I love a food-themed release when the costume changes the character's outline, not just its color. Dip For Fun gets that right: an orange crab stretches LABUBU sideways, TWINKLE TWINKLE grows a beard of garlic roots, and the secret LABUBU becomes a little red chili with long ears.

This POP MART plush-pendant lineup has nine regular designs and one secret, Spicy Debut. The garlic is my regular pick; the chili is the one that changes the silhouette most.

LABUBU Spicy Debut: the 158.3g secret reference

The secret trades the regular crab costume for a narrow red chili body, with a green stem and pale-lined ears rising above the familiar toothed face. The pointed lower shape makes it feel like a completely different object in the lineup, not a red repaint of Crabsolutely Welcome.

The box reference is 158.3g, almost no up-and-down space, slight movement both left to right and front to back, and a distinct column-like feel. The useful combination is vertical tightness with a little movement across the other directions, not the weight alone.

Two regulars sit close on the scale: Clap for Delight (156.9g) has very large vertical space, while Sunny Sausie (160g) feels full with no side or depth movement. Spicy Debut's mix of a tight vertical fit and slight movement in the other directions is the clue to compare. Crabsolutely Welcome, the regular LABUBU, is heavier at 164.2g, with obvious vertical travel.

The nine regular pendants, up close

LABUBU

Crabsolutely Welcome

Orange claws, little side legs and star-shaped pupils turn LABUBU into a wonderfully overexcited crab. The claws give it the widest outline in this group, so it earns the outside position on a bag or a display hook rather than disappearing between rounder pendants.

DIMOO

Sunny Sausie

DIMOO wears a fuzzy red sausage body with a gathered wrapper-like top and a pale, ridged lower edge. The face stays small inside that big red silhouette, making this the bolder companion to the quieter white garlic design.

TWINKLE TWINKLE

Garlic's Got Game

A white garlic-bulb body, green shoots and a shaggy brown root fringe frame TWINKLE TWINKLE's face. This is my regular pick: the roots make the joke readable from the back as well as the front, without needing a bright costume color.

SKULLPANDA

Clap for Delight

A pale scallop hood with a warm yellow rim surrounds blonde hair and pink eyes, while the brown lower half gives the pendant a squat, compact shape. The rounded shell offers a gentler outline beside LABUBU's outstretched claws, but its layered edge has enough detail to hold up on its own.

CRYBABY

Tomato, Tomahto

CRYBABY's red tomato hood has a green leafy top, with black hair, crossed eyes and tears packed into the small exposed face. The plain round body keeps the expression in charge, making this the funniest counterpoint to the grinning crab.

POLAR

Jet into Joy

POLAR's pointed white squid hood has oversized eyes above the blue fringe, and little tentacles spreading below the face. The long upper point and dangling lower limbs break up a lineup otherwise dominated by bulbs, blocks and shells.

MOLLY

Mushrooming Fun

MOLLY's broad brown mushroom cap sits above cream yarn-like hair and green starry eyes, with a pale fluffy body underneath. The cap supplies a clear horizontal line, so this is the design to place between two taller or more irregular pendants.

HACIPUPU

Jump Scare

HACIPUPU's pink shrimp costume raises two white eye stalks and broad pink claws around the blond-haired face. That playful spread of limbs is a good alternative to the crab when the softer pink palette matters more than LABUBU's toothy grin.

PUCKY

Protein Party

PUCKY's pale pink luncheon-meat costume is a soft rectangular block with rounded corners and a tiny face set into the front. Its almost cushion-like shape is the cleanest visual pause between the crab claws, garlic roots and squid tentacles.

What I would choose

• One regular: Garlic's Got Game wins for me because the green shoots and messy roots work from every angle. Choose Crabsolutely Welcome for a brighter, wider silhouette.
• The regular lineup: A confirmed nine-piece set suits collectors who want the contrasting food shapes together. The secret is not one of those nine regulars, and a sealed case does not promise every possible design.
• The secret: Choose Spicy Debut for the tall red chili shape. A confirmed secret is the direct choice when that is the only design you want.

Browse the Dip For Fun plush-pendant collection for singles and the complete set, or open the Picking Guide for the full weight and shake records. These are the plush pendants, not the separate POP BEAN figures or squishy charms.