At the Toy Fair in London’s Olympia last month, there were some less familiar faces alongside the Bluey plushies and Minions fart blasters. Hatsune Miku, Tanjiro Kamado and Labubu aren’t household names in the UK, but collectible figurines and merchandise based on manga, anime and video games, are some of the biggest sellers for the British toy industry.
Collectibles – ornamental toys sold with the objective of collecting a definable set – are now a £510m sector in the UK, according to research by the British Toy & Hobby Association and Circana.
Merchandise from big entertainment franchises isn’t new – Star Wars figurines were hugely profitable in the 1970s, and many toy boxes in the 1980s were stuffed with Care Bears – but this new wave of collectibles has found a wider audience.
Many collectors are adults and the range is heavily influenced by China and Japan. The most popular characters are from manga and anime, and toys are often sold from vending machines or in “blind boxes” where the package doesn’t reveal which set lies within.
The artists creating these collectibles are often as important as the characters. Some artists produce sets of collectibles that reimagine well-known pop-culture franchises such as Harry Potter or Mickey Mouse. More and more traditional companies such as Disney are collaborating with collectibles artists and stores.
“Netflix brought anime to a wide audience,” said Tom Pelly, managing director of Heo (UK), an international distributor of collectibles. “They licensed a lot of the popular shows like One Piece and My Hero Academia. They were dubbed into English. Anime really took off in the mainstream in the UK during the pandemic, when people were stuck at home.”
A dedicated anime streaming platform called Crunchyroll has more than 15 million subscribers worldwide and is popular with UK viewers.
The Heo stand at the London Toy Fair featured new figurine releases of pop star Hatsune Miku, an avatar created for a voice synthesiser, who is incredibly popular on the international market as a collectible. She now appears in the video game Fortnite.
While many collectible characters have arrived in the UK via streaming and social media platforms, more and more bricks-and-mortar shops are opening to cater for collectors. Japanese video game company Bandai Namco is the second most valuable toy brand in the world – beaten only by Lego. A Bandai Namco Cross store opened in Camden Market, London, in 2023. Fans can buy collectibles from vending machines there (known as Gashapon) and tickets to try to win rare collectibles (Ichibankuji).
Ciaran Chivers-Procter, collector and hobby brand manager at Bandai UK, said the rise of events such as MCM Comic Con and expos for collectors has helped collectibles enter the mainstream, and that lower-priced products have helped them to reach new audiences.
Two Chinese chains have made a big impact in the UK. MiniSo sells collectibles alongside Asian brands of makeup, homewares and plushies. The brand first opened a British store in 2019 but now has 29 sites across the UK.
Pop Mart – which is dedicated to collectibles – opened its first of three London shops in 2022, and will open one in Manchester next month. The company reported that its international sales increased by more than 400% last year as it opened stores across Europe.
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Pop Mart’s artist-created collectibles, including a plushie promoted last year by Lisa from K-pop band Blackpink, are part of the rise of “kidult” toys, with items proudly bought and owned by adult fans as well as younger consumers. Sales of kidult toys – aimed at those aged 12 and above – hit £1bnlast year, up £57m from 2023.
Last year, even the V&A museum got in on the act, hiring advisers on Lego and Pokémon memorabilia in recognition of the growing cultural importance of these toys.
Alex Tetley is senior executive sales administrator at Mighty Jaxx, a Singaporean company that creates art toy collectibles. He is a collector as well as a businessman, having grown up on Star Wars figures and worked as a buyer at Hasbro, the company behind Transformer and Marvel toys, before joining Mighty Jaxx. He said the collector community is a friendly place and that more people now see themselves as collectors. “I think everyone collects something. They just don’t know it.”
Chivers-Procter said there are also more opportunities for collectors to meet. “The Bandai Namco Camden store exemplifies the importance of creating spaces where fans can connect. For UK collectors, having a physical space to interact with products and other fans enhances their experience and loyalty.
“This will be a key focus in 2025, with more events taking place throughout the year.”
Tetley said he has a shelving unit filling one wall of his office to display the figurines he has collected over many years. “Sometimes I just like to sit back and look at them.”
