Hello, and welcome to Overthink.
The podcast where two philosophers get cute with ideas and everyday life.
I'm Ellie Anderson.
And I'm David Peña Guzman.
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Recently, the hottest commodity around has been a labubu.
I don't really understand what a labubu was other than it was like this cute sort of Grendlin looking doll.
So...
I read about it,
and it turns out that these originated as storybook characters created by the artist Kha Sing Loong,
a Hong Kong-born and Netherlands-based artist.
And Loong was inspired by Nordic folklore, especially elves,
in creating these cute little creatures who are known as kind-hearted and eager to help.
If you know anything about a libubu,
you know about the toy version of them
because they have absolutely popped off both in their plushie form and in their like bag accessory form.
This happened starting in 2019 when Lung partnered with the Chinese toy company Pop Mart.
And the dolls are sold in blind boxes.
So you basically don't see them until you open them,