Interview with JC Hong, Hot Toys Chief Painter and Product Designer

Jedd-the-Jedi got to meet a few of the good folks at Hot Toys during the Singapore Toy, Games & Comic Convention back in September. Over the weeks that followed, Jedd put together an interview with JC Hong, who is the chief painter and production director for Hot Toys. There’s some very interesting stuff on how 3D technology is affecting their business, and how the US and Asian markets are different. Read on!

Jedd: Hot Toys designers, artists, sculptors and painters are known for their stunning attention to detail, capturing tiny nuances in faces, costumes and props that the regular person wouldn’t be able to catch. How much access do you have to conceptual art, costume/prop designs, set photographs etc. when working on products licensed from movies? Can you walk us through the creative process that goes into creating a Hot Toys figure?

JC Hong: The Hong Kong team is very good at searching for photos, fully checking details, and giving good opinions to us. Most of my job is on human faces. For creating a collectible figure, communication is very important.

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Toy Fair 2012 – Mattel Collector Night – Toy Guru Video

Mattel held its Collector Night event at New York Toy Fair yesterday, and Scott “Toy Guru” Neitlich was on hand to share the details of all the products they had on display.

Included in the mix were Voltron, DC Universe (including Club Infinite Earths, All-Stars, Young Justice, Action League, Justice League Unlimited, Batman Legacy, and The Dark Knight Rises Movie Masters), Masters of the Universe Classics, WWE, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, and Cars. Following his presentation, Toy Guru fielded all the questions that the crowd threw his way.

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Ask Matty Q&A Round-Up for 7/15

We’ve got the final Ask Matty Q&A before Comic-Con. Sure, we’re a few days late (more on that later), but that’s not the fault of the team at Mattel. Hope to see you at the big show!

1) We’re really looking forward to San Diego Comic-Con next week. We know you’ll be bringing the latest from your DC Universe, Masters of the Universe, Ghostbusters, Voltron and WWE brands. Will you have any new licenses to announce? Any hints?

(Photography credit: TheFwoosh.com – be sure to check out the Fwoosh for the latest First Looks at the San Diego Comic-Con Mattel exclusives and more!)

No, we will not have any new licenses to announce at the show.

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Ask Matty Q&A Round-Up for 7/1

The Mattel team got the latest Q&A back to us yesterday afternoon, but I didn’t have time to post until this morning. I’ll blame the pile of loot that Big Bad Toy Store delivered, which included my set of DC Universe Classics wave 18. Amazing, and more to come!

1) A lot of us have been wondering how the new DC Universe comics relaunch due in September will be reflected in the DC Universe Classics line. When did you get wind of the changes? How has that affected the line-ups due out in 2012?

It has given us the opportunity to work some of the new looks into the line and refresh key characters. We are actually reworking some of our 2012 line up to take advantage of this! Stay tuned for more at SDCC!

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Mattel San Diego Comic-Con 2011 Exclusives at the Comic Bug

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I got a chance to swing by The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach to see a preview of Mattel’s upcoming SDCC Exclusives. Mattel’s El Segundo Main Office is close by and apparently some Matty people come here for their comic fixes and were able to let them display this year’s Comic-Con exclusives for a couple of days (the display only lasts ’til today, Tuesday, May 10th). They were kind enough to let me take some pics!

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