Pronounced "Yee Da Luk" in Cantonese, 2da6 translates into English as "small potatoes" and summarizes the creative vision of the series. Forgoing the trend of hip-hop characters while maintaining a street-wise vibe, 2da6 depicts a variety of everyday characters seen all over Hong Kong: scaffolding workers, fortunetellers, garbage collectors and gasoline deliverymen. Well detailed and sculpted, with great accessories and package design, 2da6 brings a real slice of contemporary Hong Kong into their figures.

2da6 is the brainchild of d852 Interactive, a full service design and commercial production firm started by brother-and-sister team Kevin and Wendy Mak. Kevin is the business manager, and has coordinated projects with Samsung, Compaq, Philips Electronics and Coca Cola. Wendy is the art director, and has worked in the Hong Kong film and television industry for many years. While they're from a family of toymakers (the family business is manufacturing water guns), they actually fell into producing toys of their own as an offshoot of a larger design project.

We hung out with Kevin and Wendy a lot during the December Plug-In Xmas Toycon, conducting interviews, going to dinner, and talking toys. Since then they've kept us up to date with their latest projects, production plans, and what to expect from 2da6 in the future.

STRANGECO: How did you guys get involved in producing action figures?

2da6: We both worked for an IT company in 2001 (Kevin as a business manager and Wendy as the head of the design department). Our boss wanted to create a new design project, something that was totally original. We came up with an interactive game concept called "Red Hunt" in which each participant gets clues from the Internet site and then has to physically go around town to find the answers. The project was sold to one of the HK bus companies, but was too expensive for them to implement so it was never made. Our first figure concept- a tea house waiter made in the vinyl rotocast style- was actually part of this game. As it turns out, there was more interest in the figure itself than the game, so we decided to produce the figure on our own. We released two versions (Hong Kong and Japan) in October 2001, and showed it at the December 2001 PIXMAS Toycon show.

STRANGECO: How did you get into producing twelve-inch figures?

2da6: At the time that we released this figure, Michael Lau had become really popular, so everyone was doing vinyl. We wanted to add more details onto our toys, so we decided to take a step further and produce a real 12" figure. We thought of using the vinyl together with 12" body and created a bionic Wayne figure. It was just too costly to produce at that time, so we stepped back again and worked on the first 2da6 figures (the scaffolding worker and fortune teller).

STRANGECO: How did you originally conceptualize the 2da6 figure line? What brought you the inspiration for the different characters you've chosen?

2da6: We knew we wanted to base it on regular people doing regular jobs that were specific to Hong Kong. So, we started off by brainstorming all of the possible careers in Hong Kong that could fit into this category. We came up with more than 25 different characters. Out of this group, we thought that the bamboo Scaffolding Worker, the Fortune Teller, the Tea House Waiter and the Gas Man were the most unique to Hong Kong culture, which was important for us to capture. We also wanted to make a taxi driver and a typical Chinese BBQ butcher to complete the list. But we realized that these characters needed their tools in order to be recognizable. Producing a 1/6 scale Hong Kong-style red taxi and all the tools for butcher were way out of our budget, so we gave them up.

STRANGECO: What about the other two other characters that were shown at the Toycon in August 2002?

2da6: The Janitor and the Homeless Man. We've been constantly thinking about pop cultural references over the past 30 years of HK history, and at some point recalled the " Keep Hong Kong Clean" Campaign in the 70's. The government hired a British designer to create a "Garbage Bug" character, and the distinguishable greenish outfit for the janitor (see photos). Viola, the Garbage Man figure was born! To have a contrast with the janitor, we did an experimental prototype for a Homeless Man figure. We showed these figures as August's Toycon, but didn't produce the janitor. and made the Homeless Man available as pre-order only.

STRANGECO: How come the Homeless Man was for pre-order only?

2da6: The tailoring is very time consuming because of the detail. We use a really great tailor (who used to design Barbie clothing for Mattel), but she could only produce one set of clothing a day- too much, even for a limited edition figure!

STRANGECO: Do the characters have back-stories?

2da6: Yes, but they're pretty simple (see inset).

STRANGECO: Are there any other 2da6 figure designs?

2da6: We'd like to create a total of 10 characters for the series.

STRANGECO: What is your creative process? Do you brainstorm as a team or collaborate together (on the sculpting, clothing and accessories, etc.)?

2da6: We collaborate on everything, from the initial sketches to final package design. But there's a division of labor. We discuss all of the little details first: the components and accessories for each figure, their background history, the marketing technique, sales distributions, etc. We have a good system with yellow post-it notes, which we put up on the wall in our office.

Once everything is set, Wendy goes full throttle on designing, while Kevin runs off to China to source material and meet with production vendors. Once the final design drafts are done, Wendy does the initial sculpting. Our previous office (where most of our figures were made) had limited space, so she did most of the sculpting at her house. So, I it's safe to say that our figures were created in her bathroom! On the final sculpts, we bring in another sculptor to enhance the look and detail.

STRANGECO: At the December Toycon, your booth featured some really funny short movies you made featuring "Gulf" and "Wayne", the two figures you released at the show. How did this come about?

2da6: We wanted to do a project that showcased our figures' crossover potential for other media. So, Wendy coordinated the production and called in some of the people she's known for many years. Kevin played one of the characters, too. Production is always really fun, so it was a blast to make.

Since then, Wayne (the tea house waiter) has been featured in a TV commercial for HKNet's (a local internet service provider) credit card promotion. So, the original movies have already worked in creating some crossover interest.

STRANGECO: The 2da6 characters seem to be getting a fair amount of crossover and promotional success. Who have you guys ended up working with?

2da6: We designed some chef figures for the Igor's Restaurant group, which owns a few upscale restaurants on Hong Kong Island (the figures were on display at December's Toycon). Since then we've done a big crossover project in China for Heineken Beer, with 6 figures released in 6 different cities. The designs were accepted, but unfortunately we weren't involved in the production phase. Antalis Paper Company used "Wayne" for a print catalog earlier this year, and we've done this TV commercial for HKNet. Last summer, we also had an exhibition in the lobby of a furniture store, featuring all six 2da6 figures.

STRANGECO: What's in store for the future?

2da6: Code name: <Pro26> is on the way, but things have been slowed down due to the SARS outbreak. We designed an anti-SARS figure to fit the occasion, wear our face masks like everyone else, and hope that it passes soon.

STRANGECO: Thanks, guys. We look forward to seeing what you create in the future!

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2DA6 FIGURE PRODUCTION HISTORY