My Hardest-To-Find Set-Completer Toy Of The Year Award goes to: 

Movie Transformers Legends Ratchet!

Comments: I only had a box set of 6 Movie Transformers Legends figures in 2007 but during 2008, the rest of the movie characters were released as 2-packs in the departmental stores here.  I managed to get all except for green-colored Ratchet.  He was only released as a single pack in mid-2007 and I missed out on him cos I had not started collecting this toy line yet.

The lack of this toy cost me a certain level of ”emotional unrest” for many months cos I had this unexplainable burning desire to complete my Movie Transformers Legends set, but he kept eluding me.  Fortunately I finally managed to spot and get him for only SGD 5.00 at China Square Flea Market in July this year.  He wasn’t exactly MOC as claimed by the seller and he was flawed, but I managed to fix him up and he’s in great working condition now!  

In a blink of an eye, we are fast nearing the end of 2008.  We’re just a few days away from Christmas and it’s kinda ’scary’ how fast time passes by.  I have blogged about toys for a year already!  It’s also time to review my toy collecting hobby for 2008.

Several of my fellow toy bloggers (initiated by Shaun) are currently posting about their top 10 favourite toys of the year.  As I have greatly reduced the number of toy lines that I collect over the year, I won’t do a top 10 toy list.  Instead I’ve decided to do an Oscars-styled Awards for my toys.

There are 5 Awards to be given out over the next 5 days and here they are:

My Hardest-To-Find Set-Completer Toy Of The Year Award

My Fastest Expanding Toy Line Collection Of The Year Award

My Fastest Shrinking Toy Line Collection Of The Year Award

My Most Unexpected Toy Line Collection Of The Year Award

My Top Favourite Toy Of The Year Award

These 5 Award titles also allow me to review my toy collection patterns in 2008.  For 2009, I plan to devote less of my ‘Play’ funds to buying miscellaneous toys and focus just on the core toy lines that I collect.  This is also due to storage space constraints at home.  Hopefully some of the above Award titles won’t be back next year, haha!

I was back at the indoor atrium of Plaza Singapura today and realised that the number of “The Legacy of Bumblebee” 3-pack box sets on sale had greatly reduced from over 50 boxes to just merely 5 boxes scattered about on the floor and nearby trolley basket.  There was a ‘gaping hole’ on the floor where the over 50 boxes used to be stacked just 2 days ago.

These Bumblebee 3-packs were situated just next to the assorted Transformers Animated single pack figures that were selling at SGD 21.90 each, instead of the usual SGD 26.90 each.  As such, some parents took a look at those single packs and promptly decided that the Bumblebee 3-packs were way more value for money.

I find that at SGG 29.90 (usual price: SGD 69.90) for 3 new Deluxe Transformers figures, most parents would not hesitate much to buy it for their kids as Christmas presents.  Many parents and young adult guys picked up a box to take a look and then glanced at its price signage.  By the time I left the venue after just 15min of being there, there were only 3 boxes left.  I bet they were all sold out by today.

While window shopping at a departmental store recently, I came across this cute little plush husky.  It was about the size of an adult person’s fist and was retailing for SGD 10.90 each, which I find is a bit steep for such a small toy.  However there was a 20% store wide discount at that time.

What I like about his cute little husky plush is that it can stand firmly on its 4 legs, while most plush dogs or puppies I find are either lying down or sitting down.  it’s curled fluffy husky tail is also well designed. 

There are other animals in the range too like the lion, giraffe, pig and monkey but among these, only the lion looked quite cute.  The other animals were not that cute.  The second cutest other than the plush husky are the plush baby rabbits.  Those cute little plush bunnys would make cool Easter gifts when bundled up with Easter eggs or flowers!

I spotted this “The Legacy of Bumblebee” 3-pack box set being sold by Carrefour for SGD 29.90 per box, at the indoor atrium of Plaza Singapura.  There were at least 50 boxes available for sale while I was there today.  They also had lots of assorted Transformers Animated figures for sale at SGD 21.90 (Usual Price: SGD 26.90), plus lots of assorted Indiana Jones mini figurines for sale there too.

Normally a Movie Bumblebee single pack costs SGD 26.90.  For SGD 29.90 at the Carrefour toy fair, you get 3 figures.  So that works out to be less than SGD 10.00 per figure.  It’s a good deal if you are a Bumblebee fan.  So does anyone want to share a Bumblebee 3-pack with me?  I’m only interested in the Movie Bumblebee figure and not the other 2 animated Bumblebee figures

I read this blog post by Adam Khoo and would like to share it with my readers.  I agree with him that a change of mindset and willingness to face life’s challenges are key to developing our characters and finding happiness in our lives. 

A brief summary info about Adam Khoo

Adam Khoo is the top peak performance and wealth creation trainer here in Singapore.  He has also written many best-selling books on these subjects.  More info about him can be found at his blog.

Here is his entire blog post that I would like to share with you: 

“I love problems and so should you!”

One of the most common complaints I get from people who attend my seminars is that they feel depressed all the time and find it hard to stay happy because their life is full of problems.  Every time a problem is solved, another one seems to pop up.

They have money problems, family problems, work problems, health problems and relationship problems.  They seem to think that people who are happy and successful in life are people with less problems than they have.  In fact, one guy said to me, ‘Adam, you are so lucky to have everything going for you.  You have all the money you need, a job you love, a successful business, loving family etc…’ EVERYTHING IS GOING YOUR WAY.  No wonder, you are so happy with your life.

He got pretty surprised when I told him that I have problems everyday myself.  In fact, many of my problems are so big that he would probably die of stress if he were to live one week of my life!

Face It… You Are Always Going to Have Problems

After meeting thousands of people in my life, rich and poor, young and old, successful and not-successful yet, I discovered that everyone has problems.  Its just that our problems are different.  The only people with no more problems are those people lying in the graveyard!

In fact, I have come to realize that successful people face more and bigger problems that anyone else!  The more successful you are, the bigger your problems.  Barack Obama may sure look happy winning the elections to become the new US president, but trust me, he has much bigger problems that you and me.

So, if life is going to be forever loaded with problems, how can we ever be at peace and happy?  The answer I have found is to happily deal with our problems.  Don’t take life so seriously.  Learn to laugh at yourself and your problems and enjoy the journey.

We Need Problems. They Are There to Make Us Grow

So WHY is life full of problems.  Why can’t everything go exactly the way we want?  I believe that problems are there to make us learn and grow.  Every time a problems comes up, it is a signal that we need to improve ourselves and change our thinking and behaviours.  For example, if you are having a bitter fight with your spouse, it is a signal that YOU need to change the way you communicate and behave in the relationship (no matter whose fault it may seem to be).

If from this experience (i.e. problem), you decide to evaluate yourself as a husband/wife and choose to take some positive actions like appreciating your partner more, spending more time with them, listening with your heart, showing more love, forgiving, communicating with honesty, you would solve the problem and end up a BETTER PERSON as result.  You would have grown.

Say, you have money problems.  It is again a signal that you need to improve the way you manage your money.  So, you start reading money management books, attend a money management program, start cutting unnecessary expenses, learn to invest prudently etc…Again, you would have grown into a BETTER PERSON as a result.  So, problems are designed to make us grow into better people.  Only when we have GROWN, will life allow us to graduate to the next level of success, i.e. becoming a millionaire or having passionate love in our relationship.

Here is What Happens When You Ignore our Problems…

However, is this how most people deal with their problems?  Nope. What many people do is that they avoid/ignore/or run away from their problems.  For example, when they are having that bitter fight with their spouse, some people will just keeping blaming the other person, avoid them or leave them.

When some people are having money problems, they simply ignore it, letting their bills pile up and borrowing more and more money.

So, what happens when you ignore your problems?  Well, they keep coming back, even bigger than before.  If you do not learn the lesson that needs to be learnt and change yourself, that problematic pattern will keep repeating itself in your life UNTIL you do change.

Haven’t you notice that some people keep experiencing the same problem in every relationship they get into or in every company they join.  They keep blaming everyone else for their problems when they don’t realize that they are the ones that are creating it subconsciously or consciously.

Problems Are Taps on the Shoulder

Another way to look at problems is that they are life’s way of tapping us on the shoulder, telling us that we need to change something.  If we ignore the taps, life gets our attention by hitting us with a bat.  If we still ignore the bat and refuse to change, life hits us on the head with a brick.  If we still ignore and refuse to change, life will send a truck towards us.

Haven’t you seen this occur in every area of life?  Relationship problems start off with small arguments. Ignore it and do the same thing and it turns into a quarrel.  Keep doing the same thing, and it turns into a fight.  Pretty soon, the relationship ends.  We jump into a new relationship and find that the same problem comes back to haunt.

Kill The Monster When it is Small

I have found that the key to avoid disasters in life is to immediately learn the lessons and change your thoughts/behaviours when the problem is small.  Act on the shoulder taps before they turn into oncoming trucks.

Start learning and managing your money, the moment you have small money problems.  Start changing your diet ad exercising the moment your body starts to feel lousy.  Start working on your people skills the moment you have relationship issues.  Kill the monster when it is small.

The original blog post by Adam Khoo can be found here.

Just an update on my toy locker at Toy Outpost (situated at Plaza Singapura, 7th floor, diagonally opposite the Cinema box office).  I have shifted my stock of My Little Pony for sale from my previous pair of corner lockers (which are little too dark) to another pair of brighter corner lockers.

My previous corner toy lockers which only had lights on one side.

If you are keen to check out my sale ponies in person, they can now be viewed in lockers 28E & 28F at Toy Outpost.  Just seek the help of the friendly store personnel at Toy Outpost if you need to examine the ponies up close or purchase them.

My current corner toy lockers which are brightly lit on both sides.

If there are another ponies you are looking for but are not found on my website or toy lockers, feel free to email me to enquire if I could possibly have them for sale.  In time to come, I will consider putting up my other toys mentioned above for sale in my toy lockers at Toy Outpost too.  

My ponies for sale are also posted on the toy catalog pages of my website at ToyzToSell.com.  If you live outside Singapore, you can email me through the “Contact Us” page at ToyzToSell.com or email me via my blog for the shipping charges. 

Other than My Little Pony, I also sell some She-Ra, He-Man, Dino Riders, Transformers, Justice League, Fast Food Toys etc., too.  Go check them out and let me know if you are keen on getting any of them.

I spotted this lovely Nativity scene at the atrium of Velocity (Novena Square) and took this shot.  It was part of a display by a gift shop selling their items at the atrium.  The figures are tall, standing at least 2 feet in height for some of them.  Okay granted these are not toys but they make a beautiful Christmas display.  I guess they are most suited to churches.

Toy Updates

I seldom visit Velocity but there is a Toy ‘R Us (TRU) at the nearby United Square.  That has to be the most out-of- date TRU outlet there is, other than the one at Tampines Mall.  Whenever I go this United Square TRU outlet, I’m pretty sure I will leave the place empty-handed.  My pony collector friend confirms that the Tampines TRU outlet is also like that.

Having viewed several condo units (that just received their TOP, Temporary Occupation Permit) at 2 locations over the weekend, I am disappointed that the newly built homes in land scarce Singapore are getting too tiny for comfortable living.  If you are a toy collector, or a collector of other items that need space, you’re in for a tough home-hunting time.

The developers here tend to market their condo units based on lifestyle rather than quality, so as to disguise or draw buyers’ attention away from the shrinking square feet of property that are being sold.  You pay sky rocket prices to get so little decent living space in return. 

Furthermore, their built-in furniture quality has also dropped like the stock prices in the past year.  A simple punch from a child can even break the thin wood that some developers use for the bedroom doors and built-in wardrobes!  This is made worse by latest use of sliding or foldable doors for the wardrobes.  The hinges feel so fragile when you open and close the wardrobe doors that I wonder if they can even last 1 year of normal usage.

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I spent my Saturday morning doing an early round of spring cleaning.  After that I took a weekend break and went to visit my toy locker at Toy Outpost (situated at Plaza Singapura, 7th floor, diagonally opposite the Cinema box office). 

I have a huge lot of My Little Pony toys for sale there.  They are the same lot as those posted on the toy catalog pages of my website at ToyzToSell.com.  If you live outside Singapore, you can email me through the “Contact Us” page at ToyzToSell.com or email me via my blog for the shipping charges.

If you are keen to check out my sale ponies in person, they can be viewed in lockers 28E & 28F at Toy Outpost.  Just seek the help of the friendly store personnel at Toy Outpost if you need to examine the ponies up close or purchase them.

Plaza Singapura was very crowded today and you kinda wonder “what recession”?  People are still shopping everywhere like in previous years.  I guess people generally still need to immerse themselves in the festive mood to relieve whatever stress they have.  In a way it’s good to balance our lives with a little Christmas shopping mood, as long as we can afford it!