The four Pop Mart characters surging as Labubu cools 

As Labubu cools, the Pop Mart characters collectors are chasing in 2026 are Skullpanda, Hirono, Crybaby and Hacipupu – and the resale numbers tell the story.

HSBC trimmed Pop Mart’s 2026 revenue growth forecast from around 30 percent to under 24 percent in February, and warned of 11 to 13 percent earnings cuts across 2026 and 2027. Pop Mart’s Hong Kong-listed stock has fallen roughly 40 percent from its August 2025 peak – including a 22.5 percent single-session drop in March after annual earnings landed. 

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported this week that Pop Mart’s US sales fell 45 percent year-on-year in March, reversing a 130 percent gain in January. The Google Trends index score  for “Labubu figurine” has collapsed from a peak of 66 in August 2025 to just 6 in March 2026 (with 100 representing peak popularity).

The cause isn’t mysterious. Pop Mart tripled Labubu production capacity to around 30 million units a month by August 2025, with capacity reportedly heading toward 50 million by year-end – a deliberate move to push out scalpers. It worked, and it killed the resale economy in the process. Secondary market prices on dozens of SKUs (models or “stock-keeping units”) collapsed by more than 50 percent. Some commons – a collecting term meaning the most widely available model of a collectible – now sit below retail.

That leaves the question every collector and every analyst is asking: what’s next? Here are the four characters whose resale numbers are actually moving.

1. Skullpanda  

Skullpanda posted around 132 percent resale growth across 2025, with the Skullpanda × My Little Pony crossover pushing premiums close to 300 percent on collectibles reselling platform StockX.

Designed by Ayan Deng in 2018, Skullpanda has never been “cute” – it’s gothic-futurist, skull-helmeted, and more closely aligned with streetwear than soft-toy aesthetics. That’s exactly why it’s holding value while the cuter IPs flatten. It’s the only Pop Mart IP with proven crossover legs, and collab SKUs appear to be where the upside lives in collectables right now. The My Little Pony collaboration numbers prove the formula, and a similar fashion or anime collaboration could push the next series into Labubu-tier territory. If you’re trying to predict where Pop Mart’s next premium partnership lands, this is likely the IP to watch.

2. Hirono

Hirono generated 1.74 billion yuan (roughly HK$1.88 billion or US$240 million) in 2025 revenue, growing fast but still substantially below the headline IPs. 

Created by Chinese illustrator Lang, Hirono figures are melancholic – fox-masked children with sad eyes and storybook framing. The audience skews closer to a KAWS-pipeline buyer than a TikTok unboxing buyer. A full Hirono blind box (12 figures) typically retails in the HK$1,000 to HK$1,200 range; single boxes sit in the standard Pop Mart blind box tier.

In late 2025, BTS’s V was photographed with a Hirono Living Wild doll. Sell-outs and resale spikes followed within hours. Hirono is the prestige play in this lineup – slower to move, harder to flip quickly, but the IP most likely to hold value through a downturn.

3. Crybaby

Crybaby resale prices have continued climbing into early 2026, even as some other Pop Mart IPs cool.

The Thai-designed line is tear-streaked, sentimental, and almost embarrassingly earnest. Recent drops include the Crying Again pendant blind box and the Cheer Up Baby plush pendant – both built around the same clippable, bag-charm format that’s converting fastest on social media right now.

Press coverage of Pop Mart’s 2025 earnings flagged Crybaby alongside Molly as IPs that came in below expectations. Yet secondary prices keep climbing and collectors appear to be buying faster than the company’s official sales story suggests. When resale prices stay strong even after the shelves are cleared, it usually means the brand has found its audience more quickly than analysts expected.

4. Hacipupu

The numbers on Hacipupu are the steepest in the entire post-Labubu lineup: 281 percent sales growth on StockX between the second and third quarters of 2025 – the sharpest curve of any Pop Mart IP outside Labubu’s peak.

Hacipupu is Labubu’s stylistic opposite. Where Labubu’s grin reads chaotic, Hacipupu is teary-eyed, gender-neutral, and built for plush-pendant duty. The Gummy Bear vinyl plush retails at US$27.99 on the official Pop Mart US site; the Snuggle With You series sits in the same US$20 to US$30 entry tier.

This is the same approach that powered Sonny Angel’s resurgence. Anxious 20-somethings want a bag charm that looks like it needs a hug, not one that bites an ankle. The format is also well suited to the post-Labubu market — small, clippable, photogenic, and cheap enough that the downside on a flop is minimal.

The Paul King movie – Pop Mart playing 10 years out

While the resale market reshuffles, Pop Mart made an announcement that matters for the long game. In March, the company confirmed a live-action and CGI Labubu film with Sony Pictures, with Paul King, director of Paddington and Wonka, set to produce, direct, and co-write with screenwriter Steven Levenson. It’s in early development.

Pop Mart’s chief operating officer Si De told CNBC the company isn’t really chasing movies for movies’ sake – the goal is using narrative to deepen attachment to the IP. They watched Mattel turn Barbie into a billion-dollar film and decided collectibles aren’t the ceiling.

If the King bet works the way Paddington worked, Labubu could stop being a 2025 hype cycle and become a multi-decade character. The company’s hope – that it can incubate four to six “world-class” characters the way Disney does – is finally being tested in public.