Manila Hostage Tragedy

On the evening of August 23, I arrived home and turned on the TV. Who would have known that I (or, as a matter of fact, the whole of Hong Kong) would be watching live footage of a bus coach of Hong Kong tourists being held hostage in Manila.

Because it was a live hostage drama, no one knew what was going to happen. As it went on, things started to go wrong and images were starting to get disturbing. No need to go into details but what started as a pleasure holiday trip ended in bloodshed.

This incident has shocked and angered a lot of Hong Kong people. Instead of showing hatred to the Filipino people, this is a solemn period and should be a time to pay tribute to the victims.

I offer my deepest sympathies to the victims, their families and friends. Stay strong! The whole of Hong Kong is behind you!

Featured Bearbricks:

Bearbrick Flag from Series 2 to Series 20

(United Kingdom, Brazil, Soviet Union, Italy, Denmark, Australia, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Canada, Germany, France, England, Argentina, China, Sweden, Russia, India, Spain, South Africa)

24 Bearbrick and Jack Bauer Kubrick

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. The familiar beeping tones of ‘24’.

‘24’ is one of the greatest TV series ever made and definitely one of my favorite. I’m sure a lot of people agree with me. Once you start watching an episode, you can’t stop because the action goes on and on… with Jack Bauer in the center of everything. ‘24’ is presented in real time and always has an unpredictable storyline which makes it more interesting to watch.

I felt kinda sad when the final season (Season 8) ended earlier this year. I have been following this series since Season 1. But it has ended well. With the TV series gone, I’m anticipating the ‘24’ movie coming out soon.

For those who haven’t watched ‘24’, it’s never too late. Believe me, you’ll get addicted! In the meantime, check out the ‘Jack Bauer Captured’ figure. It’s so damn detailed.

Featured Toys:

- ‘24’ Bearbrick

- Jack Bauer Kubrick

- ‘Jack Bauer Captured’ Action Figure from McFarlane Toys

... And How About Kubricks?

Ahh.. Kubricks.. However, I’m more of a Bearbrick fan than a Kubrick fan. I do have a few Kubrick sets and figures, though. I’ll see if I have the chance to talk about them.

I won’t go into too much about Kubricks. Wikipedia has a great article explaining Kubricks.

Kubrick Figures

All I can say is that Kubricks are more or less the same as Bearbricks except for their body and head, which depicts more of the human form or resemblance of the character it is portraying. Kubricks sometimes come with small accessories too.

You can see the difference between a Spongebob Kubrick and Spongebob Bearbrick. I think Spongebob looks kinda silly in a Bearbrick, with ears and a round head... then again, how would Patrick look like in a Bearbrick?

Featured Figures:
- Sesame Street Kubrick Series 1
  (Big Bird, Little Bird, Count, Ernie and Grover)
- Spongebob Bearbrick from Series 18 Cute
- Spongebob Kubrick and Patrick Kubrick (2-piece Set)

The Bearbrick Basic Letter Set

Every series has a different color theme for their Basic letters set. To complete the Basic letters set, you need to get all nine letters to spell ‘BE@RBRICK’. 

Bearbrick Letter Set

In my opinion, collecting all nine letters can be a pain and is much harder to complete than the other 8 ‘themed’ figures featured on the box.

'Big B' and 'Small B'

Some people who don’t want to get all nine letters only collect the ‘@’ letter. The ‘@’ symbol with the two ears symbolizes the Bearbrick brand.

The two ‘B’s are also different. Though both are capitalized, the ‘B’s are actually different in size.

There are also two ‘R’s which makes it much more difficult to complete.


Featured Bearbricks:
- Bearbrick Letter Set (Blue) from Series 11
- Bearbrick Letter 'B' (Purple) from Series 18

Bearbrick: Packed and Sealed

I’m not trying to make this into a wikipedia but I guess its ok give out a little more info on the basics about bearbricks. So continuing from my first post, next comes…

Packaging. Bearbricks are sold in boxes, polybagged and sometimes blistered.

Apart from being sold individually, bearbricks are sold in blind-boxes by series. Bearbrick collectors always anticipate every bearbrick series that come out twice a year. As of writing, Series 20 is out now and Series 21 should be released around Christmas 2010.

In every series, bearbricks are featured in nine different ‘themes’: Basic, Jellybean, Pattern, Flag, Horror, SF (Science Fiction), Cute, Animal and Artist.

Bearbrick Series 15

Because these bearbricks come in blind-boxes, assortment rates vary between different themes. Rare and hidden chase figures with an assortment rate of 0.005% (1 out of 192 pcs) and 0.01% (1 out of 96 pcs) are the most sought after from every series.

Featured Bearbricks: Series 15. Assortment rate is in brackets.

- Jellybean: Translucent Dark Blue (8.33%)
- Pattern: Suicidal Tendecies (11.45%)

- Flag: China (9.37%)

- Horror: Koemushi (7.29%)

- SF: Evangelion (11.45%)

- Cute: My First Baby Chiaki (9.37%)

- Animal: Buster The Pillows (12.50%)

- Artist: Hara Tetsuo - Fist Of The North Star (4.16%)

- Artist: Andy Warhol Repent (1.04%)

What is a Bearbrick?

Different Bearbrick Sizes

Bearbrick or (Be@rbrick) is a bear-shaped toy released by Medicom Toy, a Japanese company.

Bearbricks are actually a kind of designer toy. You have this simple basic bear-shaped toy and based on this basic shape, designers are free to design it however they want. Bearbricks have showcased designer brands, movie/music themes, characters, to name a few.

Bearbricks also come in different sizes and materials. A Bearbrick standard size is 100% (7 cm tall). Other sizes are 50% (4 cm), 70% (5 cm), 200% (14 cm), 400% (28 cm) and 1000% (70 cm).

Most are in plastic, but we have seen some figures that are flocked, furry and glow-in-the-dark plastic. They come in wood and recently, in metal too (for the 200% Chogokin series).

Bearbricks are produced limited in numbers. Because of this, pieces that are high in demand make them highly-collectible items.

Featured Bearbricks:

- 50% size Fragment Design from SENSE Magazine Aug 2010
- 70% size Shrek from Pepsi NEX x Paramount Japan

- 100% size Horror from Series 5

- 200% size Chogokin Original Fake KAWS Companion

- 400% size Iron Man 2 Mark VI