During my trip to Hong Kong last May, I was given the privilege of a site visit to PopBox Collectibles. There, I met Noel Lee, the company’s Product Development Manager – who gave me a peek inside one of Hong Kong’s top toy makers.

Noel is a young man who hails from Singapore. He found his way to Hong Kong after being introduced to the founder of PopBox Collectibles, John T Wong, during a trip to the US to attend a fan (Macross) convention. Sounds complicated at first, but it really is quite simple – Noel Lee found his calling in the toy industry via his own making. Noel professes that he discovered himself to be a toy collector during his late teens, then pursued the passion and found himself in the business of toy-selling since 2000. He moved to Hong Kong in 2005 to pursue the making of licensed collectibles and has lead the team at PopBox as product development manager since.

At the time of my visit, Noel showed me PopBox Collectibles’ latest offering – the I, Robot 1:2 scale NS-5 Sonny bust which features motion-sensing light-up positronic brain & die cast parts. Noel described it as a mini-bust but with more to offer.

Compared to the conventional mini-busts that are usually made of resin, PopBox Collectible’s I, Robot Sonny bust is made of several materials – hard plastic, die-cast metal and electronic parts.

As you can see in the photos below, the back-side of the head can be removed to reveal Sonny’s internal parts. The mini-bust comes with LED lighting which automatically switches off after a few seconds of idle time. The built-in motion sensor switches the light back on.

Their upcoming NS-4 model will be released in the 4th Qtr this year and will have a similar light up feature. These products are targeted towards the science fiction fan-base as well as the movie buff worldwide.

PopBox Collectibles is also making 1/6 scale figures based on the Macross saga. There are currently 2 figures availabe – Max Jenius and Hikaru Ichijo. These products are in collaboration with Toynami and should be available in the market any day now.

A version of Hikaru in his Pilot Flight Suit is also slated for an August release and will retail for US$79.95.

In addition to manufacturing their own toy lines, PopBox Collectibles has also tied up with other toy makers to market specific product lines. One of these is the Civil War Asia set of mini statues by Dig Deep Entertainment. Of course, we all know that Dig Deep is Digger Mesch’s (founder of Art Asylum) new company.

PopBox also obtained licensure to make and distribute several Transformers products, which include:

Metal Coins (click here for more photos of other coin versions)

Collector’s Patches

Magnet Heads

Reversible, transformable carrying cases for Sony PSP and Nintendo DS (pictures unavailable at the time of writing).

PopBox Collectibles products can be purchased online through their sister company Action-HQ. For a complete list of their retailers, please visit this page on their web site: http://popboxcollectibles.com/where_to_buy.htm. In the Philippines, contact Maxicollector at +63-2-7268854.

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