A History of Hot Toys, Part 1: The Famous Type Figure (Circa 2000)

For the first post proper in this prospective series on Hong Kong company Hot Toys and their 1/6th-scale high-end action figures – following a prelude in the form of George Lucas's head – here are a couple of examples, taken from my own collection, of the earliest Hot Toys figures:

The Famous Type Figure. Produced in limited quantities (some estimates put it at just 500 of each figure) circa 2000, there were three of these, all unlicensed (in other words, unofficial): a figure based on the aforementioned Mr. Lucas, alias The Director; a figure based on Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible 2 (directed, not entirely coincidentally I suspect, by Hong Kong action movie maestro John Woo), and a figure based on Keanu Reeves as Neo in The Matrix. As I noted in my prelude post, I only own the head sculpt of George Lucas, but I own complete examples of the other two Famous Type Figures, in the two types of boxes they were issued in.

Opinions differ as to which was the first to be released. Some collectors say Neo came first, packaged as he is in a black box with no sign of the Hot Toys branding, unlike the yellow-and-orange boxes of Ethan and George. Others say the reverse is true, that Ethan and George came first in their bright Hot Toys boxes, with Neo following in the black box with all references to Hot Toys removed (the presumption being for legal reasons, these being unlicensed figures). The release dates of the movies in question – 1999 for The Matrix, 2000 for Mission: Impossible 2 – would suggest that Neo came first, but while there is a copyright date of 2000 on Ethan's yellow box, there's no date at all on Neo's black box. Muddying the waters still further, I've seen examples of not just Neo but Ethan and George in the black-design box. Perhaps if Hot Toys founder Howard Chan is ever passing this way, he can pronounce on which was actually the first Famous Type Figure.

In any case, the Famous Type Figure was by no means the first line of high-end 1/6th-scale action figures to be based on film characters. Takara had produced Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) Real Action Figures, albeit with limited articulation, while in 1995 fellow Japanese outfit Medicom teamed with Takara to produce Judge Dredd (1995), Alien (1979) and Predator (1987) figures, launching their Real Action Heroes line (or Real Action Series as they were originally called). 

What Howard Chan and his coconspirators brought to the party was a body (or "buck" in collector parlance) with articulation comparable with the contemporaneous likes of Medicom or Dragon Models ("over 34 joints" as the box blurb puts it), outfitting and tailoring that was a cut above the 1/6th figure competition, and likenesses that were remarkable for their time.

Neo, Ethan and George are all recognisable as their celluloid/real-world counterparts, and sport outfits that hang fairly realistically on bodies that approximate how the human body moves. Neo in particular is an impressive piece considering his age. On first inspection his black outfit looks quite simple, but the tailoring is excellent, his trench coat is wired along the edges to enable dynamic blowing-in-the-wind poses, he has all the requisite gun holsters underneath, and his boots boast painted silver buckles and brushed silver toecaps. In addition, his accessories comprise four metal guns – two Berettas and two Heckler & Koch MP5Ks – and a pair of shades that sit nicely on his five o'clock-shadowed face.

It would be five years before Hot Toys returned to making 1/6th figures based on film properties, launching the Movie Masterpiece series in 2005 with figures based on The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986) and other franchises, this time fully licensed and official. In the interim, the company turned to creating modern military figures – although still taking inspiration for head sculpt likenesses from famous types, starting with Hot Toys' first official release...

A History of Hot Toys Prelude: George Lucas's Head

Besides collecting books and comics and records (and, along with those, dust), I also collect action figures – on and off. This occasional diversion dates back to my time working at Titan in the early 2000s, when I edited Star Trek Magazine and tie-in souvenir magazines to movies like Hulk and X2, and launched and edited late lamented (by me) toy and comic collector magazine Memorabilia (a kind of British version of Wizard but with better jokes). Back then it was American companies like Marvel/Toy Biz and their early super-posable 6-inch action figures – Spider-Man, Daredevil, the 2002 Spider-Man movie range – or DC Direct and their superhero figures that I tended to gravitate to, but I also nurtured a fascination for Japanese companies like Sega and their 7-inch Real Model Neon Genesis Evangelion range or Medicom's Lego-like Kubrick figures (some of which I might blog about at some point).

My interest in action figures has waxed and waned over the years, but whenever my curiosity has been piqued in the past two decades it's tended to be by Japanese and Hong Kongese figures: Kaiyodo's Revoltech and Yamaguchi ranges (Evangelion again, but other anime/mecha too, plus sci-fi and Iron Man figures); Bandai and Medicom's 6-inch S.H. Figuarts and Mafex lines (mostly Marvel and DC movie figures); and the 1/6th-scale (i.e. 12-inch) high-end figures produced by Medicom in their Real Action Heroes range and Hot Toys in their Movie Masterpiece series and Deluxe DX line. While Medicom were the trailblazers as regards 1/6th-scale movie and TV tie-in action figures, producing Judge Dredd and Alien figures as far back as 1995, since the early 2000s Hong Kong-based Hot Toys have risen to become leaders in the field, innovating in everything from articulation and artistry to craftsmanship and tailoring.

Naturally there have been numerous sites and YouTube channels which have charted Hot Toys' development and wares over the years: Michael Crawford's excellent Captain Toy site springs to mind, as do YouTubers like Dean Knight, Sean Long, Shartimus Prime and the seemingly surname-less Justin and his Collection. What there hasn't been so much of is historical exploration and appreciation of Hot Toys' extraordinary toys, and so that's what I thought I'd do in this series of posts, taking an idiosyncratic look at Hot Toys-gone-by in the form of figures from my own collection. Starting with this:

This is George Lucas's head. More specifically, it's a head – and neck – belonging to one of Hot Toys' first forays into 1/6th figures, the Famous Type Figure. Produced circa 2000, there were three of these, all unlicensed (i.e. unofficial): one clearly modelled on George Lucas, director of such films as THX 1138 (1971), American Graffiti (1973) and a long-forgotten space fantasy by the name of Star Wars (1977); one based on Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), and one modelled on Keanu Reeves as Neo in The Matrix (1999). 

I don't have George's body or box as I bought his head as part of a job lot of 1/6th bits and pieces, but even disembodied it's notable how even at this very early juncture, 25 years ago, the ability of Hot Toys' sculptors and painters to capture a likeness was in evidence. 

Within the space of a few years Hot Toys' artisans would start to achieve uncannily lifelike head sculpts, in concert with cleverly engineered TrueType bodies that replicated the way the human body moves and outfits boasting finely detailed tailoring. But before we get to any of that, for my first post proper in this series I want to take a look at the two Famous Type Figures I own in full – these guys:

Signed Patricia Highsmith Books: Edith's Diary, People Who Knock on the Door and Found in the Street

As I mentioned in my post the other week on a significant (to me, if no one else) piece of signed Patriciaphernalia relating to Ripley's Game, I also have several signed Patricia Highsmith first and other editions I've been meaning to blog about for bloody ages – which, in order of publication, are as follows:

A 1977 Heinemann first edition of Edith's Diary, Highsmith's seventeenth novel. I've blogged in brief before about a previous copy of this edition, bought in 2010 in the Chichester branch of Kim's Bookshop (which, I've only just learned, closed down last year, though the Arundel branch still seemingly prospers) and subsequently sold to, I think, my friend Ric, co-proprietor of Lewes's fine (and pretty much only these days) secondhand and antiquarian bookshop Bow Windows. (And in a pleasing instance of serendipity, just the other day Ric drew my attention to Elena Gosalvez Blanca's piece about her time as Highsmith's assistant, in which Blanca highlights Edith's Diary as her favourite Highsmith.) This copy, however, is signed on the title page:

And dated 21 November 1988, a good decade on from publication. What Highsmith was up to on that particular day I couldn't say – while I own Edith's Diary, I don't own Highsmith's Her Diaries and Notebooks, if that day is even mentioned in there – but Andrew Wilson's 2003 biography Beautiful Shadow suggests she might have been in America, where this copy came from. Evidently whatever she was doing included signing a book, and three years earlier, around summer 1985, Highsmith was also signing books:

Namely the first American edition of her nineteenth novel, People Who Knock on the Door, published by Penzler Books in a numbered, limited, signed edition in September 1985:

One of half a dozen of Highsmith's works published by Penzler in signed limited editions, this is another book I've blogged about before (again back in 2010) in its 1983 Heinemann first edition, when I was in the process of securing firsts of as many Highsmiths as I could. And would you believe it I've blogged about the final book I'm showcasing before too, although not this particular edition:

An uncorrected advance proof of Found in the Street, Highsmith's twenty-first novel, published in the US in 1987 (the year after the UK Heinemann first edition) by Atlantic Monthly Press, with whom Highsmith signed after Otto Penzler dropped her dedication to "the Palestinian people and their leaders" from the above-showcased US edition of People Who Knock on the Door. This one I can state with reasonable certainty when and where it was signed, as it's an association copy originally belonging to Greg Gatenby, founding artistic director of the Toronto International Festival of Authors; his ownership signature can be seen on the half-title page above Highsmith's signature:

In October 1987 Highsmith was a guest at the festival, where she was interviewed for Sight & Sound magazine by film critic Gerald Peary, who noted what a coup her appearance was. According to Andrew Wilson, on 20 October, as part of her festival duties, Highsmith read from Found in the Street at Toronto's Harbourfront – and that locale, I would hazard, is where this proof of the US edition was signed.

Patriciaphernalia: A Signed Patricia Highsmith Letter Regarding Ripley's Game

I've a number of Patricia Highsmith signed books I've been meaning to blog about for bloody ages – years in fact – but the demands of work and life have meant that my blogging activity has largely been restricted to whichever books I've written or edited myself. However, I'm hoping to make more time for Existential Ennui besides simply blogging about whichever project I'm working on – case in point being my post the other day on Patrick Gierth – and have every intention of getting to those signed Highsmiths soon (and adding them to my dedicated Patricia Highsmith page). First, though, I want to showcase something even more remarkable:

A note Highsmith wrote on 9 February, 1975, regarding her "third Tom Ripley" as she puts it – in other words, 1974's Ripley's Game. The third in Highsmith's five-book Ripliad, Ripley's Game is, as I've noted many, many times, my favourite novel, not just of hers but full stop. I've never managed to secure a signed edition – though I do own a 1974 US Knopf first with an owner inscription by James Bond/Ian Fleming biographer John Pearson – so when I saw this note offered for sale I knew I had to have it so I could pair it with my 1974 Heinemann first edition of Ripley's Game (the book which began my book-collecting odyssey).

Addressed from Highsmith's then-residence in the village of Moncourt, France, where she wrote both Ripley's Game and the next book in the Ripliad, 1980's The Boy Who Followed Ripley (a signed US edition of which is one of those signed books I mentioned up top), the note is penned in response to a missive from one Peter Ladkin. An inveterate letter writer judging by the number of other examples of his author letters offered for sale at the same time (he also corresponded with the philosopher and LSE Professor John Watkins), Mr. Ladkin had evidently written approvingly of Ripley's Game, eliciting the following response from Highsmith:

Dear Mr Ladkin,

Don't worry about sending me the cost of return postage. I thank you very much for your remarks about my work and am glad you enjoyed my third Tom Ripley.

Yours sincerely

Patricia Highsmith

As the mention of "return postage" suggests, Mr. Ladkin had also seemingly requested Highsmith's signature and an accompanying inscription, which she duly supplied on a separate piece of paper, presumably so it could be used as a bookplate:

So there we have it: two notes regarding Ripley's Game, written from the house where Patricia Highsmith wrote that novel. Quite the pair of pieces of Patriciaphernalia for a Highsmith/Ripley's Game obsessive like myself.

Painter, Illustrator and Book Jacket Designer Patrick Gierth and the West Sussex Village of Wisborough Green

Among the dust jackets collated in my Beautiful British Book Jacket Design of the 1950s and 1960s gallery is an evocative one belonging to a 1951 Michael Joseph first edition of Rogue Male author Geoffrey Household's terrific rural thriller A Rough Shoot (a novel wherein, as I noted in my review back in 2012, the unsuspecting reader will find such bucolic details as badger ham). The dust jacket's designer, Patrick Gierth, also designed the wrapper for the 1951 Joseph first edition of John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids (among other jackets), but he had a broader artistic life stretching far beyond the bounds of book cover art. His 1943 painting Guard Relaxing, the Stables, Wynnstay is held in the Government Art Collection, while his poster for Shell/BP is held by the British Council, and his name pops up in the Imperial War Museum collection. Yet he found artistic expression in the parochial as well as the national, as I learned after I bought this:

This is a 9.7 by 14.6-inch watercolour painting I came across whilst googling Patrick Gierth. It was listed by the seller under the surname Gierth – it's signed, but only with a surname – dated 1986 and described as "A charming watercolour with gouache highlights." I had no idea whether it was actually by Patrick Gierth, but his was an unusual surname, and stylistically it looked like it could be, plus it was only thirty quid, so after some deliberation I decided to go for it. 

With the painting in hand I did some further digging and determined that until his death in November 1994 Gierth lived in the West Sussex village of Wisborough Green, about an hour's drive from where I live in Lewes. While I was pretty sure I'd driven through the place, I'd never visited it, so although I suspected the scene depicted in the painting might be somewhere in the village, it wasn't anywhere I recognised. Gierth's given address upon his death was School Lane; could the painting depict the road where he lived, I wondered? 

Google Street View gave me a sense that I might be on the right track, but while I thought the church glimpsed in the picture could well be the Wisborough Green parish church (alias St Peter Ad Vincula), I wasn't able to pinpoint precisely the vantage point. I did, however, discover that Gierth was instrumental in the creation of the Wisborough Tapestry which hangs in the church, and that he designed the village green sign.

There was only one thing for it: I was going to have to go to Wisborough Green. And so earlier this year, on my birthday, that's precisely what Rachel and I did, painting in hand(s). It didn't take long to find the place where the picture was painted, round the corner from the village hall and pond, just down from where Gierth lived in High Barn. You can see the view in the photos in this post, along with other photos I took of the village sign, the tapestry, and as it turns out several other pieces Gierth produced for the church.

Confirmation, then, that this rather lovely painting is indeed by the designer of the dust jacket of one of my favourite thrillers, and moreover depicts the road in Wisborough Green where he lived.

Testing, Testing: Build the Guardians of the Galaxy Ship!

Currently swooping into view in newsagents and supermarkets... somewhere in the country (I have no idea where – if you've seen it out in the wild, please do leave a comment!) is this:

Hachette Partworks' Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy Ship! It's something I've been working on for the past couple of years: a step-by-step build of the Guardians' – and Avengers' – ship from Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder and indeed I Am Groot, accompanied by a magazine delving into all aspects of the Guardians and cosmic Marvel both on screen and in comics. I wrote and edited the magazine – which was designed by the amazing Amazing15 – and in my capacity as author of Guardians of the Galaxy Ultimate Guide, Marvel Arms and Armour and other Guardians and Marvel books have been advising on the ship, the build, the Guardians, Marvel and multifarious other aspects of the project.

What's appearing in shops right now... somewhere in the UK (again, I really don't know where – I wish I did) is a four-issue test comprising the first four magazines and sets of parts. If the test goes well, then the partwork will launch nationally. So if you want the chance of building a huge model of the Guardians' ship (or the Infinity Saga ship as I like to call it) with working lights and engines, movable wings and tail, and even the auxiliary pod that Thor, Rocket and Groot use in Infinity War and War Machine and Nebula use in Endgame, and you want to know what else I have planned for the magazine, grab yourself an issue or three if it appears in shops near you, or head to the website and subscribe. Believe me, the ship truly is a thing of beauty – and the magazine's a damn good read too!