Around 20 small cherub figurines who wear various accessories and clothes lay scattered in junior Bethany Bonner’s (she/her) room and car. Surprisingly, she wasn’t originally a fan of the $13 collectibles known as Sonny Angels, but when she saw one of her friends with one, she had a change of heart.
“I just looked at them more,” Bonner said. “I think they’re really cute. I wanted the hipper originally because I wanted to stick one on my phone and in my car, but they were sold out so I got an original one, Animal Series Two, but after I got a hipper one.”
Due to its popularization on social media, the blind box trend has taken off in recent years. Blind boxes are fully concealed packages that contain small, collectible figurines, with their most appealing feature being the element of surprise — consumers won’t know what’s inside until they buy and open it. Popular blind boxes include Dreams’ Sonny Angel and Smiski or Pop Mart’s Labubu.
Bonner started her collection last summer, and her favorite series are the Valentine’s Day and Candy Shop collections.
“I didn’t start collecting them until last summer because I could not get my hands on them,” Bonner said. “I was in New York City for a while, and I called seven stores looking for them. I was roaming around New York by myself, looking for these babies. I found one at Urban Outfitters, and when I shook it, it was empty because someone stole the baby and just left the box. I was really upset about it.”
Bonner said she has likely spent around $120 on Sonny Angels. She said their growing popularity over the summer made them more difficult to collect. Apart from Sonny Angels, Bonner also said she knows a lot of people who collect Smiskis and Skull Pandas, other collections of blind boxes.
“I have (a Skull Panda) because my mom bought me one when she was in Chicago, and she knows that I like Sonny Angels, and then she saw Skull Panda,” Bonner said.
Bonner also said not to buy one whenever you see one, as healthy spending habits are important to maintain. A lot of her Sonny Angels were gifts because others know she likes them.
As for freshman Bonny Lee (she/her), she started collecting blind box figurines in sixth grade and has now racked up over 20 of them. Lee said her obsession began after spotting a friend’s Smiski, a small glow-in-the-dark figurine that comes in various themes and poses.
“I was like, ‘Where’d you get that? That’s so cute,’ And then she was like, ‘Oh, I got it online,’ And I was like, ‘Give me one,’” Lee said. “And then I started getting a little addicted.”
When buying blind boxes, some of her favorite go-to stores include online store Sonny Angel where she gets her Smiskis, secondhand online markets like Depop and Mercari and retail store Fireworks. Although she said she was tempted to buy the long-awaited Sunday series, which came out in March and includes Smiskis doing various “Sunday activities,” Lee opted to save some money first.
“Honestly, if there’s blind boxes anywhere, I’ll probably buy one,” Lee said. “It might be a little expensive, but it’s still worth it because you become happy.”
Lee hopes to obtain a “secret” in a blind box, which is a special figure and much more difficult to get. A lot of times, the chances of getting a secret can range from a 1/27 chance to a 1/288 chance, depending on the specific manufacturer and series. As for Bonner, she wishes for the Dreaming Hipper Series. She added that if anyone were to buy her a Sonny Angel, Smiski or Skull Panda, she will always treasure them dearly — she said her Sonny Angels are perfect for her and can keep her happy for years to come.
“I feel like when I’m old and gray, these will be with me and they will be in my will,” Bonner said. “My Sonny Angels are not a phase, and they will be with me forever.”
