Okay so I know talk of KR junk isnt supposed to be discussed here (not a big fan of most of it anyway) but I never hear anyone mention Hong Kong vinyl on here? Anyone a fan of Michael Lau,Eric So or any others here? Just curious.

Who?

Yea definiteley Michael Lau and Eric So are pretty rad. They got some cool ish going on. Ive seen some the toys here and there, though sadly I cant say that I own any. Personally, I think they have more style than any KR/western designer toy

I could never get into Michael Lau or Eric So vinyl, but I do dig Tim Tsui. I have a few secret versions, which are still some of my favorite pieces in my collection.

Never got the Lau/So stuff, either...

got a couple of Lau in my hands, great figures but they are not as sleek as kaiju/JP Vinyl can be....

his work is great, but I just can't get along with it...

Never got into Lau or So...but Tsui early stuff was off the hook. Still have a bunch of his Da Apes and Kings which are an essential part of my collection.

While not entirely HK vinyl per se, I have really been diggin Coarse Toys stuff because it reminds me of the HK look. Probably because they have HK association somehow in their business but these guys are German:

http://coarsetoys.com/

High quality toys, above and beyond packaging, you get such a bang for your buck with these guys.

I have a PAIN and both blackout and rainbow editions of PAW! Very nice additions to the collection this past year~!

I like Michael Lau, especially his stuff that came after the crazychildren toys (the look that almost every "urban vinyl" artist ripped off).

The "80s" series he did (with the monkey, burger, gijoe, ape stormtrooper) was fantastic.

Problem is toys are usually kinda hard to get or really pricey. He usually releases his toys through shows in HK and as it is with kaiju there's always a bunch of flippers.

But the actual vinyl (and not design) quality doesn't hold a candle to JP vinyl.

Those coarsetoys are pretty cool, looks like I missed the boat on those.

Heres a picture of most of my HK collection for those interested. The Eric So's Edison Chen figure was my first and still my personal favorite.

*yawn*

I like that Baby Milo kub you got on the bottom

I think Lau and So did some interesting stuff when they were pioneering the form. But that was a number of years ago, and that "classic" style they came up with has been used and abused so much (as someone else said) that it's diluted the uniqueness of their early efforts.

The designers who I think have continued making an interesting impact are Tsui and the members of Brothersfree. When it comes to 12" figures, their attention to detail and creativity are unmatched. Fortunately these guys attend the Taipei Toy Festival every year, so I'm able to see their newest works firsthand.

Eric So is a great friend and also Michael Lau is very cool guy. I have one of ML works when we had our own magazine here in Hong Kong. I asked him to draw the whole interview since I never met him previously. I drew what I looked like, adding the questions and faxed it to him. He agreed and now I have a comic strip!. Also he did some Gardener/Star Wars caricatures for our magazine. So cool. I saw their career just go nuts right after that but later they were both really disheartened by all the people copying them.

Michael Lau created an intersting book on Terry RIchardson when he had his exhibition in Hong Kong through Diesel as the sponsors. He created large portraits of Terry Richardson on canvas.

Brothersfree are always interesting. Shame they split right? Did they ever produce those clown sets? I loved the one with the big a-bomb. I only saw them as prototypes in 2002.

What got me interested in Micheal Lau was his SFCC stuff. They have a really cool style to em; really simple and the sculpts flow together. Also his 12" Gardeners and Nike stuff are pretty sweet

Yeah I really love the SFCC cardboard style toys. I've always been tempted to collect them but kaiju takes all my money.

Still love the Lau stuff . . . it was that and the James Jarvis are what got me into toys.

I admire the guy for trying new stuff and push the boundaries although I admit some of it is kinda lame (both QC and 'artistic merit'), but the diversity over the last 10 years has been incredible. Unfortunately the Nike collaborations/blind chase/über limited HK only releases have curbed my interest recently . . . which I guess is lucky given the amount of cool stuff coming out of JPN and S7!

BF didn't exactly split. They just started their individual design studios. I think they still do collabs together and seem to be good friends. I think it was just an issue of each wanting to explore new creative avenues.

Though it's kinda ironic that their "individual" 12" figures could easily belong to the brothersfree label.

I have a couple of Michael Lau's Kubrick pieces, the 2001 astronaut and the Clockwork Orange.

Copperhead: Not sure if I'd agree with that. Kenny's Copperhead (heh, funny coincidence!) and Winson's Ape Explorer are pretty different from the team projects like Bomb, Smart, etc. (which are much more closely alligned with the "classic" Lau/So HK style). If anything, I think these guys are getting better and better.

The only Lau stuff that I have bought recently are the Jordan's.

Not a coincidence actually! That's exactly where I got the board handle from . Gorgeous figure and one of favorites.

I agree with you that they ARE different from the brothersworker series in theme, but then again so was that little martial arts guys who was based on a chinese comic (whose name escapes me now, sorry), and that was a Brothersworker project.

They have this design "unity" (sorry, kinda hard for me to explain this, language barriers and all that) that could very well pass as a team project - just take a look at the headsculpts! Remove the headsculpt of 18 or the guy with the harpoon leg from the Copperhead series and stick it into a brothersworker figure and you have something that could very well belong in Brothersworker.

But these guys are masters of 12" (and are gettin better and better, like you said), no doubt about it.

Man, I've got one of those martial arts comic figures (with the special metal weapon) sitting in a box, if anyone wants to buy it. (I don't have the space!) I also have a 3rd anniversary sepia "mini workers" set for sale. Love their stuff, but I just haven't got the set up to display it properly.

huh, I kind of always understood Lau badmouthed So, saying that So coppied his style and cashed in on what he was doing.