Labubu Collecting 101: Which Editions Are Actually Worth Chasing

Anyone who’s bought one Labubu knows how this goes. You tell yourself it’s just for fun, maybe one figure to clip on a bag, and three months later you’ve got a shelf of them and a much better understanding of what “secret figure” means than you ever wanted.

If you’re at that stage — or headed there — it helps to actually understand how the collecting side works, because not all Labubus are created equal, and knowing the difference is the line between spending money on something you’ll actually want later and ending up with a duplicate of the most common figure in the set.

The Blind Box Isn’t Random the Way You Think

Every Labubu series from Pop Mart is sold in sealed boxes, and each series usually has a set number of standard designs plus one “secret” figure hidden in the mix at a much lower odds than everything else. That’s the whole appeal, and also the whole trap — you genuinely don’t know what you’re getting until the box is open, and the secret figure is intentionally the hardest one to pull.

This is why a full, unopened case (which contains one of every design in that run, including the secret) tends to hold or increase in value more reliably than random single boxes. If you’re buying single blind boxes hoping for the secret figure specifically, you should go in assuming you probably won’t get it on the first, second, or even fifth try. That’s by design, not bad luck.

What Actually Moves the Needle on Value

Not every Labubu appreciates. A huge chunk of what’s out there is core-line stock that will always be easy to find, and that’s fine if you just want one to enjoy — but if resale value matters to you, a few categories tend to hold up better:

Collaborations. Pop Mart has paired Labubu with other established designer-toy IPs over the years, including a well-known crossover with Skullpanda that gave Labubu a noticeably darker, more gothic look than its usual playful design. Crossover releases like this tend to draw interest from two different collector bases at once, which pushes demand up.

Exclusive location drops. Some Labubu series have been sold only through specific physical locations rather than the general online store — Pop Mart’s shop inside the Louvre in Paris, for instance, has carried a museum-exclusive Labubu line. Anything tied to a one-location release is automatically harder to get your hands on than something sitting in every Pop Mart worldwide.

Cultural moment pieces. Timing matters more than people expect. The figure that happened to be visible when Labubu first went viral — a keychain spotted on Blackpink’s Lisa in April 2024 — carries a kind of historical weight that later, functionally similar releases don’t get, purely because of when it existed in the toy’s story.

Seasonal and regional editions. Anything tied to a specific holiday, region, or short sales window tends to get harder to find the moment that window closes, simply because Pop Mart doesn’t keep restocking it.

Is the Resale Hype Even Real?

Some of it, yes. Secret figures and genuinely limited collaborations do trade above retail on the secondary market — that part isn’t manufactured hype. But a lot of “rare” claims online are exaggerated by sellers trying to move common stock at inflated prices. Before paying a premium for anything, it’s worth checking what a specific figure is actually selling for across a few different resale platforms rather than trusting a single listing’s price as the market rate.

A Few Practical Buying Tips

If you’re chasing something specific rather than just picking up whatever’s on the shelf, a few things help:

• Follow official Pop Mart restock announcements directly rather than relying on secondhand rumors about drop dates — misinformation about release timing is common in fan communities.
• Buy full cases when you can afford to, especially if you actually want the secret figure and don’t want to gamble box by box.
• Stick to retailers who are upfront about authentication — anyone selling drops for the Spanish market, for instance, should be clear about sourcing and verification rather than just listing a price and photo.
• Don’t assume something is rare just because a listing says so. Cross-check against a couple of sources before paying a markup.

The Honest Takeaway

Collecting Labubu can be genuinely fun, and there’s nothing wrong with buying one just because you like how it looks. But if you’re treating it as an actual collection rather than a one-off purchase, it’s worth learning which releases have real staying power before you start spending money chasing “rare” just because someone online called it that.

Anyone looking to buy from a source that’s transparent about what’s genuinely limited versus what’s just marketed that way should check around before making a purchase decision.

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