DidaPop guide helps Labubu fans navigate releases, fakes, and care

DidaPop’s Labubu guide works because it treats the character like a collecting system, not a single cute face. If you want to buy, trade, or authenticate without getting burned, the first move is to read the release wave, the product format, and the exact series name before you look at price.

How to read Labubu without getting lost

POP MART traces Labubu back to 2015, when Kasing Lung created a fairy world inspired by Nordic mythology. Labubu sits inside THE MONSTERS universe as a kind-hearted elf with high pointed ears and serrated teeth, and that origin matters because the line grew from picture-book character to a global blind-box machine after POP MART formally partnered with Kasing Lung in 2019.

That history is the cleanest way to understand what collectors often call V1, V2, and V3. The nickname matters less than the actual release, because a listing that only says “Labubu” tells you almost nothing about what you are buying. The safer habit is to identify the specific series name, the format, and the release date, then decide whether you are looking at an early core piece, a later variant, or a collaboration.

What actually matters when you are buying or trading

The biggest collector mistake is to treat every Labubu as interchangeable. In reality, the details that move value are exact series name, product format, and whether the piece belongs to the core THE MONSTERS line or a crossover. POP MART’s current Labubu search page shows 92 results, including plush pendants, figures, mega items, accessories, and collaborations such as Hello Kitty and Friends and Chasing Mermaids, so the catalog is wide enough to reward precision and punish lazy labeling.

The easiest way to avoid overpaying is to compare like with like. These are the details that matter most:

• Exact series name, not just “Labubu”
• Format, such as blind box, vinyl face, vinyl plush, or pendant
• Release date, which helps separate older runs from newer ones
• Collaboration status, because crossover pieces trade differently from core THE MONSTERS releases
• Condition, especially if you are paying for a display-ready or resale-ready item

The two most useful anchor points in the current line are THE MONSTERS - Exciting Macaron Vinyl Face Blind Box and THE MONSTERS - Have a Seat Vinyl Plush Blind Box, both listed with a July 12, 2024 release date. They are easy to confuse in casual conversation because both are blind-box releases from the same stretch of the line, but they are not the same product type, and that difference matters when you are comparing listings or trying to understand why one seller’s price looks out of line.

The newer anchor is THE MONSTERS Big into Energy Series-Vinyl Plush Pendant Blind Box, listed with an April 25, 2025 release date. That one is especially important for newcomers because a pendant is not the same thing as a standard figure, and listings often blur that distinction when they are trying to look more collectible than they are. If you are building a shelf or a trade pile, the exact format tells you more than the marketing photo ever will.

Where to buy without walking into a fake

The authentication problem is not subtle. POP MART says products bought through official sales channels, official stores, ROBOSHOP vending machines, and authorized online platforms are guaranteed authentic and verifiable. For overseas buyers, POP MART points users to its official anti-counterfeit page for verification, which is the first place to check before you trust a seller or a suspiciously clean listing.

That matters because Labubu demand has become big enough to attract the usual mix of hype, speculation, and fake stock. If a seller cannot connect the piece to one of POP MART’s official channels, you should assume the risk is on you. In practice, that means checking the seller before you chase the figure, not after you have already convinced yourself the price is too good to pass up.

Why the market got so crowded so fast

Labubu is no longer a niche toy with a small, static audience. POP MART says it now operates in more than 23 countries and regions through 350+ offline stores and 2,000+ Roboshops, which gives the brand a retail footprint big enough to feed a truly global collector base. Reuters reported in March 2026 that POP MART’s 2025 revenue rose 185% year over year to 37.12 billion yuan, or $5.38 billion, and that scale explains why the resale market, the fake market, and the collector conversation all accelerated at once.

That growth also explains why guides like DidaPop’s matter. When a character jumps from picture-book origin to international blind-box culture, buyers need a decoder more than they need more hype. The real skill is not memorizing every cute face in the line, but learning which release you are actually looking at when a seller throws a Labubu name into a title and hopes you do not ask follow-up questions.

Caring for the figure after the buy

Once the piece is in hand, the same collector mindset still applies. Condition affects future trade value, packaging matters more than casual buyers think, and a figure that has been handled carelessly is a different object from one that was kept clean and complete. That is why a practical guide does not stop at spotting the right release or avoiding fakes, it also helps you treat the piece like part of a collection rather than a temporary novelty.

The easiest Labubu decoder is still the same one you start with: read the wave, read the format, and read the seller. Do that, and the line stops looking like a blur of similar faces and starts looking like the organized collecting ecosystem it has become.