Glossary of art toys and figure manufacturing

Building the character in volume on a computer. For production, the model must anticipate part splitting, wall thickness, undercuts and stability. A model made for rendering is not necessarily manufacturable.

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An art toy is a figure created by an artist, produced in a limited edition and designed as a collectible art object rather than a toy for play. It blends design, illustration, street culture and pop culture. Popterror’s EQSO figures are vinyl art toys.

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The US standard consumer safety specification for toy safety. Under US law (the CPSIA), children’s toys sold in the United States must comply with it and be tested by a laboratory accepted by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Go further: Figure safety standards: EN 71, CE, UKCA and ASTM F963

A blind box, or mystery box, contains one figure from a series, and the buyer only finds out which one when opening it. The fun comes from the surprise and from completing the series. The EQSO The Crew blind box has six regular characters and one secret figure.

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A mark affixed by whoever places a product on the European market to declare that it meets EU requirements, including toy safety. It is not a quality label: it must be backed by technical documentation and test reports.

Go further: Figure safety standards: EN 71, CE, UKCA and ASTM F963

A document that comes with a collectible to prove its origin, often numbered and signed by the artist. It adds value to limited editions. EQSO art toys come with a certificate signed by the artists.

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The craft of creating a character: its story, personality, silhouette, colours and expressions. It is the first step for a mascot as well as for an art toy.

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A chase figure is a rare figure slipped into a small share of the boxes in a blind box series. It can be a secret character or a rare variant (colour, finish). Its ratio, for example 1 in 100, sets how rare it is.

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Two brands joining forces on the same product, signed with both names. For figures, it can be a character in a partner brand’s colours or a special edition created together. It is one of the collaboration formats available with EQSO.

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The most common English term for an art toy. It stresses the signature of a designer or artist, which is what gives the object its value. When the figure is made of vinyl, people also say “vinyl toy”.

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The display is the retail box that holds several blind boxes, ready to sit on a shop counter. It also works as a “full set” offer. A display can be packed so that it contains no duplicates, as with EQSO The Crew.

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The release of a product in limited quantities, on an announced date, often after a teasing phase. Borrowed from streetwear, the drop works very well for collectible figures and art toys.

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Standard product barcodes used in retail: EAN (13 digits) is common in Europe, UPC (12 digits) in North America. A figure needs one to be sold in shops or on marketplaces, and each reference (sometimes each colourway) has its own code.

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The European toy safety standard. For a figure, the most common parts are EN 71-1 (mechanical and physical properties), EN 71-2 (flammability) and EN 71-3 (migration of certain chemical elements). Tests are carried out by specialised laboratories.

Go further: Figure safety standards: EN 71, CE, UKCA and ASTM F963

The first piece produced with the real moulds, the real material and the real paint, also called the pre-production sample. Once approved, it becomes the reference for the whole production run.

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International trade rules that state whether the seller or the buyer pays for and bears transport, insurance and customs clearance (for example EXW, FOB or DDP). They should appear in any quote for production made abroad.

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Injection moulding (injection molding in US spelling) pushes molten plastic under high pressure into a steel mould. Parts are solid, precise and produced very quickly. The mould is expensive, which is why injection is kept for large runs.

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The inner part of a package (cardboard, foam, plastic) that holds the figure in place and protects it in transit. In a collector box, it also shapes the unboxing experience.

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An agreement in which the owner of a character or brand allows a third party to use it on products, in exchange for payment. A collaboration with an existing character such as EQSO can take the form of a licence.

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A run whose number of pieces is fixed and announced in advance. Scarcity is part of the object’s value, as long as the announced quantity is respected. Each EQSO art toy in Series 2 is limited to 300 pieces.

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A character that embodies a brand, a company, a club or an event. A good mascot has a recognisable silhouette, a clear personality and usage rules. It can become a product in its own right, as a figure for example.

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Minimum Order Quantity: the smallest quantity a manufacturer agrees to produce. It exists because every production run has fixed costs (moulds, set-up) to recover. It varies a lot by technique: low for resin, high for injection.

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The hollow form in which the material takes the shape of the figure: steel for injection, metal for rotocast vinyl, silicone for resin. It is often the first fixed cost of a project.

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Giving each piece of a limited edition a unique number (for example “12/300”), on the figure, the box or the certificate. It makes each piece unique and proves the edition is limited.

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A printing technique that transfers a design with a soft silicone pad, able to follow curved surfaces. It is used for small, precise details on a figure: eyes, logos, patterns, numbering.

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A colour reference system used in printing and manufacturing. Assigning a Pantone reference to each area of a figure lets the factory reproduce exactly the right shade, whatever screen the design was approved on.

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The first physical version of a figure, usually 3D-printed in resin. It is used to check volumes, proportions, stability and readability before the moulds are made. Fixing things at this stage costs far less than after tooling.

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Polyvinyl chloride is a plastic widely used for figures, either rigid (injection) or soft (rotocast vinyl). It allows fine detail and low unit costs in large runs. Like any toy material, it must meet chemical safety rules.

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Resin (often polyurethane) is cast into silicone moulds and demoulded by hand. It reproduces detail very well and suits very small runs and statues, but it takes a lot of manual labour and is more fragile. It is also used for 3D-printed prototypes.

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A technique that builds an object layer by layer from liquid resin hardened by light. Very precise, it is used to make figure prototypes before the moulds are produced. The first EQSO prototypes were printed this way.

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A manufacturing technique in which liquid material is poured into a heated mould that rotates in several directions, so that it coats the walls. The result is a hollow, light piece. It is the signature technique of vinyl figures.

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A hidden character in a blind box series, shown only as a silhouette on the box. It is a kind of chase. In EQSO The Crew, the secret figure has a one-in-a-hundred chance of appearing in a box.

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Sofubi is the Japanese word for “soft vinyl”. It refers to a Japanese tradition of designer figures, often hand-painted and produced in small runs, and is often used as a synonym for vinyl figure.

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A painting method using a spray gun and masks to paint large areas and create gradients. Each extra colour needs one more pass and one more mask, which affects the cost.

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The set of moulds and fixtures made for a production run. It is a one-off fixed cost, spread over every piece produced, and usually the biggest upfront item of a figure project.

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A character sheet showing a character from every angle: front, side, back and sometimes three-quarter view. Essential to go from a 2D drawing to a 3D model, it stops the modeller from having to “invent” the parts nobody has drawn.

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The UK conformity mark for products sold in Great Britain, including toys, created after Brexit. The rules on which mark is accepted have changed several times, so check the current guidance before a launch in Great Britain.

Go further: Figure safety standards: EN 71, CE, UKCA and ASTM F963

The moment a product is opened, often filmed and shared on social media. For a blind box or a collector’s edition, the unboxing is part of the experience: the packaging has to be designed for it.

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A shape that “hooks” into the mould and prevents the part from coming out, like an arm folded under the body. It has to be avoided, the part split differently, or a more complex (and more expensive) mould planned.

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A designer toy made of soft vinyl, usually rotocast. Hollow, light and with a soft matte finish, it is the classic format of art toys, including the EQSO figures and The Crew blind box.

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