Ensito left his tech job, spent more than $50,000 (£37,000) on over 400 Labubu dolls, and had a dentist fit him with jagged Labubu teeth, all to make Labubu content full-time. Now the North Carolina creator says clips that once cleared 10,000 views in no time barely reach that mark, and he's moved on to Hello Kitty and squishies. His slide raises a blunt question: are Labubu dolls still popular?
He admits he is embarrassed by the total, and the numbers around him are sliding too. Pop Mart, the firm behind the monsters, reported global sales down as much as 50% in the three months to the end of September, with US revenue down at least 70%. When a creator's views and a brand's sales fall together, the magic wears off, and the urgency starts to look manufactured.
Why Did the Blind Box Craze Fade?
Manufactured scarcity only works as long as things stay scarce. Analyst Ashley Dudarenok says exclusivity faded as Pop Mart ramped up production to meet demand, and Ensito has watched it happen, walking into a store to find whole series on the shelves. For fans who once queued, a full shelf removed the reason to hunt.
Marketing lecturer Samer El Hajjar says fans bought box after box until they landed the version they wanted, so once the dolls were easy to find, little else held the habit together. Disney works the other way round, selling a story before a toy, and that lore-first approach gives its characters something to lean on when hype dips. Labubu has yet to prove it can do the same.
Pop Mart is still worth nearly $24 billion (£17.85 billion) and remains one of the world's most valuable toymakers, with 500 shops in more than 30 countries. Its shares, however, sit more than 50% below last year's peak, so it is far from broke, yet investors doubt the run can continue.
Are Labubu Dolls Still Popular With Collectors?
Trend chasers have largely moved on. Ensito and Melbourne creator Lawrence Yu have both seen their Labubu content fade, with Yu's unboxing clips falling from up to a million views to videos he rarely makes now.
Selective buyers are tightening up. Canadian fan Clara Barbero calls Labubus a dead trend, yet she now only buys pieces she expects to like for years. Brand loyalists see no crisis: Liverpool's Hedy Khaled, who owns 70 figurines, argues that falling sales say little about real fans, while Katelynn Carlson, who owns 36, is still excited by the cat-themed series.
Where Is Collector Money Going Next?
Ensito's switch to Hello Kitty is a useful signpost. Sanrio posted record earnings through March, and one analyst says its edge lies in enduring characters, the very thing Labubu is still trying to prove. Sonny Angels, glow-in-the-dark Smiski figures and Miniso's Disney and Marvel blind boxes are selling well too.
Pop Mart is betting on a Beijing theme park and a Labubu film to keep the magic alive, but as Dudarenok points out, the real test is whether people can fall for a character without a celebrity putting it in their hands. Ensito accepts that another obsession is always around the corner, which leaves his £37,000 collection as a reminder of what happens when the hype fades.
