Meet Wakuku: MINISO LAND Beijing’s Breakout Blind-Box Plush Challenging Labubu
The Whirlwind Courtship of Wakuku & MINISO
⏰ Wed Jun 4, 2025 @ 8 AM PST
🐟 Published from Seattle, WA
🔨 Built by Chase Burns Broderick
When MINISO—China’s fast-fashion retail titan—threw open the doors of its new MINISO LAND flagship inside Beijing’s THE BOX mall this March, shoppers were greeted by a chubby little unibrowed plush dressed as a panda, called “Wakuku.” The character wasn’t just cute merch; it was the public debut of a brand-new designer-toy IP, birthed by Shenzhen studio Letsvan at the end of 2024. Two hours later the panda was sold out, and a retail romance was officially on the books. The frenzy sent “Wakuku plush” and “MINISO LAND Beijing” trending on Chinese social platforms—and even spiked “Labubu vs Wakuku” searches globally, according to Google Trends.
👀 For more on Labubu, read: Labubu Brawl to Hirono Runway: Pop Mart’s London Pivot
Meet the cast (and why you should care)
Wakuku – A fresh designer-toy blind-box character, the Wakuku plush blind box collectible universe launched late 2024. Think Pop Mart’s SkullPanda, but with marshmallow-round silhouettes and big “squish me” energy.
Letsvan – A Shenzhen-based creative studio, known for designer-toy IP incubation and shepherding Wakuku (and sister IPs like Ziyuli) into the world.
MINISO – A Guangzhou-headquartered global variety-retail chain (HKEX: 9896 / NYSE: MNSO) that has turned “affordable cute” into a ~7,000-store empire.
MINISO LAND – MINISO’s new theme-park-style flagship experience store concept: multi-floor “experience stores” built to host IP drops and photo-ops.
Together, they form an IP-retail power couple: Wakuku gets national shelf space; MINISO gets first-dibs exclusives to keep foot traffic humming.
The timeline so far
29 March 2025 — Beijing soft-launch
MINISO LAND Beijing #1 hosts Wakuku’s first public release: the “Panda Dada” hang-tag plush. Local media gush over queues and a same-day sell-out, framing the drop as Wakuku’s official retail debut. Search volume for “Wakuku Panda Dada plush” and “MINISO LAND Beijing opening” jumped on Weibo and Google that weekend.
17 May 2025 — Eight-city “global exclusive”
Round two arrives less than seven weeks later. The “Fox-and-Bunny Trick-or-Treat” (狐狐兔兔 捣蛋日记) blind-box line lands simultaneously in MINISO LAND stores, positioned as a “blind-box global exclusive” across eight MINISO LAND cities—language that mirrors Pop Mart’s limited-run drops. Store videos show life-size Wakuku mascots dancing with fans, while Shanghai’s flagship posts brag about limited-edition hang-tags vanishing within hours.
Wakuku vs. Pop Mart’s Labubu: Why Collectors Care
Both characters anchor China’s booming designer-toy blind-box market, but Labubu’s Pop Mart roots give it a head start in resale value and Google Trends momentum. Just last week, American actress Emma Roberts (Madame Web, We’re the Millers, Scre4m) revealed she’s just like us—obsessed with Labubu. The actress, currently in Milan, starts the video confessing she waited in line at an Italian Pop Mart to get her hands on a complete “Have a Seat” Labubu set. And in just a day, the video earned over 2 million views.
Why the WAKUKU + MINISO partnership matters
Instant proof-of-concept – Selling out a brand-new IP in two hours tells both MINISO and Letsvan there’s demand for the $15 billion Chinese collectible-toy market.
Flagship-first strategy – By debuting Wakuku inside MINISO LAND (rather than standard mall stores), the chain positions these launches as must-visit “events,” creating “photo-opp retail” moments that spike “MINISO store opening” queries.
Pipeline potential – Letsvan’s upcoming IPs—Ziyuli and others—give MINISO fresh ammo as it eyes a rumored Top Toy Hong Kong IPO.
IPO Alert: MINISO MOVES TO SPIN Off Top Toy
UPDATED WED, JUN 4 @ 12 PM PST
MINISO has reportedly tapped JPMorgan Chase and UBS to steer a Hong Kong listing of its fast-growing collectible-toy arm Top Toy. The company is courting sovereign-wealth funds for a pre-IPO round.
The spin-off rides real momentum: the company’s unaudited early results show Top Toy revenue surged 58.9% year-over-year to RMB 340 million (≈ US $47m) in Q1 2025, while the chain ballooned to 280 stores worldwide by March. The company attributed the fast growth to “its rapid growth in average store count.” (For context: In March 2024, there were 160 Top Toy stores. That’s 120+ stores in a year.) Bloomberg’s leak of the news sent MINISO (HKEX 9896) shares up 6.5%, with rival Pop Mart (9992) up 5%.
Why it matters: A successful IPO would give investors a pure-play challenger to Pop Mart’s Labubu empire—but with a different risk profile. Top Toy leans on licensed IP (Disney, Sanrio) instead of home-grown characters, trading higher margins for potentially steadier demand. Fresh capital could accelerate overseas “experience-store” roll-outs just as China’s collectible-toy market races toward a projected RMB 110 billion by 2026.
