The labu, rabbits that make completely moron – liberation
Paris, avenue de l’Opéra. A fine drizzle is invited to passers -by who wander the streets. But whatever, the long line in front of the Pop Mart store remains stoic, an army of fans waiting for the Grail. Their quest is neither spiritual nor gastronomic. It is a plush rabbit, the labu. Inside the brand specializing in limited edition objects, it is war. Jouncés, strident cries and social transgressions. All this for small plush rabbits. But they are not just any. Imagined by the Hong Kong illustrator Kasing Lung in 2015, the Labu are monstrous rabbits in flashy colors, sharp teeth and long ears. They are frightening. The stuffed animals are made and marketed by Pop Mart, a Chinese toy company founded in 2010. Originally asian star, the Labu has crossed the continents to downs the accessories of the great priestesses of the style.
In recent days, Lisa of Kpop Girls Band Blackpink, Dua Lipa and Rihanna have appeared with a labu hung on their handbag. Since then, publications on social networks are swarming. On Tiktok, the new trend is exploding and more than a million videos have been published under the hashtag #labubu. We see Internet users doing frantic « unboxing » where adolescents and adults open mysteries as if their life depended on them. Between 30 and 100 euros, and not even sure to fall on the right one. Surprise. It is the Russian Roulette Light version. There are rarer versions than others. To give yourself a maximum chance of obtaining the rare pearl, fans are jostling in the streets and in distributor stores.
But the craze is so strong that it sometimes turns into the grip. Pop Mart announced to remove the labu from its shops in the United Kingdom. The queues formed in front of the stores posed real security problems and some customers have been threatening verbally and physically. However, British sellers tried to regulate sales with the implementation of a numbered ticket system. « Some have tried to buy them to be able to double the others »said an employee of the store at AFP. These are the Internet users forced to order their figurines on the online store. But all models are out of stock. Digital burn-out. To give a smile to fans, Pop Mart announced Friday, May 23 on Instagram « Work on a new approach that will allow everyone to have more fairly luck » to buy these stuffed animals. Fans will continue to give everything to get the dream labu.
