"As socioeconomic development continues, more people are looking to fulfill spiritual needs after their material ones have been satisfied. Garage kits, a kind of craft, can meet the demand for artistic appreciation," he said. "It's like attending a concert performed by your favorite singer. It may cost 7,500 yuan to listen to music for two and a half hours, but you think it's worth it."

A garage kit is assembled by factory workers using 200 to 300 components, with some complicated ones requiring as many as 700 pieces, each of which needs to be polished and colored. The entire process to make a new figure — from obtaining approval from copyright holders and designing the figures to making molds and going into large-scale production — can take up to a year. Customers might need to wait as long as 18 months after placing an order.