Have you ever found yourself staring at a half-naked baby with wings? If so, you may have just become a victim of the new craze, Sonny Angels. In Latin’s halls, these figurines appear on backpacks, in pockets, and as stickers on laptops. What is it about these strange characters that captivate so many Latin students?
The Sonnies were born in Japan and come in both standing statuettes and “hippers,” which are Sonnies that have sticky stomachs to attach to things like your phone. While they have been around for more than 15 years, the Sonnies recently rocketed into American culture with more than 590,000 posts under the Sonny Angel hashtag on Instagram. Many Latin students’ Instagram stories commonly feature different types of Sonnies, from the fruit hippers on their phones to the animal-themed figurines on their desks.
The large variety of options in Sonnies could explain this obsession. Senior Zoe Hessell has a collection with more than 20 Sonnies, made up of seven different series. “I think they are a fun thing to collect, especially because there’s so many different series,” she said.
Senior Sienna Oppenheimer started collecting Sonny Angels last summer. “I have over 40 of them. I’m so excited for the Christmas edition,” she said.
The obsession with Sonnies seems to have caught on fast within the class of 2025. Senior Kate Weiskirch has also become a huge fan. For Kate, her love of Sonnie manifests as stickers on her personal belongings, like her water bottle. But she has the figurines as well.
“It’s fun to collect a few of them and put them up around my house,” Kate said. “They’re fun decoration pieces that aren’t too expensive and [it’s] fun to open the blind boxes.”
The blind boxes that Sonny Angels come in make their contents a mystery. Whether a baby with an elephant trunk or cat ears lies inside is unknown, it’s all about the luck of the draw.
Due to their recent rise in popularity, Sonny Angels have become hard to acquire.
Senior Avery Cobb said, “Sometimes Rotofugi has them, but they sell out within hours. They cost around $11 there.”
Rotofugi is a toy store in Lincoln Park that sells a large majority of figurines. They are also available on the official Sonny website for $10.
Not only do these little figurines have the seniors in a chokehold, but sophomores are equally crazed. Sophomore Makayla Gonsky bought her first Sonny Angel three years ago.
“I first learned about them when I was in New York and saw this cute little baby, so I bought one,” she said.
Sophomore Noor Bazzi started collecting even before they became a trend at Latin.
“My mom used to get me them when I was little, and I always remembered how cute they were,” she said.
However, not everyone is a fan of this new infatuation.
“While I think that people can do whatever they want with their money, I think they [Sonnies] can sometimes be a waste of money because they don’t really have a purpose,” senior Kaden Uddin said. “They are overpriced and most of the time just collect dust on a shelf.”
Sienna, however, strongly disagrees. “I have to keep buying Sonnies,” she said, “because they bring me so much joy and excitement opening each package.”
