I get this question in my DMs at least five times a week. It comes from new collectors, nervous investors, and even just curious followers. "Hey, I'm seeing Labubu everywhere. Is it too late to start collecting? Are Labubu still popular?"
My honest, unfiltered answer? The insane, fever-pitch, sell-your-kidney-for-a-Macaron hype is over.
And thank god for that.
Look, I run PopNya. I sell these things for a living. You'd think I'd want the hype to last forever. But the bubble we saw from late 2023 to mid-2024 was unsustainable. It was fueled by celebrities, social media trends, and people who couldn't tell Kasing Lung from a K-Pop idol. They weren't collectors; they were speculators. They drove prices into the stratosphere and made it impossible for genuine fans to get their hands on a simple blind box.
That phase is cooling off. And it's the best thing that could have happened to the Labubu community.
The Market Correction I've Been Waiting For
Let's talk real numbers, not just feelings. I'm looking at my own sales data and the secondary market right now.
Remember The Monsters Exciting Macaron series? Of course you do. It was chaos. When that dropped, my website traffic spiked 800%. We sold out of our entire allocation in under three minutes. A single blind box, retailing for around $16, was an instant lottery ticket.
Take the "Soymilk" Macaron. Not even a secret, just a popular regular figure. At the peak, I saw it consistently selling for $80-$95 on platforms like StockX and in collector groups. That's a 500% markup on a regular figure. It was madness.
As of writing this, I can find that same Soymilk figure for about $40-$50.
The headlines will scream, "Labubu Prices Crash 50%!" And technically, they're right. But they're missing the entire point. A figure that retails for $16 is still selling for double or triple its original price months after release. That isn't a dead trend. That's a market correction. It's the difference between a speculative bubble and a sustainable collector's market.
The people who bought Soymilk for $95 hoping to flip it for $150 are gone. Good riddance. The person who loves the design and is now thrilled to get it for $40? That's a real collector. That's who is left. And there are a lot of them.
The Shift from Hype to Hobby
Here's something you won't read in a Forbes article. The type of customer I'm getting has changed dramatically in the last three months.
Back in April, my inbox was flooded with questions like: * "Which one is the secret?" * "What's the resale value of this one?" * "Can you weigh the boxes for me?" (A classic, and often useless, trick.)
Now, the questions are different. Just last week, I had a customer email me asking about the story behind Zimomo, Labubu's friend. They wanted to know how the character fits into Kasing Lung's wider "The Monsters" universe. Another person asked if we had any of the older, less-hyped series because they preferred the original art style.
This is a massive shift. People are moving past the initial "what is this cute viral thing?" phase and are starting to appreciate the art and the artist. They're exploring the lore. They're asking about the difference in quality and design between series, like the intricate details in The Monsters Pin for Love Series compared to the simpler, earlier releases. This is the foundation of a long-term hobby, not a fleeting trend.
The people who genuinely wonder why people like Labubu are digging deeper, and that's a sign of a healthy community forming. The core appeal was never just about the hype; it was about Kasing Lung's charmingly mischievous designs. The market is just now catching up to that reality.
Real Talk: My Seller's Verdict
So, what's my honest take as someone who has boxes of these little guys in my office right now?
Labubu's popularity hasn't vanished; it has transformed.
It's moved from a wide, shallow ocean of casual hype to a deeper, more dedicated lake of true fans. For my business, this is actually better. It's more predictable. I'm dealing with people who are passionate and knowledgeable, not just trying to make a quick buck.
For example, the recent "Let's Christmas" series didn't sell out in three minutes. It took a few days. The initial reaction from the hype crowd was, "See? It's over." My reaction? "Great." This means people who actually want a Christmas Labubu for their holiday display can actually buy one at retail price. What a concept!
The demand is still incredibly strong, just not absurd. We still sell through almost every LABUBU collection we stock, but it's no longer a panic-buy situation. The days of the viral Blue Boo Boo phenomenon, where one specific colorway breaks the internet, might be less frequent, but the overall baseline of interest is much higher than it was pre-hype.
If you're buying Labubu right now as a pure financial investment, hoping to 10x your money in a month, you should probably find a new hustle. The days of flipping a regular figure for a huge profit are dwindling. The high-end, ultra-rare secrets like the Loyalty Labubu will always command high prices, but the barrier to entry for that level of collecting is significant.
But if you're asking "are Labubu still popular" because you genuinely love the art and want to start a collection without fighting off bots and scalpers?
Then yes. Welcome. Now is the perfect time to join.
What Only a Collector Would Notice
The first few series of The Monsters were great, but there were occasional paint smudges or slightly loose joints. It's part of the blind box charm, to an extent. But on the newer series, like the Pin for Love set, the paint application is crisper. The flocking on flocked figures is more consistent. The box art is more elaborate.
They even changed the inner foil bag. The older bags were a simple, thin silver foil. The newer ones are often printed with designs and feel slightly thicker. This costs more money to produce. A company doesn't invest more in production for a brand they think is dying. They do it to reward and retain the dedicated collectors who notice these things.
This tells me Pop Mart is playing the long game. They weathered the hype storm, and now they're focused on catering to the real fans who are sticking around. They're building a legacy brand, not just milking a trend.
So, are Labubu still popular?
Yes. They are popular with collectors. They are popular with art toy enthusiasts. They are popular with people who appreciate Kasing Lung's whimsical world.
They're just not as popular with the get-rich-quick crowd anymore. And that's the best news the community could have asked for. You can actually walk into a store or visit a site like ours and browse LABUBU figures without feeling like you're in a stock market pit. It's fun again. And that's the whole point.
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