Mary Tablante, 33, thinks the cutesy accessories with devious charm have a particular draw for millennials.
“The millennial generation, we grew up collecting physical objects — Beanie Babies, Furbies. I think it just goes hand in hand with why this is popular now,” said Tablante. She recently had a tragedy befall her Labubu. After a night on the town, she realized her pink Lychee Berry had gone missing. She put up posters around the Castro, offering “$50 cash, one lottery ticket, and a handwritten poem” in exchange for the safe return of her furry friend. She also put the poster in the San Francisco subreddit, where some commenters wondered if she was trolling. People who were in on the trend understood she was very, very serious.