Clad in baggy jeans, canvas tote bags, and Doc Martens, students clutched matcha lattes as they put their most cliché foot forward at Yale’s “Performative Male” contest on September 6th, 2025.
A “performative male,” as it’s known off and on social media, describes a male archetype who displays insincere care for emotional sensitivity or traditionally feminine interests to pander to women. They’re often associated with soft aesthetics, favoring items like vinyls, matcha lattes, and feminist books. As such, contests began popping up across the country where participants could dress up as their best interpretations of a performative male.
Yale students Marco Getchell ‘29 and Paul Douglas ’26 both competed in the competition, taking first place and second, respectively. Getchell joked that having the right “look” was essential to securing his spot, “A ‘digi-cam.’ Totebags. I did a stuffy [stuffed animal] as well…Pins. Wired earbuds. I think that’s really the aesthetic,” he said.
After over an hour of fielding questions on feminist literature and indie artists, Getchell was awarded the prize: a custom Yale Labubu. The troll-like toy, dangling from belts or clipped onto tote straps, was nearly as common at the event as the iced matches themselves.
Their pervasiveness extended far outside the contest, spreading into dining halls and Cross Campus. When asked if he had seen the toys around school, Douglas replied: “Yes. Definitely Labubus. Then there’s Sonny Angels… Lots of blind box items, which people like to collect.”
The toy’s growing presence has also stirred controversy. To some, they represent harmless fun – a side hobby to enjoy. “It’s fun and it does something for people. I think it gives people a community and something to hook themselves to,” Getchell said.
To others, they represent an infatuation with trends and unnecessary consumerism. Douglas questions the popularity of Labubus and other collectibles alike: “Why do we feel the need to collect stuff? I mean, it’s very much a part of the consumerist culture.”
Labubu is not just a campus phenomenon. Produced by Chinese toy company Popmart, the bug-eyed figures have gone global. They range from plush dolls to vinyl figurines, with prices stretching from $27.99 to $150,000 for the rarest editions. The craze has helped Popmart’s founder, Wang Ning, amass a fortune of $21.9 billion. As popularity grows, prices follow, with the high demand stimulating high resale and retail prices.
Lofty prices haven’t stopped collectors. Caitlin Sackett, a 29-year-old New York artist, and her girlfriend own over 40 Labubus–special editions, minis, and everything in between. “I collect Sonny Angels. I collect enamel pins… Now I have an entire board. It’s like hundreds of enamel pins. I think my collection was appraised at like $6,000.”
The rise of Labubu follows a pattern of modern collective crazes. Before Labubu’s filled TikTok feeds, Sonny Angels dominated screens. A Gen Z obsession earlier this year, Sonny Angels are cherub-like figurines that double as toys and décor, often found dangling off phone cases or tote bags. Sold in blind boxes with countless variations–dressed in fruit, vegetable, and marine animal costumes– part of the appeal is the surprise and eventual completion of the entire series of a toy.
One of Sackett’s favorite parts of collecting is completing an entire series of Labubus. “I think the first one we completed was the ‘Have a Seat’ collection. We had all of those at one point. Then, we had all of the ‘Macaron’ series and all of the ‘Big Energy’ series, including the ‘Secret Rares,’ which was a feat in and of itself. We have a lot of special editions.”
This collecting impulse is not limited to toys and trinkets. Trend cycles churn through clothes, makeup, even water bottles, and people rush to buy whatever item the internet has crowned the latest must-have. This has been the case for decades as well.
Professor David M. Lang, professor and chair of the Economics at Sacramento State University, recalls seeing this throughout his childhood with items like baseball cards or dolls. “In the 1990s, we had Beanie Babies… There’s always something that’s been going on.”
However, today’s crazes “catch fire” differently than ever before, he asserts.
“It’s different now because of the internet and social media and the ease with which information circles the globe; we’re able to see trends and things that are going on instantaneously. We don’t have to wait for them to come to our town.”
With the rise in popularity of collectibles, many turn their collections into profit, driving them to collect more in hopes of it being worth something later on. Professor Lang emphasizes that “people are not playing around with the equivalent of today’s Star Wars figurines. They’re keeping them in the boxes on display. Just on the off chance that these turn into something that makes them tens of thousands of dollars sometime down the road.”
This is new, he adds. “This is not something that two, three generations ago people were actually thinking about. But now, we’ve lived through those years and know that sometimes people have regrets about not keeping things in mint condition, all buttoned up and protected,” said Lang.
Jarred Watson, an Assistant Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern, frames this as an “investment opportunity.” With prices rising fast, many see a chance to profit—reselling or grabbing the latest ‘must-have’ before the trend fades. Considering social media gives a perceived status to those with rare collectibles, he adds that some people tend to think, “this is [their] chance…this is the opportunity [they] have.” In turn, this encourages them to add to their collection in an attempt to feel more connected to others online. This, he says, “might be worth more than the financial cost” for some.
Professor Lang challenges this way of thinking, however. He adds that, considering how quickly collectibles are “current” change, much of their perceived value falls soon after it rises.
“Of course, most of these things that people are doing are going to be worth zero or next to zero in the future. Not every collectible turns into something that everyone gets excited about. And the more people that are doing this, the less rare they become ten, fifteen, twenty years into the future, and that drives the entire market down as well,” he commented.
While some collect with hopes of future profit, not all lovers of toys and trinkets see dollar signs in the bug eyes of Labubus. Many, instead, may see their younger selves.
Toy researcher Katriina Heljakka at Turku School of Economics takes this further: “For children, trinkets and toys are attractive because they are compact containers of memories, stories, aesthetics, and possibilities for play. Many toys, such as character toys like dolls, action figures, and soft toys, are playable artifacts that enthrall us with a ‘wow’ experience that transitions into a flow experienced during play. Toys attract people due to their play value—a combination of physical, functional, fictional, affective, temporal, and social dimensions that makes them uniquely versatile cultural objects.”
On the other hand, an adult may view trinkets as “nostalgic reminders of one’s past, markers of identity, design objects to admire, or emotional anchors that provide comfort. Many adults reengage with toys through activities linked with self-expression—collecting, curating, displaying, or narrativizing them,” said Heljakka.
The key difference here, she continues, is that “for children, this usually means direct and imaginative manipulation, but for adults, the attraction often takes on forms beyond, for example, role-playing with toys.”
Sold in blind boxes to purposefully conceal the collectibles inside, these toys have an extra layer of surprise to entice consumers.
Dr. Cary Lee, a lecturer at The University of Newcastle and an expert in collecting behavior, explains: “Blind box toys and collectibles are known as a hedonic purchase. Compared to traditional packaging, the blind box uses a concept known as uncertainty marketing, which evokes a ‘surprise and delight’ shopping experience for consumers.”
Concealed with the surprise of the collectible, tension builds as customers attempt to solve what the box contains. “A major part of the experience is to resolve this tension…imagining what is inside. You may find that consumers will shake the box or try to press around the packaging to have a better guess of what is inside. This is all part of the unique value of the experience,” said Lee.
Once the contents of the box are revealed, the cycle restarts.“If something is a desirable item, the consumer may buy another one and try to ride their good luck. If it is a bad item, such as something common or a duplicate, then the collector may think their odds have now improved, and they are this much closer to getting something good. This forms quite an addictive loop, which has parallels to gambling and the gambler’s fallacy,” he continued.
Community is another draw. As more join social media, platforms are growing more than ever, with over 4.8 billion social media users worldwide. With such a large base of people with similar interests and hobbies, being able to relate to others creates a sense of belonging that transcends screens.
Sackett notes that, “in a time where everything is hyper individualistic, we lack community. It’s hard for people to get together and connect genuinely.” To some, being attuned to trends and popular culture makes it easier for others to notice and possibly befriend others, making “the want to be relevant and likeable” play a large role in the appeal of buying for many. As a New Yorker, she finds this is vastly the case in major cities as well, making citizens feel connected to other youth in the area.
“Some of my younger friends all love Labubu, and it’s totally a thing, and it is a status symbol. Especially living in New York City, it’s a huge, huge thing. It’s totally a status symbol in your bag. If you’re in a big city like New York or Chicago or DC or LA, [you] feel like you’re a part of this culture,” Sackett stated.
However, not everyone adopted a sudden appreciation for collecting. For some, this hobby crosses generations. Sackett reflects on her mother’s collecting habits: “I’ve been into collectibles for a long time. My mom got me into knick-knacks…I feel like my collecting culture came from my childhood, and my mom loves to collect little things.
Amidst political, economic, and social unrest, she continues that the desire to feel close to others is present now more than ever.
“We are seeing the world change so rapidly, with inflation, terrorists, and with everything going on in politics and the government…”
While not the same for all, a chance at light-hearted fun may come in the form of furry plastic figurines rather than other activities. “Having something that’s not negative, that’s positive and exciting to you…is what people are looking for right now.”