Sanrio x Labubu Is Cute, Strange and Entirely Inevitable

Some collaborations feel surprising. This one feels like it was simply waiting for the internet to catch up.

Sanrio x Labubu makes complete sense on paper — which is exactly why it works. Hello Kitty, My Melody, Kuromi, Cinnamoroll, filtered through the slightly feral world of Labubu: big ears, sharp teeth, a face that reads cute until you hold the gaze one second too long. Kasing Lung's Monsters have always carried something stranger than their softness suggests. Sanrio has always understood that softness is a complete aesthetic system. Put them together and you get something that feels less like a brand deal and more like an inevitability.

The collaboration, released through POP MART, includes blind-box Labubu pendants dressed in Sanrio character codes and a larger Hello Kitty-inspired plush. It is very cute. It is also slightly odd. That tension is the entire point.

We are in a moment where collectibles are doing more than sitting on shelves. They hang from bags, appear in mirror selfies, signal taste, soften outfits, and turn the ordinary act of carrying things around into something more deliberate. A Labubu on a bag is not just a toy. It is a tiny declaration of emotional weather.

Sanrio has always known this. Hello Kitty was never really just a character — she was a mood, a surface, a way of making the everyday feel sweeter. Labubu adds disruption to that sweetness. It gives the polished Sanrio universe a set of teeth.

That is what makes this feel so current. The internet does not want cuteness to be perfect anymore. It wants cuteness with a little wrongness in it. Something collectible but not pristine. Something soft but not passive.

The scarcity machine is part of the story too. POP MART's blind-box model turns collecting into anticipation, and Labubu's popularity has already made certain releases hard to buy at retail. The Sanrio versions will likely live in that same slightly feverish space: official drops, sold-out pages, resale listings, authenticity checks, and the quiet internal debate between financial irresponsibility and cultural participation.

Possibly both.

If you are buying resale, be careful. The Labubu boom has brought fakes with it, and collectors now talk almost as much about verification as they do about the dolls themselves. Official POP MART channels are the safest route; resale requires a more careful eye.

At the time of writing, the cleanest route is still official POP MART stock where available. Specialist collectible retailers and resale listings are the next stop, but usual Labubu rules apply: check packaging, seller history and authenticity markers before buying.

Where To Find It

THE MONSTERS x Hello Kitty and Friends Vinyl Plush Pendant Blind Box $45 See Product Sanrio x Labubu Collectibles on Resale Search eBay

Search Sanrio x Labubu resale listings on eBay

Still, it is easy to see why people care. Sanrio x Labubu is not just another character collaboration. It is a neat little collision of two kinds of cute: the classic and the strange, the polished and the unruly, the childhood icon and the modern collectible.

Hello Kitty walked so Labubu could grin.

Source: People, Business Insider, POP MART/Aoovo product information.