4 Pop Mart Aesthetics Reimagined in Wool Felt: Skullpanda, Crybaby, Twinkle Twinkle, and Hirono Through a Handmade Lens

Pop Mart is no longer a one-character company. While Labubu still drives the headlines, the more interesting story for design-minded collectors is the rise of the supporting cast: Skullpanda's gothic high-fashion edge, Crybaby's emotional vulnerability, Twinkle Twinkle's gentle optimism, Hirono's wild-eyed whimsy. Each has a distinct mood — and that's why they work.

Here's a thought experiment. What if you stripped each of these characters down to their core emotional palette and asked: what would these moods look like rendered not in vinyl, but in 100% natural wool, sculpted by hand?

The answer turns out to be surprisingly beautiful — and it points toward something Pop Mart fans rarely think about: the same emotions that make blind boxes addictive can be captured, often more powerfully, in handmade craft.

Let's walk through four moods.

Mood 1: The Gothic Glamour (Skullpanda)

Skullpanda's whole language is contrast. Skeletal motifs against couture silhouettes. Black against pale skin. Cute against unsettling. There's a reason it became Pop Mart's #2 IP and got a My Little Pony crossover that pulled hundreds of thousands of likes — the dark-but-precious energy is genuinely compelling.

Translated into wool felt, that aesthetic lives in a very specific place: needle-felted ghost figures, witchy mice in tiny hats, Halloween ornaments that are equal parts spooky and hand-cuddlable. The signature move is the same — taking something traditionally dark (a ghost, a skull, a black cat) and rendering it so soft and small that it becomes endearing.

If Skullpanda is your favorite Pop Mart IP, look for felt pieces that play in that exact contrast: dark palette, big eyes, slightly mischievous expression. The medium does the rest.

Mood 2: The Healing Positivity (Twinkle Twinkle)

Twinkle Twinkle — the star people, 星星人 — exploded in 2025 and 2026 by being the emotional opposite of Labubu. Where Labubu is monstrous and rebellious, Twinkle is soft, dreamy, optimistic. The plush pendants disappear from shelves within minutes of restocking, partly because the design is so squeezable, and partly because the feeling is so accessible.

In wool felt, this mood lives in cottagecore. Blush palettes, romantic pastels, tiny mice with dreamy expressions and miniature scarves, soft handmade scenes that look like they came out of a children's book. The needle-felted texture adds something the vinyl plush version can't quite reach: actual softness, actual warmth, actual fiber that breathes.

If you're drawn to Twinkle Twinkle's gentle vibe, you're probably going to fall in love with cottagecore needle felt almost instantly. They're cousins.

Mood 3: The Tender Vulnerability (Crybaby)

Crybaby's appeal is more sophisticated than people give it credit for. The tear-streaked design, the vacation-mode-on series, the pendants that hang from people's bags like little emotional badges — this is a character about feeling things openly. It's a Gen Z and millennial mood: the permission to be soft, to be sad, to be a little tender about the world.

Wool felt translates this beautifully. Mice wrapped in handmade scarves against the cold. Tiny figures with downturned ears and gentle eyes. Pieces that look like they need a hug — and give one in the act of being held.

The thing wool does that vinyl can't: it actually feels like a hug. Pick up a needle-felted figure and you feel the wool give slightly under your fingers. There's a reason emotional-mood pieces live so naturally in this medium.

Mood 4: The Wild Whimsy (Hirono)

Hirono — the Living Wild Doll — has been having a moment, helped along by celebrity spotters (BTS's V was famously seen with one). The aesthetic is harder to pin down: childlike but a little feral, expressive but not quite cute, full of personality but slightly off-kilter.

In handmade wool felt, this energy shows up in storybook woodland creatures, slightly oversized eyes, characters that look like they wandered in from a fairy tale that never got written. Tree dolls. Forest mice with too many accessories. Christmas figures that look like they have inner lives.

Hirono fans tend to be the collectors who want figures with character — not just cuteness. The needle felt equivalent has the same draw.

Why the translation works

Plastic, even at its best, is a polished material. It hides the hand. Wool does the opposite — it shows every tiny decision the artist made. That's why the same emotional moods that make Pop Mart IPs so compelling actually deepen when you render them in wool. The vinyl version is the idea. The felt version is the idea, plus the artist's heartbeat.

You don't have to choose between them. Plenty of collectors keep their Pop Mart shelf and add felt pieces alongside. But if you've been building a designer toy collection around mood and aesthetic — not just brand — handmade wool felt is the natural next room to walk into.

Explore our Designed Felt Art collection to find pieces matching your favorite mood. From cottagecore softness to woodland whimsy, every piece is needle-felted by hand from 100% natural wool.