When Bobby Solez goes out in public, he gets called the “Labubu guy.”
“I’ll go to the mall and … I’ve definitely had people look at me sideways. Like, ‘What the hell?’” he said. “But then a lot of the times … younger people will be like, ‘Oh my God, you have a Labubu. Where’d you get that?’”
The Westchester, New York-based fashion influencer has gone viral on TikTok for his unboxing videos of the popular key ring toys. Originally designed in 2015 by Hong Kong-based artist Kasing Lung, the fuzzy, fanged toy monsters exploded in popularity after being purchased by Chinese collectables retailer Pop Mart in 2019 and being seen on celebrities like Blackpink’s Lisa and tennis star Naomi Osaka.
Go to any grocery store or mall in America and you’re likely to encounter Labubus dangling from a purse or a belt loop. Solez wears his Labubu on his bag. But when adults ― and particularly men ― own Labubus, the reactions are polarizing.
Solez said he has gotten thousands of comments on his videos along the lines of, “You’re a grown man, why are you doing this?”
He’s not the only Labubu-owning man causing consternation. When then-Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks walked out to the NBA playoffs game with his peach-colored tiny Labubu swinging from his bag, the game commentators guffawed. “Is that a damn bunny on his hip?” Charles Barkley said amid laughter.
Some critics believe men liking Labubus is for show. In “performative male” contests held in cities to designate who is the most insincere man of all time, some male competitors carried them. The unspoken critique: Men only carry Labubus to make themselves more attractive to people who do like them.
But male Labubu owners say they are not collecting Labubus to pretend to be someone they are not — they genuinely enjoy Labubus as fun fashion accessories and interesting conversation starters. The criticism says a lot more about the haters than it does about them.
Why Labubus Are So Popular Among Men
Illustration: HuffPost; Photos: Getty
Labubus are designed to be a conversation starter. These creatures have mischievous smirks, maniacal eyes and bunny-like ears. Some have accused them of being demons. “This thing is kind of ugly, but it’s kind of cute,” Solez described his Labubu.
Their hideously cute design might be why they’re so popular for adults, including men, said Zoe Fraade-Blanar, co-founder of the international toy brand Squishable and co-author of “Superfandom: How Our Obsessions Are Changing What We Buy and Who We Are.”
“Instead of being a comfort object, it is very much a collectible or a design object,” Fraade-Blanar said. “You’re not buying a Labubu to hug it. You’re buying it to show it off.”
“The fact that they’re hard to get also fuels my desire to get them, but mainly I enjoy wearing them around on my bag,” said Roland Austria, a government employee based in Japan. “They look good and fit the colors of what I wear.”
And some men might be more comfortable toting a collectible than a plush doll.
“People who might find a standard cute plush a little bit too feminine and then, therefore shameful … We’re not necessarily triggering those same feelings here in the way that we might for a different type of product,” Fraade-Blanar said.
Beyond being a fashion statement, Labubus are also a profit-turning commodity that quickly sells out at Pop Mart. Some go for as much as five figures on the resale market — and that’s part of their adult appeal. Millions also watch unboxing videos about them, which makes buying Labubus monetizable content.
Solez initially bought Labubus for this purpose, but they have since grown into a more emotional hobby, especially with Pop Mart’s “blind box” selling strategy, where buyers don’t know which Labubu is hidden inside.
“You open it, and you’re like, ‘Ah, I wanted this one,’” Solez said. “It makes you feel like a kid again.”
Quentin Protsenko, a regulatory affairs manager for an organic fertilizer factory, said he and his wife initially bought the popular starter set “Big Into Energy” that features six themed Labubus — Love, Happiness, Loyalty, Serenity, Hope and Luck — to resell, but they liked the figures’ scary-cute nature too much to give them to anyone else.
“I’m 39 years old … and put Luck on my work bag daily. I live in the countryside of France, so Labubus are not known,” Protsenko said. “All I [have] ever experienced is a weird look, or a positive … ‘I saw it on TV!’”
Protsenko and his wife now own seven Labubus in total, which cost them about 180 euros ($209).
Collectible toy fads come and go, but one other way Labubus went more mainstream is their price exclusivity, which makes them different from the Beanie Baby collectible fad of the 1990s, Fraade-Blanar said.
“Something that you have to work hard for or pay a lot for has the ability to become a status symbol in a way that something that you can buy at Target or Walmart simply can’t,” she said.
Don’t Be Ashamed Of Owning Labubus.
Despite their popularity, Labubus invite judgment because some people believe adults ― and especially men ― should not play and find joy with toys that children also own.
But there’s something to be said for childlike comforts and interests. Many adults still cuddle with stuffed animals. In a 2017 survey of 2,000 adults commissioned by Build-A-Bear, most adults said they still had a childhood stuffed animal, with 40% of respondents saying it slept by their side.
Labubus are the comfort toy that can leave your house. “People who no longer feel like it’s appropriate for them to buy a teddy bear, they’re still going to connect with that sort of nostalgia for having a comfort object with you … attached to your purse or in your pocket,” Fraade-Blanar suggested. “So by wrapping it in that ironic, cool, sort of counter-cultural package, these are toys that are safe for everyone.“
When you walk around town with your Labubu, you may get looks as a man, but you may also get a built-in icebreaker.
Austria said he and his wife have been “approached by people gushing about our Labubus.”
“It’s become this fun shared hobby that gives us something to bond over around the world,” he said. “I heard we have a loneliness epidemic, well I guess you can say we bring our Labubu to ward that off.”
“I don’t take life too serious. And these things are a way to keep things not as serious.””
– Bobby Solez
To fellow men who are shy about walking around with a Labubu, male Labubu owners said to be unashamed of your interests and let your Labubu hang free for all to see.
“If you’re going to own a Labubu as a straight man, I would say, own it,” Solez said. “It’s almost a way to build confidence … It’s always been a conversation starter. And for the most part, it is always a positive thing.”
“Yes, it’s childish, yes, some people might get judgmental … But what’s the worst that can happen?” Protsenko said. “Some annoying random [person] makes fun of it –– who cares. Be proud of what you like, and if it’s a stuffed monster, just be happy with it.”
Tapping into your inner child can be fun after all. That’s why Labubus appeal to so many adults. Buying something that society says is not appropriate for your age or your gender can feel rebellious, Fraade-Blanar said.
So much adulthood means reckoning with what society expects and demands from you. But by embracing the whimsy of a toy, Labubus owners get to flout maturity, which “can feel very empowering and exciting in a way that collecting a watch or something else that’s more socially acceptable may not,” Fraade-Blanar said.
Take it from Solez: “I’m just trying to have fun in this life. I don’t take life too serious. And these things are a way to keep things not as serious.”
