Once something catches on, jumping on the bandwagon gives people a sense of community.

But, the nature of what makes something viral, like how the article mentions pandemic, seems agnostic to what actually becomes viral. Why did labubus go viral and not something else[1]? It’s luck and timing, and we can try to reverse-engineer it, but it’s just being prepared & luck. We’re seeing a survivor bias and thinking the survivor is special inherently.

So what enabled Pop Mart to be prepared?

[1]Actually, there’s also sneaker hype, meme stocks, etc.