• CloutAtlas [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      19 days ago

      It’s an inoffensive little doll thing that Chinese schoolgirls have had clipped on their school bags for a few years. Made by a Hong Kong designer based on Nordic folk creatures, wasn’t really a big deal. My younger cousin in Wuhan has had one since… 2019? Sometime around then. It was in the background of WeChat calls during lockdowns in 2020, it’s when I first became aware of their existence.

      Last April, however, KPop star Lisa of BLACKPINK was photographed with one clipped to her handbag. This suddenly caused them to explode in popularity among Kpop stans. After a couple months, regular people discovered them and their popularity which created a feedback loop of people who don’t listen to BLACKPINK buying them because they’re (somewhat) adorable and popular. This led to shortages, resale markets, counterfeiting, etc.

    • Krem [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      19 days ago

      are labubus popular in the west right now? they became a thing in asia like autumn last year? and had pretty much died out a few months ago. it’s weird seeing a lot of references to them on western social media.

      the inverse of this is i guess the teddy bear from toy story 3 which became weirdly popular like 2022/23? and whose cultural stock value still hasn’t completely crashed somehow

  • echognomics [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    19 days ago

    Thesis: Marx would have been pleased to be offered a Labubu because of his favourite maxim being “Nothing human is alien to me”, and thus would have been intensely facinated by this strange garden-elf statuette. curious-marx

    Antithesis: Marx would get annoyed at the Labubu because of his favourite motto being “Doubt everything”, and go on a rant about cuteness culture being a form of commodity fetishism/false consciousness/etc. obscuring the human suffering necessary for mass production of meaningless baubles. marx-angry

    Synthesis: Marx would thank the person offering him the Labubu, and later give it to Jenny to sell at the pawnshop, so that he can buy back his pants. marx-doomer

  • Barabas [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    19 days ago

    After hearing people talking about Labubu, now 8I know what they look like. Seems it is just beanie babies with gacha mechanics.