[00:03] I fear the answer to that question is yes. I just saw that PopMart is yes. I just saw that PopMart is reporting even more decline in this reporting even more decline in this product. It has plunged 75%
[00:16] product. It has plunged 75% over here in this side of the world. And It's declining faster than the cartilage in my knee. Roughly 45 to 50% plunge. It's not looking good for the future of Leubu. Is Zusha flipping a grunt? It's
[00:34] What's happening to sane society when Leubu isn't fairing well? That is an end times indicator. This was supposed to be our stable
[00:46] our stable uh collectible monster thing, man. Oh, Tik Tok swore that this wasn't just a trend and a fad that scalpers tried to capitalize on. This was meant to make it long-term. We were meant to be uh, you
[01:02] grandchildren in the future. Like, I can't believe it, man. You're telling me lab boooos going out of fashion already? What next? You're going to tell me great long-term investment in something to squat on for the rest of your life?
[01:16] One Piece or something? Get out of town. This is a fluke. And speaking of fluke, uh those like Laboo spawned like the entire like happens anytime there's a viral product like that. There were so many labu
[01:33] clones. I covered a couple of them. What the What was the one that was like really ugly cre like extremely ugly creatures that were just revolting to point of them. I think they were called like like like like fuckos or something
[01:47] like fug fuglies maybe. No, that's spy kids. That's [ __ ] flukes. Flugies. What were they called? Fugle fugglers. I think that's what I think they I think they were fuglers. Something like that. Which actually still have a very
[02:01] dedicated fan base and I guess have been around a lot longer than I gave them credit for. I thought they just tried to bite the sack of Laboo as they got big, but no. It looks like fuglers have been around for a while though they
[02:15] experienced a huge boom with leubu as a lot of the scalpers seem to have went to fuglers as well to try and exploit them. And now that labubusoos are declining it looks like the scalpers have also exited fuglers as well. So they're they're free
[02:30] from that scourge. I hope all of the scalpers are still just squatting on these the these collectible toys like Laboo and Fuglers and just can't move a single [ __ ] unit and have to just eat huge losses on it or just keele that
[02:43] inventory for the rest of their [ __ ] life. I hope they have lost big time. But yeah, I guess my apologies to the fugler community. I didn't I I wasn't thought it was just solely because Laboo
[02:56] got big. So then every other company out there that produces toys tried to emulate it, which is a phenomenon that happens frequently, but doesn't necessarily seem to be the case with the old fuglers here. But anyway, back to
[03:08] the good news about Laboo's rapid decline here. Uh, basically these exploded because of celebrities showcasing their Labubu purchases and showcasing their Labubu purchases and flexing their Leubu accessories and just
[03:21] making it like a global status symbol where you're a secondass citizen. if you ain't got no lab boooos. No lab boos, no [ __ ] no pickles. Get the [ __ ] out of here. You're not welcome on TikTok any longer. So, this became a huge thing for
[03:35] a little while there, but now that insanity, that hysteria is starting to simmer down. So, it's declined by well, it's fallen to up to 75% in Americas, it's fallen to up to 75% in Americas, but globally it's also around like 50%.
[03:50] And while Pop marks Pop Mart's not going out of business or anything right now, revenue for a little while. It accounted for from what I was seeing online about like 40% of their total sales volume over the last year was specifically from
[04:05] like this obviously is a huge hit to them, but it hasn't completely torpedoed don't think they're on the verge of, you know, going out of business anytime soon because they had this huge boom here that's now no longer hot. But I really
[04:20] think even if you like Laboo, you should view this positively because what this means is you get your collecting hobby back at like reasonable prices and no [ __ ] scalpers gobbling it all up
[04:34] gluttonously. Now you can actually get your Laboos for yourself, for your collection if you're just like a fan of it. And I really think everyone should be happy about this. The only people that should be mad here about this, you
[04:46] know, cooling off of the Laboo industry are scalpers. Well, and obviously PopMart, who who's poised to no longer have that golden goose on their plate, but scalpers are the only ones like outside of the company that I could see
[05:00] being infuriated because now they can't sell that product for an unreasonably high markup. they can't be like, you know, the go-to uh distributors here of
[05:12] Leubu any longer because now normal people can start to find it for normal prices, which is great. So, [ __ ] scalpers is the big takeaway here. Now, I did find it interesting how PopMart still has ambitions to expand. So, uh,
[05:28] in this article, it talks about how sales for other characters that weren't Laboo were pretty shallow in the US specifically. So, some of their other characters that were doing well in other regions in the world weren't doing so
[05:41] regions in the world weren't doing so well here. Most of the people in the US were only interested in Laboo because, well, obviously, Tik Tok and celebrities all just constantly preaching the gospel and doing the blind box openings,
[05:55] all they cared about because they want to be part of the crew, part of the other characters or other products there. So, now that Laboo isn't hot, it's not like they're going to other dolls that they have been making.
[06:09] Another thing that they mention here is how they actually increased the uh how they actually increased the uh supply and that obviously makes it more accessible, which means that it's no longer as scarce. So resalers re the
[06:22] resellers they get hurt and now people can just readily access these whenever they want. So now they're not forced into like overspending for you know you it whenever they feel comfortable getting it. So it's now cooled that off
[06:36] too where it's not just like a [ __ ] wild frenzy to get Laboo because now you away. You can wait and get it at another time or you know maybe even reconsider. You have time to think about your purchase. So now that you can get them
[06:50] at regular prices, there's no incentive to engage with the wild premiums in the [ __ ] resale market. And like I just mentioned, PopMart isn't throwing in the attempting to capture that lightning in a bottle again. So they have new
[07:04] products like Twinkle, Twinkle, and Demu. I guess we'll see how those perform. They also plan to open a large store in New York. They're basically just trying to get people interested in things outside of Leubu since now Leubu
[07:17] is no longer the it thing. It's no longer as cool as it was. So now they're How do they go forward and hopefully get more people interested in their other
[07:30] products outside of Leubu, saying that a longer journey to stabilization will be necessary, which they're right, it will be. Like for what it's worth, it's not
[07:42] exactly like Pop Mart's fault that Laboo became synonymous with the most insufferable douchebags imaginable just because people wanted to follow trends because people wanted to follow trends from like, you know, celebrities. I know
[07:55] with K-pop in particular, there was a big moment with Laboo breaking out there. Like, it's not PopMart's fault that Laboos have left a sour taste in everyone's mouth because of just how inundated everyone was with it. in this
[08:09] [ __ ] mass psychosis about like the importance of owning a laboo for your status, you know, in society. But yeah, I guess we'll see if they're able to, you know, find that magic again. If PopMart's going to have another, you
[08:24] PopMart's going to have another, you know, explosive character hit the scene. I personally find it unlikely. I think what will happen is they will continue to find success in that niche where the people that actually care about
[08:38] collecting these dolls will be able to do so happily without getting exploited by scalpers, which I think is the happy ending to all of it there. Maybe it's of what they experienced over the last year with Laboo specifically going
[08:53] year with Laboo specifically going [ __ ] ballistic, but I mean they're making collectible monster dolls. Like I feel like where it should eventually rest is in the hands of the people that actually like those monster dolls and
[09:07] want to collect them as opposed to just being this like speculative speculative valuable asset that people start investing in and [ __ ] That sucks. though. Maybe maybe it does happen again. Maybe they have another huge pop
[09:23] off because Tik Tok convinces themselves it's the next Neidato. You know, who it's the next Neidato. You know, who really knows? Anyway, oh actually that's if I was on the pop mark the PopMart board that I'd be pitching that right
[09:36] board that I'd be pitching that right now. Uh [ __ ] squish toy laboo, you're you're making billions. Tik Tok couldn't resist the urge. You'd have people killing each other over it immediately post haste. So, I'd get that
[09:50] [ __ ] into production right now because anything squishy goes crazy on TikTok right now with like the dumplings, the Neos, the [ __ ] burritos, all of that Neos, the [ __ ] burritos, all of that garbage. If you took the monster dolls
[10:02] at PopMart and made them squish toys, months, hands down. That That's just guaranteed right there. [ __ ] man. I actually might try and get that in production myself right now. This [ __ ]
[10:17] I'll stop you happy about it. That's really about it.