Pop Mart has been slowly, excuse the pun, popping up in stores across South Africa, but it wasn’t until this past weekend that the collection made its large-scale debut at HobbyX.

For those who don’t know, Pop Mart is known for its fantastic range of surprise box collectibles. While the industry is saturated by the genre, Pop Mart has managed to remain as the go-to for collectors thanks to its premium product range and limited-run series.

If anything, Pop Mart produces some of the best collaborations on the market, making the range highly sought after by fans. These collections then go on to become highly valued pieces with a massive after-sale industry of fans and collectors. The best way to compare the brand would be to say they are sort of like the Pokémon Trading Card Game of surprise boxes.

At HobbyX this past weekend, Nexus Hub brought all their Pop Mart stock to the expo, giving attendees the opportunity to be the first South Africans to purchase these surprise boxes. I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of different variations on sale.



While some retailers claim to be the only place to purchase Pop Mart, I haven’t seen the majority of the collections available at those stores. Nexus Hub had the Andy’s Room collection, Dimoo World Disney, Lotso Wondrous Rendezvous Series, and Skullpanda The Sound series, just to name a few.

The experience of buying a Pop Mart is unlike anything else. Each box contains a certain collectable with only a handful available for each series. Some collections also include a “secret” find, which are naturally rarer than others.

I think the sheer quality of these collectables also makes the range something fantastic to invest in. At HobbyX, Nexus Hub even did trades for customers who opened their boxes and wanted to swap out the duplicate finds they might have gotten inside.



These collectables aren’t incredibly expensive either. Many of them range between R299 – R399 depending on their size. They then resell for $100 – $2500. The rarest Pop Mart was the Mega Space Molly, which was once sold for $2,250. The fact that each series has a limited run makes the brand highly valued.

Pop Mart will continue to be sold in South Africa at Nexus Hub, with limited series collections available exclusively at the store. Listing details will be up on their website shortly.

Original article on GLITCHED

Written by Marco Cocomello