ToyCon Hong Kong Coverage August 22-24, 2003
by John T. Wong, Action-HQ.com
Toycon, or the ToyCon Plug-In show which was what it was called, exhibits quarterly in Hong Kong and features designer toys from around the world. This August show has actually been long awaited as it has been 8 months since the last one due to the whole SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) scare. And specifically since it originated from Hong Kong!
Though this would seem like a long time in between and you would therefore expect lots of new figures, it was not the thing for this show. One major factor to remember is how grassroots the toy designer business is and how much direct out-of-pocket cost it is for designers, unless they are a Michael Lau or are backed by a company. Most designers have full time jobs and finding the cash to invest in their own creations is difficult to say the least, let alone dealing with hectic scheduling of producing a quality designer toy. A new figure or line every 6-9 months is more the norm.
However, this show was particularly sparse perhaps due to how SARS has seriously affected the economy here with unemployment over 8% and as some of the toy designers, in sense, "have graduated" and spent all their marketing dollars on the San Diego ComicCon. Speaking with Da Joint and Sea Intl who does the production for the ZMDC figure, they did amazingly well selling out on the first day and even pre-selling a lot of their upcoming figures like Master Nova and Red KUSA Warrior! (View pictures of these figures.)
However there were still a lot to see in this small and cozy exhibition center the size of two basketball courts. A good number of the major players were there including Michael Lau, BrothersFree, Toy2R, Jason Siu, etc. (but I would say over a third did not). And there were lots of limited edition designers toys specifically sold for this convention. You can imagine, like most toy/comic conventions, that most of these were swooped up in the first few hours of the convention with many waiting hours beforehand to get their grubby hands on them. I was told that compared to last winters ToyCon, there were less people but more hardcore collectors and fans ready to buy and that no one was holding back spending hundreds of dollars on these.
Transversing through the aisles, you would imagine that there would be a continued progression with designer toys, something more drastic or revolutionary in the art form as when it first started out in the late 90s. But as in wow factor, there wasn't really that much, well at least in this writer's view. Perhaps it is due to all the factors noted earlier; one can only guess. What did occurred to me that seem more of a trend is accessories and clothing and in particular for 12" figures. In fact, what most people were excited about were from the details and fashion design of these figures then anything else.
Two perfect examples are BrothersFree's BrothersRobber line and Sugoi Production's Undercover WarChild line. Though you cannot clearly see the detail in the clothing and accessories from the pictures, you can tell that both of these lines are highly stylized and intricate like the expensive elaborate costumes you see in the movies. (Check out the Uzi and the pile of bills (hope they come with the figure) in the BrothersRobber line and the camouflage pattern in the limited 300 pc each of Undercover WarChild line). It seems like that is the where everyone is moving toward that direction yet I am unsure if that is the trend but more on just quality and product improvement. Simon Wong of Sugoi Production, an innovator for toy fashion clothing, has been behind this from the start and does not see things going anywhere else at least in the 12" lines. (View pictures of these figures.)
There has been a lot of push in costume design, authentic-ness and even "realness" as I had first hand experience with Sentry Intl new line of 12" historical Chinese police and military figures that will be coming out this Christmas. Not that I am a military buff but when they handed me the miniature pistol of one of the policemen's gun, it felt nicely weighted and was die-cast metal like a real gun. And what's more it could un-cock and the magazine can actually be removed to reveal the bullets inside. That's how amazing the details have been getting! (View a picture of these figures.)
Also other items that caught my eyes are Paulo Pareute's (a designer of Magic The Gathering Cards) figure toys based on his post-apocalyptic war series - Dust and his 12" figure, GhostieFamilie vinyls by many well-known collaborating artists, and limited edition Gundam 12" figures. (View pictures of these figures.)
Then there is a push in the direction of Takara's gloomy big-eyed Blythe phenomena. First with the recent release of Pullip by larger toy company Jun Planning and now by Sea Intl's production of Beauty. (View a picture of these figures.)
There are many more really interesting pieces much more worthy than the simple praise said here. Check them out these remaining pictures and see what's in store for you in immediate and future releases.
Ten more pages of images, with three large images per page:
