Cool and Collected

Meet Maxx, an 18-year-old graphic designer. He's super-hip, never smiles, has a pierced right ear and sports a few tattoos. A skate-rat, he wears low-rise shorts (to show off his boxers) and DC shoes. Oh, and he's 30 cm tall. And made out of plastic. But Maxx isn't just another Ken or G.I. Joe doll. Maxx has attitudeand a cult following. So does his 31-year-old Hong Kong creator Michael Lau, whose original, street-savvy figures have molded him into a hot icon among the most unlikely doll collectors imaginable: Tokyo's jaded, trend-setting twentysomethings. To reach that desirable market, Nike Japan featured...