Blind box culture has lost its magic.
The original intention of blind box Labubu is to make people feel surprised, but why all the unboxing videos seem exactly the same? They shared same words, same expression and same disappointment.
The culture of blind box has made people really excited. When you don’t know what is in the box and open it, the unknown emotions and excitement can make people coming back. However, this kind of excitement is no longer exciting, while it can be predictable. Scrolling on TikTok, you will see endless unboxing of Labubu, with different boxes but with the same interaction and expression.
The explosive popularity of Pop Mart’s Labubu figures has created a booming blind box culture across Asia and beyond recently.
According to Ashley Dudarenok, she introduced that after COVID, people in China want to find a sense of escaping, while Labubu is a character who with evil emotion, attracting them a lot. Long queues outside Pop Mart stores, viral unboxing videos on TikTok and YouTube, and the rapid release of new toy series have turned blind boxes into a highly visible consumer trend.
Yet the very success of this model has also led to oversaturation. With dozens of nearly identical series and increasing prices, many collectors are beginning to question whether the excitement of blind boxes is wearing off.
“Labubu represents the absurdity of cost inflation in the face of fleeting fads, the worst of overconsumption and, in due time, the dire consequences of irresponsible wastefulness.”
Liu, J. (2025). Labubu, rise of overconsumption. The Falconer
This moment of “blind box fatigue” provides the immediate context for questioning whether the trend has already peaked. The repeatable unboxing videos show almost the same expression and words online, which is over saturation and make the audiences tired.
Labubu has been seen as one example of bubble economy, while the value of this typical slogan does not come from the item itself, it is most from the trend and the pushing functions of market emotion. Not the design or toy themselves being discussed, but the unpredictability, scarcity and social bragging around Labubu counted as the biggest elements which facilitate the hot trend of it.
Blind boxes rely on the uncertainty mechanism, but when they are overused, the magic and effect of it will be left behind.
To solve the repeatable questions, Labubu needs to focus more on the narrative speaking, like Barbie and Marvel, creating special world for this IP. Therefore, Pop Mart collaborate with Sonny and said that Labubu’s big movie is under ‘early development’.
Han Tianyong 
Yinan Zhou