From July 11 to 12, the founding team of Swapboxo traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, to participate in two major regional creative and collectibles events: Asia Collectibles Festival (ACF) and TCEX THAILAND CHARACTER & CONTENT EXPO 2026 (TCEX 2026). Bringing together artists, independent creators, brands, collectors, and industry professionals from across Asia, both events provided an important opportunity for Swapboxo to gain deeper insights into the Asian collectibles market and expand its network within the creator ecosystem.
As a platform dedicated to the secondary trading ecosystem for designer toys and collectible products, Swapboxo closely follows the evolution of Asian collecting culture and market trends. Through active participation in regional industry events, the founding team aims to gain a deeper understanding of creator ecosystems, market dynamics, and the long-term value potential of different intellectual properties (IPs). The Bangkok visit represents an important step in Swapboxo’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its market positioning, expand its presence across Asia, and develop a more comprehensive understanding of the collectibles industry.
Held over two days, ACF focused on art toys, designer figures, collectible products, and pop culture merchandise. Through exhibitions, creator interactions, artist engagements, and onsite activities, the event provided collectors and industry participants with opportunities to discover and engage with original works from across Asia.
Meanwhile, TCEX 2026 took place from July 9 to 12 under the theme “The Multiverse of Creativity”, bringing together more than 250 Thai creators, artists, and creative enterprises. The exhibition featured multiple sectors, including Character & Art, Creative Lifestyle, Content & Story, and Game & Interactive, showcasing a wide range of creative fields such as original character design, art toys, illustration, product design, digital entertainment, and animation content.
Although ACF and TCEX focus on different aspects of the creative industry, both events highlighted the rapid growth of Asia’s original IP ecosystem and independent creator communities. Increasingly, Southeast Asian creators are developing their own brand identities and building dedicated collector communities through unique cultural expressions and creative approaches. These emerging IPs represent important future growth opportunities for the designer toy industry and will become significant contributors to the secondary collectibles market.
During the exhibitions, the Swapboxo founding team engaged in in-depth discussions with artists, brands, collectors, and industry partners to better understand IP market performance, collector preferences, product lifecycles, and the movement of collectibles within the secondary market. Through direct conversations with industry participants, Swapboxo gained valuable insights into the long-term collectible value and trading potential of different products, while continuing to refine its understanding of product categorization, market positioning, and pricing strategies.
Swapboxo enables collectors to buy, sell, exchange, and trade collectibles within a dedicated secondary marketplace, allowing released collectible products to continue generating value as they move between different collectors. By creating a more transparent, secure, and efficient trading environment, Swapboxo aims to help collectors discover, trade, and manage their collections more effectively, while supporting the long-term circulation and continued relevance of collectible IPs beyond their initial release.
Through building a sustainable collectibles ecosystem, Swapboxo focuses not only on individual transactions, but also on extending the lifecycle of collectibles and strengthening long-term connections between creators, brands, and collectors. By establishing a healthier and more structured secondary market mechanism, Swapboxo aims to support the continued growth of collecting culture and enable more valuable creations to be discovered, collected, traded, and preserved over time.