:: TOYCON DAY 3 ::

Jonathan Cathey, Jennifer Malloy and Melissa Varon of Achy Breaky Toys give their impressions of the Toycon for Day 3. Toycon 2003 marks the first time that ABT has exhibited the Mullethead figures to the Hong Kong collector market:

"It’s different than we expected, in a surprisingly pleasant way. The community here is very supportive of everything, and we feel well embraced. It’s a small and tight scene, but very welcoming to just about anything that’s being displayed. Toycon has a nice purity about it as well, because everyone you meet are directly involved in making toys. Instead of sales reps and booth models, you get to interact with the actual designers, creators and producers of the figures on display.

Our stuff is parody and really American, but people really got it. It seems that most people had a clear understanding of what we’ve been trying to do with the Mulletheads. People even commented on our nostalgic refrences to Star Wars and GI Joe figures with our packaging. This kind of pop culture awareness really runs deep. It’s been a great experience for us."

On to day 3!


BIDDIES, ACHY BREAKY & STRANGEco
Our trio of companies has received major coverage from the Hong Kong media, with feature spreads in Milk Magazine and the Daily Apple newspaper. Roy Miles showcased a new L.A.B.E.L. crossover Biddie, and Achy Breaky Toys sold a rare Randy Laughlin in Red. STRANGEco unveiled all three versions of the much-anticipated Recon 12 inch figure by Stash. Malfi, Red Flyer and Barbie by Friends With You magically transported their way into the booth display as well.

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MICHAEL LAU
Michael Lau released the special unannounced crazysmiles figure for the show— crazychildhood! These new figure sets (theboy & mydog and thegirl & mycat) feature a small block-headed figure, a similarly shaped pet and a loveseat made of crazysmiles boxes. As expected, the line stretched half-way around the convention center all morning. Check out the photos of the HK NY Fat figure and Junkie with his vinyl likeness!

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MEZCO
US-based Mezco Toyz had a major booth presence through Club Mez Asia. Several Asia exclusives were on sale, including a special red Run/DMC figure set, a special Bedtime Sadie Living Dead Doll and a Dark Carnival show exclusive. Mezco also announced the Alien, Dick Tracy and Monster series Mez-Itz to the Asian market this weekend.

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JASON SIU
Monkey Playground 3— Coollo and Twins — was on display at the show, featuring a dreadlocked figure and his speaker-headed sidemen. Limited to 50 pieces only. Jason also had special T-shirts featuring a riff on the periodic table of elements. Not only that, but we found out that Marshmallow has the added bonus of being a squeeze toy.

Next door at Freesquare, we shot more pics of the La Zha figure and the Freefloor 12 inch figure set.

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DA JOINT
Forgoing a full-on booth for a gallery display, Da Joint had some rather gruesome backdrops for Hairy Rouge and Master Nova —the newest Jiu Gang/ZMDC 12-inch figures. Da Joint also revealed Beauty in "party mode", designed by newcomer Cuttiem.

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BROTHERSFREE
William, Winson and Kenny were at it again, today revealing a new color edition of Ah Aun and Ah Gum minis. We also shot pics of Money, the new figure from the You are Always My Hero series and the Lipton x Brothersfree minijoker crossover series. Brothersfree added the standard edition Brothersrobber to their display window and began accepting pre-orders.

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GEEGEEJERJER
Bearing a striking resemblance to Sonic the Hedgehog, Geegeejerjer and his friends were on display on the gallery wall. The glossy figures are based on a flash cartoon, and feature a pig in hedgehog’s clothing.

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COMIX BOX
Toycon Committee head Neco Lo’s company featured a variety of figures, including Skullie Kid & Katz, from the Ghostiefamilie series and a variety of figures by Esperanto Design Workshop.

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SENTRY INTERNATIONAL, LTD.
Bringing military figures to Toycon, Sentry featured Chinese army figures from various points in history. Also notable are the Hong Kong riot police figures—disperse or we fire!

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MOST WANTED
Newcomer Most Wanted displayed the Attackers, a mobile suit-style police figure that borrows a lot from Eric So's Masks figures from several years back.

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FUN TOYS
Graduating from a table to a booth this year, Fun Toys had a variety of high-quality 1/6 scale clothing on display. Jesse Garcia's 2 Much Trouble Toys figures made it into their window by the middle of the day today.

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CATHAY PLASTIC
More photos of the Cathay Plastic booth, featuring the Twistiegirl bondage figure by Paolo Parente.

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DID
More photos of DID's offerings, including 12-inch figures and minis.

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JIDOU
The Hong Kong e-money vending machine operator Jidou has expanded its line of vinyl mascot toys. Now 4 characters appear in 3 forms each.

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OTHERS
The display gallery on the side wall was greatly expanded this year. New companies displaying figures include 10K, Creative Place, Action Jackson, Transcend and Century Hobby.

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