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On Labubu and the Hyperreal

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Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#91

Post by pryce »

arjie wrote: post #87

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 nu…

you're right about psychoanalysis being a stretch, but the article seems to be about the odd popularity among Gen Z, not the younger Gen Alpha. Youngest GenZ is 14yrs old; with a lot of this labubu trend, we're talking teens and upwards, which doesn't often seem to be the case with earlier "crazes" pursuing "cuteness"

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#92

Post by eudamoniac »

Barrin92 wrote: post #28
alephnerd wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but the article is going from discourse into direct moral judgement. If you write an entire blogpost making a moral judgement on personal choices yeah I'd flame you.

>If you write an entire blogpost making a moral judgement on personal choices as the article correctly points out the Labubu craze is not a personal choice. It's a social, commercial, public, media driven phenomenon. People didn't organically discover this toy, it's part of a very deliberate marketing and attention effort. And as Ian McGilchrist points out, attention is a moral act: "Attention is a moral act: it crea…

Well said, and said better than I could have.

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#93

Post by soco »

pryce wrote: post #91
arjie wrote: post #87

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 nu…

you're right about psychoanalysis being a stretch, but the article seems to be about the odd popularity among Gen Z, not the younger Gen Alpha. Youngest GenZ is 14yrs old; with a lot of this labubu trend, we're talking teens and upwards, which doesn't often seem to be the case with earlier "crazes" pursuing "cuteness"

I know a few proud Labubu wearers and they are all trendy adults 40+. Focus on "trendy": they liked the surprise of it, the signaling of it, and above all the exclusivity. That was 1-2 years ago. Only nowadays it migrated to younger and kids, and said adults are past their phase while their children asked for Labubu presents (the younger would accept knockoffs as well). So in my experience it was totally a fashion fad. Maybe every group/region/society lived it differently?

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#94

Post by easyIce »

The labubu cannot just be considered a beanie baby on steroids. It is at the very least a symbol of generational divide. 'On Labubu and the hyperreal' - well, 'hyperreal' may be a stretch, but it is good to see the spirit of labubu being exorcised, a bit.

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#95

Post by sbinnee »

I learned about this plush toy recently. I am often confused with something else I cannot name though. In Korea where I live it’s so common to have key rings that sometimes are these types of plushes. I am not into Labubu but one thing I want to confess is that I like buying special anime related key rings. I restrain myself every time as much as possible. But sometimes it’s just a futile effort. I already own several key rings piled up in my closet.

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#96

Post by da_tubes »

Barrin92 wrote: post #28
alephnerd wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but the article is going from discourse into direct moral judgement. If you write an entire blogpost making a moral judgement on personal choices yeah I'd flame you.

>If you write an entire blogpost making a moral judgement on personal choices as the article correctly points out the Labubu craze is not a personal choice. It's a social, commercial, public, media driven phenomenon. People didn't organically discover this toy, it's part of a very deliberate marketing and attention effort. And as Ian McGilchrist points out, attention is a moral act: "Attention is a moral act: it crea…

One out of every 10,000 HN posts is truly enlightening, the other 9999 are just immature drivel that I hate read to pass the time when have insomnia. Today yours is the 10,000th. Very well put.

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#97

Post by arvid-lind »

soco wrote: post #93
pryce wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you're right about psychoanalysis being a stretch, but the article seems to be about the odd popularity among Gen Z, not the younger Gen Alpha. Youngest GenZ is 14yrs old; with a lot of this labubu trend, we're talking teens and upwards, which doesn't often seem to be the case with earlier "crazes" pursuing "cuteness"

I know a few proud Labubu wearers and they are all trendy adults 40+. Focus on "trendy": they liked the surprise of it, the signaling of it, and above all the exclusivity. That was 1-2 years ago. Only nowadays it migrated to younger and kids, and said adults are past their phase while their children asked for Labubu presents (the younger would accept knockoffs as well). So in my experience it was totally a fashion fa…

> Focus on "trendy": they liked the surprise of it, the signaling of it, and above all the exclusivity

it sounds like a strange relationship with collectibles and raising their kids to have the same issue. is there any kind of cultural anchoring outside of the "cuteness", like how baseball or even pokemon cards have a larger system and entities that its collectibles represent?

to me Lababu feels more like art or fashion, it can be completely irrelevant what the "thing" in question is, but the perceived value is in the performance. do people think they're joining a club when they start wearing a Labubu?

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#98

Post by the_af »

akomtu wrote: post #90
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.

Haha, I like your take.

But Labubus still give me the creeps. Those teeth are not for smiling!

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#99

Post by Ekaros »

pokememon wrote: post #22

Trading Card Games (TCG), and generally any item relying on gacha mechanics, are this generation's "scratchers". It's amazing seeing grown adults who would scoff at their peers buying lotto tickets and scratchers enthusiastically burn cash on TCG without the slightest sense of hypocrisy. The secret is "social head canon". "Head canon" is when you fill in the plot holes to make sense of your favorite narratives. "Soci…

Entire segment seems to be off the rails. Like whole pipeline. If one video of one rather prominent investors/manipulator/market maker/hyper is to believe.

After those cards are pulled from packs. They can enter secondary market. Where lot of them end up encased in more plastic... And given grades. Now it seems there is speculative demand to repack these encased cards in foil packing again. Just so people get to gamble again... And there seems to be potential for thousands to be sold of these things going for second gambling loop...

Re: On Labubu and the Hyperreal

#100

Post by weare138 »

arjie wrote: post #87

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 nu…

We've had beanie babies before.

This. None of this is new. It's just Beanie Babies for millennials.

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