One Sixth Scale Collectible Figures @ Taipei Toy Festival 2009 (TTF 1/6)

Taipei Toy Festival is one of the very few shows / events I look forward to, especially for 1/6th-scale figures (Fashion and fiction-based / Non-military). Of course there are other hobby shows based in Japan - for which I do not have consistent access (unfortunately). CLICK THRU for an online-roundup of 1/6-goodness at TTF 2009, as well as my personal impressions.


[It's all about the hairstyles LOL]
From online images, seems this year's focus is predominantly "fashion / lifestyle"-based, what with Giveme5ive's DANIEL and male models from Animal Homme, Touch Co's hairstylist James and even music-maker Brown from Jason Siu. Fantasy fiction was represented by RC Work's NING from their Suriyo series, as well as the debut of the unforgettable 20-incher SEA MONKEY from Kennyswork's collaboration with threeA Toys (a pity Ashley Wood's "Snow Pea" aka Sea Monkey's female pilot could not make the event).


Noticed the above-mentioned folks/producers belonged to a select group of (what I term) "boutique" producers, who produce severely limited quantities of their figures, compared to the juggernaunts like Medicom Toy - with their equally impressive MGS, Evangelion, Cobr and Dragonball RAHs, and not forgetting MAX from Where The Wild Things Are, and of coz the mecha-awesomeness of the Ma.K S.A.F.S.





Here are a smattering of other 1/6th-figures on display (for which details elude me - do feel free to post in comments section for all to share, thanks!) - featuring what looks to be a Show Lu (Taiwanese singer), gangsters, a Shaolin abbot and a bunch workmen...


[Event images via Eugene / Darkbox Workshop's Dom / Jack Toyland]
"Missing" from this year's lineup were ENTERBAY, 1/6-figures from How2Work (or FigureMind - their 1/6-production arm) and less of a showing from 2008's TTF, much less the excitement of 2007's - which included debuts of Winson Ma's Fire Specter and Apexplorers, Darkbox Workshop's Shadowman, Copperhead-18s etc.

The abundance (or rather "prevalent") of "designer 1/6" from Hong Kong peaked at the tail end of the late nineties into the millennium (aaahhh the wonderous glory days) and tapered down to a trickle shortly thereafters, when mass-production of 1/6 hammered everyone else into submission, IMHO. I do so miss the days of ZMDC, Soldier13, Eric So - hell, even BBI and DML (granted they are "military" but highly adaptable lol)! Thankfully threezero is still rawking the 1/6th-scale hobby, but this time in partnership with Ashley Wood in threeA Toys :)

Has the current economy impacted everyone that badly? Or is the hobby seeing a decline? Specialist boutique toy-makers produce severely limited and higher-priced collectibles, while the mass-manufacturers like the new-movie-license mogul Hot Toys go outside of the Asian region (besides Tokyo Toy Show :p).

Be that as it may, I envy still what TTF had to offer this year, for even in Singapore - especially for the coming STGCC - what we might well be seeing are (no doubt) RAHs from Medicom Toy and perhaps Hot Toys (who probably will only be seen in their display boxes, along retailer's shelves - and NOT behind display windows) - and that would be it? I seriously would love to see threeA Toys here in SG tho (sadly, that is not happening... believe me, I tried).

Or maybe I should take the first plunge and start with my own 1/6 kitbashes and customs, yeh? As amateurish as they might be ... but then again, who would be willing to sponsor a booth for dedicated non-military / retail 1/6th-scale figures? Or maybe I should just forget about the local 1/6 hobby scene once and for all? ...hhmmm...