Model mania sweeps wonderland
Thousands of fans head to festival to indulge their passion for figurines from the worlds of manga, movies, games, comics and novels, Wang Xin reports in Shanghai.
With such huge financial potential, global figure manufacturers are eyeing opportunities in the vast Chinese market. Compared with 2024's festival, this year's event saw a large increase in commercial participants, with new brands accounting for over 35 percent of business exhibitors, and more than 1,000 limited and exclusive edition products for sale. For example, renowned Japanese figure manufacturer Alter was at the Shanghai festival for the first time, introducing a variety of new products and limited editions.
Weta Workshop, based in New Zealand and one of the world's largest multidisciplinary creative service companies, was participating in the event for the second time. Nina Zhang, the company's business-to-business key account manager, said she was deeply impressed by visitors' passion and enthusiasm and had met many Weta fans who had traveled long distances to be at the festival.
"The Chinese market is a huge market for us. We see even more people here this year and more are coming to visit us. It is fantastic to have the chance to directly engage with our fans and see what they are buying, what is popular and trending," said Jack Oolders, sales manager at Weta Workshop.
He also shared that the large size of the collectibles market in China always surprises him. He enjoyed interacting with the fans and other companies firsthand at the event, and hopes to bring a whole product catalog next year.
