Pop Mart
Picture this. You hand over fifteen dollars. You walk away with a sealed cardboard box. You have absolutely no idea what is inside. And somehow — that uncertainty is the whole point.
That is the engine behind one of the fastest-growing retail brands on the planet right now. Pop Mart did not just sell toys. It reinvented what buying a toy feels like. And that reinvention has built a global community of millions who keep coming back, box after box, chasing the one figure they have not found yet.
Whether you are brand new to this world or already deep in the hobby, this guide breaks down everything — the characters, the stores, the app, the resale market, and the psychology behind why none of this feels like it should work, but absolutely does.
So What Exactly Is Pop Mart?
Wang Ning started Pop Mart in Beijing back in 2010 with a concept that seemed almost too simple: sell small designer figures, but hide which one the buyer gets until they open the package. No previews. No choices. Just a sealed box and whatever is inside it.
Fifteen years later, that concept has grown into a publicly listed company trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with retail locations spread across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. By the end of 2024, annual revenue had surpassed 9 billion Chinese yuan — the equivalent of roughly 1.25 billion US dollars.
What makes this brand different from every other toy company is that it sits at the crossroads of art, fashion, gaming psychology, and community culture. The figures are designed by credentialed artists with real gallery careers. The characters develop followings that rival actual entertainment franchises. And the collectors — the people buying these boxes — are not passive consumers. They are an active, engaged community that trades, hunts, and celebrates together.
Understanding Blind Boxes: The Mechanic That Makes Everything Work
A blind box is a sealed package. You know the series name. You can see the character lineup printed on the outside. But the specific figure inside is completely unknown until the moment you open it.
Each Pop Mart series is built around this structure:
Regular figures make up the bulk of any series — typically ten to twelve different characters, each with roughly equal odds of appearing in any given box. These sit at around an 87.5 percent pull rate collectively.
Rare figures are variants that appear less frequently — about one in every eight boxes on average, or a 12.5 percent chance.
Secret figures are the ones that drive serious collector behavior. They are not shown on the packaging at all, appearing at approximately one in every 144 boxes. Finding one feels genuinely lucky because statistically, it is.
Double secret figures exist at the very edge of rarity — confirmed through community documentation rather than official odds, sometimes appearing as infrequently as once per 720 boxes.
This tiered structure does something smart: it keeps every purchase exciting regardless of the result, because even a regular figure might be one you needed for your set, and a rare pull always feels like a win. The system rewards continued engagement without ever feeling rigged, which is a delicate balance that most brands never manage to strike.
Labubu: The Little Monster With a Massive Cultural Footprint
Ask anyone who follows streetwear, K-pop, or luxury fashion what Pop Mart character they recognize first, and the answer is almost always Labubu.
Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung created this character — a creature from a fictional forest world, with wide circular eyes, elongated pointed ears, and a mouth full of tiny jagged teeth. The design sits in deliberate tension with itself. Labubu is not conventionally sweet or safe-looking. It is mischievous and slightly feral, which makes it far more interesting than the average cute mascot.
For a while, Labubu existed as a beloved but niche collector item. Then Lisa from BLACKPINK posted her collection to tens of millions of followers, and everything changed almost overnight. The plush keychain version — designed to dangle from handbags — became impossible to find at retail. Secondary market prices surged. Resellers listed rare variants for three to ten times their original cost, and buyers paid without hesitation.
What followed was not a temporary trend. Labubu has since appeared at fashion weeks, in editorial spreads, and on the arms and bags of celebrities and style figures across multiple continents. Pop Mart has leaned fully into this momentum, positioning Labubu not as a toy property but as a genuine lifestyle brand that happens to have a retail product line.
Current Labubu product formats:
- Blind box figures in standard series packaging
- Plush keychain versions in small and medium sizes (the bag charm style that went viral)
- Large oversized plush for display
- Limited edition collaboration releases with fashion houses and artists
Cry Baby: Emotional Resonance in a Three-Inch Figure
Where Labubu leans on edge and wildness, Cry Baby works through something quieter — emotional honesty.
Thai artist Molly Ning designed the character as a small child in the middle of crying. Tears on the cheeks, mouth pulled into a pout, eyes glassy. It sounds simple, but the execution hits something real. There is a vulnerability to the design that people recognize immediately, and that recognition is what turned Cry Baby into a phenomenon in 2024.
The collaboration between Pop Mart and the Powerpuff Girls IP — merging Cry Baby’s emotional aesthetic with the Powerpuff Girls’ visual identity — was one of the most anticipated drops of the year. It sold out within minutes of going live and reached multiples of retail price on resale platforms within days.
Cry Baby figures span a wide range of formats, from small blind box figures to large 400 percent and 1000 percent vinyl statues intended for display. Complete sets from the most popular series consistently command significant premiums on the secondary market.
Every Major Pop Mart Character, Explained
Pop Mart’s roster has grown well beyond any single character. Here is who matters and why:
Molly — Designed by Kenny Wong, Molly is the original Pop Mart icon. The round-faced girl with the blank expression has been with the brand since the early days and holds a special status in collector culture as the figure that established what a Pop Mart character could be.
Dimoo — Artist Ayan’s dreamy, soft-featured creation. The Space Travel series remains one of the most beloved drops in the brand’s catalog, with secret figures from that series holding substantial resale value years after release.
Skullpanda — Xiong Meiyue’s character brings a darker, more editorial energy to the lineup. Gothic in aesthetic, fashion-forward in sensibility, and deeply popular with collectors who prefer something with a harder edge.
Hirono — Little Trumpet’s introspective character resonates with collectors who appreciate restraint. Quieter than much of the Pop Mart lineup, but with a dedicated following that treats it as seriously as any other series.
CRYBABY x Powerpuff Girls — A crossover collaboration that combined Pop Mart’s emotional design language with one of the most nostalgia-rich animation properties in existence. Sold out immediately. Gained value immediately. Still difficult to find at anything close to retail.
Pop Mart Store Locations Across the United States
The brand’s American retail footprint has expanded substantially and continues growing. Current major locations include:
Las Vegas — Situated in Fashion Show Mall on the Strip, this location benefits from constant tourist traffic and receives new series drops and in-store exclusives on a regular basis.
Chicago — The Magnificent Mile store draws a mix of local collectors and visitors. Full current series are always on display, and the store follows Pop Mart’s signature clean white-and-pastel design language.
New York City — The flagship New York presence serves the densest collector market on the East Coast and frequently hosts early access events for upcoming series launches.
San Diego — A significant West Coast hub, with natural surges during Comic-Con International when collector density in the city reaches its annual peak.
Beyond these flagship markets, Pop Mart operates in Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, Miami, San Francisco, and additional cities — with new locations confirmed on a near-quarterly schedule. The brand has publicly targeted more than fifty new US stores before the end of 2026.
Pop Mart Robo-Shops: Vending Machines That Actually Have Inventory
Pop Mart operates a network of automated retail kiosks across the country — officially called Robo-Shops — that stock current series, accept credit and debit cards, and dispense boxes without requiring a staffed store nearby.
These machines update inventory on a regular basis and are worth checking during periods when stores are sold out of a particular series. Some collectors have found sought-after figures at Robo-Shops that had long since disappeared from physical shelves.
Finding one is straightforward: open the Pop Mart app, navigate to the store locator, and switch the filter to display Robo-Shop locations. You can search by city or zip code. Machines operate around the clock and require no special account to use.
The Pop Mart App: Its Functions and Significance
Collecting Pop Mart without the app is like following sports without checking scores. Technically possible. Practically a disadvantage.
The app covers the full purchasing experience — every active series, all current pricing, direct checkout with home delivery, and access to app-exclusive drops that never appear in physical stores. But the features that matter most to active collectors are the restock alerts and early access windows.
Major series launches and restocks typically sell out in under ten minutes. Notifications are nearly always enabled by collectors who find them at retail prices. The ones who miss them are usually checking the app after the fact.
Additional app features include:
- Collection registration and personal inventory tracking
- A promo code and loyalty rewards system
- Community tools for trading with other collectors
- Flash sale access that runs outside regular shopping hours
If you are buying more than one box in your lifetime, the app is worth setting up properly — notifications included.
Finding Legitimate Discounts Without Wasting Time
Pop Mart does not run broad clearance sales or constant promotional windows. The brand is deliberate about price positioning, and maintaining the perceived value of its figures is part of that strategy.
That said, real savings do exist in specific places:
New accounts on the app frequently receive a welcome discount — typically somewhere between ten and fifteen percent — applied to a first purchase. Subscribing to Pop Mart’s email list unlocks periodic promotional codes tied to launches or seasonal events. The loyalty program accumulates points with each purchase that convert to usable store credit over time. Registered members also receive birthday-period discounts automatically.
One firm recommendation: ignore third-party coupon aggregator sites entirely. The codes listed there are nearly always expired, and some sites generate codes that were never valid to begin with. The app and the official newsletter are the only sources worth trusting.
The Resale Market: A Realistic Look at Figure Values
Certain Pop Mart figures appreciate in value. Many others do not. Understanding the difference matters before spending money on either retail purchases or resale listings.
The figures that tend to gain value share common characteristics: they are secret variants, they are tied to collaborations with meaningful cultural weight, or they belong to retired series that are no longer in production. Common regular variants from active series typically stay near retail price indefinitely.
Some examples of recent secondary market ranges:
| Figure | Original Retail | Resale Range Observed |
|---|---|---|
| Labubu The Monsters — secret variant | $15–$20 | $80 to $300+ |
| Cry Baby Angel Tears — complete set | approximately $150 | $350 to $600+ |
| Dimoo Space Travel — secret variant | approximately $15 | $60 to $150 |
| Molly Anniversary Edition | approximately $25 | $120 to $400 |
These figures represent the upper range of what the market has demonstrated — not a guarantee of what any individual purchase will return. Treat the collecting as a hobby first. Any appreciation is a bonus, not a business plan.
Pop Mart on the Stock Market
Pop Mart International Group trades on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under ticker 9992.HK. The company went public in December 2020 and has seen substantial share price movement through 2024 and 2025, driven by international expansion and growing brand recognition outside its core Chinese market.
North America and Southeast Asia revenue have been cited by analysts as the most significant indicators of continued growth — two regions where the brand is investing aggressively in new locations and marketing.
Institutional interest in the stock reflects what the numbers suggest: a brand with genuine international momentum that has not yet reached saturation in most of the markets it is entering. As with any equity investment, current performance does not guarantee future results.
What Is Happening With Pop Mart Right Now
Physical expansion is accelerating — The four-hundredth international location opened in 2025. Fifty-plus new US stores are targeted before 2027. Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America are receiving focused attention as emerging markets.
Artist collaborations remain the brand’s sharpest tool — Each new partnership drop sells out on launch day without exception. Recent collaborations have touched luxury fashion, streetwear, and global entertainment IP. These limited runs generate urgency and press coverage that no ad spend could replicate.
Labubu has outgrown the toy category — Pop Mart has formally repositioned Labubu as a lifestyle brand. Editorial coverage, fashion week appearances, and mainstream celebrity visibility have placed the character in cultural conversations that extend far beyond any toy aisle. This is intentional, sustained, and showing no signs of fading.
Every Way to Purchase Pop Mart Figures
Physical stores — Walk in, browse the current lineup, pick your series. Staff vary on their tolerance for “feeling” boxes — the practice of handling sealed packaging to guess at figure identity by weight or shape. Some locations permit it, others do not.
The app — The most complete inventory, the fastest access to exclusive drops, and the only way to shop if you are not near a store. Ships directly to your address.
Robo-Shop kiosks — Automated machines stocked with current series. Available around the clock. Find them through the app’s locator.
Official website — popmart.com carries the full catalog in a desktop format with the same inventory and pricing as the app.
Authorized third-party retailers — A small number of independent toy stores carry Pop Mart products. Authenticity verification is important here — counterfeit figures exist and are not always distinguishable from packaging alone.
Resale platforms — StockX, eBay, Mercari, and Facebook Marketplace all have active Pop Mart listings. You pay above retail, but you know exactly which figure you are buying. Useful when you want a specific piece without the risk of the blind box mechanic.
The Collector Community: Bigger and More Welcoming Than You Expect
The community surrounding Pop Mart is one of the most active hobbyist networks in the collectibles space. Reddit’s r/POP_MART, numerous Facebook groups, Discord servers, and a constant stream of TikTok unboxing content create an ecosystem where collectors share results, coordinate trades, and help each other complete sets.
Practical advice from experienced collectors within these communities:
Use the official app’s community section for trading — it is moderated and provides more accountability than informal social groups. Verify seller history and ratings carefully before any resale purchase. Watch unboxing content for a series before committing to it — it reveals figure quality and scale better than product photos. Attend in-person Pop Mart events when they appear in your area — pop-ups and convention appearances frequently include exclusive figures unavailable through any other channel.
The community welcomes newcomers genuinely. There is no gatekeeping around how long you have been collecting or how many figures you own.
Why This Brand Has Staying Power
Pop Mart’s durability comes from solving a problem that most toy brands never even identify: the purchase moment is often more exciting than the product itself.
By wrapping the transaction in genuine uncertainty, the brand makes the buying experience an event rather than a transaction. And by partnering with artists who have real credentials — Kasing Lung’s gallery work predates and continues alongside his Pop Mart collaboration — the figures carry artistic legitimacy that pure commercial products never achieve.
Scarcity is deployed carefully rather than cynically. Limited drops create urgency without manufacturing frustration, because the community built around each series makes even the search enjoyable. The hunt matters as much as the find.
That combination — emotional resonance, artistic credibility, smart distribution mechanics, and genuine community — is what separates Pop Mart from brands riding a single trend. These are structural advantages, not seasonal ones.
Ready to Start
The best way to understand what Pop Mart actually is — beyond any description — is to open one box.
Download the app, browse the current series, find a character design that genuinely appeals to you, and make one purchase. The experience of that moment, from the sealed box to the figure in your hand, explains the entire brand better than anything else could.
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