- The heads of
Lebron James toys are being stolen from "Space Jam" merchandise. - A viral TikTok trend started in mid-July is causing some stores to lock these heads away.
- There's no clear reason as to why these heads are deemed valuble by those on the social media app.
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.
@gingergottaginge #lebronjameshead #lebronjames #spacejam2 #spacejam #stolenhead #nohead
♬ Space Jam - Main Theme - Geek Music
Some Twitter users who appeare unaware of the trend's origins have posted about their confusion as to why these heads were missing.
-⚔Gatsby Sama⚔ I HAVE RETURNED. (@DesRookie) July 24, 2021
-Darryl Wall (@DWallsEpicHauls) August 8, 2021
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.