Portsmouth toy collector uses TikTok to go viral worldwide with large fanbase in Japan
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In July, web designer Ciara Emery decided to use her new TikTok account to post a video of her opening a new range of colourful Barbie toys.
She had no idea that less than a year later it would turn into a hobby with more than 170,000 followers eagerly awaiting her next toy unboxing, and that she would have joined the ranks of Portsmouth’s social media influencers.
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Hide AdThe 30-year-old said: 'My husband is a massive toy collector, and we were in WHSmiths buying a lot of Pokemon cards. They have all these new toys out, including some colour-reveal Barbies.
‘And I thought I really want to get one – and there was nothing else to do at that point, because of pandemic restrictions.
'I didn't know there was a trend of watching kids open toys online.
'The video that blew everything up was a Bloom Doll video. It’s a flower pot, and you pour water on it and a doll pops up. That video went crazy.’
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Hide AdCiara’s video of the Blume doll unboxing racked up more than 3.3 million views in a less than a month, while a video of a Micropack toy – a tiny backpack containing miniature stationery – has attracted more than a million viewers.
‘I get so many messages – thousands and thousands of messages. I get them every day from all across the world’, she said.
She added: ‘That’s the nice thing about TikTok. We’re all part of a global feed.
‘I have got a big following in Japan.’
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As well as receiving messages, Ciara is sent free toys from manufacturers hoping for publicity.
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Hide AdThe Old Manor Way resident said: ‘I get sent toys worth a couple of hundred pounds every month.
‘Most of the staff is worth between £10 and £20.’
But Ciara is not interested in turning her hobby into a money-making project: ‘Some of them I keep to collect, but the rest I give to friends or charity shops.
‘I have been offered money before but this is more of a hobby.
‘It doesn’t seem right to be making money from it.
‘It’s a nice, relaxing watch – I hope it’s therapeutic.’