August 9, 2002: Toy2R rocked the house.  I have been in consistent contact with Raymond Choy, Toy2R’s proprietor, over the last several months, so I had a good idea of what to expect at the show.  Well, I was still surprised at the sheer variety and volume of new products in various stages of production at the Toy2R booth.

For those unfamiliar, Toy2R started some years back as a retail toy shop, and in recent years have become the Hong Kong distributor for many US brands, such as Mezco (Hoodz), Stronghold Group (Korn Gruntz), Stevenson Entertainmant (Smitis), etc.  More recently, Toy2R has commissioned exclusive variants of many of these figures and begun production of their own roto and block/mini figure lines.  The best know are the Toyer and BB Toyer Series (rotocast vinyl), Qee (mini key chains) and Who Am I (block figure key chains) - the latter produced under their sister company, R ‘n A Workshop.  Toy2R had a very strong showing in each of these categories, plus a sneak-peak at their first 12” figure.  

First, the roto goodness:  Baby Qee makes it’s debut!  This is a four inch vinyl figure that has the body styles of the BB Toyer, but a large rotocast Bear B Qee head.  The initial offering is three versions:  a set of 3 solid colors (red, blue, yellow) with the angel BB body, and a set of three grayscale figures with the devil BB body.  Finally, there is the individual Baby Qee Toyer – a black & white Toyer face painted on the Baby Qee figure – very reminiscent of the Toyer Qee key chain mini already available on Kidrobot (click here to check it out!).

There were also a few prototypes of a new Toyer-family roto figure in development.  Toy Boyer is also about four inches, and may be available in a variety of head styles.  Looks like a BB Toyer all growed up into a pre-teen.  One was on display with a full size Toyer head and a knitted sweater.  There was also a prototype head with nearly no features which resembled a Qee head in general shape.  Apparently, the plan is to be able to attach a number of different ears, horns, etc to allow for a huge number of variants.  Hopefully, we will see some available for sale next time around!

Toy2R debuted Ian Christy’s five inch EmonStars.  The bad-assed, star-faced figure with rotocast head and body and solid PVC arms and legs will be the flagship for the forthcoming EmonStar line.  They are currently available in nine color exclusives, all limited to 50 pieces.  Here is the breakdown:

Yellow:      Designer version (Ian Christy)
Red:    Toy2r - Toyer version
Orange:    Toycon 02.08 version
Silver :    R n'A 1st Anniversary Silver version
Gold:   R n'A 1st Anniversary Gold version
Black:       Easy Finder Magazine version
Blue:       New Monday Magazine version
White :      Milk Magazine version
Pink:    East Touch Magazine version

For those of you who remember the monotone prototype of the three-piece EmonStars set previewed in April, you might want to check out the photos of the color production sample of these bad boys (and girl).  Parts are said to be interchangeable among the figures – way cool. Once again, I hope to see these for sale later this year.

The last proto-roto on display were the 8” Qee.  Nice, big, juicy vinyl figures.  Currently only with the Bear B Qee heads, but who knows what the future holds.  Well, Raymond might.
Korn fans, check this out:  Toy2R commissioned a super-limited edition (50 sets!) of Stronghold Group’s Gruntz.  The boys are gothed-out in all black, and have the Toyer head printed on their backs.  If you can’t make it to the Toy2R shop in Tsim Sha Tsui to pick up a set, check the KidRobot site in a week or so!

On to the little guys.  Three new “Who Am I” block toys from R ‘n A debuted today:  gold and silver Anniversary variants and an orange “Tiger Bag” variant as a Monster Taipei exclusive.

Other new R ‘n A blocks were a trio of a Wang Z designed Japanese exclusive and the black Teddy Block Toyer.  All the Who Am I from the past year were on display, along with the World Cup figures, a not-for-sale Tokyo Disney Magic Kingdom Club 20th Anniversary edition with Mickey Mouse ears and some prototypes with really interesting new textures.

Qee-o-Rama!  Man, almost too much to list – good thing I brought my digital camera.  All previous designs were on display:  Series one (still available on KidRobot.com, click here to check 'em out.) UA Hong Hong exclusives, designer, magazine and toy shop exclusives like PWF’s Whos Next Girl and Toyer Qee (also available on KidRobot.com).  Check the great new designs from the Japan Qee source, Wonderwall (visit their site if you haven’t already), the best source for Qee info on the web.  Too bad it’s only in Japanese).

There was a full pallet of solid color prototypes, as well as a few dozen plain white Qee with features hand painted by Qee designer, Steven Lee.  The most amazingly detailed minis I have seen were the full color hand-painted prototypes, but I didn’t get a chance to ask who painted them.  The Mez (as in Mezco) crossover came in green and purple and were limited to 666 and 333 pieces respectively.  Each come with a Qee-sized tricycle – race ‘em against the stripe-shirted Bear B Qee from series one.

More prototypes included a slightly modified new version of the Qee body:  slightly thinner and taller (very slightly), but made of a harder material which will allow more styles, such as the the crazy textures and patterns and translucent colors seen on the R ‘n A blocks.  The material has a feel similar to the Medicom Kubricks and Be@rbricks.

Finally, Toy2R unveiled prototypes of their first Toy2R X KidRobot X Doink Design crossover:  the “Big Mouth” Doink Bear.  Seven colors which might be available in Series 2 or as a special rainbow series on its own.  We can’t wait!  

Looks like there will be a lot of opportunity for crossover and promotional Qee crossing the Pacific in coming months...Spanky of Japan and their design arm, Head Lock Studio, moved up from their table display last April to a full-on booth.  Good thing, too, as they are showing real promise of becoming contenders in the urban vinyl market – one of the few Japanese companies seriously contributing to this genre.  Spanky showed some their recent designs:  the Spanky Logo figure (that deranged Skittle with the assertive index finger), Spunk as well as the Fighting Force crossover.

The Head Lock Studios debuts included the TOM Memphis by Painted Desert.  Tom is a roto figure with a rolly-polly bottom half sporting a second face.  Those of us who grew up in the 70s might be reminded of a certain toy that “wobbles but won’t fall down.”  Three different variants, each very limited – 50 to 150 pieces.  Hopefully there will be more versions produced in larger quantities in the future.  The other new Spanky/Head Lock figure was Lify, a happy-looking soft vinyl tree.  I am really happy to see our plant-brothers finally represented in the urban vinyl scene.  But seriously, it looks like a great figure, and KidRobot plans to have them within a few weeks.

Finally, Spanky/Head Lock made their debut in the key chain/charm world with the Spanky Logo (skittle with an overbite) key chain/lighter holder.  The angry, rotund, 2 inch roto comes complete with a loop of plumber chain and a mini Bic sized orifice and is available in 10 colors.  I might have to start smoking again.

Y’all come back now, ya hear?  There is lots more to report:  Hyperchild, PWF, Hot Toys, Jason Siu, Brothersfree, more crazysmiles, etc. in tomorrow's report!

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