Who is Skullpanda?
Skullpanda is one of Pop Mart's most artful and collectable characters — a time-travelling figure in a skull-shaped helmet, with a hazy sense of self and an appetite for reinvention. Despite the name, there's nothing panda about it: "Skullpanda" refers to the skull-shaped helmet and puffball ears, not the animal. The character is genderless, and every series drops it into a new world — a haunted castle, a film set, a classical ink painting, the visualised world of sound — while keeping a signature streak of dark, introspective elegance.
What sets Skullpanda apart from most blind-box lines is that the series aren't just costume changes. Each one is built around an idea — freedom, identity, perception, memory, change — so collecting a set is closer to collecting a themed art series than a toy line. That depth (plus consistently striking sculpts) is why Skullpanda figures are among the most sought-after Pop Mart releases, with rare secrets changing hands for serious money.
The artist: Xiong Miao & LazyNorth
Skullpanda is the creation of Chinese artist Xiong Miao (熊喵), who brought the character to life in 2018 through her studio LazyNorth. Her designs draw on street culture, retro and military aesthetics, and — increasingly — fine art and literature, filtered through her own emotional experiences and observations of everyday life. That personal, art-led approach is why the line has matured from playful early sets into some of the most conceptually ambitious work Pop Mart publishes.
A few things worth knowing:
- The name is a red herring — it's about the skull-shaped helmet, not pandas.
- Skullpanda is genderless, something long-time collectors are quick to point out.
- Every series hides a secret figure (a rare "chase"), and the rarest Skullpanda secrets have resold for eye-watering sums.
- Recent series lean openly on art and literature: The Ink Plum Blossom channels classical Chinese ink painting, The Sound maps onto the core human emotions, The Mirage nods to the old "am I dreaming?" butterfly parable, and Petals in Four Acts stages a flower's life as a Shakespearean tragedy.
The story so far: every Skullpanda series
The early era — gothic and cinematic (2020–2021)
Skullpanda's blind-box story starts with Ancient Castle (2020), a haunted-castle cast of gothic archetypes — Phantom, Vampire, Skeleton, Gargoyle — that set the line's dark, character-driven tone. Action! Cut! followed, casting the character in every role on a film set, from the Leading Man to the Stunt Man, with a Cool Director as the secret — an early sign of Skullpanda's love of themed ensembles.
The cultural turn (2022)
2022 was a breakout year. The Mare of Animals reimagined the character as creatures real and mythic; City of Night followed an after-dark metropolis; and Hypepanda plugged into street and hype culture. But the standout was The Ink Plum Blossom, a tribute to classical Chinese ink painting whose figures are elements of a landscape — The Moon, The Bridge, The Bamboo — rendered in soft ink-wash tones. It remains one of the most admired sets in the line.
The introspective era (2022–2023)
Late 2022 brought The Warmth, Skullpanda's tenderest set — thirteen figures about small, cosy comforts — and one of its most beloved. Everyday Wonderland turned personality types into a cast (The Anxious, The Bold, The Lethargic), finding the fantastical in ordinary moods.
The philosophical era (2024–present)
The most recent run is the most conceptually ambitious. Image of Reality plays on perception versus what's real; The Sound asks how you picture sound and answers with figures mapped onto core emotions and detachable "listening" masks. Tell Me What You Want is the festive Christmas set; The Mirage drifts into illusion and Eastern-mythic dream; The Paradox traces a cocoon-to-butterfly arc about transformation. The latest, Petals in Four Acts, is the most literary of all — staging the life of a flower as a Shakespearean tragedy in four acts.
Alongside the figure series, Skullpanda has expanded into plush and pendant lines — Winter Symphony, the Monet-inspired L'impressionnisme, the "Sleepless Night Theatre" of You Found Me!, and collabs like Skullpanda × My Little Pony.
Start your Skullpanda collection
Every series above has its own page on Shelfd, with the full figure roster, the secret, release dates and where to buy. Browse them all on the Skullpanda page, or read every Skullpanda series in order.