Who Am I? (Clear Red)

Toy Tokyo is a renowned specialty toy store located in New York City’s East Village at 91 Second Avenue, between East 5th and East 6th Streets. Established in 2000 by owner Israel “Lev” Levarek, the store has become a haven for collectors and enthusiasts, offering a diverse selection of toys and collectibles.   The store specializes in a wide range of items, including vintage and contemporary toys, action figures, designer art toys, and pop culture memorabilia. Much of its inventory is imported from Japan and Hong Kong, featuring products related to anime, superheroes, and iconic franchises. Notably, Toy Tokyo offers exclusive items from brands such as KAWS, Funko, Ron English, and Medicom Toy. Created out of an obsession for designer/art toys and collectables, Hong Kong based company Toy2r continues to break down the boundaries between product design, art and graphics. Mastermind Raymond Choy founded the company in 1995 where he took his dream of a once owned toy store known as ‘Toy R’ (short for Toy Raymond), which held countless quantitiesof limited edition toy collectables, and turned it into a internationally recognized company amongst the first to explore the potential of the designer/art toy movement. Ultimately, instilling contemporary art into the vinyl toy market we all know and love today. Toy2r is a multi-faceted company whose logo was taken from our most loved and cherished mascot, the ‘Toyer.’ In 2001 Raymond released the skull-headed figure alongside what was to become the most ubiquitous toy canvas in the world, the Qee keychain figure (Please see About Qee for further information). We take great pride in our determination at Toy2r to not only innovate but inspire artists’, designers’ and the world’s generation of youth alike. Our main objective is to provide limited/collectable designer/art toys at an affordable price, based on the coolest designs for the current international market. Toy2r has received numerous internationally renowned awards for our outstanding achievements; Japanese horror punk band named Balzac, formed in 1992, known for their distinctive merchandise, including vinyl toys. Their mascot, Skullman, designed by the band’s lead vocalist Hirosuke Nishiyama, has been featured in various collectible figures. In 2000, they opened a store called Shocker, offering a range of products from clothing to records and vinyl toys.