India, Jan. 3 -- If you thought Labubus were so 2025, there's already a new obsession lining up for 2026. Just as collectors were hitting blind-box fatigue, Japanese robotics company Yukai Engineering has shifted the bag-charm craze from plastic trinkets to semi-sentient tech with its latest creation: Mirumi, a creature that looks part yeti, part owl, part vintage Muppet.

Its most striking feature? The face, or the absence of one. Mirumi (priced at $150 or Rs.13,000) wears a wide-eyed, vacant stare that social media has already christened the "Gen-Z stare".

Built with a custom algorithm, it reacts to touch and sound with what feels like curiosity, turning its head, blinking and clinging to bag straps with sloth-like arms. The effect is ...