Marina Galperina, senior tech editor at The Verge, has recently begun publishing a new newsletter, The Stepback.
Each week she breaks down one story and its key players, and in a recent edition she discussed Labubus, a type of small toy with a variety of distorted faces and poses, which are designed for consumers to collect.
These toys have become popular despite the gamified hoops consumers must jump through to obtain them.
Hers is possibly a Soviet Labubu, or a Lafufu (a fake Labubu), which is actually a bootleg of a Russian Soviet-era cartoon character called Cheburashka, sort of a bear-monkey mutant child.
She purchased it from a Ukrainian vintage memorabilia seller on Etsy, where she buys vintage cultural items such as gadgets, toys, and home goods.