If you've heard about blind boxes from anyone in the last six months, you've heard about LABUBU. The toothy, pointy-eared character with the mischievous grin is on TikTok hauls, on celebrity instagrams, on Vinted at £150 for a £15 retail figure. As of 2026, LABUBU is the most-collected blind-box character globally — outselling Sonny Angel, Funko Pop, and every other major collectible by revenue. This is the explainer. Where LABUBU came from, who Kasing Lung is, how to spot real ones, and which series are worth your money. The 60-second version LABUBU is the central character in The Monsters — an artist IP created by Hong Kong illustrator Kasing Lung and licensed exclusively to Pop Mart since 2019. The Monsters cast includes LABUBU (the toothy lead), Mokoko, Spooky, Tycoco, Zimomo, and a handful of recurring side characters. Each one shares the same big-eyed, fang-toothed silhouette but with different personality cues. Across vinyl figures, plush dolls, MEGA-format collector pieces and crossover collaborations, The Monsters has had close to fifty distinct series since launch. Retail price for a standard sealed box is £15.99 in the UK / $14.99 in the US. Resale prices for sought-after figures regularly hit £100-£300; the rarer plush variants and 1000% MEGA pieces have sold for over £2,000. Who is Kasing Lung Kasing Lung was born in Hong Kong in 1970 and moved to the Netherlands as a child. He trained as an illustrator and built his reputation in the early 2000s with picture books rooted in Nordic folklore and Hong Kong street culture. His distinctive characters — wide-eyed, hand-painted, tooth-bearing — appeared in independent vinyl-toy runs through galleries and small designer-toy publishers throughout the 2010s. In 2015, Lung published a picture book called The Monsters Trilogy, introducing LABUBU as a forest spirit who creates more trouble than they mean to. The character was a slow-burn favourite in the designer-toy world for several years — small runs of resin figures sold out in galleries — but only became mainstream after Pop Mart signed Lung in 2019. What makes Lung's work distinctive is the emotional duality in the design: LABUBU's mouth is a row of sharp teeth, but the eyes are huge, expressive, and innocent. Each piece feels mischievous rather than menacing — closer to Maurice Sendak than to horror. That tension is what people connect to. The cast: LABUBU and friends The Monsters is structured around a recurring ensemble:
LABUBU — the lead. Pointed ears, nine teeth, often shown holding an object (an ice cream, a lantern, a flower). The character most people mean when they say "LABUBU". MOKOKO — LABUBU's calmer sibling, rounder ears, gentler expression. Often shown sleeping or quiet. Spooky — the wide-eyed introvert; quieter and more contemplative. Tycoco — skeleton-faced, more macabre, appears mostly in Halloween and Día de Muertos series. Zimomo — younger, smaller, mischievous. Pato — appears occasionally as a sidekick.
Most series feature LABUBU as the main attraction with one or two side characters; some special-themed runs (Halloween, New Year) feature the full ensemble. The series that defined LABUBU Across roughly fifty Monsters series, a handful stand out:
Tasty Macarons (2023) — LABUBU dressed as different French pastries; the series that broke the character globally on TikTok. Have a Seat (2023) — LABUBU figures perched on assorted seats; the "pose" run that defined the modern aesthetic. Big Into Energy (2024) — the fitness-themed series that drove the first UK queues. Coca-Cola crossover plush (2024) — the soft-toy collaboration that introduced LABUBU to non-figure collectors. MEGA collection (400% and 1000%) — large-format LABUBUs starting at £200 retail; the resale market here is wild.
You can browse the full release history in the Monsters IP page on Shelfd. Why it exploded LABUBU's mainstream moment came from a combination of factors that won't repeat for most IPs:
TikTok's algorithm rewarded the unboxing format — fast, surprising, visual, with a clear emotional arc (sealed → opening → reveal). LABUBU's design photographs and films well at every angle. K-pop and J-pop ambassadors — BLACKPINK's Lisa was photographed with LABUBUs in late 2023; the South Korean and Thai markets followed within weeks. Resale economics — early collectors who bought £15 figures and resold £200 secrets created the financial incentive that drives sustained demand. Genuinely good design — strip away the hype and Kasing Lung's character work stands on its own. People love LABUBU because it's lovable, not because they were told to.
The result: a 2024 release cycle where most series sold out within minutes of going live online, queues outside Pop Mart's London Westfield store from 6am, and resale prices that have made LABUBU a category of its own in the collector economy. Formats: which to buy If you're new and want to understand the breadth before committing:
Sealed blind box (£15.99) — standard vinyl, 7-9 cm. Best entry point. Pendant (£8-£12) — keychain version; useful for collecting characters without the shelf space. Plush doll (£20-£35) — softer, cuddlier; bigger emotional pull, less "designer toy". Plush pendant (£12-£18) — keychain-sized soft toy. MEGA 400% (£200-£250 retail) — 28 cm collector vinyl. Shelf statement piece. MEGA 1000% (£500+ retail) — 70 cm; serious collector territory.
For a first purchase, a sealed standard box from a current series is the safest call. You either get a figure you love or one you trade — both are part of the format. Counterfeits: a real and growing problem LABUBU's commercial success has created a counterfeit market. Fakes typically come from unofficial Chinese resellers and AliExpress-style listings; they're cheaper, the paintwork is uneven, and the boxes lack the holographic authentication strip that genuine Pop Mart series carry from 2024 onwards. See our fake-spotting guide for the detailed checklist. Quick rules:
Buy from official Pop Mart channels first If buying second-hand, check seller feedback and ask for unboxing video Holographic strip should be present and intact on series from 2024 onwards Paintwork should be crisp — fake LABUBUs often have over-painted teeth or asymmetric eyes
Where it goes from here Kasing Lung continues to release new Monsters series at a roughly quarterly cadence. Pop Mart's contract with him is reportedly through at least 2027 with a strong renewal expectation. Lung also occasionally drops gallery-exclusive pieces under his original Lung Family Production label — those are not Pop Mart releases but they involve the same characters and the collector overlap is total. The most likely directions for the IP:
More plush-format releases — Pop Mart is leaning hard into the kidult/comfort-toy market and LABUBU plush sells faster than the vinyl. More crossovers — Coca-Cola, Disney, regional festival tie-ins. Expect at least one major brand collaboration per year. MEGA-only series — flagship-store exclusive ultra-limited runs.
For collectors, the practical advice is the same as for any high-demand IP: focus on the series that mean something to you personally, not the ones the secondary market thinks should appreciate. The retail-to-resale spread on LABUBU is volatile and will eventually compress. The figures you actually like are the ones worth owning either way.