatwave of the year, was not great for my mood, but I knew there was only one thing that would turn it around.
When I got to Oxford Street, I was pleasantly surprised by how organised the queue was. Two security guards blocked the door but informed me they did have what I wanted in stock and led me to the back of the line. It was impossible not to hear the people asking what we were queuing for and their inevitable tuts or laughs when told it was ‘toys’, but when I walked in there and out again with an entire set (not just for me of course), the joy was unparalleled.
I’m sure we’ve all made the remark about how unstable the world feels right now. I believe it’s important to keep yourself informed, especially when you are in a privileged position, but the more you read and watch, the more hopeless life feels. I don’t think it’s coincidence then, that during this time, I’ve been spending my adult money on toys, which in their own way give me a sense of comfort, happiness and nostalgia.
Look, being an adult is depressing enough. If I want to have a bright pink monster attached to my Mulberry Mini Alexa, let me be.
I’ll see you in the Pop Mart queue.
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