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'Teenieping,' huge problem as parents scramble to find latest series toys for Christmas

Published: 25 Dec. 2024, 16:56 Updated: 26 Dec. 2024, 18:52

CHO YONG-JUN
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A notice at a hypermarket in Seoul on Dec. 23 shows that Auroraping Castle House toy is sold out. [YONHAP]

The Christmas holiday is a time for couples and families to relax and enjoy each other's company, but for parents with young kids, it’s the season for a scavenger hunt to find the new Teenieping toy in extremely high demand amongst preschoolers.

The popular animation series “Catch! Teenieping” that hit the air in 2020 has been on the end of polarizing receptions from preschooler viewers and their parents: while the kids love it for the hundred-plus cute and colorful characters, parents have suffered from the release of countless dolls and toys from the series, giving rise to a nickname for the show in online parenting communities: "bankruptcy-ping."

The big hype this year seems to be in the castle toy inspired by the new character Auroraping, as parents queued outside hypermarkets early Christmas Eve to snatch the product as soon as it was restocked.

Auroraping Castle House displayed at the Emart Yongsan store in central Seoul on Dec. 19 [YONHAP]

“Our kids love the characters to the extent that even I got to memorize the characters’ names,” 43-year-old Kim Min-jeong told the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, at a hypermarket in Eunpyeong District, northern Seoul, on Tuesday.

Kim said she came to the hypermarket to buy Christmas gifts after sending her child to nursery school.

“The Auroraping toy, which is the most popular one, is already sold out,” she said. “I’ll have to just buy some other Teenieping toy and use that as a Christmas gift.”

Hompleus said Thursday that the sales of toys predominantly favored by girls rose by 15 percent from Dec. 15 to Christmas Day compared to the same period the previous year. The retailer, which had explained that the increase in sales was driven by "Catch! Teenieping" toys, said it had restocked 1,200 Auroraping Castle Houses on Monday, which had reportedly sold out on the day at all Homeplus branches.

“We had to give tickets to the people in the queue,” an Emart employee said. “A lot of people queued up, but we only had 40 in stock.”

The unfortunate parents who weren't able to bag the Auroraping Castle House all turned to used marketplaces like Karrot or Bunjang, where people were selling the product for three to seven times the retail price of 39,900 won ($27).

BY LEE SOO-JEONG,LEE GA-RAM,CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]