about my fairies 🧚🏻‍♀️

(20/06/25, 23:26 WIB)

Note from 24 Jun: I read everything again, from start to finish, and it sounds so much like I’m defending my blind box obsession (I’m not obsessed!). 

I put sentimental value on objects so I pretty much keep everything—birthday cards, theme park tickets, plane tickets, greeting cards from flowers, meds wrappers, my elementary school time table sheets, printed photos of friends I no longer talk to. Every little thing is valuable to me, because only I can connect with the memories that each holds. I can look at them again over time and I’d have flashbacks—I can easily remember why I kept them. And I don’t mind. I love memories. Good or bad, they just happen to have happened and that’s how I’m here and that’s why I am.

The same with my fairies. When the POP MART blind box hype was at its peak, I had zero clue of what the store offers so I decided to check it out. Long story short, I found a blind box series that I like: Peach Riot Punk Fairy 🧚🏻‍♀️ My first impression was Oh this is sooo Scott Pilgrim and I liked how the characters are in a band and have their own songs (I’m a sucker for Concepts). Plus, I 1) love flowers, 2) thought that the entire series matches my room, and 3) thought that it would complement my LEGO Botanicals collection. It was made for Me!

Maybe I was trying to justify excessive consumption and Beginner level gambling but initially the plan was to get these fairies for decorating my bedroom. But the journey of collecting every single one of the figurines itself turned out to be a pleasant experience. Now I can look at each one and tell the tale of how I managed to get them. 

In chronological order:

🌻 Frankie Sunflower: When I first got into Punk Fairy I didn’t buy one myself right away. My friend who lives in KL got one for me. I opened it during our pre-New Year’s lunch with our other friends. And Frankie Sunflower was my first pull! She asked if this was my wishlist and I told her that I was happy with any (I was secretly hoping for Gigi Mushroom).

⛈️ Frankie Rainstorm: Frankie back to back! The same friend got me another box when she visited again in early January. Before I opened it, I told her and our other friend that the box contains Frankie Rainstorm for sure (evidently, I’m a psychic). She was my first fairy that came with a guitar, which was difficult to install… hehe…

🪷 Frankie Lily Pad: I got two boxes for my birthday, each from different friends, but the first one was Frankie Rainstorm (again) so I ended up selling her (sorry). I was quite nervous to open the second box because I just experienced getting a dupe for the first time (not the best feeling, TBH), so you can imagine how happy I was when I got Frankie Lily Pad. I immediately thought she’d be happy sitting on my stationary drawer, and at this point she became my favorite. She was my first fairy that has tattoos and isn’t standing up.

🫧 Poppy Morning Dew: My friend’s girlfriend got me two boxes! I was also quite nervous when opening the first one, but thankfully I got my first Poppy! I thought she’s sooo pretty—her wings have a perfect gradient, her dress and boots are shimmering metallic. Even until now I still think that she’s the prettiest, though she’s not my favorite.

The next ones are kind tricky to tell. Basically I pulled another Frankie Sunflower from the second box. I tried to find someone to trade with, but I got so impatient I ended up buying three more boxes on my own (there’s no logic behind this). When they were on their way, I found someone to trade Sunflower with! That’s how I got 🌗 Frankie Moonrise 🌓. 

From the three boxes that I bought: 🫛 Gigi Sweet Pea (my absolute, absolute favorite), Frankie Sunflower (third time… my god…), and Frankie Lily Pad (second time). Can you imagine… 😪

So I decided maybe, just maybe, my 28 year-old self should join a blind box community on Twitter. Every night, every hour, every second I searched ‘peach riot’ to look for possible trades. This took a while—maybe around a month? I was obsessively searching for fairies that I have yet owned. I’m impatient yes I’m impatient IDK why it’s not that I care about it that much? I just can’t WAIT to get rid of the dupes and complete my collection because at this point I was like… halfway through? I got quite motivated.

During that month, I managed to 1) trade Frankie Lily Pad to 🍄 Gigi Mushroom and 2) sold my third Sunflower to someone’s who’s been looking for it since August/September last year (happy for her!). In total, I have seven (!!!) out of 12. Well, 12+1 because there’s a secret figurine (we’ll get to that later).

I counted my spending on these fairies and since I sold my second Frankie Rainstorm and Sunflower, while the rest were gifts from friends, I thought it’s okay to spend a little 🙂 But once I got my hands on ❄️ Gigi Ice and 🪵 Poppy Tree Stump (unsealed, I don’t want anymore dupes at this point), I started spending… not so little 🙂 Like come on… 9/12+1? You might think I’m so obsessed with this whole blind box thing because of a like… dopamine situation from impulsive buying. Contrary to what your opinion might be, I think I got high off of achieving so much so quickly. 

Now… How many left to collect? Only three. Pretty simple. It went like this:

🍃 Gigi Leaf: Bought an unsealed box.

🌰 Poppy Acorn: Bought an unsealed box.

🌼 Poppy Daisy: Bought an unsealed box BUT……… this was a bitch to find. I have a theory that at least 50% of the people who bought Punk Fairy at POP MART Indonesia around late last year got Daisy. And then after that Indonesia got no more Daisy so no one got a double. Gigi Leaf and Poppy Acorn were so easy to find—there were even multiple accounts selling them—but zero Poppy Daisy. Thanks to my obsession to Achieve Big Things and Complete My Goal I was lucky enough to find a Twitter user, who at that time was offering Daisy to someone else, and DM-ed them right away. IDK if the other person declined or whatever but hey, why should I think about it.

That’s all 12! Please keep in mind that the cost of one Peach Riot Punk Fairy blind box at POP MART Indonesia is IDR199.000. I was strict with my spending and did not want to go over 200k/box. Half of the unsealed ones that I bought were ~150k, and the rest were 200k. 

Did you forget? It’s 12+1—wasn’t there a 13th? OK so… the secret fairy… 🍓 Poppy Strawberry… Of course I was aware of her existence and of course I looked her up on Twitter and e-commerce platforms. I think I found three being sold? And they’re all 900k-1mio? There’s no way I’m spending that much for one figurine, right? I shot my shot and got one for 500k, which is roughly the cost of 1.5 boxes. The chances of getting the secret item was 1/144 BTW. They said I could negotiate (nego tipis though, lol) so I asked if they’d let her go for 500k and they said yes 🤷🏻‍♀️ IDK… Maybe they got frustrated because no one would buy, which means it’s gonna take up space in their storage, but heyyy why should I think about it~

Voila! 13/13 fairies and 1,400-ish words (so far) about my journey in collecting them. As I said before, I don’t think I’m obsessed because it gave me another reason to shop impulsively. It’s just… because I kept getting boxes from my friends I got closer and closer to my goal pretty quickly, I got so close so fast that I could kinda taste Success. And now I managed to complete my set in under seven months. 

I also had a pleasant experience trading! It’s always lovely to know that you’re part of a community—at least with this one no one questions your reason for collecting. They all want to do the same. I also love packing my little fairies before sending them off. And oh! A couple of people also wrote me very sweet thank you notes. One even included three instant noodles (because she didn’t have enough bubble wrap 😅). It was a lovely experience!

And now… I’m gonna sleep. I didn’t think I’d yap about my fairies this much but I just love memories. I would like to wake up every day and catch a glimpse of the past every time I glance at my belongings. I like to be reminded about time. There’s something reviving about it. It’s not very easy for me to feel alive all the time. I’d take any chance I could to make myself feel 🧚🏻‍♀️

— S. N.