It started with a customer email.
"Hey, is this one of yours? The price is amazing!"
Attached was a screenshot from a site I won't name, but you can probably guess. It was a full set of The Monsters Mischief series. For $30. The whole set. My heart sank. I knew instantly what I was looking at, and it wasn't an amazing deal. It was the beginning of a tidal wave of labubu knock off figures that have been flooding the market ever since.
As a collector first and a seller second, this stuff hits me on a personal level. I love Kasing Lung's world. I love the weight of a real Labubu in my hand, the satisfying tear of the foil, the little collector card. So, I did what any obsessed collector would do. I decided to buy fake labubu figures. For science. And for this blog post.
I wanted to see them for myself, to hold them, and to give you a genuine, hands-on breakdown of a real Labubu versus an imitation labubu. Because the pictures online can be deceiving. And I don't want any of you to feel the disappointment of opening a box and realizing you've been had.
The Feel Test: Vinyl vs. Plastic Garbage
This is the first thing you'll notice, and it's impossible to see in a photo.
A genuine Labubu, straight from Pop Mart, is made of a high-quality PVC/vinyl. It has a satisfying density and weight. When you hold it, it feels substantial. The surface is smooth, almost soft to the touch, with a beautiful matte finish on most series. There's virtually no smell, other than that faint "new toy" scent that disappears in minutes.
The bootleg labubu I received? It felt... Hollow. It's significantly lighter. The material is a hard, cheap-feeling plastic that has a slight, unpleasant sheen to it. Tapping it with my fingernail produced a sharp, clacky sound, whereas a real Labubu gives a duller, more solid thud.
And the smell. Oh, the smell. It's that acrid, chemical-plastic odor you get from dollar-store toys. It's the smell of cutting corners and, frankly, it's a smell I don't want in my house, let alone on a shelf with my prized collection. This isn't just an aesthetic issue; it's a huge red flag for what kind of unregulated, potentially toxic materials are being used.
The Paint Job: The Devil is in the Details
From a few feet away, a knockoff labubu might look passable. Up close, it's a disaster.
Pop Mart's quality control is, for the most part, pretty incredible. The paint lines on a real Labubu are crisp and clean. The colors are opaque and perfectly matched to the artist's design.The eyes are a great example: they have a specific depth and finish, with clean, round pupils.
The labubu doll fake I have is a mess of paint errors. * Bleeding: The color from the ears bleeds onto the face. * Overspray: There are specks of black paint on the white belly. * Wrong Finish: The body, which should be matte, has a weird, semi-gloss finish that catches the light in all the wrong ways. * Sloppy Details: The teeth, instead of being distinct sculpted points, are just a smear of white paint across the mouth area. It looks less like a mischievous grin and more like a dental emergency.
These aren't "minor factory variations." This is the difference between a piece of art and a cheap toy. You're not just paying for the design; you're paying for the execution. The fakes fail spectacularly on that front.
The Face & Sculpt: The Uncanny Valley of Lost Souls
This is the part that hurts my collector's heart the most. Kasing Lung's designs have soul. Labubu's expression is a perfect blend of cute, monstrous, and mischievous. It's in the precise curve of the ears, the spacing of the eyes, the shape of the toothy grin.
The fakes get it all wrong. It's like they're working from a blurry photo.
The ears on my fake are pointier and less rounded. The eyes are set just a millimeter too far apart, which completely changes the expression from "cheeky" to "vacant." The body proportions are slightly off, making it look squatter and less dynamic.
It's a labubu replica in the loosest sense of the word. It's a copy of a copy, and all the personality has been lost in translation. It sits in that creepy uncanny valley where it's close enough to be recognizable, but different enough to be unsettling. It lacks the magic. Period.
The "Lafufu" and Other Red Flags
People often ask about the labubu knock off name. The most common one I've seen is "Lafufu." You'll also see "Labuboo," or just generic descriptions like "monster bunny doll." The counterfeiters do this to skirt direct trademark searches on platforms. If you see a name that's almost Labubu, but not quite, run.
This is your first and biggest red flag. It's a blatant admission that it's an off brand labubu. No official product would ever misspell its own name.
Let's Talk Price: The Real Cost of "Cheap"
So, how much is a fake labubu? I've seen listings for as low as $3-5 per figure. A quick search for "fake labubu for sale" or "fake labubu cheap" will flood you with options. When a real blind box retails for around $17, that price difference is tempting. I get it.
But you have to ask yourself why it's so cheap. The fake labubu price doesn't account for: 1. Artist Royalties: Kasing Lung gets nothing from the sale of a fake. You're directly defunding the creator of the thing you supposedly love. 2. Safe Materials: That chemical smell is a sign of cheap, unregulated plastic. There's no guarantee it's free of lead, phthalates, or other toxins. 3. Quality Control: The reason the paint is a mess is that there's no one being paid to make sure it's good. 4. Design & R&D: Pop Mart and Kasing Lung invested time and money into creating this character. The fakers just steal the final product.
When you buy a real figure, you're not just buying a toy. You're supporting an entire ecosystem of artists, designers, and skilled manufacturing. The price of a real Labubu reflects its journey from an artist's mind to your shelf. The price of a fake one just reflects the raw cost of toxic plastic. If you want to understand what goes into the cost of a genuine figure, I've written before about the real Labubu figure price and it's more complex than you'd think.
Real Talk: My Honest Verdict on Fakes
I get DMs asking "where to get fake labubu" or what the "best fake labubu" is. Honestly, it drives me nuts. The "best" fake Labubu is still a soulless piece of plastic that misses the entire point of this hobby. It's a hollow victory.
Sure, you have an object that looks like a Labubu from across the room. But you know it's not real. You lose the thrill of the hunt, the joy of a legitimate unboxing, the connection to the artist, and the camaraderie of the collecting community. You can't trade it with other collectors. You can't sell it without being a scammer yourself. It has no secondary market value and, more importantly, no story.
The joy of collecting designer toys isn't just about owning things. It's about appreciating the art, supporting the creators, and participating in a culture. Buying a fake la bu bu is a shortcut that ultimately cheats you out of that entire experience. You're not saving money; you're just buying disappointment.
How to Protect Yourself: Don't Get Scammed
So how do you avoid this mess? It's getting harder, but it's not impossible.
1. Price Check: If a deal seems way too good to be true (like a full set for the price of two boxes), it is 100% fake. The market for Labubu is strong; no one is selling legitimate sets for 80% off. The high demand is part of why LABUBUs are so expensive in the first place. 2. Source Matters: Where are you buying from? Stick to official Pop Mart stores, their official online shops, and authorized, reputable retailers. Yes, I'm biased, but that's why stores like ours (PopNya) exist, to provide a trusted source. When you browse our LABUBU collection, you know you're getting the real deal, straight from the source. 3. Examine Photos: If buying from a reseller on eBay or Mercari, demand photos of the actual item, not just stock photos. Look at the box. Is the printing crisp? Is there a Pop Mart logo and a holographic sticker (on newer series)? Ask for photos of the figure's feet, which have copyright information stamped on them that fakes often miss. 4. Read Descriptions Carefully: Look for weasel words like "labubu copy," "replica," "Lafufu," or "off-brand." Any reputable seller will proudly state that it's a genuine Pop Mart product.
At the end of the day, your collection is a reflection of your passion. For me, that passion is rooted in authenticity, artistry, and the joy of a genuine find. The world of knock off labubu dolls is a sad, pale imitation of the real thing. It's a ghost in the machine. Don't let a ghost take up space on your shelf where a real little monster could be.
--- Disclosure: PopNya may earn a commission if you purchase through links on this page.
