CHINA’S newest online sensation is a pink fox called LinaBell, who resides in Shanghai Disneyland Resort.

After making her debut Sept. 29, the life-size plush animal has taken the Chinese social media. On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, the hashtag of LinaBell had amassed over 610 million views by now. The new Disney character has been dubbed the “national daughter” by her enthusiastic fans.

But she’s become so popular that scalpers have taken to clearing out Disney Shanghai’s shelves of LinaBell toys to make a killing on the secondary selling market. This week, the situation went so bad that the Shanghai Consumer Council had to step in and ask Disney to account for the situation.

On Sunday, Disney released the online reservation channel for three specific LinaBell toys. Only those who managed to reserve online would be able to buy the toys on-site later in the week, Disney said on its Weibo social media account, attributing the reason for the plan to pandemic control measures.

Eager consumers crushed the network when the reservation window opened Sunday night, only to find most of them returned empty-handed. Disappointed fans were further angered when they discovered the stuffed toys had been relisted on reseller websites at exorbitant prices. In one case, a set of all three LinaBell toys were priced at 10,000 yuan (US$1,570), according to Chinese reports.

Disney did not release prices for the LinaBell plushies during its online reservation exercise, but items in the theme park’s gift shop typically cost between 100 to 300 yuan (US$16 to US$47) each.

Outraged fans lashed out at Disney for not making more toys and accused the company of hunger marketing by producing such limited quantities. They also asked how scalpers were able to get their hands on so many LinaBell plushies, and questioned if the reservation chances were fair.

Disney apologized and attributed the shortage to production bottlenecks amid the pandemic, according to a statement from the company posted to the Shanghai Consumer Council Wechat account. The huge demand was also a factor, the company added. It pledged to restock the toys in large quantities over the next few months.

LinaBell is a newcomer in the Disney world. Unlike other Disney characters, LinaBell has never been on the big or small screen. She’s not in any cartoon series or movie and doesn’t have a full backstory. Disney says she’s “a fox with an inquisitive mind and the intelligence that supports it,” but those who’ve come to know her say they were swooned by her unique personality and endearing appearance.

“I feel cured by LinaBell, I watch her videos every night before bed. I even got an annual pass to Disney just for her,” wrote a blogger called “Dobby.” She posted a video of her talking to LinaBell on her account on social media platform Little Red Book and received 15,000 likes.

LinaBell’s brave, detective-like talents and approachable personality resonate with young Chinese women and her memes are also popular among mostly Gen Zers. But Sunday’s incident is only one of the controversies the star fox has faced over her short career in Chinese showbiz.

Earlier this month, a video of LinaBell’s apparently rude behavior at a Disneyland meet-and-greet went viral on Chinese social media. In the clip, LinaBell was seen responding to fans’ request to shake her tail by pointing at the way out. After a fan was heard asking her to “give me a kiss,” LinaBell blew a kiss but then made gestures of throwing it onto the floor and stamping on it. The clip sparked outrage among some fans, who accused Disney of letting a poorly trained performer ruin the warm persona of their favorite fox.

LinaBell is the first Duffy Friend debuted at a Disney resort on the Chinese mainland. Next year, she will go to Tokyo DisneySea and Hong Kong Disneyland. (SD-Agencies)