The Singapore Toy and Comic Con 2008  (STCC 2008) ended yesterday evening and it was even featured in the news on TV.  According to the one of the local newspapers, the surprise turnout was about 140,000 people , much more than the 10,000 online pre-registered visitors estimated to attend.  There were also casual collectors like me who are attracted to such events and conventions.  It was basically a busy and hectic weekend for me because I was there as a visitor for almost 2 full days. 

Actually, I don’t find the eventual turnout numbers a surprise because the size of the toy collecting community here and in the region have been grossly under-estimated.  Whoever thought that toy collectors here are far and few, might had been living in a cave all these years.  You don’t expect toy collectors and manga fans to walk around with the words “toy collector” and “manga fan” on their foreheads right?  One just needs to visit the Toy Market at China Square Central on Sundays to realise how deeply entrenched the toy collecting hobby here in Singapore is now.  And don’t discount the far-reaching powers of the internet that can spearhead such hobbies within days or even within hours!

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Today is the second day of the Singapore Toy and Comic Con 2008 

Having experienced the confusion of where and how to queue to enter Toy Convention hall on the first day, my new friends and I made a pact to arrive even earlier at 9am today.  We figured that we’d have more time to find out the queueing system so that we could park ourselves at the correct places to secure the white exclusive Bearbrick figure today.  This time there were only around 30 people in front of us.

We anticipated that the hundreds of other people who had gotten ‘lost’ in the same queueing ‘fog’ like us yesterday would likely to think the same like us too, and indeed they did!  We knew that many collectors missed out the red exclusive Bearbrick figure yesterday so those people would arrive early today too, hence we better be ’safe than sorry’.  Basically the queuing ‘madness’ is all for the exclusive free Bearbrick figures (given out to the first 1,000 visitors per day).

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I checked my copy of the events guide book and found the floor plan of the Singapore Toy and Comic Convention detailing the locations of all the exhibitors, their booths and various events venues.  The Hasbro booth was very near the entrance and looked to very big on the floor plan. 

I know from my past experience with Hasbro Singapore, that its office here is very inactive in toy collectors matters.  Hence I only half expected to see its booth containing some toy collector’s collections and the rest would probably be filled with some of the more popular Hasbro products like Transformers, Star Wars, My Little Pony (which I collect), Littlest Pet Shop and such. 

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The Singapore Toy and Comic Con 2008  opened its doors to the public at 11am today at the Suntec Convention Centre Hall 603.  Although I’m not a Bearbrick collector, I decided to go there earlier at 10am to test my luck on whether I am able to receive one of the limited special edition red-colored Bearbrick figure, to be given out free to the first 1,000 visitors.

When I arrived at level 6 of the Convention Centre, the queue in front of me was already at least 100m long!  The queue had formed along the ‘corridor’, from one end of outside Hall 603, and across to the other far end of outside Hall 602!  I checked out the source of the queue and found that there were no indications of whether there were separate queues for pre-registered (online) visitors and walk-in visitors.  The organising staff were not there yet.  Hence everyone just joined the one and only queue there. 

I looked around and surveyed the people there to see if I could find familiar faces but they were mostly very young teens and some adults whom I did not know.  Within 10min after my arrival, another 20m of queue had formed behind me!  At some stage, I felt a bit silly to spend my Saturday morning queueing with hundreds of others to get a free toy (even though it’s an exclusive piece of plastic).

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The first ever Singapore Toy and Comic Con 2008 is happening here at Suntec Convention Centre Hall 603 on this weekend.  I’ve been hearing and reading a great deal about it lately and it is set to be a very big and popular event in the local toy collectors’ calendar. 

There’ll be booths by toy manufacturers for both ‘Western’ and Anime toys, local collectors’ toy stores exhibitors, comic book exhibitors, as well as competitions for cosplay and count-the-number-of-star-wars-toys,  plus autograph sessions. 

I can’t wait to attend it and see if I’ll find some ‘goodies’ there!  To bad I’m not keen on the exclusive toys offered.  I’d rather have the toys that I collect.  Nevertheless, it’s still good to spend my long awaited weekend there to soak in the toy and comic fan atmosphere with other like-minded people and just to have pure fun!

“Specially designed, black-colored pony figure features artistic blue detailing that accentuates her electric blue hair.  A unique MY LITTLE PONY figure, this pretty pony is a must-have for any collection!” - Hasbro

This gorgeous babe looks very artistic but I’d much prefer her to have painted eyes.  She is made in the boring ‘Core 7′ pony pose again.

This ‘night art’ pony seems to be the nocturnal version of the My Little Pony Fair 2008 Exclusive Pony (above).  The Pony Fair on Rhode Island, USA, just ended over last weekend.

There are very few black colored ponies made, so this ‘night art’ pony becomes more special and for once, it is not a pink-colored pony.  These are just the official prototype photos from Hasbro.  Hopefully the actual pony has painted eyes and if she does, she’ll be added on my ‘want’ list!

While re-organising my toy cupboard, I came across my G3 My Little Pony Pinkie Pie (1st edition) and found that she had developed a layer of ’sticky and oily’ substance on the surface of her whole head and body.  

This had previously happened to the plastic rubbery wings of my She-Ra horses too.  For those detachable wings, I cleaned them up by rubbing handwash lotion on them and then rinsing off with water.  It worked very well.  See my earlier post on this.

For My Little Pony toys with this same condition, I use wet tissue to clean up the entire ’sticky and oily’ surface to avoid getting the hair wet and so that they dry off faster.  Read more about this topic here. 

For Pinkie Pie, she was ‘cured’ after just 2 rounds of cleaning with the same piece of wet tissue.  She dried off quickly and was returned to her usual spot soon after.  Thank goodness, she was the only affected pony in the lot of ponies that I inspected today!

At last, I took the first steps in re-organising the most cluttered spot in my room.  It had been overcrowded with my toys, study files and notes, magazines etc., for months.  There had been more ‘imports’ than ‘exports’ over this period. 

Fortunately, it was more a matter of re-organising the way I stored and filed my study notes and monthly statements.  In theory, we all know that we need to lead well-organised lives.  Every possession we have need to be properly and systematically organised so as to make our lives easier.  Or so they say.

When one gets tired from the day’s work and evening’s night classes, tidying up the room is likely to be the last thing on the mind.  You only want to eat your dinner, bathe and then go to bed.  I have no evening class today so I decided to tackle a bit of the cluttered area.  My weekends are reserved for getting out of my home and workplace to ‘breathe’.

And so, I tackled my piles of bills (that were all paid thankfully), my receipts (yes I keep and record all my receipts), my overflowing unfiled study notes (I can’t believe the sheer volume I have now).  At the end of the evening, the cluttered spot was definitely more pleasing to my eyes. 

Professional Clutter Clearing and Space Clearing Consultants also advise that a neat and tidy home will improve the occupier’s quality of life.  I hope it does the same for me soon.  The ongoing challenge however is to consistently maintain this “organised and tidy” stage.

My room and toy storage areas at home are due for another round of re-organising this week.  In the past 1 year, I had been taking up various study courses.  As such, my files of study materials have accumulated and they have even ‘evicted’ some of my collectible toys from their usual display spots.  My stuff have already claimed part of my room floor as their ‘territory’.  If I don’t re-organise and clear those cluttered areas soon, I’ll end up with hardly any walking space!

Clutter clearing and room re-organising always tire me out.  Hence I have a tendency to procrastinate till the situation gets too unbearable to withstand, that I’d rather go through the ‘mentally painful’ process of doing the inevitable tedious tasks of ’summer cleaning’.  Nevertheless, the rewards of having a neater and tidier room should be enough to justify my long-delayed efforts! 

While shopping at the various departmental stores during the weekend, I found the latest G3 My Little Pony Pinkie Pie variant with the stunning blue eye make up and extra fanciful designs on her forehead and hind leg.  I believe she comes packed in the same box as Scootaloo and Toola-roola.  Toola-roola’s head mold makes her look masculine while Scootaloo’s opened mouth makes her seem like a suckling foal.

I only have eyes for this latest variant of Pinkie Pie.  It is very seldom that I like Pinkie Pie because there had been possibly a ‘hundred’ versions of her by now.  However the stores that were selling this Pinkie Pie did not have her on sale.  For the stores that I happened to have a voucher for or stores that were having discounts, they did not sell her!

I was like, why is this so!? It seems like the universe is hinting to me that I do not really need another Pinkie Pie variant in my collection, although I still want her very much.  I’ll just wait and see if she’s fated to be with me at a discount, which I greatly insist she must come with!