Young people compete to 'burn' money to buy expensive toys just to look at.

Nearly 7 billion VND to buy Labubu

Labubu is an art toy designed by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung for Pop Mart Company in 2015. This toy is inspired by the sharp-toothed monster of Norse mythology. Recently, Labubu has become increasingly popular in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam.

This toy suddenly "shook up" and took the market by storm when the female idol of the youth, Lisa (BlackPink), continuously showed off Labubu on her personal page. Many young people immediately rushed to buy it, even spending hundreds of millions of dong to collect versions of Labubu.

And also from the sudden supply, the price of this toy has skyrocketed. The original price on the e-commerce site is 380,000 VND, but since many idols have promoted it, this "monster" has become harder to buy. Each time it is on the market, it sells out in just a few seconds. If you can't find it on the e-commerce site, many people have to accept buying it at a price 3-4 times higher, because this is a limited quantity product.

Even with genuine products, the price can go up to tens of millions of dong.

Despite its high price, Labubu is still highly sought after. At the end of August, Pop Mart announced its financial report for the first half of 2024 with revenue increasing by 62%, reaching 4.56 billion yuan (about 15,900 billion VND).

Meanwhile, according to Metric data, in just 3 months, the amount of money Vietnamese people spent to buy Labubu through 5 e-commerce platforms reached 6.9 billion VND. In the market, there were many times when young people lined up day and night to wait to buy Labubu, causing stores to "sell out" in a flash.

In Vietnam, Labubu's price ranges from 200,000 VND to 22.3 million VND depending on the version, according to PopMart's official website. But buying from an official store is not easy because the product is constantly out of stock.

Therefore, Labubu "believers" often buy "hand-over" from acquaintances or sellers on social networking platforms at prices much higher than the original price. Hundreds of people therefore spare no time and effort to queue up to buy to enjoy the original price.

Bearbrick - the "super money burning" toy

Bearbrick is also a type of toy that is spreading strongly among Vietnamese youth, making many people crazy, including famous idols.

Bearbrick, also known as Be@rBricks, is a high-end toy model of MediCom Toy Company (Japan). Bearbrick is designed in the shape of a lovely bear with long legs and a big belly. Initially, Bearbrick was produced to commemorate and honor the great film director - Stanley Kubrick. After that, Bearbrick received a lot of love, was promoted by famous stars and became a global phenomenon.

Many Bearbrick "fanatics" revealed that each version is produced in limited quantities, so it is not just a regular toy but also has extremely high collectible value.

Bearbrick models are made from a variety of materials, but the most popular are wood, synthetic resin, fluorescent plastic, metal... Depending on the theme of each collection, Bearbrick will be designed with corresponding materials.

Bearbrick has a fairly simple structure, shaped like a lego character with parts: head, body, hips, 2 arms, 2 legs... Bearbrick models are shaped with many flexible poses.

Because of its unique and novel symbolic nature, not just a toy but also a great collectible value, that is the uniqueness, Bearbrick is very expensive. On the market, the price of each Bearbrick ranges from a few hundred thousand VND (mini Bearbrick) to several tens of millions of VND. For limited editions, the price can be much higher.

In particular, the 50% version of Bearbrick (35mm) is placed in a "blind box". The outside of the box has pictures of 12 different designs, collectors will play "luck" because they do not know which design they will receive, leading to a very high possibility of duplicates.

Each series consists of 24 small boxes released in 2 batches in summer and winter, depending on each person will buy individually or the whole series. If the same thing happens repeatedly, adding other Bearbricks will be quite expensive.

The larger ones will not be kept in "blind boxes", but quantities are very limited and prices are sky high.

Despite the high price, the Bearbrick market is still growing strongly. There have been statistics showing that in Vietnam, Bearbrick retail sales have increased by 200% in the past 2 years, reaching about 500 million VND per month.

Crazy about all kinds of blind bags

There are countless types of blind bags on the market today, with all sorts of different prices. This toy has become a "fever" that has captivated young people since around May.

Blind box (blind bag, blind box) is a product containing random items chosen by the manufacturer. It can be animal models, fruits, cakes or cartoon characters... in all shapes and colors. And the buyer will only know what it is after opening the bag. The price of blind bags is also quite diverse, there are cheap ones that cost tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dong, but there are also high-end ones that cost up to several million dong/box, regardless of whether they are just display products and do not have many uses.

The most attractive and also considered dangerous thing about blind bags is that it makes buyers unable to control their excitement and delight when experiencing the feeling of curiosity, waiting to see what is inside the bag. Therefore, young people are willing to spend money to buy a lot of blind bags and open the box, even though they know that inside there may be items they do not like, or even useless. If not restrained, buyers can spend up to millions, tens of millions of dong to buy blind bags.

Young person Tran Hong Ngoc (Dong Da, Hanoi) said that the most attractive thing about bline box is the feeling of suspense and surprise. "Not knowing what is inside the box is the biggest attraction of this toy. The feeling of excitement when opening the box is like a game of chance, bringing interesting experiences, helping buyers relieve stress", Ngoc said and said that this is what urges buyers to continuously "put down money".

Blind bag toys come in a variety of sizes, but the most common are 2-10 cm, priced at 3,000 - 20,000 VND. More expensive ones cost several hundred thousand VND, or even several million VND. For example, Skullpanda from Popmart, or the Labubu collection from the same toy company, cost from about 300,000 VND to 21 million VND/box and are always sought after by Blind box fans in all segments.

Should stop pouring money recklessly

Talking about the reality that young people are spending too much money on toys, just for display purposes and to satisfy their curiosity or to be "trendy", many financial experts warn of the risk of not being able to control their wallets. In fact, many young people have to limit other essential expenses to buy products in blind bags just to satisfy the feeling of excitement and waiting for luck. These useless products can even cause buyers to overspend, leading to financial exhaustion.

"Spending too much money on these toys that have little benefit is a waste without careful consideration and control. Even the risk of financial exhaustion can happen to those who indulge," an expert warned.

Experts cite that the price of a blind box can be up to 1 million VND. However, after opening the box, consumers often cannot use it for any work and the fun and entertainment they bring only last for a short time. This proves that their real use value is very low, not commensurate with the time and money that consumers spend.

Or the popularity and uniqueness of Labubu and Bearbrick also bring many negative impacts. Many young people have been attracted, unable to control their excessive spending, causing financial difficulties. In fact, many families and schools are worried about the social impact of these expensive toys on young people. Therefore, according to experts, to enjoy this hobby in a healthy way, young people need to consider, control their spending carefully and stop burning money recklessly.