The PopCulteer
April 3, 2026

The PopCult Toybox

This week we have a topic of utmost importance in the world today:  Just what IS the difference between a Labubu and a Lafufu?

The Labubu is a small plush toy with a vinyl face made and sold by Pop Mart.  Last year these nifty little critters, formally known as “The Monsters,” part of the every growing empire of Pop Mart’s small plush and bag clip creations, became a massive worldwide pop culture phenomenon.

There was a level of hysteria not seen since the heyday of the Cabbage Patch Kids in the 1980s. Pre-teens and adults alike went to ridiculous extremes to get rare collectible variants. Some fell victim to a mania and there was even a gambling element as some of these little plush dolls were sold only in claw machines that took hundreds of tries to obtain.

There were interventions and concerned psychologists and of course we had the usual right-wing looney preachers declaring them to be demonic because of their appearance.

But what captured my attention was the emergence of The Lafufu.  These are knockoffs of the Labubu, sold in kiosks, convenience stores and other establishments that definitely aren’t Pop Mart, and to an unsuspecting person (or parent), they look exactly like a Labubu.

But they aren’t. There are rumors and conspiracy theories floating around out there:  Maybe these were made by Pop Mart to create a “budget line” to capture the market share that would normally be lost because the original Labubus are not cheap (most go for around thirty bucks). There is also a theory that these are made by Pop Mart, but only to be sold in territories where they don’t have a retail presence.  If they aren’t made by Pop Mart themselves, maybe they’re made by one or more of their suppliers (this would not be the first time this happened). Perhaps these are part of a worldwide organized crime operation that got involved because these are just as lucrative as drugs, but not as risky.

Most likely these are the product of one or more companies based in China that devote their all their efforts to creating bootleg knockoffs of whatever is a hot product that they can pass off to less demanding retailers who just want to get in on the act cheap.

Being a connoisseur of knockoff toys, over the last year I picked up a few of the Lafufus during my travels. What struck me as interesting was how the retailers who did sell these made no effort to hide the fact that they were knockoffs. They were either clearly labelled as “Lafufus” or I was told by the person behind the counter when I was paying for them.

Pixie

I should interject here that I was turned on to the whole Labubu phenomenon by my friend Pixie, who filled me in on all the pertinent details about Labubus and Lafufus and added more background, like the fact that all Labubus are female, save for one, who is their brother and is extremely rare.

I suppose this makes breeding them rather ill-advised.

It was making a short video unboxing for Pixie that led to this column. You see, last December, when Mel and I were in Chicago, we visited a real, honest-to-god, Pop Mart. While there, I picked up a real Labubu in the “Exciting Macaron” assortment. I already had a Lafufu from that assortment that I’d picked up in Nitro last year. I’d intended to compare them, but life got in the way, and I didn’t get around to opening the real Labubu until yesterday.

When I did…I was struck by how close the Lafufu copied the original, but also how many major differences become obvious when you look at them side-by-side.

And that is what this photo essay is about. It’s the Battle of “The Monsters,” as we compare the real Labubu with the bogus Lafufu. I realize that there are likely hundreds of thousands of videos on this subject available on Tik Tok, but being an old fart means that I haven’t seen any of those yet. So this is all new to me.

Prepare for a lesson in Labubury as we dive into the photos…

The Labubu is on the left, the Lafufu is on the right. Note that the Lafufu box is noticeably smaller, and is colored differently. It looks like they scanned the original box, color-corrected it badly, and shrunk it down slightly.

A close up indicates that they may have just darkened the artwork, and possibly even not on purpose.

One side of the box shows that they went to some effort to reconfigure the elements of the art, while retaining as much of it as they could. It’s also darker, like the front of the box.

The backs of the boxes tell the same story. It’s not just a simple scan, but they retained as much as possible. The Lafufu adds a Chinese recycling symbol. They copied the UPC code entirely, though. And the Lafufu lacks the hologram.

The other side of the package is interesting for a couple of reasons. The Lafufu omits the Quality Control blurb and a note on the packaging itself. But also, the Labubu lists a third social media site, and identifies Facebook and Instagram as “@PopMart,” while the Lafufu lists them as “@PopMartglobal.” It’s not clear if this means anything significant, or if it’s just a case of the knockoff being a little sloppy.

Once you open the box, inside the Labubu’s you will find your Monster in a drawstring bag made of thick plastic (with airholes) with a deluxe, two-color drawstring. The Lafufu is inside a sealed foil bag with full-color printing.

The Labubu included (inside the box) a thick die-cut cardboard card telling you which Labubu you got, along with a pack of branded silica gel. The Lafufu did not have these, but other Lafufus I’ve had included a similar card on very thin, shiny cardstock.

Side-by-side, again with the Labubu on the left, we see that the Lafufu is much larger. The Lafufu’s ears are farther apart, pointed out and a little further back on the head. The faces are completely different, with a different sculpt, different paint colors and aren’t even the same size. The Labubu is more solidly constructed, with a definite shape, while the Lafufu is more of an amorphous blob. The Labubu’s hands and feet are vinyl, like the face, and have a matte finish. The Lafufu hands and feet appear to be styrene plastic, and are shiny.

The feet are shaped differently. The Labubu has a printed trademark, while the Lafufu’s is molded in.

A closer look, with the macro lens, of the Lafufu foot.

…and the Labubu foot.

The Labubu tag is printed in brown on paper and is made to be detached. The Lafufu tag is on polyester, with black ink and does not appear to be easily removed.

Close up of of the hands.

One side of the lanyard-y strap that attaches to the keychain ring shows the different colors of the material. Also, the Labubu ring is stamped “PopMart,” while the Lafufu isn’t.

Probably my favorite giveaway is the other side of the Lanyard strap, which says “POP MART” on the Labubu, while the Lafufu’s straps proudly identifies it as “PORMABT.” This is why I love cheesy knockoffs.

I’m guessing that the Lafufu just used faces that they had piled up from previous knockoffs, because it actually has a pretty complex paint scheme, which is not applied neatly, particularly on the teeth. The Labubu is far more expressive, with more detailed sculpting.

We take a last look at our duo. These litle critters that look like somebody mated a Monchici with one of Maurice Sendak’s creatures from “Where the Wild Things Are,” can grow on you. As a “Monster Kid” from the 1960s, I like seeing this kind of monster update on the old Troll Dolls concept.

I want to thank Pixie again for the inspiration for this post.

That is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for fresh content every day, and all our regular features.