Trendy Toys Invade Vegas
Which toy ended up on top of DCON 2025? Labubu — well, sort of.
Urban Aztec’s Mothra and Godzilla’s were stars of DCON 2025. 📍 The Expo at World Market Center; Las Vegas, Nevada
⏰ Mon, Nov 17, 2025 @ 4 AM PST
🎰 Published from Las Vegas, USA
🔨 Built by Chase Burns Broderick
What’s the saying? “The first two nights in Las Vegas are heaven; the third night is hell?” Or something.
It’s my fourth night in Vegas, and I’m ready to hop on a plane to Shenzhen (nothing on the strip is cheaper than $9; I’m broke)—but I also had a very fun time at DesignerCon 2025. Despite large crowds, lines were managed relatively quickly, and the broad selection, especially for vinyl art toy and kaiju fans, is hard to beat.
While I’ve got some downtime before my flight, here are a few of this weekend’s shopping highlights.
Confession: I’ve never seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. 📍 Circus Circus; Las Vegas, North Strip
Caveat: This isn’t a “best of” list, and it’s definitely not meant to represent every corner of DCON. It’s blind-box focused cuz I’m blind-box focused.
Ukio “Letters to Nowhere” Series Blind Box (JOTOYS) — Shenzhen 🇨🇳
It’s all about the hair. 👀 Ukio, the newest IP from JOTOYS.
I’ve liked JOTOYS for a while now—their Q-Kid series especially. The figures have a real weight to them, both literally and emotionally; they feel good in the hand and read as “special” even to kids who’ve never seen art toys before. At an all-ages Pride flea market on Orcas Island in early June, before Labubu mania had really spread in the US, I was selling blind boxes, and the JOTOYS pieces were the ones kids ran to first.
A flea market on the remote Orcas Island in early June during an all-ages Pride gig.
This was before Labubu mania had really spread, and the kids were genuinely impressed by JOTOY’s Q.Kid series the most.
So it felt fitting that JOTOYS’ DCON booth was one of the most polished on the floor, and that the product that really announced their ambition was Ukio’s Letters to Nowhere. On paper, it’s a seven-figure blind-box line—six regular characters plus a 1/72 secret. In reality, it’s JOTOYS raising the bar in the blind-box aisle. Ukio’s soft, wig-style hair can be restyled, and the wig/back-of-head plate lifts off so you can move and swap the eyes, pulling in more traditional doll mechanics instead of the usual one-pose, one-expression vinyl.
The blind box for the upcoming “Letters to Nowhere” series.
That extra layer of styling won’t be for everyone, but for people who find static blind boxes a bit pointless—and who’ve drifted toward keychains or pendants for “usefulness”—this gives the figure a life.
The wig and back of head is removable, allowing additional styling and eye configuration.
Emotionally, the line sits in that same quiet, melancholy space that made Pop Mart’s Hirono such a hit, but it doesn’t feel like an imitation. It’s JOTOYS doing their own thing with a wider toolset.
Management at the DCON booth said the new series should start landing in a few months. (If anyone from JOTOYS wants to chat, by the way, I’m in Shenzhen until December 🤪🤝🫨☕️.)
Kasing Lung x BE@RBRICK 1000% (MEDICOM TOY) — Hong Kong / Tokyo 🇭🇰🇯🇵
Given 2025 featured Labubu Summer, this was the object at DesignerCon 2025.
The Kasing Lung 1000% BE@RBRICK was released through an EQL/Run Fair raffle as a VIP pre-event exclusive at US $1,200 plus fees, then carried over into a broader raffle for regular ticket holders on Saturday. A 1000% BE@RBRICK is already an apex format—roughly 70 cm / 27.5 inches tall, basically a toddler—and Kasing Lung, the creator of Labubu, is one of the few toy artists whose name can drive fine-art prices. Put that all together in a show that’s basically a BE@RBRICK convention, and you get this big, buzzy piece.
1000% box (right).
Kasing Lung drew this. He also touched it.
I wasn’t prepared for this; carried it so delicately so it wouldn’t bend.
You could spot winners instantly: huge Medicom boxes with built-in plastic handles, being wheeled or lugged through the aisles like people were leaving an auction rather than a convention. I was one of them. I wasn’t prepared for how precious it would feel in person; I carried the box like it might bend if I breathed wrong. Staff mentioned that Kasing Lung was supposed to appear but hadn’t made it; in his absence, they were handing out printed cards with his signature.
Outside the pick-up booth, the secondary market started before people even left the building. While I was in line for the Tokidoki signing (a line I eventually gave up on), a collector who’d pulled two of the Kasing Lung BE@RBRICKs sold both at retail on the spot to a Whatnot-streaming couple from Texas. As they talked through the deal, they were saying how just having a piece like this in the background of their live streams would signal what kind of collectors they are—the top-shelf kind.
Baby Three “Cowboy Tribe” Limited Edition Plush Duo (Big Beautiful Toy Co.) — Dongguan 🇨🇳
“Lasso Man” and “Meadow Wanderer,” the two latest US-only exclusives from Baby Three and UCC Distribution.
This was what I was personally most excited for. Baby Three is one of the quickest, most liquid IPs in my resale pile; listings sell within 24 hours usually. The brand blew up first in Southeast Asia via TikTok and is now getting a full-on push into Western retail—Urban Outfitters already stocks multiple Baby Three lines, from mini bunny keychains to 400% and 1000% plush series.
The real magic of Baby Three is its faceplate economy. The IP launched as the first random-expression blind box, based out of Dongguan, and collectors don’t just chase outfits or animals, they chase eyes: “boba” eyes, “crying” eyes, odd specialty eyes. People want a specific gaze paired with a particular little face tattoo or hair gem, so the front plate becomes an extra axis of rarity. If I had to pinpoint one thing, this is the juice behind Baby Three’s rise.
Cowboy Tribe plugs that Baby Three logic into a con-exclusive format that UCC has been building out, similar to their popular “Street Hyper” debut at San Diego Comic-Con. They’re marketed as a limited run of around 1,000 pieces with an ultra-small chase count in the mix (only 20 per version).
If Baby Three and UCC keep handling the brand boldly—leaning into exclusives and expanding product type—I don’t think this stays a niche toy for much longer.
