Why Is Labubu So Popular?拉布布為何如此火爆？

Some creatures only come out at night： vampires， werewolves， and now the latest member of the after-hours club： hopeful Labubu collectors.

有些生物只在夜晚出沒：吸血鬼、狼人，如今這個“夜貓子俱樂部”又添了新成員——滿懷期待的拉布布收藏者。

If you’re not already in the know， that last group might feel as mysterious as mythical creatures. It only adds to the toys’ mystique that the window when you can officially purchase the mega-popular trinkets—sold in limited drops， like fashion collabs and sneakers—only opens for a brief time on seemingly random nights （usually at 10 pm Eastern）. Enthusiasts say that successfully getting your hands on one of the approximately half-foot tall plastic-and-vinyl bunny-eared ghouls with a rictus grin feels like doing the impossible， or at least something more impossible than spending $27.99.

假如不是圈內人，你會覺得上述最后一類簡直像神話中的生物一樣神秘莫測。而這款超人氣小玩意兒的官方購買機制更增添了其神秘感：它們采用限量發售模式，類似時尚聯名款和運動鞋，官方購買窗口只在看似隨機的某些夜晚短暫開啟（通常是美國東部時間晚上10點）。愛好者們表示，要成功入手一個約半英尺高、由塑料和乙烯基制成的、長著兔子耳朵、齜牙咧嘴怪笑的小怪獸，簡直像完成不可能的任務——至少絕不僅僅是花27.99美元買個玩具這么簡單。

With their faces illuminated by the glow of their smartphones， credit card numbers locked in， fingers at the ready to click and add to cart， for Labubu hunters， there is no duty， no bedtime， sometimes no supper—only Labubu.

他們的臉龐被智能手機屏幕的光線照亮，信用卡號早已輸入妥當，手指蓄勢待發，隨時準備點擊下單——對于拉布布的追逐者們而言，此刻沒有責任義務，不管就寢時間，有時甚至顧不上晚餐，心中唯有拉布布。

According to lore， Labubus are a tribe of mythical female elves called The Monsters that live in Nordic forests. According to Pop Mart， the toy and design company that produces the dolls， Labubus are a character-driven franchise， largely consisting of plushies， figurines， and accessories， that brings in over $400 million in revenue. And according to their most fervent fans—the people who have made Labubu a success in the hundreds of millions of dollars—Labubus are pure joy… if you somehow manage to get your hands on one.

根據傳說，拉布布是一個名叫“精靈天團”的神秘女精靈部落，這個部落生活在北歐森林中。而據生產這些玩偶的玩具與設計公司泡泡瑪特介紹，拉布布是一個以角色為核心的IP，旗下產品主要包括毛絨玩具、手辦和配飾，年收入超4億美元。至于那些讓拉布布創下數億美元業績的鐵桿粉絲們，他們則認為拉布布代表純粹的快樂……前提是你有辦法把它買到手。

If only the other things we spend roughly $30 on could bring us such glee.

要是我們花大約30美元買的其他東西，也能給我們帶來這么多的快樂就好了！

Yet， many others do not find any delight in that idea. Some assert that the Labubus craze represents capitalism in its latest stage， thanks to a perfect storm of technical uselessness， jacked-up reseller prices， celebrity endorsement， and forced scarcity. Others think the little goblins are aesthetically ominous， even ugly.

然而，還有許多人并不認可這個想法。有些人認為，拉布布熱潮代表了資本主義的最新階段，是技術無用性、中間商哄抬價格、名人代言和饑餓營銷等因素共同形成的完美風暴。還有一些人覺得這些小妖精在審美上頗令人不安，甚至可以說丑陋。

But that division—and the strong feelings on both sides—might just be exactly how Labubus became such big business. Understanding why some people can’t get enough of the toys （and the chase）， gives us a window into bigger questions about what makes us happy， what makes us feel in-the-know， and what someone’s really buying when they purchase a monster of their own.

但這種分歧——以及論辯雙方的強烈情緒——或許恰恰是拉布布能做成如此大生意的原因所在。弄明白為什么有些人大愛這些玩具（以及追逐它們的過程），能讓我們得以窺見一些更深層次的問題：是什么讓我們感到快樂？是什么讓我們覺得自己是圈內人？當人們花錢買下一個屬于自己的拉布布精靈時，他們真正買的是什么？

Hate only makes Labubus stronger

憎惡只會讓拉布布更強大

When people talk about Labubus， they’re likely referring to the mega-popular “pendant” versions that come with a sewn-on ring that’s designed to clip onto bags and belt loops. These sell out in minutes. But if you do get your hands on a Labubu—from one of Pop Mart’s limited drops or on the secondhand market at a serious markup—you’ll find their bodies are soft， and small enough to fit in a fist. They come in a variety of colors， and often sell as sets.

談起拉布布，人們很可能指的是那些極受歡迎的掛件——它們帶有一個縫上的圓環，設計初衷是掛在包上或腰帶上。這些掛件幾分鐘內就會售罄。不過，如果你入手一只拉布布——無論是從泡泡瑪特的限量發售中搶到的，還是在二手市場上花高價購得的——就會發現它們的身體軟軟的，小巧得能握在手心里。它們有多種顏色可選，而且通常成組售賣。

Other pieces in the Labubu line include bigger dolls （retailing for $299）， accessories like phone charms， and all types of figurines and plushes. No matter the size or brand collaboration， all Labubu products have one thing in common： They exist to be seen and displayed. Labubus don’t actually do anything， which may add to some of the general perplexity surrounding them.

拉布布系列的其他產品還包括更大尺寸的玩偶（零售價 299 美元）、手機掛件等配飾，以及各種類型的手辦和毛絨玩具。無論尺寸大小或合作品牌如何，所有拉布布產品都有一個共同點：它們的存在就是為了被欣賞、被展示。拉布布實際上毫無實用功能，這或許更增添了人們對它們普遍抱有的一些困惑。

“I’ve always been drawn to creatures that live in the space between fantasy and reality—characters that feel both familiar and mysterious，” Kasing Lung， the original artist who created Labubu， tells Vox. Growing up in the Netherlands and around Nordic and European folklore， Lung wanted to reflect those inspirations—mischievous， endearing， strange—in Labubu.

“我一向喜歡那些游走在幻想與現實邊緣的生物——它們讓人感到既熟悉又神秘。”拉布布的原創設計師龍家升在接受沃克斯網站采訪時表示。龍家升在荷蘭長大，深受北歐及歐洲民間傳說的熏陶，他希望拉布布能表現那種頑皮、可愛與奇特感。

“She’s not overly detailed or complicated， she has a big smile， wide eyes， and a little bit of mischief in her expression，” Lungs says of his original design. “Labubu is playful but not perfect—she has sharp teeth， messy fur， and a bit of wild energy. She’s cute but also a little weird， a little unpredictable.”

“拉布布的設計沒有過多的細節，也不復雜；她臉上掛著大大的笑容，眼睛圓圓的，表情里帶著一絲頑皮。”龍家升這樣描述他的原創設計，“拉布布活潑好動，并不完美——她有尖尖的牙齒、亂糟糟的毛發，還有點野性。她很可愛，但也有點古怪，有點讓人捉摸不透。”

The duality of Labubu has turned the playful imp1 into a bit of a Rorschach test2; humans are wired to have a strong reaction when they see a Labubu.

拉布布身上的這種雙重性，讓這個頑皮的小妖精起到了類似羅爾沙赫氏測驗的作用——人們看到它時總會本能地產生強烈反應。

Some people feel intense love. Its big eyes and big head are reminiscent of what researchers call “baby schema，” traits that appear in infants and toddlers that trigger parental synapses， and euphoria in our brains.

有些人會對它產生濃烈的喜愛之情。拉布布的大眼睛和大腦袋令人聯想到研究者所稱的“嬰兒圖式”，即出現在嬰幼兒身上的那些能觸發父母本能反應并讓我們大腦產生愉悅感的特征。

But no matter how much baby schema Labubu employs and whatever brain receptors they set off， some may still find Labubu unappealing. They have mouths that almost stretch from one end of their faces to the other， which give the toys a sinister edge. They have prominent， protruding brow bones， tiny claws， and sometimes bare their jagged teeth. In combination， these slightly alarming characteristics may explain why some people find them to harbor dark energy.

然而，無論拉布布運用了多少“嬰兒圖式”，也無論它激活了人腦中的哪些受體，有些人或許依然覺得它毫無吸引力。拉布布的嘴巴幾乎從臉的一側咧到另一側，這讓它們透著一抹邪氣。拉布布眉骨突出，爪子細小，有時還會露出參差不齊的牙齒。這些略帶驚悚的特征組合在一起，或許就能解釋為什么有些人會覺得它們暗藏著黑暗能量。

According to a Pop Mart spokesperson， Labubu tends to be most popular with women between the ages of 18–30. During the current popularity boom， though， Labubu’s fan demographic has aged up and its gender appeal has broadened. While children certainly enjoy Labubu and want them， they are probably not the ones logged into Pop Mart’s app with credit card security codes at the ready. And because one doesn’t really “play” with Labubus aside from displaying them， possibly in festive outfits， toy designers consider Labubus as much an object of design than a traditional kids’ toy.

據泡泡瑪特的一位發言人介紹，拉布布在18至30歲的女性群體中最受歡迎。不過，在當下的流行熱潮中，拉布布的粉絲群體年齡有所上升，性別也更為廣泛。孩子們固然喜歡拉布布并渴望擁有它們，但準備好信用卡安全碼真正登錄泡泡瑪特的應用程序購買的，很可能并非他們。而且，除了將拉布布擺放展示（或許還會給它們穿上節日盛裝）之外，人們其實并不會“玩”它們，因此玩具設計師們認為，拉布布更多是一種設計品，而非傳統意義上的兒童玩具。

Still though， there are people who might be able to better resist baby schema， who don’t succumb to brain parasites， who find them not “cute-ugly，” but just plain ugly. On TikTok， a corner of the internet brimming with Labubus， Labubu lovers， and Labubu haters， their creepiness is often a popular subject （a sore one for fans）.

盡管如此，還是有一些人或許更能抵抗“嬰兒圖式”的影響，不會被這些操縱大腦的寄生蟲所左右，他們覺得拉布布并非“丑萌”，而是純粹的丑。TikTok上滿是拉布布、其愛好者及厭惡者的身影，在這個網絡角落里，拉布布的詭異感常常是熱門話題（對拉布布的粉絲而言這是個讓人惱火的話題）。

Being so intensely polarizing is what makes Labubus so successful， says Vincent Scala， a toy designer and illustration professor at the School of Visual Arts3. If Labubus themselves were ignorable， if the reactions they elicited were simply lukewarm， they wouldn’t command such a deep yearning.

玩具設計師、紐約視覺藝術學院的插畫教授文森特·斯卡拉表示，這種強烈的兩極分化正是拉布布大獲成功的原因。如果拉布布本身毫不起眼，如果它們引發的反應只是平平淡淡，那它們就不會激起人們如此深切的渴望。

One would think that producing something everyone generally wants would be better for business than creating something only some people want. But that misses something important about human desire.

有人會以為，生產人人都想買的東西，相比制造只有部分人想買的東西，生意會更好做。但這種想法忽略了人類欲望中的某些重要方面。

Labubus are like gambling， basically

購買拉布布本質上就像賭博

Buying a Labubu requires either a lot of time or a bunch of money. If you’re willing to pay more than its retail asking price， you can find $27.99 Pop Mart Labubus on resale sites like Stock X or eBay going for $60， $120， even $280. If you want to purchase them from the parent company， it requires strategy and luck.

購買一只拉布布，要么得投入大量時間，要么得花一大筆錢。如果你愿意支付高于零售價的價格，會發現在Stock X或易貝等轉售平臺上，泡泡瑪特原售價27.99美元的拉布布，轉手價能達到60美元、120美元，甚至280美元。假如你想從其母公司直接購買，那就既需要策略，也得靠運氣。

Pop Mart’s checkout process is something of an obstacle course. Go too slow and faster clickers will gobble up the stock. Go too fast and Pop Mart’s system might flag you as a reseller bot， like the kind that scoop up all the best concert seats on Ticketmaster4.

泡泡瑪特的結賬流程堪稱一場障礙賽。手速太慢，庫存就會被更快下單的人一搶而空；手速太快，泡泡瑪特的系統有可能把你標記為轉賣商的自動搶購機器人——就像那種在特瑪捷票務平臺上秒光演唱會所有最佳座位的自動程序。

If you make it through the digital gauntlet5， you obtain what’s known as a blind box—there’s a Labubu inside， but you don’t know which one is yours until you open it. Those individual blind boxes usually belong to Pop Mart’s three main Labubu pendant collections—Sweet Macaron （Labubus are named after desserts and drinks）， Have a Seat （Labubus are all in sitting poses）， and Big Into Energy （Labubus are named after emotions）—each collection has six different Labubus， and each one has a rare， secret Labubu that appears in 1/72 boxes. That makes for 21 regular attachable Labubu characters in circulation， not counting special series and collaborations （Pop Mart’s entire Labubu line is expansive， if not overwhelming）.

如果你能順利闖關這場線上考驗，就能到手一款名為“盲盒”的產品——盒子里裝著一只拉布布，但不到拆開的那一刻，你不會知道自己拿到的是哪一款。這些單個的盲盒通常隸屬于泡泡瑪特拉布布掛件的三大系列，分別是“心動馬卡龍”系列（這一系列的拉布布以甜品和飲料命名）、“坐坐派對系列”（該系列的拉布布均為坐姿造型）和“前方高能系列”（該系列的拉布布以情緒命名）。每個系列包含6款不同的拉布布，且每個系列還有一款稀有的隱藏款拉布布，出現概率為1/72。如此算來，目前流通的常規掛件款拉布布形象共有21款，這個數字沒有計入特別系列與聯名款（泡泡瑪特的整個拉布布產品線即使說不上鋪天蓋地，至少也是規模龐大）。

For first-time buyers， this means any box will contain a fun， random surprise， but for collectors， the more Labubus you buy， the more likely you are to end up with duplicates. If you’re lucky， though， there’s a small chance of scoring the special “secret，” the plush equivalent of Willy Wonka’s golden ticket6 without any chance of dying at the hands of a maniacal candy tycoon. Some fans will purchase box after box chasing the secret.

對于初次購買的人來說，這意味著每個盲盒里都藏著一份有趣的隨機驚喜；但對收藏者而言，買的拉布布越多，抽到重復款的概率就越大。不過，要是運氣好，你也有微小的可能抽到那款特別的“隱藏款”，這就好比獲得了毛絨玩具版的威利·旺卡的金獎券，而且還不用擔心會喪命于那個瘋狂的糖果大亨之手。有些粉絲會一盒接一盒地購買，只為抽到隱藏款。

Ginger Pennington， a professor at Northwestern University who studies consumer psychology and human motivation， points out that Labubus tap into many of the same psychological and emotional mechanisms that gambling does， from the company-induced scarcity， to the randomness of the blind box， to the instant gratification or disappointment of acquisition.

美國西北大學研究消費者心理學與人類動機的教授金杰·彭寧頓指出，拉布布調動的心理與情感機制跟賭博調動的機制有很多是相同的——從公司誘導的產品稀缺，到盲盒的隨機性，再到入手那一刻的即時滿足感或失落感，均是如此。

She explains that the drop process and blind boxes actually take advantage of the dopamine hit with a negative outcome.

她解釋道，限量發售流程與盲盒模式實際上利用了負面結果的多巴胺刺激機制。

“Even though it’s super， super disappointing，” to not get a Labubu， or to get one you already have， “it actually doesn’t dampen your motivation，” Pennington says. “It just makes you want to go and try again.” Instead of dwelling on the disappointment—or giving up—collectors focus on the part that felt good.

“盡管沒搶到拉布布或是抽到了重復款確實讓人非常非常失望，但這種失望其實并不會削弱你的購買積極性，”彭寧頓說，“它只會令你想再去試一次。”收藏者們不會糾結于失望情緒，也不會就此放棄，而是會將注意力集中在過程中令人愉悅的部分。

For nearly a decade， we’ve heard about how millennials have driven an economy that values “experiences” over “stuff，” and that doesn’t seem to be changing. Perhaps the fact that millennials （and Zoomers） are loving Labubus isn’t a contradiction; maybe it’s the high of the chase that makes these dolls so desirable.

近十年來，我們總聽到這樣的說法：千禧一代推動形成了一種重“體驗”、輕“物質”的經濟模式，這一點似乎并未改變。或許，千禧一代（以及 Z 世代）對拉布布的喜愛與之并不矛盾；說不定正是追逐過程中的興奮感讓這些玩偶變得如此令人渴望。

Or maybe it’s all about those big baby eyes， the unnerving smile underneath them， and the satisfaction in knowing some people just don’t get it.

也可能答案就藏在那些嬰兒般的大眼睛里，藏在眼睛下方那抹讓人莫名不安的笑容中，還藏在“知道自己的樂趣有些人無法享有”的滿足感里。

One thing is for sure， Labubus are not for everyone. Pop Mart is making sure it stays that way.

有一點可以肯定：拉布布并非適合所有人。而泡泡瑪特正致力于確保它一直如此。

（譯者單位：北京外國語大學）

1 imp歐洲傳說中的一種低級魔鬼，常譯為小惡魔，此處指拉布布。" 2羅爾沙赫氏測驗，又譯羅沙哈測試或羅夏測驗，是臨床心理學術語，使用10種雙側對稱標準墨跡的投射測試方法，通過分析被試者對墨跡圖像的主觀描述，評估對象關系、情感及智力機能。該測試被應用于精神分裂癥、躁狂抑郁癥等精神疾病的研究，被試者對墨跡圖的主觀描述會將其隱藏在潛意識中的欲望、需求、動機沖突等反映出來。

3一所位于美國紐約曼哈頓的私立藝術設計類高校，以培養插畫、動畫、平面設計等領域的頂尖人才著稱。

4全球最大的票務平臺。" 5指（中世紀武士的）金屬手套、防護手套，亦用于夾道鞭刑、交叉射擊等軍事術語，引申為嚴酷考驗。

6威利·旺卡是美國電影《查理和巧克力工廠》（Charlie and the Chocolate Factory）里的角色，他建立了世界上最大的巧克力工廠。為了尋找合適的繼承人，他發出了5張金獎券，藏在發售的巧克力包裝內，獲得者可進入巧克力工廠參觀。下文的“瘋狂的糖果大亨”亦指他，獲獎者并不知道去巧克力工廠的目的，因而有些擔心。