How Italian brain rot is becoming Gen Alpha’s latest toy obsession

Toys modelled after viral creations, such as a jet-powered crocodile named “bombardino crocodilo” and a wooden log with a baseball bat dubbed “tung tung tung sahur” from an Indonesian folklore, are flying off toy shelves, following in the footsteps of the viral Labubu doll craze.

“Brain rot”, Oxford’s word of the year for 2024, refers to a category of memes defined by low-grade internet humour—addictive, chaotic, and often symbolic of mental burnout from excessive scrolling.

The origin of this genre of bizarre, algorithmically generated characters on TikTok earlier this year was just as random: it began with the reinterpretation of the Italian filler lyrics “trallalero trallallà” as a Nike-wearing shark.

That spawned a series of similar surreal creations—a cappuccino mug performing ballet in a tutu skirt called “ballerina cappucina,” a cactus-elephant hybrid named “lirili larila,” and many more.

Users built elaborate fictional worlds around them—complete with fights, rankings, and love stories—before the memes migrated from global feeds to Indian Instagram pages.

The latest online meme has now evolved into a global consumer trend, shaping the physical toy market. The rise of Italian brain-rot toys marks a cultural shift in how the youngest generation experiences creativity and play. For Gen Alpha, raised on AI and memes, the boundary between virtual imagination and real-world toys is vanishing fast.

Gen Alpha’s latest obsession

Gen Alpha kids, born between 2010 and 2024, are hooked on games featuring Italian brain rot characters on popular gaming platforms like Roblox.

“We grew up in a time when access to technology came later in life, but Gen Alpha are digital natives—they’ve grown up with screens from their earliest years,” said Archit Madaan, founder of The Indian Sarcasm, a meme page that has evolved into a marketing agency managing hundreds of meme accounts.

“That’s why AI-generated, mix-and-match content like Italian brain rot resonates so strongly with them; what we could only imagine as kids, they can now bring to life with just a few clicks.”

Toy industry and 3D printers cash in

Toy makers, especially Chinese exporters and Indian 3D-printing startups, are capitalising on the craze.

Chinese exporters supply these toys to India, while indigenous 3D printers and small local manufacturers try to cash in on the trend while it lasts. “In the case of labubu dolls, we noted that the Chinese resellers and toy makers made more money than Pop Mart, the actual creators of it,” he added.

A quick search for “Italian brainrot” toys or specific character names on e-commerce platforms such as Flipkart and Amazon pulls up dozens of buying options, typically priced between ₹200 and ₹300 per piece, with larger figurines costing more. Bundled sets of multiple toys sell for ₹800– ₹1,500. A closer look reveals that many of these listings come from 3D toy makers.

“About six months ago, my nine-year-old son told me about the Italian brainrot trend and asked me to print 3D versions of those characters,” said Rahul Chandalia, cofounder and chief executive officer of Wol3D, a 3D printing prototype company that ventured into toy manufacturing last year under the Vinglits brand.

These samples started gaining traction in the market. “Even though we focus on customised products- a relatively new category- we’ve already sold over a thousand Italian brainrot toys,” Chandalia said.

Wol3D supplies these customised figurines to resellers, who then list and sell them on Amazon, Flipkart, and Instagram stores.

According to Chandalia, characters like ‘tung tung tung sahur’ are among the most popular, followed by ‘tralalelo tralala’ and ‘ballerina cappucina’. There is also strong demand for ‘bombardino crocodilo’ and ‘chimpanzini bananini’, combining a chimpanzee and a banana.

The trend has also encouraged many parents to purchase 3D printers, priced around ₹20,000, for their children instead of individual toys, allowing them to experiment with AI tools and design. The company currently sells about 15,000-20,000 units per year.

“One key takeaway from this trend is that kids connect better with toys that have names and stories around them, so we’re building stronger character identities across our range,” Chandalia said.

Most demand comes from parents of nine to twelve-year-olds, although many adults also purchase these figurines as desk or room showpieces to keep up with social media trends.

Chandalia added that 3D printed trend-driven toys are a highly profitable segment, with margins of around 30%, given the low production cost of ₹50 per piece. Wol3D currently operates over 250 machines and plans to double it by April 2026. “When fidget spinners were all the rage, we sold over 6,000 pieces,” he recalled.

While several new companies in India have begun producing 3D-printed trendy toys, the market remains largely dominated by Chinese imports. Many manufacturers and resellers marketing their products as ‘Made in India’ actually source the components from China and assemble them locally.

“Indigenous toy manufacturing is not as big in India as people claim it to be,” Ankur Bisen, senior partner at consulting firm The Knowledge Company, told Mint. “There may be spurts here and there, but no local manufacturing clusters in toys have emerged.”

“Most small units claiming to make toys in India are in reality just importing from China and assembling here, as is the case in other consumer categories too. Else, these imports come from Thailand, or increasingly from Vietnam.”

Even in the case of Labubu dolls, there were many copies in India. “But they were not being made here,” he said. However, it is hard to determine if 3D printing units in India listed as sellers of these toys are actually making them in the country.

It is difficult to gauge the size of the toy manufacturing market in the country, with very few reliable estimates available, as local units often bypass legal barriers to Chinese imports. In May last year, the trade research organisation Global Trade Research Initiative estimated India’s toy exports at $152.3 million for FY24 and imports at $64.9 million.

Parents’ dilemma

Parents, meanwhile, are both amused and exasperated. “Just two months ago, my nine-year-old threw a tantrum demanding a Labubu toy…she was totally obsessed with it until her friends shifted to the latest craze, the Italian brain rot characters,” said Geetu Kapoor, a mother of two and primary school teacher. “It’s not just her, every child in my class talks about these characters.”

Reels from influencers, particularly parenting creators, are going viral as they discover and react to these bizarrely named Italian brainrot toys they’ve bought for their kids.

“What started as a fun video quickly turned into an online discussion,” said Akash Dodeja, who has been making content since 2015 and has over 426,000 followers on Instagram.

“Our comments were flooded with millennials like us, equally shocked by what Gen Alpha kids are watching and playing with.”

Many of the posts on how absurd yet strangely catchy these character names highlight the widening generational gap between millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and Gen Alpha (born from around 2013 onward). Parents say it is harder to relate to Gen Alpha than Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012), a group known for its social media trends and internet slang.

“I’m 45 now, and Spiderman toys I played with as a child are still enjoyed by my kids. But these trendy toys like Italian brain rot, Labubus, and Pop Its are nothing but a rat race. Their shelf life is just a few months, fuelled by peer pressure among children rather than genuine interest,” Kappor said.

Italian brainrot is a rabbit hole, Dodeja said. “It hooks you with one video, makes you curious as you discover more ridiculous yet catchy characters, and before you know it, you’re tracking dozens of variations, and for all you know, these can become prized collectables in the future if brands hop on to these.

It’s unending because it’s AI-generated — you can literally create anything. That’s the kind of disruption AI has brought to the creator economy, and as creators, we have to keep up. “But as of yet, I only see this concept of Italian brainrot growing into a pop culture moment,” he said.