Labubus are more than plush toys — they’ve become a vast global marketplace and for some, a hot investment. Collectors from the US to Pop Mart’s home market in China are betting the small, toothy dolls will skyrocket in value on the resale market, where people hawk them at a markup, propelled by successes such as an ultra-rare edition fetching $150,000 at a Beijing auction. A booming Labubu ecosystem is spawning everything from bespoke doll clothing to meme coins. People worldwide are finding creative ways to profit beyond reselling, including renting out their dolls by the day or being paid to hunt for new drops. The dolls have become a global craze thanks to their mystery blind box packaging — which encourages repeat purchases. “There is a secondhand market that facilitates all this trading,” said Mandy Hu, an associate marketing professor and director at the Centre for Consumer Insights at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “People even as young as teenagers, they trade Labubus as an investment and they think that they can make money off of collecting those dolls.” But is Pop Mart China’s answer to intellectual property giants like Walt Disney Co., or a passing fad? Some analysts see echoes of 1990s Beanie Babies mania, when the plush toys fetched huge sums before their market collapsed. “I think it’s very likely to go the same way as the Beanie Babies, but maybe faster, because of course with the Internet information flows faster,” said Christophe Spaenjers, a finance professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. “There’s probably going to be a handful that are going to hold some value, but most of them are worthless in terms of market value, resale value.” Others highlight Pop Mart’s weak narrative depth. Unlike Disney or Japanese franchise Pokémon, Labubu lacks a rich backstory or media extensions. “Pokémon has television shows, movies, it has stores, it’s got soft toys, it’s got a whole variety of different things,” said Gemma Dale, Head of Investor Behavior for National Australia Bank Ltd.’s online investing platform nabtrade, “all feeding the hype over time. To extend Labubu to that is going to be incredibly challenging.” Analysts say Pop Mart amplifies scarcity, driving collectors to resellers by limiting how many toys are released — a centuries-old tactic used to sell everything from diamonds to airline tickets. They use the strategy “to keep up the price and make people feel like it’s so precious, and they want to have it and must have it.”