TikTok users have been stealing the heads off Lebron James figures at retail stores. This incredibly odd trend has pulled in millions of views and created an unknown number of action figures sitting on store shelves missing a face.
According to
Know Your Meme, the initial head thief was TikTok user @calanmcgowan, who on
July 14 posted a video featuring a stolen head from the "Space Jam: A New Legacy" LBJ Big Figurine figure produced by Moose Toys alongside a distorted audio of the Space Jam theme song.
The formula worked and the video pulled in 5.1 million views, creating copycats quickly all around the app. People started to post videos of themselves going into big box retailers to
take the heads of these figures, as well as post
videos of their new ill-gotten goods.
Over 36,000 videos on TikTok used this distorted theme song as audio, many of them containing stolen James heads. Creative users have ripped the
heads off of plushies, replaced
the tops of random anime figures, and even posted
videos with multiple heads, showing off their collection like the Predator with its trophies.
Some Walmart locations have seemingly started to lock up the heads of these figures in their own boxes to keep them from being stolen, according to videos posted online.
Some Twitter users who appear unaware of the trend's origins have posted about their confusion as to why these heads were missing.
Like most TikTok trends, it's a futile effort to try and explain why people are stealing these heads. The platform tends to give way to and feed these movements fairly organically, with others jumping on the bandwagon hoping to get their own piece of a viral phenomenon.
Moose Toys, which has the Space Jam license and produced these figures, declined to comment.
did this cac bust one on Lola?
so weird
