:: TOYCON DAY 1 ::

Greetings from Toycon, August 2003. Hong Kong’s seasonal designer toy venue continues to grow into a full-fledged convention, with more booths than previous shows and a marked increase in international attendees. Feast your eyes on what’s new at Toycon. More coverage and descriptions to follow tomorrow!


BIDDIES, ACHY BREAKY TOYS & STRANGEco
Roy Miles from Warning Label Design graciously offered to allow two other US-based companies— Achy Breaky Toys and yours truly— share his booth for the show. Roy's new Biddies looked nice on the left side of the booth, and Achy Breaky's Mullet Heads were set up from the top right. STRANGEco premiered the new artist crossover Dorbel by Jim Woodring colored by Pete Fowler of Monsterism and gave a small peek at the new Stash 12 inch figure (which goes on sale tomorrow at 2 pm).

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MICHAEL LAU
To no surprise, the crazysmiles booth was packed all morning with fans waiting to see the latest from Michael Lau. The previously announced crazychildren 19- Junkie figure went on sale, featuring a Junkie book and dog figure. A special Junkie T-shirt was also available. Check out the photo shoot with Michael Lau and Junkie that Gregory tagged along with.

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BROTHERSFREE
Brothersfree unveiled the long-awaited Brothersrobber figure, which made their booth an all-day event. A long line snaked around the convention center, with fans ready to pay $1,800 HK for the super-detailed figure.

Brothersfree also announced a crossover project with Lipton HK, featuring the new minijoker series. The Lipton x Brothersfree booth had an impressive full-sized statue of their BJ Captain character.

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FLYING CAT
Featuring many of the figures announced at their exhibition at LCX, the Flying Cat booth displayed a continuing wide range of international designers and styles. Figures by Koji, Nathan, Takumi, Push and Gimme 5ive were available, plus additional designs by Jim Woodring, Pete Fowler, Vaughan Bode and Brad Digital.

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IT RANGERS
Focusing exclusively on CI Boys, IT Rangers premiered the new Monster series minis and a very cool crossover set with Three Zero. The new 12-inch figures with light-up assholes were at the booth as well.

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STEVEN HOUSE
Toy2R's in-house designer has struck out on his own. Three figure series were launched, including Dark Insecter, the first penguin-and-human sidekick team ever assembled and a new mini series call Snorty and Friends. A special black Toycon colorway of Snorty was sold out by the end of the day.

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GIMME 5IVE
One of the coolest figures at the show was the new MOD figure, complete with 1/6 scale Vespa scooter. Powerful Piss, Mic Mic and the popular Cloudi figures were also on display.

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ABNORMAL HOBBY
The up-and-coming Abnormal Hobby has branched off in a number of directions since last December's Five skateboard series. The new Curse of the B-Grade Mummy figure set, Chocobit and the stoned-out Bonky were the most prominent. They also displayed 12-inch figure likenesses of Eminem and 50 Cent.

Covert Agent's Wizeguy made a strong appearance at the Abnormal Hobby booth as well, with the very cool light-up figure, wind-up cars, stickers and other merchandise.

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SPANKY/HEADLOCK STUDIOS
Fresh from the Plastic Particles exhibition in Berlin, Nagoya's finest returned to Toycon with another crop of cool designs. Proprietor Ken Joho displayed a number of new figures, including Wonderfulman, the Ray the Aerosol Adidas crossover and a new figure of Japan's DJ Hazu. A new mini Spanky figure, Sick Boy Billy and an Electronic Virus crossover set were available for purchase.

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HOT TOYS
One of the most prolific toy companies in Hong Kong, the Hot Toys booth is never one to miss. They have a variety of new products on display this time, including Yankeez by Museum Tokyo, plus Eric So's Milk & Shake and the 12-inch Battle Royale 2 figures profiled in July 8th's Playground Magazine update.

Hot Toys is also hosting the new figure lineup for How2Work Production House, including new Tokyo Tribe 2 action figures. A very cool mini figure series designed by Taiwan's Jimmy are also on display.

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JASON SIU
Placed next to Freesquare Productions (who he designs figure for), Jason's booth featured DJ Dom from the Scratching with Gravity series and the amorphous Marshmallow vinyl figures.

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