You know the feeling. It's the last box in the case. You give it a little shake. There's a faint, specific rattle. Not the loud clatter of a regular figure, but a softer, more contained sound. Your heart starts doing that stupid little flutter-thump thing. You tell yourself not to get your hopes up. It's probably just another Soymilk or Sea Salt Coconut.
But maybe… just maybe.
You slide the foil bag out. It feels a little different. Heavier? Denser? You're probably imagining it. You find the seam with your thumbnail and tear. A flash of translucent pink, shot through with iridescent glitter, catches the light.
You just pulled Lychee. The labubu macaron secret rare.
That moment is pure, uncut dopamine. It's the reason we're all in this hobby. It's a feeling I've been lucky enough to experience a few times, and a feeling my customers tell me about with giddy, all-caps messages. But that feeling comes at a steep, steep price. And as someone who runs a store and sees the backend of this obsession, we need to talk about it.
What Exactly Is This Little Pink Monster We're All Losing Our Minds Over?
The official name is "Lychee," and it's the super secret, or "chase," figure from POP MART's The Monsters Exciting Macaron series. While the regular series features Labubu figures dressed as macaron flavors like Pistachio and Rose, Lychee is on another level.
It's not just a pink Labubu. The vinyl itself is a semi-translucent, milky pink, like a lychee jelly. Suspended inside that vinyl are fine particles of iridescent glitter that flash blue, purple, and gold as you turn it in the light. It's not painted on; it's part of the figure. The "macaron" shell on its head is a slightly more opaque, glitter-infused pink. It's a genuinely beautiful piece, and Kasing Lung's design really shines here.
But its beauty is only half the story. The other half is scarcity. This is the exciting macaron labubu rare piece that everyone wants, and its rarity is what drives the hype to insane levels.
The Brutal, Unforgiving Math of Chasing "Secret Macarons"
POP MART prints the odds right on the box, but I think most people's brains just glaze over the numbers. Let's break it down.
The odds of pulling Lychee are 1:144.
What does that actually mean? A standard case of Exciting Macarons contains 12 individual blind boxes. To get to 144 boxes, you would need to buy 12 full cases. At a retail price of about $14 per box, you're looking at a staggering $2,016 spent, on average, to find one.
Let that sink in. Two. Thousand. Dollars.
And that's just the average. Probability doesn't mean a guarantee. You could buy 20 cases and find nothing. You could buy one loose box and get lucky (I've seen it happen, and the person who did it should probably also buy a lottery ticket).
This is why, when someone asks me for advice on finding the Lychee, my first question is always: "How much do you love gambling?" Because that's what you're doing. For a deeper look into the hype and what you're up against, my seller's honest guide to the Exciting Macaron series breaks it down even further.
The Collector's Playbook: Strategies, Myths, and Cold Hard Truths
So, you still want to hunt for it. I respect the dedication. But let's be smart about it. Don't fall for the common myths.
Myth #1: The Shake & Weigh Trick
Forget it. It doesn't work.
Back in the early days of blind boxes, you could sometimes tell a secret by its weight or the sound it made. Manufacturers got wise to this. Modern series, especially from a giant like POP MART, have countermeasures. The figures are designed to have similar weights and profiles. They use standardized plastic inserts and sometimes even add decoy weights. I've personally opened hundreds of Macaron boxes, and I can tell you with 100% certainty: there is no reliable way to tell what's inside by shaking or weighing it. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you snake oil or just got lucky once.
Myth #2: Buying Loose Boxes is the Way
This is a classic rookie mistake. You walk into a store, see a freshly opened case, and grab a few boxes. Your odds are actually worse here. Why? Because most cases are "seeded." This means the store owner, or an experienced collector before you, might have already bought the whole case, found the regular secret (the 1/12 chance "Grape"), and put the remaining 11 boxes back on the shelf. You're buying from a pool that is now guaranteed not to have a secret.
The only time buying loose is a decent bet is from a completely jumbled, mixed-up display where nobody knows the case origins. Even then, it's a total crapshoot.
The Only "Real" Strategy: The Secondary Market
This isn't the romantic answer, but it's the honest one. If you want the labubu macaron secret rare, and you don't want to set a pile of money on fire, the best way to get it is to buy it outright from a reputable reseller.
Yes, you'll pay a premium. A big one. But you will pay less than you would likely spend gambling to find it yourself. You're paying for certainty. You're paying for someone else's luck (or their massive financial outlay of buying cases).
Real Talk: The Market Price Rollercoaster
Let's talk numbers. This isn't speculation; this is data from what I see in my own shop, on eBay, StockX, and in collector communities every single day.
When the Exciting Macaron series first dropped, the Lychee secret was pure chaos. I saw initial sales hitting $400-$500. It was nuts. People were caught in the FOMO frenzy.
As of late 2023 / early 2024, the market has cooled and stabilized, but it's still a high-value item. You can expect to pay anywhere from $200 to $300 for an authentic Lychee figure with its box and card.
Why the range? * Condition: Is the box mint? Is the foil opened? An unopened foil will always command a higher price. * Platform: You'll pay more on platforms like StockX that have authentication services, but you get peace of mind. You might find it cheaper in a Facebook group, but the risk of scams or fakes is higher. * Seller: An established store (like, ahem, PopNya) might have a slightly higher price than a random individual, but we also stand by our products and guarantee authenticity.
Is it an "investment"? Please, no. Don't buy designer toys as an investment. The market is fickle. A new, even more hyped series could drop tomorrow and the value could dip. Buy it because you love Kasing Lung's art. Buy it because its little glittery face makes you happy. If it holds its value, great. That's a bonus, not the goal. The entire LABUBU doll phenomenon is built on passion, not stock portfolios.
Your Guide to Spotting a Fake Lychee
With high prices come the fakes. And they are getting scarily good. As a seller, I've had to become an expert in spotting them. Here's what I look for, and what you should too. This is the stuff that can save you from a $200 mistake.
1. The Glitter is the #1 Tell. This is the detail fakers have the hardest time replicating. On a real Lychee, the glitter is suspended within the vinyl. It looks deep, multi-dimensional, and catches the light with a rainbow of colors. On fakes, the glitter often looks like it's just painted on the surface, or it's a cheap, single-color craft glitter. It will look flat and dull in comparison. If the glitter doesn't have that "galaxy in a bottle" look, run.
2. Check the Paint and Vinyl Quality. POP MART's quality control is very high. Look at the crispness of the black paint around the eyes and mouth. Fakes often have fuzzy or bleeding paint lines. The vinyl on a fake can also feel different, sometimes harder, sometimes stickier. A real Lychee has a smooth, dense, high-quality feel.
3. The Box and the Card Don't Lie. Fakers often skimp on the packaging. * The Box: Look for blurry text, off-colors (the pink might be too bright or too pale), and flimsy cardboard. The barcode and POP MART hologram should be sharp and clear. * The Card: This is often the easiest tell. A real Lychee card has a specific holographic finish on the character art. It's a subtle, high-quality foil. Fakes either have no foil at all, or they use a cheap, rainbow-slick foil that looks like a gas puddle. The cardstock should also feel premium, not like a flimsy business card.
Honestly, spotting fakes is a whole skill. If you're diving into the secondary market, our honest buyer's guide for Labubu Macarons has more detailed photos and comparisons that can help.
Our Take
So, is the rare macaron labubu worth the hype and the money?
My honest seller/collector verdict: The figure is a 10/10. The chase is a 2/10.
The Lychee Labubu is, without a doubt, one of the best secret designs POP MART has ever produced. It's stunning in person. But the process of getting it through blind box gambling is a financially and emotionally draining nightmare for 99% of collectors. It creates a toxic "gotta have it" culture that overshadows the joy of collecting the regular, also amazing, figures in the set.
My advice? If you have your heart set on Lychee, save your money. Skip the 50 boxes of disappointment. Buy it directly from a source you trust. You'll spend less in the long run, and you'll get the exact piece you want without the mountain of doubles. Use the money you saved to buy a full case of a new series and experience the joy of finding a regular secret. It's way more fun.
The thrill of the hunt is temporary. The love for a beautiful piece of art on your shelf is what lasts. Don't let the gambling addiction of blind boxes make you forget why you started collecting in the first place. There are so many incredible designs in the wider LABUBU collection that are just waiting to be discovered without needing a second mortgage.
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