This past December, STRANGEco traveled to Hong Kong and attended the second annual Plug In X'Mas Toycon Special at the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre. Plug-In X'Mas is the December installment of the thrice-yearly Toycon Special, which- as this show clearly indicated- is an event that's steadily growing scope, professionalism and international importance. 2002's spring show (in April) featured fewer than thirty booths, about half of which were little more that folding tables serving as fire sale outlets for local retailers and collectors. By December, the Toycon had over 45 exhibits, the vast majority of which were free standing box-office style booths. Most of these had the design sophistication of a full-fledged trade show. Still no dancing babes or moving disco lights (thank goodness), but a lot of clever display.

Toycon is sponsored and organized by the Toycon Committee, a loose affiliation of exhibitors headed by Mr. Neco Lo of the ComixBox shops in Kowloon. As the current incarnation of the former Hong Kong Toy Club, it's not surprising that many of the Committee's members are now some of the better-known and respected Hong Kong figure designers, producers and specialty shop proprietors.

If you're familiar with the recent crop of Hong Kong-based figure designers and producers, virtually all the names you would expect to see were out in force, including many of those noticeably absent from the previous 2002 shows. Among the exhibitors: Crazysmiles Co. (Michael Lau), Eric So/Estate, Hot Toys, Brothersfree, Jason Siu, Patchwork/Flying Cat (formerly PWF), Toy2R, 2da6, Ching & Co, Spanky/Headlock Studio.

All of these major figure figures had plenty of great new stuff to show, but we were just as excited to see many up-and-coming designers, including Abnormal Hobby, Warning Label Design, IT Rangers and DaTeamBronx.

It is clear that the HK Vinyl style has firmly established itself in the popular consciousness. Michael Lau has had a long-standing licensing agreement with Sony for his "gardenergala" series, and now Eric So has been signed to a similar agreement. Recently, many more designers and producers have made inroads into print, web and television advertising with their figures, including Flying Cat/ITRangers (CI Boys), Brothersfree, 2da6, and Headlock Studios. Luckily, these crossovers haven't led to a decrease in design quality. It's giving Hong Kong specialty toys long-reaching exposure, which we hope will allow it to spread fast beyond the largest continent.

The show was held over three days, but apart from a few artists (Michael Lau in particular), the booth displays didn't change appreciably. There was a panel discussion on the first day, featuring Michael Lau, Eric So, and Medicom's Tatsuhiko "Ryu" Akashi and Narue Oka. A number of performances peppered the stage on days 2 and 3, including a group of amazing pro Yo-Yo spinners and the dance troupe 5678 (who are the subject of a figure series by Jason Siu).

The main event was, of course, the new figures, and there were plenty of amazing new designs on hand. We've featured 10 designers in our current coverage with new and exclusive photos, and will be adding galleries over the next few weeks with new pictures and background info.