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The Beanie Babies of 2025: Labubus and their Doomed Fate

They’re everywhere. Whether in person or online, you’ve more than likely seen them- fuzzy little monsters with wide toothy grins. They come in a variety of colors and poses, and can be small key chains or large decorative figurines. Everyone is obsessed with them, to the point where fights have broken out in stores just for the chance to get one.

But… what are they?

These fuzzy little monsters are called Labubus. They’re the creation of Kasing Lung, a Hong Kong-born artist living in Belgium. They’re one part of his The Monsters collection, which was highly influenced by Nordic folklore and mythology that Lung grew up learning about during his childhood in the Netherlands.

Labubus were actually first introduced ten years back in 2015, the first of their figurines having been produced by How2Work. However, their production and sale shifted over to the Chinese retailer Pop Mart in 2019, where they have been sold from ever since.

While Labubus would start to enjoy wider popularity once they came under Pop Mart, it’s important to note that they didn’t immediately become the overwhelming trend seen currently. In fact, while toy collectors would buy them for collecting purposes, they were a bit reviled by others for being “ugly.”

However, that all changed in April 2025, when the K-Pop idol Lisa from Blackpink posted one attached to her bag on her Instagram story, admitting both that they were her favorite toy and that she loved collecting all of them.

Lisa posting pictures with several of her Labubus

From that point, Labubus became all the rage. Other celebrities have posted showing off their Labubus. They’ve been to Milan fashion week. They’ve been taken on a “tour” of Thailand. They’re going to get an animated series. People have spent hundreds, if not thousands, on the Pop Mart blind boxes trying to collect these little imps, with the rare “mystery color” being the most sought after for each blind box series. They are the “it” thing.

But… if we know anything about trends like this, is that this one is not going to last very long.

Just like Funko Pops and Beanie Babies, Labubus are currently set to follow the same trajectory: a couple of years of excessive hype and popularity, then a sudden market “burst” and devaluation. Then, they’ll appear en masse in thrift stores and land fills, tossed to the wayside by the disinterested masses.

They won’t vanish entirely, of course- just as new funko pops and new beanie babies are released, so too will new Labubus. But they’ll once again return to being a niche toy, mostly forgotten in favor of the next big thing.

This pattern has happened time and time again. Why? Because that is just the nature of trends when it comes to non-essential goods. People don’t exactly need Labubus, or any other type of trending figurine. They don’t even need certain clothing, and clothing technically falls under the category of “essential.” But when something trends, it makes people want the item, out of sense of F.O.M.O., or “fear of missing out.” In our consumer society, people can’t help it.

But never in the history of the world has a trend like this lasted all that long. Especially in the age of social media, when new things are popping up every single day in a relentless wave. It’s simply impossible for the trend to last. Look at Stanley cups, for example: last year people were camping outside of stores and literally rushing to get their hands on the newest color. Now how often do you hear about them?

No matter how overwhelmingly popular Labubus may seem now, it’ll only be a matter of time before something else catches the attention of the general public and they are tossed aside. When or what will that be, is uncertain. But what is certain, is that this trend is doomed to die.

The End of an Era with Stan Lee

This morning, comic book artist, editor, and publisher Stan Lee passed away, signalling the end of both an icon and an era in the comic book universe. Stan Lee was not just a famous figure in terms of Marvel, but was also responsible for being one of the leaders of comic book and superhero culture, marking his place in pop culture history.

Stan Lee has had a major impact on Marvel comics, creating figures such as the Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Thor, X-Men, and Hulk. Stan Lee has also been responsible for multimedia projects and acting as a brand ambassador for Marvel, despite past lawsuits against the companies for appropriate compensation for artists. In 2001, he founded the intellectual property company POW!, and later on received the Medal of Arts honor. He also published his autobiography Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee.

Lee also helped build Marvel’s blockbuster brand, inspiring the production of Iron Man, X-Man, Thor and the Avengers. The man was also known for making a cameo in almost every Marvel film, the new Fantastic Four being an exception (to which he had jokingly remarked that that was the reason the film had flopped).

Stan Lee was an important person for pop culture, and his contributions to it will not be forgotten anytime in the near future. He helped spearhead Marvel into what it is today, and his death with certainly leave an impact on the company and the people who follow it. You will be missed.

Why the Hunger Games Trilogy Should Have Never Been Movies

I was at the end of middle school when the first movie of the Hunger Games Trilogy was released. At the time, I had thought that the film was a serious let-down, with much of the book’s original purpose ripped out in favor of a “Hollywood-style” interpretation. But that was typical, as most books that were being turned into movies were glamified to fit a dramatic Hollywood action movie. But as the movies continued to come out, I got older, and noticed more issues with the films. By the end of it, I thought the films shouldn’t have existed at all.

Why is this? Well, just the idea of the films existing goes against everything that the books aspired to criticize. The books themselves were about a young woman of color (presumably native, based off her town’s physical characteristics) being inspired by a young black girl’s death to lead a rebellion against the glutinous and overly-extravagant Capitol, the head of Panem (which is the Latin word for “bread”).

Panem is a place where the districts closest to the Capitol are the wealthiest, while the furthest are the poorest (and tend to be people of color). But the Capitol itself benefits off of turning the fight to the death between children into a spectacle, watching their every movement and promoting them as though they were nothing more than TV actors. Katniss and Peeta’s romance gets televised and focused on, and throughout the books you can see they were a point of entertainment and propaganda, working to gain “sympathy” from the viewers. Meanwhile, the families of those that have to fight sit agonizingly, watching their children being brutally murdered for entertainment.

All the while, propaganda in support of the regime was constantly emphasized, with police task forces ensuring the peace. The propaganda is representative of the news media, promoting submission to the regime while broadcasting all the issues with it as a form of “entertainment”.

The Hunger Games criticizes everything that supports the oppressive system, which includes mainstream movie media. This is the biggest kicker for why the movies shouldn’t have existed. It was made by a large company (Lionsgate) which altered the feel of the books in order to show what they wanted with the rebellion, without anyone pinpointing back to the US (or other Western) system as a whole. It degrades the whole point of the books.

Not only that, but their marketing adds insult to injury, by promoting “Capitol-inspired” makeup, merchandise, computer games, all of which trivialize the struggle that book Katniss faces going against. It is using luxury as promotion for something that criticizes this very aspect. This wasn’t just for the first movie either; it popped up again in each of later three films as well.

The original movie made the same mistake the Capitol did: focusing on the romance rather than the violence. It wiped out just about half of the point of the first book, turning instead to make it all about the romance when it should not have been. Of course, this gained massive amounts of criticism by viewers, and Lionsgate made it more subtle in later films.

However, they didn’t change the fact that they completely whitewashed much of District Twelve. Rather than having people with brown skin and hair (as the book describes the majority of the district being), they got “lightly tan” people who had to dye their hair the right colors (for Katniss and Gale). Also, the actress who played Katniss refused to “lose weight” for the part, which also takes out the fact that District Twelve was a heavily impoverished district, and it erases much of the struggle of Katniss’s survival. I don’t mean to say that Jennifer Lawrence should have gotten to an unhealthy weight, but to have someone who didn’t look anywhere close to starving play the part of someone who was supposed to be malnourished is a bit of a stretch. The point of her depiction is to show the horrors that the Capitol caused, not to put the biggest name actress you can as the main role.

As popular as the books got, it would have been much better if they had been left as they were-books. Of course the movies made lots of money, and were insanely popular, but that was because people fell into the trap of the entertainment. As long as it’s not real, it’s okay to see it, right? Well, not if the powerful message of the books just get lost.

Hollywood and the Wonders of Rome

Trevi Fountain and the Mouth of Truth are both internationally renowned landmarks in the city of Rome. The former is inspired by the Baroque period, but was built in the 1700s as a grandiose way to be the end of a rebuilt aqueduct. The latter was built as a Roman sewer cap, but later became the source of a medieval tradition. We like to have the perception that these sights were always famous, and will continue to be. However, this is not the case. These monuments became famous during the 1950s, when a series of Hollywood films centered around Rome showcased these, sending tourists flocking to Rome. Three different films promoted these sights, each playing an important role in the sudden fame of the two sights.

Trevi fountain, or La Fontana di Trevi does not have a long history, although the source of its water does. Its water comes from an aqueduct that had been shut down, known as the Virgin Aqueduct. It had been shut for a while, before a pope during the Baroque period decided to reopen it and build a fountain to mark the finishing point of the aqueduct’s path, recruiting a design by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. However, it wasn’t actually built until the 1700s, designed by Nicola Salvi and finished by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762.

While the fountain was grandiose and a sight to see, it didn’t gain much international attention until the 1954 release of 3 Coins in the Fountain (Tre Soldi Nella Fontana). The film, which centers around 3 American women travelling to Rome to find love, throw coins in the fountain to make a wish, and reunite with their Italian lovers at the end of the film in front of it. Also, in 1960’s La Dolce Vita, and Italian film taking place in Rome, has a scene where Anita Ekburg takes a bath in the Trevi Fountain. While that will get you arrested if you try that now, it was fine for the time, gaining a great amount of attention internationally. These two films put the spotlight on Trevi fountain, showing off nuances of Rome that hadn’t been seen on the international level before. Now the fountain is almost always crowded with people, those who want to take photos in front of the beautiful artwork or throw a coin in and make a wish.

The same thing happened with the Mouth of Truth, or La Bocca di Verita. Once an embellished sewer cap depicting the god Ocean, it became the source of a medieval tradition which functions as a lie-detector test. Built into the exterior wall of a church, the tradition where someone placed their hand into the mouth of the cap to answer confession-type questions, where a false answer would result in the hand coming off. It was a long-standing local custom, and stayed that way until the 1953 release of Roman Holidays (Vacanze Romane), starring Audrey Hepburn. In the film, the Mouth of Truth is displayed when Gregory Peck places his hand in the mouth and fakes losing his hand to trick Audrey Hepburn. The film sent people to an otherwise normal medieval Greek catholic church, each one wanting a photo of themselves placing their hands inside the mouth of the cap. There is now a line in order to place your hand in the mouth, gaining a lot of popularity for the church, and getting them donations to continue to function and maintain their church.

Flying in a Plane in the Movies vs. Flying in a Plane in Real Life

Whenever flying is displayed in the movies, they are glitzed and glammed up to be something magical. Excited people gleefully sit and party on the plane, going to a new country with their hair done perfectly and their outfits expensive. They’re ready to party in whatever place they go to.

The reality of flying a plane is, however, boring and gross. If you fly anywhere beyond an hour, flying is painfully boring, with the occasional infant screaming their head off over who knows what. All your dirt and oils start to build up, especially on long flights. Combine that with the germs and dirty seats of the hundreds who sat in it before you, and you’ve got a breakout coming on. It’s a guarantee to not looking glamorous when you get off.

Plus, you don’t want to wear nice looking clothes on a plane. Yeah, it’s a good-sounding idea to come off ready to go like in the movies, but the reality is you’ll be really uncomfortable. It’s better to just wear looser pants if you can. Sitting in skinny jeans on a 10 hour flight is one of the worst things you can do. Also, wearing clunky jewelry probably won’t make you feel any better.

Besides, no one is loud or getting buck-wild with booze like in the movies. Everyone is pretty quiet, especially on planes that have overnight time differences. People would get mad at you really quick. You just watch movies and make a few comments hear and there, but otherwise there is nothing really going on. Especially if you’re in coach, which most people in the movies are. It’s only the rare moments when the character is shown a new rich life and gets impressed that the person flies either first class or in a private jet. For the rest of the folk, though, they get shown in a clean, spacious coach, when 99 percent of the time that’s not the case. They’re not unclean, but unless they’re new they’re guaranteed to have not been deep cleaned in a while.

Documentary Now!, and the Beauty of Subtle Satire

I had almost forgotten about Documentary Now!, until I found the second season on Netflix last night while looking for something to watch. I had always enjoyed the show, and I thought the first two episodes kept their satirical charm. It was at the same time subtle and obvious, with a real appearance and an unreal story line.

Continue reading “Documentary Now!, and the Beauty of Subtle Satire”

How 13 Reasons Why and Twilight Aren’t so Different

The last thing I wanted to see when I went on Netflix a week ago was a trailer for 13 Reasons Why Season Two. Just by watching the first five seconds of the trailer, I already knew the new season was probably worse than the first one, if that was even possible. But I wasn’t about to waste my time by watching it to find out.

Continue reading “How 13 Reasons Why and Twilight Aren’t so Different”

Nollywood, Nigeria’s Film Hub

We’ve all heard of Hollywood and Bollywood, the undeniably largest hubs for films on the planet. But I notice most people in the West have never heard of the world’s second largest film industry, one that sits in the heart of Africa’s largest economy. This hub, which has gained a surprising amount of momentum, is Nollywood.

Nollywood films first began coming out in the early 1960s, a respective fifty and seventy years after the founding of Hollywood and Bollywood. The first generation of Nigerian films arose just after Nigeria’s independence, with notable filmmakers being Hubert Ogunde, Jab Adu, Ola Balogun, and Moses Olaiya (a.k.a Baba Sala). They helped to modernize much of Nigeria’s film genres, including comedy, drama, and opera, but grew quickly frustrated with the high cost of production materials. After pushing to the government, who had begun funding Nigeria’s TV industry, they gained funding, helping the new industry grow and thrive.

The industry for a while centered around indigenous films, but in 1992, the film Living in Bondage by Ken Nnebue was released, going on to be considered Nollywood’s first big blockbuster release, setting Nigeria on the path of pushing out more commercial films. The first Nigerian film to gain international attraction was Osoufia in London, released in 2003, pushing Nollywood films to be released in standard quality.

In 2009, Nollywood had officially surpassed Hollywood as the second largest film industry in terms of production revenue, second only to Bollywood. As of 2014, Nollywood’s production worth is approximately $3.3 billion USD, although nowadays the industry faces a serious revenue bleed, as movie pirating the the lack of true global breakout has drained revenue, causing a serious drain on the formal economy. Still, Nollywood produces a whopping 1,500 films a year, greatly surpassing Hollywood’s annual production.

Nollywood greatly contrasts from Hollywood in that it is not made in a uniform pattern, with a single language dominating the industry. Rather, the industry is filmed throughout different regions, in over 300 languages, reflecting the many different cultures inside Nigeria. Despite their growing adoption of international uniform influence, they maintain a distinctive cultural difference, setting the industry apart from the two more well-known.

It is undeniable that the industry has the potential to become internationally renowned, although it has yet to. When it can and will finally make its breakthrough is uncertain. But it seems to be doing well for itself, and continues to grow each year.

The “Sick Cute” of Harajuku

Harajuku is widely renowned for its pastels and vibrant appearance. Started in the town of Harajuku, Japan, the fashion subculture had grown constantly and evolved since the 1970s, becoming the cutesy couture that inspired Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Lovers perfume, promoting both happy and negative feelings through fashion

Within the last few years, however, a new side to the negative Harajuku has arisen, one that projects a much darker message, despite still being cute. Yami Kawaii (which literally translates to “sick cute”), is a style that on the surface appears cute and mildly sarcastic, but deeper down portrays a more sinister appearance, with violence and gore in pastel colors and cute appearance.

Although it mostly centers around humor, there is another layer to Yami Kawaii that is tied to why it is gaining popularity- menhera, or “mental health”. This side seems to be epitomized by the character “Menhera Chan”, who looks cute and kawaii at a glance, but wears telling bandages on her wrists and a razor blade in her hand. It contrasts itself with cute characters and soft colors against self-harm and medication, drawing attention to variance in mental health and conformity, while still being holding the Harajuku charm.

The menhera side of Yami Kawaii has gained much traction among the youth for its point in tackling the taboo topic of mental health in Japan, where any disorder from depression to schizophrenia is heavily stigmatized. In Japan, mental health is often seen as a sign of a character flaw such as weakness or bad temperament, rather than as a result of biology or genetics. It is seen as the person’s fault for having a mental disorder, and they are often singled out in a crowd. In a 2013 study by Sosei Yamaguchi and Yuta Aoki, it was discovered that a whopping 61% of employers would never hire someone with mental illness, and 75% of respondents answered that it was okay not to rent a room to someone with mental illness.

As a result of this stigma, plus high pressure to do well and succeed, Japan has the sixth highest suicide rate on the planet, and the bizarre phenomenon of people working themselves to death. The nation even has an infamous “suicide forest” (Aokigahara), where a high rate of suicides occur. With all that in mind, it seems odd that Japan is practically silent on the issue. Yami Kawaii aims to break that silence, by pushing discomforting images to the forefront of their fashion. Will it break the silence on mental health? Well, nothing is for certain. But it is gaining greater traction, both in Japan and abroad, drawing attention to Japan’s silence. So we’ll see.

Wanda’s Wasted Role in Avengers: Infinity War

I know I’m almost a month late to the party, but that’s because I didn’t see Avengers Infinity War until last night. I hadn’t even planned on seeing the movie, but my friend, who had just finished Thor Ragnarok, had insisted that I come with her to see this one.

I walked into the movie knowing the synopsis of the film already, and knowing what happens in the comics (I’m going to try and keep this as spoiler-free as possible, as people are still trying to see the film), so I wasn’t really surprised by any of what happens in the main story arc. What happened instead was that I got confused.

It’s difficult to make a film as big as Infinity War, with so many character arcs, not confusing. Half the time there was so much going on at once that my brain was going into a mild overload. But what really got me confused was what I have to say was the biggest plot hole of the movie- Wanda’s power.

In the film series, she is known to be a very powerful mutant. In Captain America: Civil War, she was even described as a “weapon of mass destruction”, which rings pretty true to her original comic character. Wanda seems to have an endless amount of capabilities, and has enough power to destroy an infinity stone. But how her powers are portrayed, powerful as they are, are very toned down from her comic version.

In the comic series, Wanda Maximoff, or Scarlet Witch, is what is known as a Nexus Being, which is a living focal point of Earth dimension’s energy. She gained her abilities by being born in proximity to the elder energies of the god Chthon with her twin, where she developed a mystic bond with the god. The result gave her unimaginable power. She has the power to alter reality on a grand scale, which includes reviving dead ones and reincarnating others, although she does not have the full training to control all her powers.

In the film series, she is not a Nexus being, having been created through experimentation with a special branch of Hydra. As the films develop, the power she has seems to multiply (that or she is gaining more control over it), although she has yet to bend reality on a large scale. An important matter is though, that Wanda can destroy an infinity stone.

Why is this important? Well, when you look at the context of the whole film, it was about preventing Thanos from obtaining all six stones. While destroying the time stone seemed almost impossible, given that Doctor Strange was nowhere near Wanda, Wanda had the capability to destroy the other ones from the start, and perhaps even the gauntlet itself. She could have easily useful as a forefront for destroying the gauntlet, but throughout the film one slap would knock her down for a seemingly endless amount of time. The ability for her to be knocked down so easily, despite having such power, was to me kind of a cheap shot to make it that much easier for the plot to occur (and for subsequent films to happen). She had some cool fight scenes, but was ultimately muted (come on, she could have totally done more damage on the battlefield than Thor).

But, you know what? To try and show the full might of Wanda’s powers might have been too complex for an already complicated film. Yes, she could have easily done a lot of things throughout the film series, and in particular in Infinity Wars, but trying to have it all there might have added a detail too much. But still, seeing her get knocked down for ages by one slap was a bit infuriating.

Love After Divorce: The Appeal of the “Reborn Woman”

With the recent release of Book Club, I began wondering about the whole “Love After Divorce” genre that seemed to be appearing more often in mass entertainment films. The Book Club, which centers around women in their seventies trying to find new romance after divorce (two divorce, one widow), falls on the older end of the spectrum in terms of age for the genre, but still holds many of the tropes that make it a good representation. Finding a man in his fifties whose rich and attractive, having a happy ending, plenty of women’s bonding moments, struggling to get back into the dating realm, and many others. And despite its worse-for-wear reviews, it was mildly successful, making $53 million in the domestic box office, while the movie had been made with a budget of $10 million.

The success got me thinking-what makes these films so appealing? Upon looking into it, I found blog upon blog of women talking about their favorite “Love After Divorce” films, all with tales about how many of the films they didn’t like until after they got divorced. Which makes sense, as those who face the troubles are divorce are more likely to relate to a light-hearted film about finding love in the time after, but is there that much of a base for it?

Well, according to the American Psychological Association, anywhere between 40 to 50% of all marriages end in divorce after the first marriage in the United States-with the divorce rate for subsequent marriages being even higher than that. With that in mind, the base for the “Love After Divorce” genre becomes that much bigger- especially when divorce happens to women who are middle-aged, and haven’t been in the dating sphere for decades (if at all). The light-heartedness of the films also adds to cheering women up after a rough divorce-as many blog testimonials will tell. And I can’t entirely say that that isn’t possible.

From the “Love After Divorce” films I’ve seen, it’s hard to say that the films are anything beyond cliche chick-flick money-grabs. But then again, I am not divorced, and I am certainly not middle aged. I am not a part of the demographic that is being targeted by these movies, and I can’t relate to someone going through a divorce. Divorce is a rough experience, not just for the spouses but also for any other family member involved. And if it had been a long marriage, it can be rough on self-image and self-esteem. A movie about finding an attractive rich man might just be what someone needs to feel more confident. I can’t knock something like that.

While the films tend to follow the same tropes (which had led to the doom of rom coms), they seem to maintain an appeal and audience, which is something to note.

Can Romantic Comedies Make a Comeback?

Romantic comedies, or rom coms, have faced a serious decline in popularity on the big screen. Once at their peak in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, rom coms have been relegated to the indie screen, where they have become products of subculture, rather than a point of mass entertainment. But could this change?

Rom coms initially began falling out of popularity on the big screen in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s, as many rom com films fell back on the same tropes and plot points, causing the genre to look too repetitive and unoriginal. These tropes include cute-meets, love triangles, happy endings, mid-movie break-ups and change of hearts, last moment change of hearts, and many others that led movies to become repetitive and unoriginal. The good rom coms were mashed together with the many bad ones, and audiences lost interest.

Rom coms moved to the indie screen as a result, and major media companies practically gave up on the genre for more profitable endeavors. Rom coms became parts of subculture, with more dynamism coming in as a result of having the “indie freedom” that comes with being made without having to appeal to the general populace. And with this decade being dominated by a distinct lack of rom coms, it seemed like they were never coming back.

That was, until the announcement for August’s release of Crazy Rich Asians was announced. The film, released by Warner Brothers and based off the bestselling book by Kevin Kwan, is creating discussion around whether or not the genre can come back to the big screen. Increasingly, there is hope that the film with give the genre a much needed rebirth, bringing the genre back to a newer audience.

While I don’t know about the film bringing an entire genre back, it does have the potential to give romantic comedies an entirely new look, shedding old tropes that really needed to go.

Crazy Kpop Fans vs. Koreaboos- the Important Difference

Since the release and popularity of “Gangnam Style” by PSY, Kpop, and Korean pop culture in general, has soared in popularity in Western pop culture. This continuing rise in popularity has led to BTS’s recent performance at the New York New Year’s Show, and the rising presence of Kcon (a convention centered around Kpop and other pop culture). It has also created created a rise to the super fanatics, or the “crazy Kpop fans”, and the koreaboos.

What is the difference between the two? While the koreaboo does classify under the category of “extreme fanaticism” like the crazy Kpop fan, one is distinctly different from the other. How is this so?

Well, the differences come in attributes. For the crazy Kpop fan, which holds the name sasaeng (a Korean term which literally translates to “private life”, referring to the regular invasion of privacy of Kpop artists by their crazy fans), the attributes come in the form of deep psychological and emotional obsession with Kpop, and certain groups in particular. The sasaeng fan are not considered “true fans”, constantly trying to rip off artists’ clothes, kiss them, and stalk them. While the sasaeng fan is in the West is much more virtual-based, writing fan fictions of all sorts about their favorite idols, buying anything and everything that they believe belongs to their favorite idol, and “virtually” stalking their idol, there has been increasing physical contact, with some sasaeng flying out to South Korea in order to try and find their idols.

The Korean sasaeng fan is much more direct, and will break into idols’ rooms, set up cameras, drug the idols, hit the idols, in order to be remembered. They will get in taxis or their own cars in order to follow their favorite idols, which have resulted in previous multi-car accidents and stand offs. They will even go so far as to try and kidnap their favorite idols in order to get close to them. This cultural phenomenon has existed since the 1990s with the rise of “fandoms”, although they are gaining heightened momentum and attention under the digital era, with as many as 100 sasaeng fans following the biggest Kpop idols on a given day. Their behavior is erratic and dangerous, having a direct impact and life-threatening impact on the Kpop idols.

The Koreaboo by contrast, represents a much different and more muted form of harmful. The koreaboo is best described as someone who denies their native culture, idolizing Korean culture (based off of Kpop and Kdramas) and claiming it as their own. The koreaboo wants to be a Korean, seeing them as the “most attractive” or “best” ethnic group, and dreams of moving to Korean and marrying a Korean person. They try to act like how they imagine a Korean person acts (based off of Kpop and Kdramas) and are basically Korean fetishists. Kind of reminds you of Rachel Dolezal and Ja Du, right?

With this is mind, how can they possibly be harmful like the sasaeng fan? Well, they’re more harmful in the way that they ruin things for everyone else. Because of their cultural fetishism, they stigmatize liking Korean popular culture, and make anyone who has an interest in seeing South Korea or learning about their culture look bad. They do not directly harm the lives of their favorite idols, but they do promote cultural stigma, and make enjoying other cultures look “wrong”, particularly among younger populations, who are affected by the Kpop phenomenon the most. They represent a mutation in fanaticism, a minority with a big and memorable voice that exists not just with Korean pop culture but also Japanese pop culture (the weeaboo, which influenced the name koreaboo), and European pop culture (although they are considered much more socially acceptable by the West). They force casual fans to feel “bad” about what they like, and ruin all the fun.