拆开的那一秒

In shopping malls and subway stations in China, blind boxes have long been seen everywhere.

Consumers cannot know which doll is in the box before paying, and it is precisely this uncertainty that turns 'the second of opening' into the product itself.

In 2025, Pop Mart's annual revenue reached 37.12 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 184.7%; among which the THE MONSTERS series with LABUBU as the core contributed 14.16 billion yuan, accounting for 38.1% of the company's total revenue, becoming the company's first single image to exceed ten billion in revenue.

For many young people, the appeal of blind boxes is not just in the dolls themselves.

Shaking the outer box, judging the style by the sound, and silently making a wish in one's heart—this set of actions has become a ritual.

What you get in exchange for a few dozen yuan is a piece of anticipation that can be cashed in at any time.

Some people hang the dolls on their bags as companions while working overtime; others film the unboxing process, making the product a form of social currency.

During the Spring Festival of the Year of the Horse, visiting blind box stores was even referred to by the media as a 'new New Year custom' for young people.

However, the other side of the hype is cooling down.

To meet demand, the monthly production capacity of LABUBU was increased from 10 million to 50 million units.

Once supply is sufficient, the premium brought by scarcity quickly fades: the hidden 'Ego' model from the third-generation 'Frontline High Energy' series was once hyped to 4,522 yuan on second-hand platforms, more than forty times its original price; by the end of the year, the lowest transaction price was only 540 yuan, a drop of about 88% from the peak, and some regular models even fell below their original selling prices.

The fluctuations in price have also forced consumers to re-evaluate their boundaries.

According to reports by 'China Youth Daily', player Ma Ruiqi would spend between six thousand to ten thousand yuan on blind boxes a month at her peak of addiction, 'buying every set released'; now, she and her partner have agreed to buy at most twelve a month.

Another interviewee, Jin Maimai, spent about five hundred yuan in 2025, stopping once she drew ones she liked, with the bottom line being 'not to compress other spending, not to overspend'.

In their view, buying blind boxes is for happiness, not to add burdens.

Rather than saying this is the bursting of a bubble, it is better to say that the market has returned from conceptual hype to value itself.

Surveys show that affordable products under 100 yuan occupy the vast majority of blind box consumption, and those willing to pay for high-priced items have significantly decreased.

Pop Mart chairman Wang Ning uses car racing as an analogy: it's not about keeping your foot on the accelerator all the time, but about knowing when you must make a pit stop.

Ultimately, what can keep consumers for a long time is not necessarily the heartbeat of that second before opening the box, but whether, after opening it, that little thing can still make people feel it's worth it.