The Squishy Trend

At this point, I don’t remember a time when these things weren’t around. I’ve seen multiple videos where an adult has a room full of gimmicky fidget toys, and it doesn’t sit right with me. People with retirement accounts having copious amounts of overpriced ‘squishies’ isn’t normal. You are either obsessed with consumerism and can’t stop buying whatever these influencers tell you to, or you are an influencer whose target audience is children. Out of those two options, I don’t know which is worse. 

Marketing toys to children has always been around, but I don’t believe that makes it okay, especially when you don’t work for these companies. The big one out right now is the Rainbow Mystery Bun, the squishy dumpling. On the packaging, there are bright colors, cartoon dumplings, and a note, “Will You Find The Super Rare! Golden Glitter Dumpling?!” Under that note is the plastic bamboo steamer that holds your mystery dumpling. The product is $5-$10, depending on the size. In these unboxing videos, you see mountains of plastic garbage surrounding these people as they try to find the rare glitter dumpling. After watching about twenty videos like this, it does seem like these mystery box videos are just a clever way to market gambling to children. “Just one more package and you might find the glitter dumpling” is very similar to “This lottery ticket might be the one.”

There are multiple online games and apps that also let you try your luck and pull that rare special item; the difference is that these at least show the odds of pulling the item you’re after. For example, Pokémon TCG Pocket tells its customers specific odds for pulling items and cards; it is required by law to publish its drop rates. These mystery squishies are essentially an unregulated market, trying to get their audience to keep purchasing until they eventually find the item they’re looking for, if they ever do.  

These marketing gimmicks pop up in each generation. We’ve had Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch dolls, and even those Happy Holiday Special Edition Barbies that no one was allowed to take out of the box because they would be worth something one day. Mass produced baubles have existed forever, and they are the same every time: a gimmick to get the average Walmart shopper to buy cheap plastic junk. The people who buy these harmless-seeming toys are all just chasing that “rare item”, and it’s only important because someone else told you it was. 

While seeing these fidgets everywhere, I couldn’t help but think of Labubus, the last tchotchke du jour that blew up overnight. They fell off sometime in the last year and became obsolete, but at one time, they were some kind of status symbol. It was devastating if you accidentally bought a fake Lafufu. I checked in to see how they were doing now. Pop Mart reported selling over 100 million units in 2025, and Labubu sales accounted for 40% of the company’s total value. However, they have suffered a $33 billion loss in market value since this trend completely cooled off. It’s truly a never-ending cycle of inflating the value and building sub-markets and secondary trades for Labubu’s and Stanley cups and yes, now Squishies, only for the hype to fade, all of us poorer and the planet a little sicker.

We tell ourselves we are just buying a toy, the stakes are low, but it becomes gambling when you’re disappointed with the outcome and return to the store for another chance. Something so small can turn into a lifelong struggle with chasing the next big thing. This is to say nothing of the environmental impact of our FOMO. I have to wonder what plastic nonsense we will care about a year from now.