Labubus are super popular at the minute, but because of this, many retailers are trying to copy the adorable viral doll – but how can you check whether yours is real or fake?
Labubus are all the rage at the moment, but there are a fair amount of fakes doing the rounds.
Labubu characters are little furry monsters inspired by Nordic fairy tales. Characterised by her pointed ears, serrated teeth and fur, Labubu is described as kind-hearted and always wanting to help others – while accidentally doing bad things, according to CNA Lifestyle.
Sold in ‘blind boxes’ where fans aren’t sure which colour they’re going to unwrap, they’re sold in Pop Mart in the UK, or from resellers, and they rose to major popularity when Blackpink’s Lisa was seen with Labubu charms, making the character a sought-after collectable in both the toy and fashion spheres.
In addition to the rise in the popularity of toys such as Jellycat and Monchichi, people’s bags are currently laden with collectable keyrings. But how do you spot a fake Labubu?
TikToker @emilia.chia explained that she’d purchased her Labubu from a reseller, as they can fetch hundreds of pounds on certain websites.
Emilia said: “This is the easiest way to tell if they’re real. First, you want to check that there’s a QR code here,” she explained as she pointed to the back of the box.
She continued: “Then you use a coin to scratch the bottom of the QR code, which should reveal a few numbers.
“Once you have these numbers, you want to scan the QR code, and once you scan that, it should take you to this page here,” she explained, as she showed the website it should take you to.
Then, you can add in the “last four digits of the number that’s on the QR code”. Once the number has been inputted, you can “click verify”.
Then, if the Labubu is real, it will come up with a green symbol, saying: “Verified as genuine by Popmart”.
In the comments, someone said: “There is a QR code on the actual Labubu, too, on the tag”.
In another video posted by @theblindboxfactory, they said that the website that comes up when you scan the QR code should be Pop Mart’s, as some people have been reported being sent to a “fake” website that says the product is real when it is not.
Another way to check whether your Labubu is real is to count the number of teeth it has. Often, replicas have the wrong number of teeth—they should actually have nine.
Other telltale signs your Labubu is real, according to @beebesinthetrap, is golden ‘the monsters’ hardware on the keyring part, their ears should be pointed towards each other, it should have a Pop Mart stamp on the left foot, a tag with a scannable QR code, and it should come with a cut-out that matches the colour Labubu you got.