I did not think that I would say that, but last night on my Instagram feed, I did see somebody burning a toy. Not an ordinary toy, a Labubu.

That odd, snaggle-toothed thing in the POP MART line. It was only months ago when the same Labubu people fought their way into malls. The very Labubu that sat contentedly on desks and night tables, in soft light and pastel colours. Firewood is what it is... now.

What happened?

Frankly speaking, I would have found it extremely funny at the beginning of 2024 if you told me that people would spend 8000 rupees on these little vinyl figures and then literally burn them, simultaneously accusing them of being satanic. Yet this is here. This is the internet, and it is the land where love is lost and fear travels beyond lightning.

Labubu's Takeover of Our Feeds

Let us revert.                                                                                                         I had seen Labubu on my feed late 2023, and this little gremlin-like creature with oversized ears and a toothy grin and A mischievous streak was very... delightful. It was not the cuteness of preceding times; it was all wrapped up in a little ball of bubble gum and braces -- it was the type that had eaten power cords for breakfast and giggled over it.

Perhaps, though, that is what makes people fall for it. 

Labubu is a welcome type of mess in a world that is tired of achieving perfection. It was imperfect. It was disorganised. It appeared haunted a bit. I'm a little mad. Nevertheless, somehow it was all strangely lovable, as though a toddler and a cryptid reproduced and their offspring had an Instagram-based fashion brand.

And all at once, everyone wanted one.

The blind boxes at POP MART have been a mass fad -- people would queue to buy them, part with multiples like they were pop mart cards, hold their breath and film their hands sweating as it was revealed whether they struck it big with the rare glow-in-the-dark labubu called the "Phantom Labubu" or the original titled the Monster.

It was not only a toy, it was a vibe.

The Shift: When the Cuteness Got Creepy

Then... the internet being the internet being the internet did what the internet being the internet being the internet does.                                    It made something good evil.

Somewhere in the middle of 2025, people started posting on TikTok, Instagram Reels and blackened corners of YouTube: Is Labubu satanic? Labubu looks like Pazuzu in The Exorcist. Keep Labubu out of your room - it is unlucky.

There is even one person who photoshopped the face of Labubu onto a pentagram in spooky music. Another likened the form of its ears and the face to the Demons of Babylon. And you know one thing leads to another, and a comment turns into a thread. A story is made of a thread. The construction of a moral panic derives from a story.

Next thing you know, Laborus is yanked off the shelves of kids by his parents. Adolescents are bidding goodbye rituals since they dispose of the Labubus by throwing them down rivers or by burning them. There were even videos with such hashtags as #BurnTheDemon and #ExorciseLabubu.

Such as... what?

How does a toy get to be the enemy number one?

People Started Burning Them. Seriously.

And I would like to exaggerate it. Oh, no!-I witnessed at least four distinct reels, on one day, of persons burning or burning their once dearly-loved figures of Labubu. They were pseudo-proud, and they were emotional.

The one is:                                                                                                         "It seemed cute to me until nightmares came. 3 am, claw marks on my window. Not anymore. Good-bye, devil."

Another said:                                                                                                       "You know you know. Burn first before being burned."

I laugh, but I do not know whether to laugh or cry.                                      It brought back the memory of that moment in the 90s, when Harry Potter books were burned by people who thought that these books encouraged witchcraft. Or when children were not allowed to play Pop mart because Pikachu was the messenger of Satan, as pushed by the church.

History repeats; it just got new and improved cameras and s--t-worse takes.

So, Does Labubu Look Like a Demon?

It is honest to say. Yeah, Labubu looks creepy or something.

It has large eyes. It's lop-eared shape. This naughty smile. It is not what everybody is fond of. But demonic?                                                                I said, Come on. It is as though the fact that his doll has a red wig means that Chucky is real.

Labubu is not the talk of the story. It does not come of its own accord. It is not pulling phrases into your ears at night. It is a rectangular piece of vinyl produced in China, massive, packaged, and marketed with QR and promotional stickers.                                                                                   But still, they are reacting as though they crawled out of a Necronomicon.

Perhaps, that is not even about Labubu. It is perhaps about us- our paranoia, our fear and the need to have someone to blame it on when life seems to be insane.

The Power of the Collective Mindset (And the Internet Mob)

We should not underestimate the Internet. It just takes one popular post.

Add some spooky music, some spook-like lighting, a personal experience, that goes something like, about my cousin having a nightmare, and ta-da, the seed is sown. Suddenly, thousands of people ensure that a toy is cursed.                                                                             Since fear travels at a higher rate compared to happiness.

So when something comes to be loved too much, too soon, it is subject to heavy criticism. We had been experiencing this when it comes to influencers, celebrities, shows and now, toys. Labubu arose hastily. Too quickly. It was transformed into the mainstream, a cult favourite to the point of overexposure. And it is too big, and that makes it an easy target.

Is This the End of Labubu?

I do not believe it.

Okay, the bad rap of the demon rumours may have dented its image. Others will never touch it again.                                                                     Other people are intensively destroying theirs. However, there is a die-hard fan in everyone who has the right to put in a defence comment.

One girl wrote, I can see why you are mad. He does not look like Barbie.

One of them shared a video of her holding her Labubu in front of her ring light and said:

Go ahead and say what you want. He continues to make me smile when the world fails to make me.

And honestly? That is sort of a beautiful thing.                                             Since perhaps Labubu isn't about cute or creepy or cursed. Perhaps, it is a mere reflection. An eerie, little critter displaying just how strange and frail our human minds are in actuality: How easily we see fit to worship and how easily we see fit to.

Maybe We Just Need to Chill

It all comes down to the fact that Labubu is a toy at the end of the day. It lacks authority. It does not talk to the dead. It does not know your name.

Instead, what is true is that we are obsessed with trends. Our appetite for beef. Our behaviour makes everything, even a piece of moulded plastic, our hero or villain.

... So perhaps the next time we decide to light the match, we will do the following:                                                                                                  Are we frying the toy?                                                                                     Or half of us do not know?

.    .    .