(Yicai Global) Oct. 13 -- Chinese legends such as the Monkey King and Fox Spirit rubbed shoulders with US cartoon characters Tom and Jerry and Japan’s anime Kamen Rider series at this year’s Wonder Festival in Shanghai, a mind-boggling display of fictional character sculptures.

The China Wonder Festival, a spin-off of the main Japan event which is the biggest figurine and garage kit expo in the world, is in its third year now and beginning to feature more original Chinese works. This year’s gala, which was pushed back from April due to the Covid-19 pandemic, had 200 large firms and studios as well as 330 private exhibitors taking part.

“The GK business in China is still at an early stage, although some brilliant works have started to emerge distinct from American and Japanese styles,” said private exhibitor Wang Dachui who started to collect GK toys six years ago and now designs them.

“Compared with Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the US as well as some mature Japanese brands like Jieisha, Kotokushi and Sheshu, we are far behind but are growing quickly,” said Zhang Ruichao, who works on the Shanghai Metro and is also a designer for a small studio.

Titanic and Samurai-themed assemble toys developed by Shenzhen-based toymaker Suyata were a big hit. The firm plans to develop a new series of models based on well-known paintings and buildings, said employee Wang Zhiyang.

Ceramic products of Chinese legends such as the Monkey King were also on show. Porcelain figurines have a different texture from models made out of resin, said Yi Fan, a private exhibitor from the porcelain capital of Jingdezhen, in eastern Jiangxi province.

We have brought a sculpture of a traveling duck in a dinosaur ship, said a 20-year-old man also surnamed Wang, who was exhibiting for the first time.

Qingcang, a GK brand operated by Shenzhen Hetai Culture, has produced over 100 trademarked models based on characters from popular online video game and TV shows such as The Untamed, The Eternal Love and Cross Fire.

It sold 300 pottery figures of the Fox Spirit, a mythical Chinese creature, on the country’s largest online shopping platform Taobao last month, at a price of CNY59 (USD8.76) each.

Creativity Pays

However, many local studios in China lack originality and are mainly reproducing well-known characters, said a retailer. Most studios pay too much attention to production skills and neglect innovation. They draw inspiration from traditional folk tales and make hi-tech products only to find the market saturated with similar items.

“It is not enough to just improve the quality of the product, you also need to innovate rather than borrow something foreign or use out-of-date content,” said an analyst.

As a result, many companies are now beginning to engage in design.

The Staring Marathon series, a line of cartoon animals designed by Yuan Shaofeng, has been a great success. The price of one zebra has nearly quadrupled to CNY1,400 (USD208) from CNY400 on second-hand sales platforms. “I want to create a world with stories not just a few products,” said Yuan, who set up his studio Raven’s Nest in 2015.

Editor: Kim Taylor