Doll mania: From Blythe to Labubu, how toy trends take over!

This single image made the price of Labubu dolls surge by 400%, though this is not the first time an art toy, doll or collectible has become a most-sought after item.

Here are seven collectibles that quickly became highly-priced items once a trend was started.

Blythe

This big-eyed doll was first released in 1972 by US toy maker Kenner Products but was discontinued a year later due to a lack of interest. Blythe dolls, however, regained popularity in 2000 when US photographer Gina Garan published a book of photographs titled “This is Blythe”.

These dolls then began being used in Japan for advertising, leading to a resurgence in demand. Takara, a Japanese toy company, then re-released the “Neo Blythe” version of dolls.

The Blythe doll trend started in Thailand in 2008, when actress Araya A Hargate began collecting them and her fans began paying tens of thousands of baht for them due to limited official imports.

This doll became so popular that even a song called “Blythe Doll” was released by the band Grand the Star.

While the trend has waned, vintage Kenner Blythe dolls and limited editions still hold significant value among collectors.

 

Furby

This furry toy, an electronic robot released in 1998 by Tiger Electronics, looks like a mixture of a hamster and an owl.

Furbies were the first successful attempt to produce interactive robots, as they spoke to their owners in “Furbish” and over time picked up English words and phrases.

More than 40 million of these toys were sold in the first three years and with advancing technology, manufacturers upgraded the Furby to become more modern and functional.

The most popular was the Gen 3 Furby with LED eyes that could be controlled via a smartphone app.

This doll soon began selling for between 3,000 and 6,000 baht, and quickly became a must-have among Thai celebrities.

Child Angel doll

A spooky trend began in Thailand in 2015 when people started “raising” Child Angel dolls that apparently brought them good fortune if cared for properly.

These life-like dolls, known in Thai as “Tukkata Look Thep”, became a fad when several celebrities were seen holding these baby substitutes.

Monks even held rituals for these dolls, which were considered household guardians, much like the Thai folk divinity Kuman Thong.

The Child Angel dolls’ many alleged attributes caused their prices to skyrocket to hundreds of thousands of baht, with people seen carrying them everywhere.

However, this trend faded as quickly as it came, and now they have become quite a rarity.

BE@RBRICK

The BE@RBRICK is a bear-shaped plastic figurine produced by Japan’s Medicom Toy Corporation. It was initially created as a commemorative item for the World Character Convention in 2001, and nobody thought it would turn into the highly sought-after valuable item it is today.

Each year, two new BE@RBRICK collections are released, often in collaboration with renowned figures in the creative industry or with other brands.

Each collection is limited, sometimes exclusive to certain countries or available only through pre-orders.

BE@RBRICKs are shipped in blind boxes, adding an element of surprise for buyers regarding the model and colour they receive, with only a 0.52% chance of getting a secret edition.

It’s no wonder that the price for BE@RBRICKs starts at hundreds of thousands and is resold at even higher prices, especially for secret editions and rare models. Currently, the most expensive BE@RBRICK is the Yue Minjun ‘Qiu Tu’ 1000% BE@RBRICK, which fetched 181 million baht in an auction.

CRYBABY

Crybaby the Doll was an art toy created by Nisa “Molly” Srikhamdee, who wanted to show that crying does not signify weakness and that it’s okay to express vulnerability through tears.

Initially, Nisa showcased her work at exhibitions in Thailand and overseas, including drawings, sculptures and art toys, all of which were quickly sold out, fetching anything from hundreds of thousands to millions of baht.

Currently, the company, BeBeBee, has collaborated with Chinese art toy distributor POP MART to release a blind box series.

Among them, the most popular is the Crybaby x Powerpuff Girls collection, which has won rave reviews on social media.

Care Bears

These toys were designed by children’s book illustrator Elena Kucharik in 1981.

They were initially only featured in greeting cards published by American Greetings, but later became hugely popular, leading to their appearance in films, television and merchandise.

The aim of these teddy bears was to help people share their emotions and feelings with others.

Hence, each bear is named after a different motion and has a unique colour scheme and symbol on its belly.

The original Care Bears came in 10 colours including sea blue (Goodnight Bear), golden yellow (Birthday Bear), pink (Cheer Bear) light orange (Friend Bear), lemon yellow (Funshine Bear), green (Good Luck Bear), sky blue (Grumpy Bear), magenta (Love-a-Lot Bear), brownish-orange (Tenderheart Bear), and turquoise (Wish Bear).

The original Care Bears have become collectors’ items commanding tens of thousands of baht.

Labubu

This long-eared, sharp-toothed, widely smiling fluffy creature named Labubu is one of the characters in the Monster Kingdom and was created in 2015 by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung.

Lung created a fairy world in his three fairytale picture books inspired by Nordic mythology.

So far, there have been more than 10 collections of Labubu dolls, with one of the most popular ones being “Labubu – The Monsters Exciting Macarons”.

This collection picked up even more after Lalisa posted a picture with it on Instagram.

This set comes in seven popular colours like Lychee Berry, Green Grape, Soymilk, Sea Salt Coconut, Sesame Bean, Toffee and Chestnut Cocoa.

One Labubu doll from this collection sells for 550 baht, while a set of six can fetch 3,300 baht.

However, these items are currently sold out, forcing collectors to hunt them out in resale markets where prices continue to rise.