In the basement of Pacific Century, an office building East of the Sanlitun district in Beijing, a young woman bustled in front of a toy vending machine. Her tote bag overflowed with small blue boxes – 34 in total – each costing 69 yuan (€8.30)and containing a tiny Labubu doll. “I’m buying two more,” she told her friend. “She’s hooked,” her friend sighed. “But I have a one in 12 chance of getting a rare character. I have to keep going.” Behind her, other women waited impatiently in line. Their lunch break was almost over. The delivery worker responsible for restocking the machine shrugged: “I come every day, sometimes twice a day and at random times so as not to cause a stir.”
With its round face and scruffy fur, the figurine resembles Kiki, the Japanese mascot from Bonux laundry detergent barrels in the early 1980s. As with that mascot, you never know which Labubu you will get, and some are rarer than others. This quirky creature sprang from the prolific imagination of Hong Kong illustrator Kasing Lung, who became the signature artist for Pop Mart, a Beijing-based toy maker that has specialized in affordable collectible figurines since 2015. Pop Mart operates 450 of its own stores and 2,300 vending machines across 60 cities in China.
You have 65.01% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
