It's an inoffensive little doll thing that Chinese schoolgirls have had clipped on their school bags for a few years. Made by a Hong Kong designer based on Nordic folk creatures, wasn't really a big deal. My younger cousin in Wuhan has had one since... 2019? Sometime around then. It was in the background of WeChat calls during lockdowns in 2020, it's when I first became aware of their existence.

Last April, however, KPop star Lisa of BLACKPINK was photographed with one clipped to her handbag. This suddenly caused them to explode in popularity among Kpop stans. After a couple months, regular people discovered them and their popularity which created a feedback loop of people who don't listen to BLACKPINK buying them because they're (somewhat) adorable and popular. This led to shortages, resale markets, counterfeiting, etc.