A SINGAPORE SUPERHERO STORY

WITH HIS HANDCRAFTED SUPERMAN, CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BATMAN COLLECTIBLES COSTING IN THE THOUSANDS, BEN ANG, THE CO-FOUNDER OF XM STUDIOS, HAS DEMONSTRATED THAT COMIC FIGURINES ARE CERTAINLY NOT CHILD'S PLAY.

- PEARLYN THAM

WHEN BEN ANG WAS A YOUNG MAN CONDUCTING AIRBRUSHING WORKSHOPS AT $50 FOR EIGHT LESSONS IN THE 1990S, HE NEVER IMAGINED HE WOULD ONE DAY BECOME A PIVOTAL PART OF SINGAPORE'S NEW CREATIVE ECONOMY.

XM, the home-grown, award-winning design business he co-founded and leads as CEO, is famous around the world for its handcrafted figurines based on movie and comic icons such as Mickey Mouse, Captain America, Batman, Superman, Godzilla and the Transformers.

It all began when the 48-year-old decided to enter the licensing industry.

After two years of courting the big boys, Disney finally called back with a Marvel licensing deal in 2013.

But XM Studios is no child's play.

These are not the $19.99 production-line toys you would give your 10-year-old nephew for Christmas. (Even his two young children are more interested in Lego toys than XM collectibles, Ang, whose wife is a homemaker, admits.) Considering his merchandise is made up of numbered limited editions, pieces can command anywhere between $600 and $6,000 - and that's not including the kind of money that you would need to fork over for hard-to-find, discontinued designs in the second-hand market.

XM's fans are predominantly male and aged between 18 and 64, with some hardcore collectors owning a whopping 600 pieces in total. "We have 300 designs, so to own 600 pieces, it means they might have bought duplicates of every piece!" he proudly says.

Usually made of polystone, each figurine is the culmination of more than 10 steps: from blueprint sketches to 3D modelling and printing, as well as casting and hand-sculpting. Some of the more complex pieces showcase engineering ingenuity and techniques, such as replicating the look of the ripped denim of the Red Hulk's jeans or making Batman's cape appear suspended in mid-air.