Blind boxes. The thrill lies in buying something without knowing what’s inside, hoping for one character and praying that you don’t get your least favorite. If you are disappointed, there’s the promise of buying a new one and this cycle continues when a new or exclusive collection comes out. This addictive hobby has proven to cause more harm than its innocent portrayal suggests.
One of these blind-boxes, Labubus, has grown out of what seems like nowhere, even though they have been around since 2015. The sharp-toothed furry monster keychains are exclusively sold at Pop Mart, a Chinese toy company, and have grown attraction within the K-pop community. K-pop “idols” that have been seen sporting the dolls have turned the $13 to $16 collectables into luxury accessories.
Once a collection stops being sold at Pop Mart, it enters the reselling sphere on sites like GOAT or StockX. The most limited release collectibles have been for resale for as much as $1,900. This is not exclusive to Lebubus. It is also seen in another blind box company, Sonny Angels.
Sonny Angels started in Japan as blind boxes from the brand Toru Soeya in 2004. They were well-known in Asia for almost two decades, but their presence on social media gained their attention worldwide. This led the company to create a site specifically for American fans. The dolls that sell for under 10 dollars in Asia are almost four times as much in the United States. The online store has appealed to their American fans by releasing not just the naked babies, but also t-shirts, stickers and even miniature clothes for them to wear. Other sellers have capitalized on this success since they can be sold by any American toy store, so they upcharge the price and even create knockoffs just so people can open them.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand the rush of opening them, and I have fallen into the excitement of purchasing Sonny Angels, but seeing how people act about collectibles is alarming. Last week, a video went viral showing people camping out from 3 a.m. until the Chicago Pop Mart store opened with the hopes of getting a Labubu from the exclusive “Big Into Energy” collection. The video showcases adults running, pushing and shoving into the store and aggressively opening the blind box sets once they got them. These keychains, originally made for kids in their home countries, make adults go crazy. It is alarming to see that people will do anything, even if it means spending absurd amounts of money with no guarantee they will get what they want.
Collectibles aren’t new, but their new blind-bag counterparts have completely changed the industry. In the 80s, it was Cabbage Patch Kids, and then throughout the 90s, it was Beanie Babies. Adults were buying these too, but what made these collectible toys different is you could buy what you wanted, and it was a community of traders sharing toys with each other. Now, the craze is just about owning and being able to say you have a limited-edition figure just for it to sit there until you can get a return on your investment.
These figurine trends are also recycling faster than ever before, with what seems like a new collectible on the market every week. This kind of collecting is harmful because it is not just coming from the companies pushing new collections and up-charging consumers, but consumers themselves are finding any way possible to profit off the latest fads.
These blind bags have exacerbated the consumerism that is already all too prevalent in our society. Now, social media is driving it to an intolerable extent. For those that enjoy collecting, enjoying it in moderation is the best way to control this culture that is causing materialistic behavior to spread like wildfire. We need to start asking ourselves: What is the point? Is collecting keychains, tiny babies and plushies for our own enjoyment, or is it part of this buying and reselling craze? It is time to evaluate what is trending and think about if it will really matter to you, instead of just buying it and forgetting about it when the next trend comes along.