Ultimate Glory Dunk Hi / Gabriel & Anthony
Ultimate Glory Dunk Hi by Nike dropped in Hong Kong this morning. Hot. The background story of this design was the boxing match between Oscar De La Hoya and Julius Chavez back in 1996, considered one of the greatest boxing matches ever. For non-boxing fans, I'm sure the all red cement print was enough for attraction. My first pair of Dunk this year, wanted to rock it right away.
A very enjoyable dinner tonight with old buddies from T.O.; Gabriel and Anthony. 2 of my very best of friends since childhood, now all sitting around one table in HK, who would have thought back then this would happen. "Relocation" seems normal for us nowadays, I suppose. Anyways, great seeing you boys again. Wish you all the best in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong / Krispy Kreme
Finally back home in Hong Kong. Away from all the work and phone calls, hell, I turned off my phone to make sure I won't get any calls! Just want to unwind and recharge for a few days. I have to say, it was a good day today... until I logged online at night, I had an easy going day walking around town, just watching people react to the market. People are still shopping, dinning out, and whatever, but I was told they are being more "careful" nowadays. A friend, in the finance field, simply said "people are scared", and understandably so.
The economic downturn is setting in by the day.
I got out the airport, I passed by one of my favorite snacks; Krispy Kreme. I said "no rush, I'll get one in the city". I got in the car, turned on the radio, "All Krispy Kreme locations were closed down today, all 7 shops. The only 2 left remaining opened are the 2 inside the airport"... You would have guessed which 3 words I said right after that radio announcement. Well, Kirby and Whitney might know more about how I fancy Krispy Kreme, anyways, that's beside the point. Point is, we will witness more and more companies and businesses go belly up from here on end. It does make you think who will decide to blow out the candles next, one has to make sure he/she will be the last one standing.
Time off
Going back to Hong Kong for a week, finally. Have been looking forward to this time-off for quite sometime. 
Halloween Pac
Halloween is right around the corner, we worked with Mainland clothing brand INVOKE on a Halloween Pac. The pack includes a glow-in-the-dark t-shirt, and a matching GID Yoka to go with it. The tee reads "Trick or Treat! Put your wallet in my bag, bitch!" The GID Yoka is available for sale at Rotofugi, while the whole Halloween Pac is only available in Mainland China. Can't say that this won't happen more and more, as the market shifts.
This is somewhat related to Halloween I guess; XR Runner "Day of the Dead" by PUMA. "Dia de los Muertos" is a Mexican traditional festival celebrating the reunion of dead relatives with their families, happens on November 1st and 2nd. Using this as a Halloween Edition won't be too far fetched neither. Colors and graphics on this one are cool.
Is gonna happen, save up.
Skulls, Guns, and some Complex Shits
Hiroshi Fujiwara's Fragment Design firm added a new graphic element to its successful FENOM line. Expect to see a line of apparel sporting the similar skull graphic. With skulls, you associate with war and death, some serious topics... where will this lead to? Stay tuned to find out, I guess.
Kids are playing with serious shits too, even without really noticing it. Toy guns from Disneyland... so shinny, so pretty, a sparkling pink gun,.. yeah, pretty good idea to keep having kids play with guns... What were those people thinking back in da day when they thought "guns" would make a good toy for children? With the change of time, should we expect toy-nuclear bombs, toy acid? We have toy tanks already, but let's kick it up a notch by coming out with 1:1 ratioed ones, so parents can buy one for their kids to drive around in the neighborhood. Hey, why not? We let them run around with a gun in their hands already. Going over board, I know, but think about it, this is some serious shit.
Speaking of serious shit, how about some complex shits?
Harkim sent this over.
"An unfortunate burst of wind disrupted an outside art installation at the Paul Klee center in Bern, Switzerland, in August, ripping an inflatable exhibit from its moorings and carrying it away. The exhibit, by American Paul McCarthy, was a sculpture entitled "Complex Shit," and the inflatable item was supposed to be a dog dropping the size of a house. Explained the Klee center's Web site (challengingly), the show features "interweaving, diverse, not to say conflictive emphases and a broad spectrum of items to form a dynamic exchange of parallel and self-eclipsing spatial and temporal zones." (Or, wrote London's Daily Telegraph in broken French, it is "what happens when la merde hits le ventilateur.")
[Daily Telegraph (London), 8-12-08]"
Big complex shit, here we go.
Head Porter / MOB / Skeletor
Hiroshi Fujiwara continues to cook up the street fashion culture by curating interesting collaboration projects such as this one. Special items made in celebration of his new exhibition "Hi & Lo" with Kaikai Kiki's own Takashi Murakami included these bags produced by famed Japanese bag maker HEAD PORTER. Head Porter with Murakami's graphics? O joy! That's not all, this collabo even included Murakami's design on Levis' FENOM Denim. "Hi & Lo"... this makes better sense than the "Art for the Mass" exhibition products from a while back. I say this with no disrespect to the curators of that exhibit.
Another Head Porter project from Hiroshi's Fragment Design firm. Although we have seen enough polka dotted patterns over the last 2 years, let's not forget how that trend got started (not counting those polka dots on your grandma's dress from back in da day.). This looks more like a reminder to us from Hiroshi & Fragment.
Three Taiwan streetwear labels, MANIA, OVERKILL, and B-SIDE, got together for one special project; MOB. Neat idea, boys. It is a new complete label, it will be interesting to see how this 3-way collabo brand will result.
"NOTHING GONNA CHANGE THE WORLD, SO WE FIGHT,WE REBELLED! WE BECAME A MOB."
Congrats to you, Bruce and Jose.
Seriously! This is nice. I know it sounds gay, but yes, I played with He-Man when I was a kid, and I'll admit it. This recent re-make by Mattel looks tight. I guess I'll have to hunt this one down. Skeletor is the man, I have no plans to get the actual He-Man one. Nah.
Re-issues of yesterday toys are something I don't mind collecting, I mean, there's some serious meaning in the back. And at those prices, I'll do it. G.I.Joe, for instance, I went nuts shopping during the last NYCC. Don't regret it one bit.
MISHKA re-visits
Haven't seen the Mishka boys in 5 months, and they showed up last nite.
It has been a while, Greg and Mikal.
These 2 are definitely getting things done in recent years.
Have fun this Friday, guys. I'll see you boys in NYC again soon.
And what da hell are these??
PUMA F1 figures for their recent giveaway promotions.
Don't get misled by the photo, the one on your left is much bigger than your childhood lego. The robot in the back is the coolest one out of the pack. Yeah man, these are free with purchases.
On the other hand, our Racing Series YOKA will be sold exclusively via Rotofugi (outside of China).
Do not order via iconic-1 if you are not located in Mainland China. They won't ship internationally. Ask Kirby for more info. Yeah, bug him. :-)
Oct YOKAs
As mentioned before, more different YOKAs will be released on a monthly basis. 
Slated for official release this month are 2 YOKAs, Halloween and Auto Racing Series. Both are 6.5cm version. Needless to point out, the Halloween one is glow in the dark... ok, I pointed it out anyways..
No title
Still one of my own all-time favorite Teddy Troops; The London Police edition. Chicago's Rotofugi designer vinyl central has this now, if you didn't know where to get yours, now you know.
Be on the look out for 3 new YOKA before the month ends. They will be available in the US, so, sit tight.
FIRE PANDA vinyl / ALJ / Heroes Cap
Customed YOKA by Abe Linclon Jr. for the Coalesce Show in New York. Very cool finish on this piece, Abe. Just don't expect me to do this for a production run.
Don't know how many collectors out there have this piece. FIRE PANDA vinyl produced back in 2002 (or 2001), by PWF back in da day, later changed name to Flying Cat. Originally designed by BEE WONG. This piece certainly brought back tons of memories for me, because of a few reasons. One being that this piece debuted before adFunture was established and I was running FigureKing.Com back then, and I clearly remember selling alot of this Fire Panda individually via the internet. Back then, it wasn't considered "flipping", because these vinyl figures were simply not available in the International marketplace. If I were to do the same routine today, it would be considered "flipping" by some of you collectors out there, because back then, I didn't even have a wholesale account, I just bought at retail prices and resold them. Back then, other than Ningyoushi, none other US shops/online shops carried designer vinyls. That was a long time ago. adFunture's first ever branded figure was MAD TEETH, also produced by PWF in 2002. It was my first project and chose to work with an existing toy label in the industry to get my feet wet. And wet it got... Long story, but a lesson well learned. So, in a way, Fire Panda and adFunture had a distanced linkage.
6 years went by, we now have a totally different ballgame. adFunture no longer outsource, and BEE hasn't made a figure in 6 years. Bee Wong and I finally met face to face under a toy-unrelated circumstance. So, guess what?
Yup.
Is time to play.
Watching HEROES on DVD at home, doing a little catch-up, entertainment-wise.
(Photo: ONEWAY Heroes Mesh Cap Series)
Birthday / ONEWAY Military Cap / Daniel
National Holiday Week / K & Chris
Oct 1st, Mainland's National Holiday Week began.
Yup, no work for the next few days. Yup, no one will reply your emails, no one will ship out your packages, and no one, needless to say, will deliver you the packages that you buddies sent you.
Yup. Not a week of joy. The streets were packed today when I walked out. Clearity hitted me again as to why I should have left town for the holidays... 
Since K was in town for Subcrew's party, Chris and I decided to take him to "hairy crab" dinner. Is in season now, more and more friends from HK will drop by Shanghai to have this seasonal delicate dish over the next few months. We went to my usual joint. K is currently busy on his ONEWAY's next store opening in Guangzhou. See you in GZ next?
By his count, Chris should be tired of this hairy crab dish by mid-October... Well, that's what happens when you have two to three of them once every 2 days, Chris. Take it easy, haha.
