What the Hell is a Ratbubu?

The We Love NYC Collection launched as a sort of ironic celebration of everything that makes New York terrible. Rats, trash bags as fashion statements, “Legal Cocaine” coffee mugs. It’s the kind of stuff that’s trying very hard to be edgy and self-aware while also, you know, asking you to spend $55 on it.

Ratbubu is the collection’s anchor product, riding the global Labubu wave that’s had celebrities and brands eager to join in on the fun. The original Labubus are Pop Mart blind box toys that retail for $20-40, but rare secret editions have sold for up to $10,500 on eBay. Earlier this month, Topps launched the first ever line of Labubu trading cards after BuzzBallz spun up their own Labubu spoof.

So someone at the We Love NYC team looked at this phenomenon and said “let’s make a bootleg version but make it rats.” The product description calls it “an icon of pop culture meets the city’s infamous rats”, while the product photos are almost certainly AI-generated and don’t match the actual product.

The New York Post ran a full feature on the collection, complete with photos of the pop-up shop at 101 Lafayette Street. The store decorated with actual rat traps spray-painted with “We Heart NYC.” Opening night offered free rat-themed flash tattoos with any $50 purchase, and apparently people actually waited in line to get permanently inked with rodents.

The Post might not be the best example of hard-hitting journalism, but attention is attention right? There seem to be plenty of people angling to get one of these while they still can.

Here’s the thing about derivative products cashing in on trends: they usually don’t hold value. Ratbubu isn’t an official Labubu collab, it’s not made by Pop Mart, and the quality probably reflects the $55 price point.

But 300 units sold out immediately. The NY Post coverage gives it mainstream visibility. And Labubu collectors are genuinely obsessed with anything adjacent to the brand, even questionable knockoffs. Remember those BuzzBallz “Labuzzy” knockoffs we mentioned earlier? One just sold for $250.

As always, eBay will tell the real story. If Ratbubus start flipping for $80-100, the joke’s on everyone who thought this was too ridiculous to take seriously. If they brick at $60, well, you bought a $55 rat toy with your eyes open.

If pull the trigger, you might see modest returns if the viral attention continues. Or you could just buy an actual Labubu instead. At least those have real resale data and aren’t propped up entirely by one news article and manufactured NYC irony.