Art-Toy Surprise: Instinctoy × Kasing Lung Unveil ‘Zimomo Fantasia’ at THE iCON Taipei
Instinctoy founder Hiroto Ohkubo (left) and illustrator Kasing Lung flank three Zimomo—including the wall-mounted prototype that headlines THE iCON Taipei.
⏰ Sat, Jun 28, 2025 @ 1:30 PM PST
🐟 Published from Seattle, WA, USA
🔨 Built by Chase Burns Broderick
TAIPEI — JUNE 27 (Opening day of THE iCON art-toy fair)
When THE iCON art-toy fair opened its VIP doors at 10 a.m. Friday, visitors were greeted by an unexpected wall of rainbow-green Monster Zimomo Fantasia figures—an unannounced collaboration between illustrator Kasing Lung and Japan’s Instinctoy, revealed publicly for the first time that morning. The work doubles as a milestone banner: INSTINCTOY’s 20th birthday and 10 years of Lung’s breakout character Labubu. Just five finished sets are planned for release in the second half of 2025.
Oblique lighting reveals how the translucent frame steps away from the black wall, giving the piece its floating effect. | Credit: INSTINCTOY
What you’re looking at
Each Zimomo starts as soft vinyl—“sofubi”—a liquid PVC poured into a slowly rotating mould so it coats the walls and cures into a light, hollow shell (think how a hollow chocolate egg is spun). Collectors prize sofubi for its flex-without-crack durability and how sharply it holds paint. For the “Fantasia” colourway Instinctoy mixes glow-in-the-dark pigment right into the translucent vinyl, then masks and air-brushes neon fades by hand. The five-piece commemorative edition shown in Taipei is still labeled a prototype, so final specs won’t be locked in until the set goes on sale later this year.
Detail of the pearlescent horns and layered vinyl spikes; note the subtle green glow where light passes through the clear frame. | Credit: INSTINCTOY
Why it matters
Lung, a children’s-book illustrator who migrated to Belgium at seven, began moulding his “Monster” cast in 2011 and rocketed to global fandom when Pop Mart adopted Labubu blind-box toys in 2019. INSTINCTOY founder Hiroto Ohkubo—once a collector himself—introduced glow-slime textures that pushed sofubi’s colour limits. Their Fantasia palette debuted in small runs, but this commemorative wall has toured only Bangkok’s Thailand Toy Expo (April) before landing in Taipei this weekend. THE iCON, a first-year fair from HOW2WORK, Paradise and The Little Hut, gathers 50 artists inside Songshan Cultural & Creative Park.
Front view shows the scalloped “fur” sculpt and the clear, color-shift resin outline that makes the panel glow around its edges. Credit: INSTINCTOY
