Event & Custom-Showcase for Hot Toys x Iron Man CollARTible Expo (as seen in Hong Kong)
With the Hot Toys x Iron Man CollARTible Expo moving from Hong Kong and launching in Taipei, Taiwan on May 14th @ Shin Kong Mitsukoshi [Event Details HERE] ~ we take a look back at the festivities in Hong Kong (via the video above / Opening Day images HERE) which saw a launch alongside the premiere of the Iron Man 2 movie. CLICK THRU to reacquaint ourselves with some of the customed 1/6th-scale Iron Man figures on display.
[Hot Toys x Iron Man collARTible Expo tagged on TOYSREVIL]
CLICK for complete coverage of 1/6 customed-Iron Man on TOYSREVIL]
DESCRIPTION: "Ironman Fever" by Joey Ou (Concept) & Kelvin Sau (Production) from Model + Magazine (a Hong Kong magazine on models, figures, toys). Designers would like to keep the original design of Mark III and add a fierce soldier feeling. They have also specially added the word “fever” in Chinese which matches with the Chinese name of Hot Toys' official store in Hong Kong, implying an attitude of persistence. They also included Chinese words meaning "incomparable" on another side of Mark III to make Iron Man look proud.
DESCRIPTION: "Marine Type-Armor Loaded" by Paul Leung (Founder of Giveme5ive brand). This design is a new model developed for marine mission, which is suitable for operating in deep sea. It can also match with missile transmitter and torpedo with firepower comparable to nuclear-powered submarine. Paul worked as Creative Director in interior design and publishing industry, etc. He was then involved in toy design and founded the Giveme5ive brand. He is active in toy and art exhibitions.
DESCRIPTION: "What's next" by Vincent & Lun, Designers of Dot Dog Design, focusing on 12" figures. Designers would like to bring out the concept of environmental protection and leave room for audience's imagination by asking "How can Iron Man survive here?".
DESCRIPTION: "The Disburdened Weight" by Childe Abaddon & Kenji Wong, Creative Director of Wudai Shiguo (五代十国). They believe that revolution is buried in art and creativity is their weapon to rebel against the fashion covering tons of errors and reform it.
[CLICK for previous coverage of The Disburdened Weight on TOYSREVIL, including design concept / story]
DESCRIPTION: "Mossman" by Derek Kwok, Award-winning Film Director from Hong Kong for his movies "The Pye-Dog" and "The Moss". He also won the Best New Director of 28th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2009 for "The Moss".
Moss is a representation of a lower class of plants, but is full of power in life in the movie. It is about a Hong Kong cop who is struggling for his survival in the underground world, a place filled with criminals and low life people like moss. The design concept of his project is to incorporate his movie idea into Iron Man to become "Mossman". Derek just finished directing his movie "Gallants" and is now focusing on a love comedy.
DESCRIPTION: "Iron Sculpture" by William Tsang, Founder of williamworkshop. Iron Man is styled as an Iron sculpture, which gains momentum in a static state and is ready for take-off. William is also a member of Brothersfree who once worked in the advertising industry. Having a passion for art, he founded his own "williamworkshop", focusing on sculpture, drawing and toy design.
[CLICK to view previous coverage of Iron Sculpture on TOYSREVIL featuring making-of images]
DESCRIPTION: "Moon Speaker Battle Suit" by Jason Siu from Hong Kong, who once worked in the advertising industry and then founded his own company Jason Siu & Co. which launches stylish and trendy products.
His design concept of this project is "Chinese satellite broadcasted the music in the space upon the earth".
[CLICK to view previous coverage of Moon Speaker Battle Suit on TOYSREVIL, including Making-Of images]
DESCRIPTION: "DEVIL IRONMAN" by Elphonso Lam Cheung Kwan. Comic Writer, Interior and Toy Designer, Member of CLIMAX and BIG-ROD band, Chief of FREE KINGDOM PRODUCTION, etc. Elphonso Lam has sharpened sense of the trend and is also called rock comic writer. Active in writing and drawing for different newspapers and magazines, such as HK lifestyle magazines East Touch, Milk and Men's Uno. Design concept taken from PUNK, SKELETON, DEATH.
DESCRIPTION: "ULTRA IRON MAN" by ULTRAMAN, Founder of Ultra Design. ULTRAMAN is a superfan of Tezuka Osamu, specializing in advertising illustration, character design and toys production. He also collaborated with Hot Toys for projects such as Astro Boy, Black Jack & Pinoko.
His design concept combines elements from his favourite Astro Boy and the Japanese robot in 70s, so that the Iron Man he customized has a strong feeling of robot of earlier times. He also incorporates environmental ideas in his design, so 80% of the parts of this project are from recycled materials.
Ultraman always participates in exhibitions and charity auctions of Art Toys in different parts of the world. In 2007's Sotheby's auction, he was one of the Hong Kong people who auctions the custom-made toy for the first time.
[CLICK for previous coverage of Ultra Iron Man on TOYSREVIL, including making-of images]
[CLICK for more images of IRON MAN BROTHERS: ICEMAN by Winson Ma]
DESCRIPTION: "Copper King" by Kenny Wong, Founder of Kennyswork, who likes painting and sculpture. Representative works include Molly and Copperhead-18. His design idea is to dress up Iron Man to be exhibited together with other artists' projects. Kenny is also a member of Brothersfree and Art Director of Brothersfree Ltd.
[CLICK for previous coverage of Copper King on TOYSREVIL]
DESCRIPTION: "SO FUN" by Eric So, Creative Director of PAPAMAMASON, celebrated designer, illustrator and figure artist, who has worked with various medium and art forms and has been invited to collaborate with different brands. His design concept is called "SO FUN", the concept he always applies to his works.
[CLICK to view more images and previous coverage of So Fun Iron Man on TOYSREVIL]
DESCRIPTION: "Unearthed Relics Iron Man" by Mr Ho Lok Ming, Toy Painter of 3A Toys. As project name shows, it is unearthed artifaces which is a great discovery in archaeology in Chinese history. Era and identity unknown.
DESCRIPTION: “Iron Cross” by Peiper from Japan, specializing in producing military figure costume. Iron Man is being customized as evil veteran officer of SS who wears Iron suit! It is similar to the knight by likening the Iron suit to the armor of the Middle Ages.
DESCRIPTION: JC Hong, Hot Toys' Production Director and Chief Painter since 2007. Paying tribute to the famous movie star Bruce Lee and celebrating his 70th anniversary this year, his design concept is taken from GOD (Game of Death), one of the most representative works of Bruce.
JC is an expert in collectible figures and possesses over 15 years extensive experience in figures painting. He is also a self-taught artist who has practiced painting by himself for over 30 years.
[Credits: Studio-images and info via Hot Toys Facebook / Additional event-images via MGBB's flickr ~ slideshow viewable HERE in my previous post]
[CLICK to view above featured customs by Bernardo Esquivel and Jesse Lincoln]
[Click to view featured customs by Anthony Mestas HERE, and Heath Hammond HERE]
[Click HERE for a feature on custom-Iron Man by Korean artist Lalla]
[CLICK for coverage of the Hot Toys x Iron Man collARTible Expo on TOYSREVIL]
