Figuratively Speaking with Alex Chin of Abnormal Toyz
May 2003 - Action-HQ.com and RTM are proud to bring you a selection of the newest and hottest toy designers coming out of Hong Kong. Want to know who they are and what makes them tick?
INTERVIEW WITH ABNORMAL TOYS
John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > Hey Alex, can you tell me something about yourself and your company?
Alex Chin [Abnormal Toyz] > Our company compose of a bunch of crackpot and genius, 90% crackpot and 10% geniuses, haaa. We all come from different design background, graphics, web, film and so on. Beside creating toys, we also do a extensive amount of work on graphics and web. By the way my name is Alex aka the owner and I'm that 90% of the team (smirk)!
John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > Haaa, so then how did you get into the business of making designer toys?
Alex Chin [Abnormal Toyz] > Well to start off, all of our staff in our company are either toy collectors and toy lovers. So naturally when the chance came, we start up Abnormal hobby. It's both business and pleasure for me.
John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > I really admire your "Five" collection as it looks awesome. What inspired you to do them?
Alex Chin [Abnormal Toyz] > Umm..... good question. I was introduce to the skater scene, spelled s-k-8, when I was in Australia about a decade ago. I made friends with many sk8er and have them to thank for the inspiration. One of the main reason behind "Five" was we wanted to portray the strong passion and the daring spirit of sk8er all around the world. So we come up with five character with different ethic background. We also felt there's some similarities between a Sk8ers and Jedis. Yes some of us are StarWars fans! They have the same discipline level about "practice makes prefect", their "Art" and so for. The light sabers each character holds are symbols of that spirit we admire so much about them.
John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > So do you guys [skate]board?
Alex Chin [Abnormal Toyz] > Well we tried, haaa, I think our body are a bit too old for that now. Maybe we should have start off much earlier like when we were teens. But one thing for sure, we still love and enjoy sk8 culture.
John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > Getting back to "Five" there are a lot of details in those figures. Can you tell me what in particular you are proud of?
Alex Chin [Abnormal Toyz] > It has to be the sense of motion, I mean the tricks that the character are doing. We tried really hard to match the real sk8 tricks in real life sk8ing. I guess so far we were quite happy with the result. Also the detailed designs we put on the board as well as the wear and tear of it.
John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > How was the production in making FIVE? Were there any difficulties?
Alex Chin [Abnormal Toyz] > On that's the last thing I want to think about, haahaa. As a freshman in this business, we have no experience what-so-ever on toys making so we learn everything from scratch. I guess the most difficult part has to be dealing with the sculptor to get the character's look just the way we intended. Actually after that stage the production are quite smooth. Thank God for that!
John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > Another new release, which I am happy to say you are doing a special free promotion with us on, is your "Bonky" character. It's unique and very cool and reminds in of Monsterism. How did you guys come up with that?
Alex Chin [Abnormal Toyz] > Thanks! Well if you look close enough, you may find that there's a close resemblance to our company logo. In fact, Bonky is sort of like our lucky mascot. And you ask what the inspire us... mmmm, all I can say is something that parents wouldn't be too happy, with like their kids are smoking [grin]. Bonk, Bonk, Bonk, ring a bell? Please don't take it too seriously, it's just for fun.
John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > So then who would you say are your target audience?
Alex Chin [Abnormal Toyz] > ALL TOY LOVERS! We hope. Seriously, people whom enjoy our creations.
John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > Final plug, what are your next line of toys?
Alex Chin [Abnormal Toyz] > I guess a little give-away won't hurt. We will be making the B-Grade Mummy into a series. It's called Monsterville. It consists of our interpretation of several classic Hollywood monster. Also we are doing some cross-over project which we are keeping under wrap. Twelve inch versions of "Five" may be a possibility, opps. Please stay tuned for that.
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Read more interviews: Thomas Chou of Da Joint
Tim Tsui of Da Team Bronx
Alex Lau of Covert
Casey Lau of HyperChild
Daniam Chou of Garbage Robots
Simon Wong of Posse
Images courtesy of Action-HQ.com.
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