michael kwong's the galaxy bunch
The Galaxy Bunch: Virus Series - is a new series of 3"-er tall vinyl-figures designed by Michael Kwong of Locoism (HK) with 9 distinctive characters in a set and are limited to 1500-pcs each worldwide @ a SRP of US$11.95 per - scheduled for an August-drop
according to Michael, currently the figures are available blind-boxed only in HongKong, while they will be sold as a set in plastic packs in the US.
i had a chat with Michael about The Galaxy Bunch, his works and upcoming plans...
/// CLICK HERE FOR INTERVIEW
TOYSREVIL what was the genesis for the Galaxy Bunch's creation, Michael? what were your influences?
MICHAEL KWONG: I first created the story of Galaxy Bunch in 2000 when I lived in Ohio, America, I was an illustrator and had painted for living then. Ever since I was young, I liked fantasy Art and Robotic stuff, and have tried to create my own Universe with different creatures and living environments. As for influences, I watch the National Geographic and Discovery channels all the time ... I also liked Star Wars and the Lord of Rings-kinda stuff, because their stories have a whole sense of dimension, full of imagination and not just with a funny looking character.
The Galaxy Bunch was first launched at the year of 2003 at Hong Kong Comic Festival. As you can see from the images, they were very stylish and flat-graphics at that time, but personally, I liked them a lot :)
MK: In the year 2004, I decided to work on the characters' personalities, to make them 'closer' to us and at the same time, would make it easier to be a cartoon story ... to be honest, that period of the Galaxy Bunch was kinda "too kiddish" ... But I think 2004 was a big milestone for the Galaxy Bunch as I had created 20 more side characters; like monsters, different kind of creatures and aliens, for the story. And the story background and structure had been formed and set by then. Big year for me!
In 2006, we decided to make our stuffs into vinyl figures :)
TRE: what was the concept you were looking for?
MK: Well, for the Galaxy Bunch, although they are all facing different kinds of problems ... but they always move forward and take on the adventure ... Just like us, I think people now, especially the younger generation, they lack confindence and are so afraid of losing ... maybe they should be like our little guys, just taking on their adventures and are trying to make a better future...
TRE: there's a local saying here in Singapore too: "scared to loose" ... LOL ... did they start off as comicbook characters, or were they designed as toys first? ... am really diggin the illustrations too - did you do them yourself, Michael?
MK: They started as graphic images...then Stories and Comics...then Toys... and Yes, I do quite a lot of illustration and if you want to see more of my works, go to www.locoism.com.hk ...you can see some of my older stuffs.
TRE: are the Galaxy Bunch figures currently available? and will they be sold individually? or as groups? sets? blind-box?
MK: Yes, The color version of the Galaxy Bunch toys called the "Virus Series" with a total of 9 characters are available for the market right now and available for wholesale-order, actually ... the first shipment to America will be made on August 2007.
We are selling it in two ways right now, blind boxed and as a box set. In the blind box, we will put some special edition monster or aliens into it from time to time to make this cool. Of course, I hope people can bring them all back home. Unfortunately blind box are only available in Hong Kong right now.
We will make at least 1500 for each character worldwide. And This coming September, our second toy, The 8 inches vinyl "The Ultimate" will be coming, will update you about this. I have already made the model..I like it so much..
TRE: looking forward to The Ultimate, Michael! ... these images from from Taipei Toy Festival 2007 - the creatures they ride on - are they available as well? or just for display?
MK: this big monster fellow is only a display right now, but will be made into a toy next year.
TRE: that'll be cool, IMHO ... what are the future plans for Galaxy Bunch?
MK: I am focusing on the comic book right now ... the toys will be launched at the same time, and we plan to break up our schedule into four quarters a year, in keeping to the promise to our fans to make at least four series of toys a year....
TRE: what do you hope for Galaxy Bunch to do for collectors?
MICHAEL KWONG: My galaxy bunch have different personalities and i hope our collectors will follow me to let the imagination explored and we have so many crazy idea coming out form our mind....like we are going to make all the alien and monster with the little guys trying to create a whole alien world...so folks, better save up your money because it will be so many cool characters coming soon.
TOYSREVIL: cheers for your time, Michael! best of luck for Galaxy Bunch and looking forward to more vinyl-goodies from Locosim! :)
