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.

While millions of people traveled to tourist spots across the world over the recent National Day holiday, thousands of model figure enthusiasts flooded into Shanghai for a shared passion.

The Shanghai Wonder Festival 2025, one of the world's largest exhibitions of garage kit figures, was their destination. Garage kit figures refer to model figures portraying humans, fictional characters or creatures, and are especially popular among ACGN (animation, comics, games and novels) fans worldwide.

The Wonder Festival began as a biannual event in Japan in 1984 to celebrate the world of figures and model kits. It is often regarded as a paradise for collectors and hobbyists, as well as fans of animation, manga, video games and movies. Extending its footprint to China in 2018, the festival entered into partnership with the popular Chinese video-sharing platform Bilibili to organize the annual Shanghai Wonder Festival.

Held in the city from Oct 2 to 3, this year's event attracted over 400 business exhibitors and more than 2,000 individual creators globally, showcasing over 100,000 exhibits and drawing in excess of 120,000 visitors over the two days.

The figures on display came from a wide variety of genres and themes, including original characters, popular animation and video game characters, and pop stars like Michael Jackson, as well as protagonists in movies such as Superman, Joker and The Lord of the Rings.

China's ACGN and other cultural industries have grown rapidly in recent years. Data from iiMedia Research reports show that the pan-ACGN user base in China is likely to reach over 500 million by 2029, while the pan-ACGN market is expected to expand to 834.4 billion yuan ($117 billion) by the same year.

The nation's model figure enthusiasts have also demonstrated strong purchasing power at the event. Figures can be produced in diverse sizes and scales, and their prices can vary dramatically, from tens of dollars to thousands of dollars or more for a unit — depending on the amount and type of materials required and the time spent producing the model.

This year, tickets for the event's first day sold out within just four minutes, as many collectors were seeking limited edition and exclusive edition figures and merchandise. Despite the relatively high prices, most of these editions sold out quickly.

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.

"My experience here has been rewarding. China is a hub of creativity, and I'm really excited to share the inspiration I found here with our product development team," he added.

Hu Weihu, manager of Yueguan Art, is one of Weta's fans. Based in Huizhou, Guangdong province, he visited Weta's booth early on the first day and walked around the venue to exchange and discover new ideas. His studio was showcasing collectibles inspired by traditional Chinese heritage, such as the Dunhuang culture, ancient mythology and traditional Chinese operas.

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"Both visitors and exhibitors are professional at the festival and share the same love for this art form. The collectibles based on foreign IPs are still very popular, and we are witnessing increasing interest and market demand for products with our own cultural identities," says Hu with confidence.

Contact the writer at wangxin2@chinadaily.com.cn