Have you ever wondered why people spend their money on Popmarts and to what extent can this addiction go? We spoke with Clarice, a Popmart addict who has over $3000 worth of figurines in her room and intends to purchase more.
By: Kassandra, Syahfiqah, Nurul
Ng Sze Hua Clarice, 31, started collecting POP MART in early 2022. PHOTO CREDIT: NG SZE HUA CLARICE
If you could collect anything in the world, what would you collect?
“Some people spend on bags. Some people spend on clothes, but I chose to spend on POP MART,” she shared.
Hobbies are a way to keep an individual saint and relax. For Ng Sze Hua Clarice, she finds the thrill in collecting POP MART figurines, especially when she unboxes the blind boxes.
The 31-year-old is always up to date with the new releases and has collected over 200 figurines worth $3,180 to be exact.
How Did It Start
POP MART only gained its popularity among Singaporeans earlier this year when it opened its first official store in Singapore at Funan Mall in January 2022.
Clarice, who is a full-time social media manager, had first gained interest in POP MART when she stumbled upon unboxing videos on Tik Tok. At that time, POP MART went viral in China and Malaysia but was still an unpopular hobby in Singapore.
Her passion to start collecting POP MART figurines only began to blossom in May 2022.
“One day I walked past the POP MART shop at Bugis, and decided to get one just for fun, but then I guess it never stopped,” shared Clarice.
She “did not expect” herself to start collecting figurines as she had never ventured into collecting as a hobby before.
The POP MART figurines are placed on her desk and shelves. PHOTO CREDIT: KASSANDRA KASMAN
Before collecting POP MART figurines, Clarice would spend her free time playing games such as Nintendo Switch and Mobile Legend. She would also often spend her time trying new restaurants around Singapore.
When she was younger, she never had any interest in playing and collecting Barbie dolls. She either spends her time on mobile games or playing block catching with her cousins.
“It is kind of funny how I am collecting these figurines only now, it feels like I am reliving my childhood. Just that these figurines have no hair for me to brush.” laughs Clarice.
After almost a year of joining the trend, Clarice has successfully collected 6 full sets.
“I don’t really have a favourite as I like a lot of them, but my favourite characters are Dimoo, Pucky or Bobo and Coco in themes such as Jurassic, Space and Candy,” she smiles.
Building A POP MART Community
In the beginning, Clarice would often find herself endlessly scrolling through Tik Tok videos of people from overseas unboxing their blind boxes. The various colourful reactions people would have upon unwrapping the tiny figurines intrigued her.
One of Clarice’s favourite content creators that she drew inspiration from goes by the username @SleepyDragon from Tik Tok.
Sleepy Dragon has managed to gain over 144k followers from videos of her unboxing cute items ranging from POP MART, blind boxes and cards.
Feeling inspired by the unboxing videos, Clarice decided to document and share her own unboxing experiences on Tik Tok as well. She posted her first unboxing video on her account, @eclairscaptures on May 1, 2022, and has garnered over 3.3k followers since then.
Even though most of her videos were POP MART related, Clarice ensured that her content always remained fresh and unique. This meant getting her hands on the latest collection or series of figurines that POP MART releases for the week.
She would also occasionally post videos of her setting up a display box for the figurines she wanted to put up on her shelf.
On top of that, Clarice is comfortable sharing bits of her daily life by posting talking TikTok videos about anything interesting that happened to her throughout the day.
Despite not having many friends in her everyday life that shared the same interest, Clarice was able to build her own POP MART community through her Tik Tok and gain a following.
On the social media app, she is able to indulge in the thrilling experience of unboxing these adorable figurines with a community of like-minded people.
“Although I am not that famous, I am happy that people enjoy watching my content,” Clarice equipped.
Popmart - The Trend
POP MART first started in 2010 in Beijing, selling a variety of products but mainly toys. Based on KrASIA, POP MART shifted to making blind boxes after being inspired by Japan’s Gachapon, also known as vending machines, that dispenses capsules with a mystery toy.
According to Forbes, Wang Ning, a 33-year-old entrepreneur, is the founder and CEO of POP MART. He started by discovering talented artists who had the potential to create a large fan base around the world, before tapping into non-exclusive licence agreements with major global brands including Disney and Universal in 2020
As of today, POP MART has quite a community in Singapore, with over 5.9k members in their Facebook groups, and over 3.7k participants in Telegram groups. However, it is normally popular among the teens and not so much among millenials like Clarice due to POP MART being known as a child-like figurine as seen from its cartoon designs.
What is the Pop aspect
Clarice started collecting POP MART not only because she thought it was appealing, but the idea of opening a mystery box and not knowing what was inside excited her.
“For me, it was not because I like collecting toys, but I enjoy the thrill of opening the boxes and that is why I have so many,” she says.
Clarice’s most recent purchase is from the Pucky Festival Series - Kagami Mochi Baby. PHOTO CREDIT: NG SZE HUA CLARICE
Clarice often purchases her POP MART from either the Bugis or Funan outlet. Since the start of her collection, she has seen Singaporeans queuing for the POP MART figurines. This happens especially during the new and popular releases such as the Molly Sets.
One figurine will cost between $13.90 to $15.90, and some can even reach up to $100 for their Secret Figurines - a secret figurine is a special figurine apart from the set of 12 designs.
Clarice’s favourite characters - Hacipupu, Dimoo, Duckoo and many others are displayed in a special corner of her room. PHOTO CREDIT: NUR SYAHFIQAH SUKIMAN
Clarice is not one to join the queue and will prefer “getting her hands on it within the week itself”.
However, priding on Singapore's kiasu-ness, she did once queue for a POP MART fun pack before, and it is her first- and last-time shared Clarice.
In celebration of National Day earlier this year, POP MART launched a $57 fun pack that consists of 2 small blind boxes and 1 big figurine. The big figurine is a Pucky Circus Acrobatics Baby which retails for $78.
“It was definitely worth purchasing the fun pack and getting my favourite figurine. But it may also be a risk in getting something you do not like so it was purely on luck,” Clarice advised.
The Not-So Pop Aspect
Space. Clarice is staying with her parents which means that she has to store her collection only within the confines of her room. However, due to the lack of space, her collection has been expanded into the living room as well.
“I don’t mind having her collection in the living room because the figurines are cute,” laughs Joanne, Clarice’s mom.
Due to not having an abundance of space in her room, she does not display all her figurines but only the ones that she likes such as Dimoo, Pucky or Bobo and Coco. The ones that are not being displayed are stored in boxes and kept away in her room.
An example of how Clarice stores Pop Marts that are not being displayed in her room. These storage boxes are kept under her bed and in the living room. PHOTO CREDIT: NURUL MARDHIAH
Other than having limited space, receiving duplicates from these mystery boxes “sucks a lot”.
“I bought about 9 to 10 boxes before I managed to get the one, I want but then I got quite a lot of duplicates, which is quite stupid because I could have bought the whole set of 12 and be guaranteed of getting the design I want.”
“But I won’t say I regret because at the end of the day, I still managed to get it,” Clarice giggles.
Clarice had also purchased a $160 POP MART mystery box that contains over 10 POP MART figurines, however, almost half of it is not up to her liking. She learnt that these mystery boxes are not always a good buy as they may contain figurines that are not popular among collectors.
“I felt so disappointed as the website states that there is a 20 percent chance of getting a full or partial set of popular figurines,” she sighs.
Luckily, she can trade and sell the duplicates on Carousell, Telegram channels such as @popmart_sg and POP MART Facebook page, at either a lower price than retail or higher if the design is on demand.
Spending on the figurines is one thing but maintaining them is another.
Clarice purchased the $10-$15 containers from Taobao. PHOTO CREDIT: NG SZE HUA CLARICE
Clarice stores her figurines in containers which costs about $10 to $15 each. This is equivalent to $200 for a full set to be kept clean and tidy at her home.
Personally, for Clarice, she feels that putting the figurines in containers or in its boxes is sufficient enough and does not have any critical steps in maintaining her figurines besides wiping it with wet tissue occasionally.
Will She Continue Popping?
Clarice intends to continue expanding her POP MART collection.
In fact, her next purchase will be on a new series collection titled POP MART Pucky X Sanrio Character Series.
The collection had already been sold out on its official online store but is still available in stores. Will Clarice be able to get the series in her hand?
“Collecting and playing with my POP MART figurines helps to bring comfort to my mundane daily routine. In the future, when I have my own house, I want to dedicate a space just for my collection,” Clarice quipped.
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