From Viva Studio, who previously produced high-end Robocop, Predator and Evil Superman figurines, comes the next obvious step in their line of amazingly detailed, miniaturized hero replicas: Jeremy Lin! more ›

After bringing you 'Shit laowais say in Shanghai' last month, we have another Shanghai-based Youtube clip for your enjoyment. The 'Donnie does China' series started in January with a Boston townie 'teaching' English in a kindergarten, and the latest webisode sees him test out sex toys and being interviewed whilst leaning on a giant stone penis at the 2012 Shanghai 'Sexpo'. more ›

more ›

Ah, sweet nostalgia. Long afternoons playing with kids whose names we don't remember, showing off our toys made of tin and plastic. Look at this wind-up chicken's manic pecking action! And you can play with my Constructicon, but only if you promise to be really, really careful with it. His name's Scrapper, and he's their leader, and he forms the right leg of DEVASTATOR! Look, you pull his head out like this, and then you make him stand, like so... more ›

Last month, we noticed that, quite bizarrely, there was a Transformers fan conference happening right here in Shanghai. We were deathly curious about what was going on in there, but never found the time to go. more ›

Pssst, guess what? The six story monolith to America's favorite representation of unattainable beauty standards has now been fully realized! Today, the 3400-square-foot Barbie flagship shop on 555 Huai Hai Zhong Road opened its doors officially and let in the public. more ›

Shanghai-based photographer Andreas Larsson takes us around the Suzhou production facilities of Lelo, a Swedish high-end sex toy label that manufactures adult toys for upwardly mobile women. We hear they're known for producing dildos so cute you'll want to put them into your handbag and carry them with you wherever you go. Now who says you can't be horny and classy at the same time? more ›

Hot on the heels of the widely-discussed closure of the Hong Kong-listed Dongguan-based toy manufacturer Smart Union comes the news that yet another toy factory — this time a much smaller one — has gone bankrupt. Once again, the local government has come to the rescue, picking up the tab for lost wages that the now jobless employees are demanding to prevent their anger from boiling over. Do we see a pattern for the future? more ›

Even as news of the sudden closure of the Hong Kong-listed Dongguan-based toy manufacturer Smart Union, a key supplier to Mattel and Disney, continue to hog international headlines, framed against the backdrop of the ongoing financial crisis that has spread from the United States to the rest of the world, Xinhua says it has the "whole truth" on those closures, and makes the case that many other toy factories had been closing since the start of the year and the most recent closures have little to do with economic troubles in the U.S.:

While there are reports that in the first seven months of the year, more than 3,600 toy makers already went out of business in China thanks to factors such as rising wages and material costs. more ›

TheHong Kong Lego User Group, HKLUG, has joined in the Olympic craze, by making their own models of Beijing Olympic venues: The Lego Sport City. According to HKLUG's blog: 300,000 bricks and 4,500 mini-figures have been used to create this lego landscape, which has taken about 100 hours to build. more ›

In more Olympics mascot merchandising news, look what we've just found. The perfect souvenir - a Fuwa action hero figure! But wait a minute — where's our favorite taxi driver Fuwa? Coming soon to a street corner near you. (h/t sinosplice) more ›