As I may have mentioned in past articles, I always make it a point to visit Toy Hunters whenever I get the chance to visit Hong Kong. Toy Hunters is a toy shop located at the 2nd floor of the popular CTMA Centre in Mongkok, Kowloon. They also happen to be owned and operated by the same company that produces the wonderful Hot Toys products.

During this visit, I was given a rare opportunity to drop in on Toy Hunters an hour before the store opened. This meant a huge deal to me because I managed to browse around their showroom minus the multitude of customers that usually came with the territory during operating hours. Of course, I took advantage of the privilege and snapped a few photos. OK, so it’s not just a few photos.

For the uninitiated, Hot Toys has made a big name for itself making high quality 1/6 scale products. They were initially well known (and still is, actually) for their 1/6 scale military figures.

More recently, they have made waves in the toy industry through their movie licensed products – aptly named the Movie Masterpiece line. They have made toys based on hit movies such as Alien, Alien vs. Predator, Batman Begins, Superman Returns, Pirates of the Carribean, and the upcoming Batman sequel The Dark Knight just to name a few.

Their licensed products don’t stop there. They also have the Video Game Masterpiece line which, as the name suggests, are items based on popular video games. They have also produced collectibles based on the hit Japanese Anime film, Appleseed. The latest of which include the E.S.W.A.T Snap Kits and the AppleSeed Saga Ex Machina 1/6 scale TEREUS.

Another popular line that Hot Toys has ventured into are movie icons branded under the M-Icon line. A couple of the ones on display during my visit were James Dean and Marlon Brando.

Hot Toys has also tapped into the urban vinyl and pop culture genre with its Apexplorers line – a collaborative project with Winson Ma and Tough X – 2 popular names in the Hong Kong pop culture scene.

During this visit, I came to learn that Toy Hunters was already a store about 9 years ago, long before Hot Toys’ inception. It was a bit of a surprise for me to find out that they have been selling toys far longer than they have been making them.

It may be a surprise to some of you, but Toy Hunters is not limiting itself to just selling their own Hot Toys brand. In Hong Kong, they are also a distributor for Sideshow Collectibles. The surprising bit is that through this relationship with Sideshow, Toy Hunters is able to sell products by Medicom of Japan – a brand that many may have seen as Hot Toys’ biggest adversary in the high-end 1/6 scale arena. They are, however, limited to selling Medicom items that are sold through Sideshow – so you probably won’t see a complete Medicom line-up being sold. It’s a rather complicated scenario but I think most of you get the picture. If you guys get the chance to visit Toy Hunters, check out the array and variety of toy products carried by them.

That’s it for this visit. Next time I’m in town, expect to see more photos. And if you happen to find yourself in Hong Kong, do make it a point to visit this address:

TOY HUNTERS
Shop No. 216-218, 2/F, CTMA Centre,
1N Sai Yeung Choi St. South,
Mongkok, Kowloon,
Hong Kong

Special thanks go out to Germaine and Icy for accommodating me during my visit.

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