- History And Development of Action Figures.
According to Phoenix TV, Action Figure originated as a lucky bag in a department store in Japan in the early 20th century. It was popular in Europe and the United States in the 1980s, when a large number of model enthusiasts made models and commercialized them. As a result, an offline “gashapon machine” specializing in the sale of hand-made models appeared, and it began to be called a “blind box”. Generally, blind boxes appear in series, which may be animation, toy models, film action figures, or the characters of action figures designed by designers alone.
Today, people all over the world can still buy gashapon toys at different prices in shopping malls and other places. The well-known brand is Bandai Japan, which has rich animation IP resources.
Since 2016, Chinese fashion toy companies have begun to use this form for the sales of their products. By cooperating with toy designers, they create small dolls that are both artistic and popular and expand the consumption scene through unmanned retail in malls and online shopping, which drives the popularity of “blind boxes” in China. They are more called action figures or anime figures now.
- Users of Action Figures.
Action Figures are very popular in almost every age group, and the consumers of Action Figures are mainly young white-collar workers and students. Among them, women accounted for more than 70%. The income is relatively high, the aesthetic ability and consumption ability are higher than the average level, and they also have their own understanding and style for the Action Figures.
For a new trendy toy, now the main emphasis is on functionality rather than age. Action Figures have gradually evolved to be more artistic and collectable.
- Materials used for Action Figures.
The material of Action Figures is not fixed, it will vary according to different product characteristics. Three common materials are used to make action figures: PVC, Resin and ABS.
PVC material: PVC is the most common material in the production of action figures. Its characteristics are stable, easy to store, good plasticity, easy to process, light in weight, and easy to carry and transport. Steel molds are usually used for this kind of material because the steel mold has high firmness, which can increase the output of action figures parts. In addition, the steel mold can be reused.
Resin: Resin material is the most widely used among niche designers. It is divided into common resin and advanced resin. Common resins are cheap.
But some advanced action figures use PU resin. PU resin is a high-grade resin, which has strong plasticity, strong expressive power of details, and good hand feeling. It is rich in color, including white, beige, ivory and transparent colors. Its advantage is that it can accept small batch orders (around 500).
ABS: The three letters of ABS represent the three substances of “acrylonitrile, butadiene, and styrene”. It is the main material used in toys. ABS has high hardness and toughness. It is used to make action figures with good stability, high-temperature resistance, low-temperature resistance, drop resistance and wear resistance.
Our company uses materials that meet international standards in terms of indicators and production processes. It has the characteristics of environmental protection, flame retardancy, tensile strength, color fastness, Low azo content, and non-toxic.
- Design of Action Figures.
Action Figures designers, often have in-depth research on the characters in many different films and anime. Representative Action Figures are designed according to the characters’ personalities, ages, and roles, and match with appropriate hairstyles, expressions, heights, clothing and so on. For example, Luffy, the representative character in the famous animation “One Piece”; Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, etc.
