I recently asked a fellow My Little Pony collector to share on how she stores her pony collections.  Well, she bought big boxes from Ikea, which can fit around 24 regular MIB G3 ponies each.  She also has some smaller Ikea boxes that fit a quite a number of loose ponies.  Now, that settles the dust issue.  But all her boxes are stacked on the floor, so it does not solve the boxes-out-of-view issue.  That is one of the greatest headache about toy collecting - your toy collections invading your floor space, bit by bit, by bit…

This set is here in Singapore at SGD 29.90! I’m waiting to get it during the next sale, depending on which departmental store has the next sale first! I lost the link to the photo, hence I’ll post it up when I find it again.  Gosh, I can’t stop thinking about that rock band bus, and it opens up to form a nice stage to hold Starsong’s rock concert!

While looking at China Square Central’s website , I saw that the time period  for the weekend flea market is until 31 Dec 2008.  I’m not sure if the flea market will still be there next year or it has to move again.  Hence if you have not been there, you better visit it soon until we get confirmation on whether it will be exending its stay there for the coming year.

With rising inflation and a softening economy, we tend to be more prudent in our purchases now, unless of course you are ultra cash rich and the current credit crunch means nothing much to you.  As most of us belong to the prudent category, here are 7 tips on how to buy more toys (and other things) out of lesser money:

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How time flies by!  The weekend is almost over and the San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC) 2008 is on its last day.  I haven’t had the time to go read the reviews about the happenings there over these few days.  I hope the participants had fun and got what they wanted.  I’ve been to such crowded events before and I know how stressful it can get at times.

But the overall rewards of going to the Convention should be great enough to override whatever hiccups that might occur, especially when queuing for autographs, and queuing to purchase the wide range of rare and exclusive toys, comics etc. offered there.  I believe some of our local Singapore toy dealers would also bring in some SDCC exclusive toys, and I won’t be surprised to find some of those toys on sale at China Square Central in the coming weeks!

Some collectors started ordering ’Blue Art Pony’ from HasbroToyShop even if each pony costs more, as they thought that there were stocks on hand and immediate shipping.  However, the ponies at HasbroToyShop will only be shipped from September 2008, which brings it to on par with Entertainment Earth.

Let’s compare buying  ‘Blue Art Pony’ from these 2 online toy stores.

1) HasbroToyShop - Pony price is USD 19.99.  Ships to the US only. But there is a free shipping coupon code (SUMFS) for orders above USD 50.00, and to US addresses only.  Great deal for US buyers buying in bulk! 

Singaporean buyers can consider using vPost (a special service by SingPost for Singaporeans to buy from online stores that ship within US only) but it may take very long to ship over because vPost will tend to consolidate all their Singapore-bound packages before shipping them here.  You can opt to pay more for prority shipping to cut down shipping time to Singapore.

2) Entertainment Earth - Pony price is USD 14.49. Ships internationally but the rates are quite high. I don’t find any special discounts there. The advantage is that there are more variety of toys there so Singaporean buyers can combine their purchases. vPost service can also be used here.

It’s the second day of the annual San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC) 2008  in the US.  Our local newspapers featured it today and it reported that the estimated turnout, based on tickets sales for this 4-day event is around 125,000.  I thought that the eventual turnout should surpass this number. 

Our inauragal Singapore Toy and Comic Convention (STCC) 2008  held here last month at the Suntec Convention Centre was free entry and it managed to pack about 140,000 visitors over the 2 days.  If the STCC becomes very popular and so packed one day, we might also need to purchase tickets months in advance before we can get in!  Wow, I wonder if that is good news or not?

Today is the first day that the San Diego Comic Convention 2008 (SDCC 2008) is opened to the public.  There was a preview night yesterday that was open only to pre-registered 4-day attendees and professionals.  Such toys and comics conventions are very big and popular events in the US, Japan, Hong Kong, and hopefully the trend will catch up here in Singapore too. 

The SDCC is famous for the wide range of exclusive toys that the toy companies release, to be specially sold at the convention only. Hence collectors, traders and fans would swarm there to lay their hands on those ‘rare exclusive toys’, which can become very highly sought after in the secondary toy markets.  However having to contend the huge crowds during the convention can be extremely daunting.  Hence you have to understand why there are premiums involved in those exclusive toys, other than in their supposed limited numbers made.

We just our first Singapore Toy and Comic Convention 2008 (STCC 2008) held at Suntec Convention Centre last month. The turnout as reported in our local newspapers was about 140,000, which took the organisers and sponsors by surprise (actually they shouldn’t be).  We look forward to a bigger, and more fun-filled similar convention next year and the years to come.  There have been talks that this event will be an annual thing in Singapore. 

I also hope for our local STCC to have more exclusive toys specially made by the toy companies for sale during the convention days.  Perhaps this being the very first STCC held in Singapore, industry players were being too cautious as they had no reliable benchmarks to judge the response and potential of such events.  Such toy and comic conventions are very big things in Hong Kong and Japan for several years already.  With our nation’s numerous creative talents and entrepreneurial spirit, I believe that it won’t be long when the scale and quality of our Singapore Toy and Comic Convention surpass those in Asia, and become comparable with that in the US!

I find that the happiest collectors tend to be those with the neatest and most organised collections.  Of course the level of happiness and neatness in everyone’s mind are subjective.  To some people, as long as they know where to find their things, it is considered neat and tidy.

I once watched a TV program about a Singaporean guy who collects seashells.  He had hundreds, possibly even thousands of seashells of all shapes and sizes in his collection!  And how did he keep all those seashells? 

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So what happens when you have more toys than your display cabinets can take in without your collection looking like a ‘mess’?  

Well in theory, the most obvious answer is hold off all future purchases till you sort out your toy storage issue.  However having been through this stage before, I know that this suggestion will fall on deaf ears, especially for “Rapid Growth” collectors who tend to ‘buy first and think about storage later’.  If not, they feel that they will miss out the ‘rare chance’ to own that ’super hard-to-find’ toy that is going for a steal right now, and so on and so forth.

And so the vicious cycle continues and the collection of toys just accumulates like wild rabbits in all-year-round breeding season.  Soon, you’ll find that all your walking space in your room, and even in most parts of your home, are stacked with boxes of toys.  Your room and home will end up looking like a toy store, perhaps only minus the price tags on the boxes, and the cash register counter.

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