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On Labubu and the Hyperreal

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Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#81

Post by ses1984 »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #71
freetime2 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can you really say they're scarce if they're printing 5x as many, by your own words? All the local stores that sell random packs of Pokemon cards are sold out. So is Amazon, etc. If I wanted to buy some right now, the only way I could do it is through scalpers. So yes - they are scarce. I think The Pokemon Company is very intentional about how many cards they print. As many as possible without saturating the market…

> That's not true. I like Pokemon. I understand that there is intrinsic value to a Pokemon game, figurine, and even a cool holographic trading card. Okay, see, so you don't know what the appeal is. You wouldn't know where to begin creating your own Pokémon. You would be like, well let's make some monsters. You wouldn't get it. If you did know how, you would be a billionaire. Do you get it now? It isn't enough to just…

Only billionaires get Pokémon?

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#82

Post by parpfish »

freetime2 wrote: post #5

My kids never had any interest in Labubu, but have been caught up in other fads like Pokemon cards. My sense is that these kinds of trends are mostly driven by scarcity. If you manage to get your hands on one, then you get the feeling of owning something rare, exclusive, and desirable amongst your peers - which is enough reason on its own to want something. You can also convince yourself that paying the normal MSRP i…

from what i remember about toy trends as a kid, it wasn't about wanting to have the thing. it was about not wanting to be the one that didn't have the thing.

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#83

Post by thin_carapace »

faidit wrote: post #60
mockerell wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lack of actual photos of Labubus "in the real" (usually on a keychain at a pant's belt loops) is jarring. The topic of the "performative male" has been regurgitated in social media for quite some time. Still the author ignores that and misses the overall bigger picture. I think any argument made here with regard to Baudrillard's hyperreality could be made about most trends, not only Labubus. Actual insight into t…

Hyperreality is a bogus concept altogether, inasmuch as it's supposed to be something new in human history that only happens because of computers. Prehistoric/ancient humans also had fashion trends and myths and symbols and deep context

computing merely spurred the conceptualization of hyperreality. the original impetus was more along the lines of societal imagery like media, wax museums, or theme parks (as mentioned in the article). computing is not seen in the seminal definition of a map overflowing its territory. this definition does align with integer overflow/underflow but isn't predicated upon the existence of those concepts. therefore the concept of hyperreality may be embodied in many contexts, both prior to and post the advent of computing.

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#84

Post by marssaxman »

alephnerd wrote: post #12
john_strinlai wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

indeed, i always understood a "fad" to mean some short-lived trend. meanwhile, pokemon is probably around the same age as the average HN user.

> probably around the same age as the average HN user. Based on the references and speech patterns I've seen on HN, I think the average HNers is at least a decade older than Pokemon. The first Pokemon videogame only came out in 1996. Y'all are boomers - nothing wrong with that, but HN has become an older monoculture.

People born in 1986 aren't even Gen-X, much less boomers: you are talking about millenials!

Even the youngest boomers are near retirement age now.

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#85

Post by foobar1726 »

An incredible number of words spent while missing the point completely.

Labubu is a child substitute. It's a caricature of a mischievous young toddler.

Historically, most people in their mid 20s would have already had at least one child. As parenthood gets pushed further back, people struggle to fill that biological yearning.

Scroll through the photos and mentally substituite a child for the doll and it will all make sense. Labubu on a keychain? The toddler is with you everywhere you go. Taking your kid to work. Dressing them up for a wedding. Taking fun selifes, visiting the gym, etc etc.

No need to pull in COVID19 or the Baudrillard wankery.

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#87

Post by arjie »

These kinds of things are always full of psychoanalysis that I don't think actually qualifies. We've had beanie babies before. My daughter ran around and played on a large one at Taipei Taoyuan Airport and there were a few of them around. We were walking through Hong Kong when there was a big meetup with a giant inflatable orange, but it turned out to be Mojo Carrot - another plushie merch thing.

There were a huge number of people gathered there. And I imagine it's not very much different from Pokemon or baseball cards or what have you. My wife and I have a daughter who enjoys the Mojo Carrot and we plan on having another daughter within the next year. We've got fulfilling social lives at home in San Francisco, and when we stayed in Taiwan and Canada for months we had a wonderful time since walking down the street we'd run into a relative or friend. I only say this because the loneliness function doesn't ring true for me.

The whole article has a flavour of the adults saying "When you're kids talk about X they're using a code word for ecstasy and they're on drugs! Which the dealers hide in Halloween candy" or whatever. It's dressed up, but really that's all it is.

I think it's much simpler. It's just that humans are pretty good at assigning meaning to inanimate objects. The $30 microfiber fleece I bought at Big Lots in 2012 is just a $30 microfiber fleece I bought at Big Lots in 2012. But in 2026, it's the same $30 microfiber fleece that my daughter sleeps on. And now the fact that it's been with me those 14 years from when I came to America to when my daughter came to America means it represents a constant in my life and for that it's nice: https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Blog/2025-11-29/Things_Do_La...

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#89

Post by driverdan »

untitled-now wrote: post #51

This trend never got me or my kids and i never understood the fuss around it , I mean they are not pretty , they are not playable , or maybe it is because I am just getting old ? Born in 1988 here , maybe I just don't get the new generation .

They are a dumb fad, just like all the other dumb fads before them.

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#90

Post by akomtu »

the_af wrote: post #20

I couldn't suspend disbelief after the author called Labubu "cute". My daughter owns one. It's not cute. It's terrifying. It has a monster's grin. It looks like something out of "Child's Play". You know it will murder you in your sleep. Thankfully, she got bored of it pretty fast, as I suppose do most children (and adults).

The appeal of labubus is simple: they are cute-looking creatures that show their demonic side. Since many people have it, they find labubus cute.

Remember the first scene in the movie Constantine, where the woman that's being exorcised looks at her demon in the mirror and finds it cute? That's the same thing.

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