The Great Outdoors' Labubu: The Reason Gen Z Are 'Unboxing' Conkers?

Name: Horse chestnuts.

Age: Brought into the UK 409 years ago.

Look: Nature's collectible doll.

No, I don’t think that’s right. Absolutely. Go and watch a social media video of someone unboxing a conker, and you’ll probably hear them refer to it as “nature's Labubu”.

Opening up horse chestnuts? What on Earth are you talking about? Oh wow, you really are not up to date, aren’t you? Young people are using social platforms to record videos removing conkers from their prickly shells.

What's the reason? Because of the feeling of amazement! When you open up a conker, you can't predict what you’re going to get. Will it be big? Might it be flattened? What will its shine level be? It is like a mystery box every time!

Do Labubu dolls share those traits? No, they’re vaguely hellish-looking dolls that have become collectible because they are sold in mystery boxes.

Would someone inform gen Z that they are doing conkers wrong? Is that so? How do you play with horse chestnuts, then?

You put a shoelace through the middle of them, and try to break others' nuts. Is that true? That’s bizarre.

Yeah. You’ll have a much better chance of winning if you soak the conker in vinegar overnight and then heat it in the oven. You're not joking?

Seriously. And should you gather an excess, you can hurl them across the playground and all the other kids will fight each other for them. A lovely item from nature like a conker, and you use it as a weapon? A weapon that comes with a lengthy list of complex and confusing guidelines?

It’s traditional! The King recently awarded the World Conker Championships with a gift of 300 conkers! At least gen Z is only filming them.

Why don’t you know this? Probably, because some schools started banning conkers twenty years back, due to concerns over well-being.

Today's society always surprises. Maybe unboxing conkers just isn’t your thing. In which case, perhaps you would be more interested in some other hot new youth fads.

Oh really? Like what? Well, there’s this thing called knitting, and something else called clay crafting that I can explain to you.

Those hobbies are ancient! Let me guess, you boil the needles in cider and then use them to poke each other?

No! OK, calm down. I thought all old-people traditions involved some type of aggression, after that conker thing.

This is overwhelming. Take a breath. If you need me, I’ll be unboxing seeds for clicks.

Appropriate comment: “Social media loves showcasing nut discoveries.”

What to avoid: “This is nuts.”