**WARNING:** *incoming rant..*

It’s recently come to my attention that a suspicious number of us Labubu collectors are over 30. *(Not all, Gen Z, I see you)* but most of us are firmly in our post-1990s era.

I’m a millennial, which apparently means I should be investing in index funds and trauma-bonding over home interest rates.. *not collecting weird plush keychains*

Online strangers, in their infinite wisdom, have called me everything from *“mentally unwell”* to *“sad”* to *“a mindless victim of consumerism.”*

**“How can you care about toys with everything going on in the world?”** And to that I say: *How could I not care about toys, considering everything going on in the world?*

In fact, here’s a fun little scroll down memory lane.. a highlight reel of existential dread I’ve had the pleasure of being alive for:

- **1993 World Trade Center bombing**
- **1995 Oklahoma City bombing**
- **Columbine High School shooting** (1999)
- **Y2K panic** (1999)
- **September 11, 2001**
- **Anthrax in the mail** (2001)
- **War in Afghanistan** (2001–2021)
- **Iraq War** (2003–2011)
- **2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami**
- **Hurricane Katrina (2005)**
- **2008 Global Financial Collapse**
- **2010 Haiti Earthquake**
- **Sandy Hook shooting** (2012)
- **Rise of ISIS** (2014–2019)
- **Refugee crisis** (mid-2010s)
- **Ebola outbreak** (2014–2016)
- **Pulse nightclub shooting** (2016)
- **Russian election interference** (2016)
- **Las Vegas shooting** (2017)
- **Parkland shooting** (2018)
- **COVID-19 pandemic** (2020–2023)
- **Capitol Insurrection** (2021)
- **Russia–Ukraine War** (2022–ongoing)
- **Maui wildfires** (2023)
- **Hurricane Helene** (2024)
- **California wildfires** (2024)
- **Ai taking over the world** (2025)
- **Rising authoritarianism** (2025)
- **Free Palestine**, *because yes.. some of us actually do pay attention*

So yeah, Susan, I’ve lived through 25+ major global crises. I’ve watched the world burn on a fairly consistent basis *metaphorically* and *literally.*

If I want to find a little joy in a bug-eyed forest gremlin named Labubu, maybe.. *just maybe* that’s the least disturbing coping mechanism I could’ve chosen.

**With that said, let me enjoy my f%king Labubu in peace. She’s not much more evil than the world we’re already living in.**

Sincerely, 

*A Tired Millennial*

No, I’m Not Okay.. That’s Why I Collect Labubu