The new action figures

They have 1)tattoos and 2)piercings all over their bodies. They 3)sport shaved heads, earrings, and beards. They also carry 4)surfboards and have 5)attitudes. And they're dolls! Welcome to the new age of action figures.Coming largely out of Hong Kong, the newest 6)trend in 7)collectable figures has taken off! These new plastic figures look like your friend or the kid next door. The new dolls are hot items because they represent the generation buying them. And they aren't just ordinary toys. These figures have rich colors and very 8)precise details.Figures like Fat Cap and Thinbone are 9)street-smart and wear the latest fashions. Some dolls are lazy and just 10)hang out while others are in trouble with the law and hide their faces. Most are between 3 and 8 inches tall. But all figures find thousands of fans and buyers among the twentysomething hip-hop generation.A leading creator of these figures is 31-year-old Michael Lau of Hong Kong. Lau's career took off with his famous Gardener street-figures series. Lau says his figures are "11)inspired from whatever is around me." His Gardeners are a 12)gang of young 13)dudes led by a 14)skate-boarder named Maxx. They have a 15)soaring value as collectables as only 500 to 1,000 of each are made. This is part of the attraction of owning one. One of his figures, Tatto, sold for $19.20 in 1999. Today he's worth $500 in New York! Lau's 16)urban art is created from 17)sketches, 18)sculpted in 19)clay, 20)modeled from plastic parts and sold with accessories. His new vinyl series is called Crazychildren and most dolls cost $80 to $90. "He has a 21)distinctive, original style that no other toy designer has," one toyshop manager said.Other designers, like Lau's friend Eric So, have released their own collections. So, 33 and also from Hong Kong, became famous from his Bruce Lee figures set. So said: "I wanted to present the Bruce Lee 22)philosophy to young people … be hard working, 23)aggressive and open-minded." So's other creations are also 24)limited-run and expensive. Many Internet sites offer the figures, and this has spread buyers of the hip collectables to all corners of the world. Be on the 25)lookout for new, cool figures in the action-toy world!


1) tattoo (n.) 刺青
2) piercing (n.) 穿洞，刺穿
3) sport (v.) 炫耀，誇示
4) surfboard (n.) 衝浪板
5) attitude (n.) 態度，（美俚）敵對態度
6) trend (n.) 趨勢，潮流
7) collectable (a.) 可收藏的
8) precise (a.) 精確的
9) street-smart (phr.) 能夠在街頭討生活的
10) hang out (phr.) 遊蕩，閒晃
11) inspire (v.) 賦予……靈感
12) gang (n.) 一群，一夥
13) dude (n.) （俚語）男人，花花公子
14) skate-boarder (n.) 溜滑板者
15) soaring (a.) 高漲的
16) urban (a.) 城市的
17) sketch (n.) 素描
18) sculpt (v.) 雕刻，雕塑
19) clay (n.) 黏土
20) model (v.) 做模型
21) distinctive (a.) 獨特的，特殊的
22) philosophy (n.) 哲學
23) aggressive (a.) 積極的
24) limited-run (a.) 限量生產的
25) lookout (n.) 注意


在現在這個世代裡，流行的風潮真的是無所不在，從刺青、穿洞等一直到現今流行的公仔熱潮，而公仔的發源地來自於香港，用豐富、鮮豔的色彩以及精細的細節，讓大人、小孩都沉浸在這股風潮下。近期超商也搭起公仔風，陸續推出他們強打的公仔，讓民眾瘋狂收藏。如7-11的迪士尼公仔，全家的好神公仔等。就以好神公仔為近期最熱門的話題，運用神明形象來帶出有拜就有保佑的概念，加上可愛逗趣的造型，讓以往嚴肅、莊嚴的神明，有可以有不一樣的風格，因此造成好神搶購風潮。而每一個公仔都有自己獨特、原創的風格，也是設計師們賦予的生命，讓這些令人愛不釋手的公仔們成為人們瘋狂收藏的寶物。