If you ask toy designer Quiccs Maiquez to describe his recent participation in a couple of pop culture conventions in Mexico, he will sum them up in two ways: an eye opener and one of the best experiences.
“I can count on my fingers the few instances we shipped toys to Mexico,” he quipped. “Imagine our surprise when a great many fans — far more than we thought — brought over toys we designed from as early as 2014 [and] 2015!”
Last March, Quiccs and his business manager, Carlo Mendoza attended El Hype and Fuego Del Barrio CDMX, a convention in Mexico City focused on streetwear and sneakers, where they unveiled “Macho,” the Mexican TEQ63 toy figure that is designed with a nod towards the country’s love for lucha libre wrestling. “Macho” was received very well by Mexican fans. The exclusive toy has a limited edition run of 199 figurines.
“As a fan of wrestling — also lucha libre — this was a treat for me personally,” chimed in Mendoza, who has been friends with Maiquez since their high school and college days at the Ateneo de Manila University. “And it is also for Quiccs, who is a recent convert to professional wrestling.”
During the twin conventions, local toy designers came up to show their own Quiccs toys and to relate — despite the language barrier — how this world-class Filipino toy designer inspired them with their own toys.
“Nakakataba ng puso,” Maiquez said, obviously touched by the gestures.
“Even if we were unable to really converse with the local fans, art is a universal language, and we somewhat understood what one was trying to communicate to the other,” related Mendoza.
The Philippine-Mexico Connection
Maiquez embarked on his career as a toy designer in 2012, fusing his love for anime and mech characters with hip-hop and graffiti. Since then, his toys have become massively popular all over the world, and he has repeatedly made the convention circuit in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, the U.S. (New York and Los Angeles), China, United Arab Emirates (Dubai and Abu Dhabi), and now, Mexico.
Quiccs has and continues to collaborate with brands such as Adidas, Johnny Walker, Smart, Topps baseball cards, and Jollibee, among many others for incredible projects. He has sunk his design skills into established characters such as Transformers, Astroboy, Voltes V, Hello Kitty, and even Looney Tunes.
“We wish we could say that our accomplishments and achievements were on our bucket list when we started out, but the truth of the matter is, they are all pinch-me-if-I-am-dreaming moments,” Quiccs enthused.
One such moment was Mexico.
The Filipinos were treated not only to authentic Mexican food but also to a real lucha libre courtesy of their hosts Fabrizio Vargas of culture and entertainment magazine El Hype and art toys and collectibles store Marva Toys, and Jorge Araiza of Fuego del Barrio.
“Never thought we’d go to Mexico,” added Mendoza. “As a fan of wrestling, lucha libre wrestling too, it never even crossed our mind to actually watch a live match and to sit very close to the action, but we were there.”
“The other revelation for me about Mexico is that it isn’t what you see in movies that seems to have a sepia tone,” disclosed Quiccs. “It was very, very colorful. It was also cold like the air conditioning unit was switched on the whole time, and the people are very much like Filipinos: family-oriented, God-fearing, hospitable, and very warm.”
“We learned that there is a huge pop culture and designer toy market even beyond the usual big markets such as North America and Asia. I’d say that Mexico has been one of our best experiences so far.”
