everything you need to know about chi-bo (@ taipei toy festival 2008)

"I believe in the significance of individuality. The individual is ultimately the most valuable and main ingredient of humanity. The characters of Chi-Bo celebrate and reflect the beauty of humor." - so sayeth Chi-Kit Kwong - creator of CHI-BO (and Younger brother of Michael Kwong of Galaxy Bunch and Alpha Ultimate)


Since the last time I featured them in April, Chi-Bo is set for a Taipei Toy Festival launch of the first 5 characters - namely: His Royal Highness, Action Kwong, Tall kitty, Space Funky, Teenage track-star, and the 6th Secret Character (whose pieces are in all 5 boxed-figures) Miracle Shroom [PEEP their individual profiles] When you buy all five characters, you will automatically have the secret character - dubbed: "Build A Figure". (BAF)


Every 2 months, 5 more characters will be launched (with a secret character) - with a total of 60 characters in all. The "First Strike" will travel to Tokyo Wonder Festival and San Diego Comic Con next - and what is cool about Chi-Bo is that there will be a small comicbook that comes with each package, with different stories [PEEP samples]

/// CLICK THRU to find out EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHI-BO

What is the Creative Motivation behind Chi-Bo?

CHI-KIT: The title, Chi-Bo is a combination of my name Chi-Kit, and Bo- in Chinese meaning treasure. Together it means Chi’s treasure. My goal is to create characters that are truly unique and have a life of their own. The vision of Chi-Bo is to have every character to be a little piece of wonder. Chi-Bo is an experience of surprise and discovery of treasure for everyone.

The intention of making this group of characters is to create a world that doesn’t live by common norms. My endeavor is to create characters that have a strong sense of individuality and yet are bonded together by a common universe. These characters share common ground in their story line.

The characters of Chi-Bo are loosely based upon the many interesting people in my life. These people have extraordinarily strong character and personality but are somewhat offbeat to the majority. My inspiration is also drawn from a broad range of sources. These inspirations have come from world history, fables, literature, music, family and friends.

The D.I.Y culture and the spirit of independent music and art also have a deep influence within my life and work.

What is the Belief of Chi-Bo?

CHI-KIT: I believe in the significance of individuality. The individual is ultimately the most valuable and main ingredient of humanity. The characters of Chi-Bo celebrate and reflect the beauty of humor. It is human difference that keeps our lives together so interesting. I have always taken the stance of wanting to change the world in a positive way. The concept of Chi-Bo is to create a vehicle for me to question the subconscious collectivism in our society. Of course, with all these heavy ideas and belief asides, I am just simply creating the characters with sheer passion.

How many of them are there?

CHI-KIT: There are 60 characters in total. 50 of these are the original point of sale characters and the other ten are created from customer loyalty. These are considered the (BAF) characters or “Build A Figure” character.

Who are the First Five characters?

His Royal Highness:

The king of a far away land called Funnia. His Royal Highness was forced from this land after an invasion of the Barbarian Commander. He exiled to the Royal Zoo and became a zookeeper. During his time working at the zoo, he met many incredible animals that play a key role in reclaiming his kingship.


Action Kwong:

A passionate ping-pong loving youth. He is an essential member of the Great China Athletic Club. His dream is to one day to be part of the national team and he will so just about anything to make his dream come true.


Tall kitty:

A moody orange kitty that has a love interest in teenage track-star. He is the best friend of Action Kwong and also his personal trainer.


Space Funky:

A disco dancing maniac from outer space. All he wants to do is dance and make dance music. Space Funky has travel for hundred of light years on a mission in searching of an ideal education system in the universe. He ended up landing on the Chi-bo world and now is a transfer student in Chi-bo elementary school.


Teenage track-star:

An athletic teenage girl who is really into a healthy life style. She has a bright and easy-going personality but tends to be impatient and forgetful. She is a very typical Sagittarius. Her dream is to be the strongest woman on earth.

Miracle Shroom (BAF):

A plant deity that only blooms every 400 years. When it comes out of the ground miracles happens!

Is there any division/ category of those characters?

All 60 characters can basically divided into 3 story-line/ categories

THE ROYAL ZOO
- a story of a triumphant adventure of His Royal Highness to reclaim his lost kingship from The Barbaric Commander.

This is an epic comedy of His Royal Highness’s journey to reclaim kingship; it will take on many theatrical elements thus having a staged quality similar to a Shakespearean play
Occasional stage spotlight shines on a dramatic scene out of nowhere. The characters are actually aware of the unexplained dramatic effect and question, “where is this spot light coming from” The comedy is to embrace the cheesiness of it.

Dialogue between characters sometimes turns into spontaneous opera singing. Sometimes you will see people in black moving background props around and the characters are total aware of it. Characters will get mad at the stage crew for not changing the scene quick enough or being in the camera frame.

~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~

THE GREAT CHINA ATHLETIC CLUB
- a story of a gang of amateur Ping Pong players seeking their chances to be in the national team.

This is a comedy about a gang of amateur Ping Pong players who dream of becoming part of the national team. The Great China Athletic Club is the community gym where they get together and the Ping Pong “training” takes place. It is a story about dreamers chasing their dream and small people looking for a big shot.

The main characters are the following:

The Veteran - a fifty something year old who claims that 30 years ago he was a rising star of the Ping-pong world. However, nobody has ever seen him touch a paddle.

Action Kwong - a self declared genius that is not very good at Ping Pong but is absolutely passionate about it.

Little Treasure - A teenage cat that has the most potential out of the whole group but too proud and naive to enter the tournaments.

Black Bean – a youth with a short temper who use ping-pong as an outlet for his anger and excessive energy. Not very good at the sport either.

The Machine - it is suppose to be the ultimate in Ping Pong technology that was secretly built 20 years ago. However, the problem is the machine has been out of maintaince for a year. Its also has cooling problems. Regardless of first 30 seconds of powerful performance, The Machine gets over heated and needs an hour of cooling time.

~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~

OLD EAST TOWN
- a sitcom-like story of a community of carefree youths day-to-day happenings.

It is a story about a community of young artist and musicians who are living a carefree lifestyle. Every show the characters are faced with a production crisis in having a music show or art exhibit. However, they always manage to sort out these problems and have fun. At the end of the show will be music videos featuring real up and coming bands and musicians.

~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~
[additional pics via chibotoy flick]