Here’s the first toy review of “How To Train Your Dragon” (HTTYD) from McDonalds (McDs) Happy Meal in the US.  This piece features the main human character, Hiccup riding the main dragon character Night Fury, from the HTTYD movie. 

Overall it looks like a cool toy.  If this set of McDs Happy Meal toys do not come to Singapore, you can consider getting them off US ebay in the coming weeks and months.  I’m sure there will be plenty of them there.  Till then, happy HTTYD toys admiring!

With Dreamworks’ latest 3D animated movie “How To Train Your Dragon” (HTTYD) showing in the local cinemas, fans and toy collectors would be pleased to know that there is a toyline made for this movie!  The toy company is called Spin Master and the toys release date starts from March 2010.  You can view the range of HTTYD toys here.

I haven’t been to the departmental stores lately.  Have anyone seen these HTTYD toys selling there yet?  If yes, please share your findings here!  Meanwhile, here are some YouTube videos showing the main dragon characters in packaging.

Night Fury Dragon action figure.

Zippleback Dragon action figure.

Grocket Dragon action figure.

Deadly Nadder Dragon action figure.

The McDonalds (McDs) in the US have released a set of “How To Train Your Dragon” movie toys with their Happy Meals set this month.  I wonder if the McDs here in Singapore will do likewise.  Quick, somebody go call up our local McDs head office to find out, LOL!  Meanwhile, you can also view the full set of US HTTYD McDs toys and their functions at the US McDs Happy Meal website.

If you haven’t watched the movie yet, do your best to catch it in 3D (but remember to sit in the back rows).  3D movies are also cheaper to watch on weekdays.  The visual effects of HTTYD are stunning and breathtaking, the pace of the plot is very swift, the action sequences are at lightning speeds, the human characters have very witty lines, and the dragons come in all shapes, colors and sizes (my favourite being the black one called Night Fury).  If anyone can fall asleep during such a movie, they deserve to be knocked on their heads with a dragon’s tail, LOL!

That’s all for my movie toy updates for now, Happy HTTYD movie watching and toys admiring!

Following my first blog post on “toy collecting peeves - 1″ yesterday, let’s move on to another one - unkind remarks from the non-collectors or laymen.  The first typical response they tend to give you is that toys are for kids only, and they also wear that kind of expressions on their faces, as if to say that toy collectors are weirdos. 

Hey, it’s my life and I am responsible for making myself happy, not them.  If I spent my lifetime pursuing interests conforming to other people’s standards and if I regret it when it’s time for me to go, will those people be responsible for my regrets?  No they won’t!  They will claim that it was my choice.  So it is, I make my choices now while I still can.  Those people can beat off, and go do what they like and don’t bother to influence me to being like them.  Why should I?

I guess that’s one reason why many toy collectors here feel more at home at the Sunday Toy Market (at China Square Central), or online at forums and blogs with other like-minded people to discuss about this hobby.  For most of us, our immediate circle of friends and people we meet nearly everyday aren’t collectors.  So this hobby can get kinda lonely, if not for the internet that lets you know that you are actually not alone and there are in fact many of us around.  All hail to the internet!  LOL!

How about you?  Did you face the above toy collecting peeves before?  How did you, or would you deal with them?  Please feel free to share them here!

So far I’ve blogged about many technical aspects about toy collecting (e.g. what to collect, how to collect, toy budget, toy storage, etc.).  I decide to blog a series of posts about some toy collecting peeves that I’m sure many collectors have encountered before.  Let’s start with this one: 

Have you ever painstakingly chosen a mint-on-card (MOC) or mint-in-box (MIB) toy at a departmental store with the best packaging, and then brought it to the cashier, only to have the cashier manhandle your precious purchase in front of you?

In Singapore, some of our departmental stores use clear tape to stick a piece of white plastic bar code tab onto the the toy packaging.  When you pay for the toy at the cashier, they will remove it.  It is very disheartening, and sometimes heart wrenching to see the cashier flip over your toy and ’smacking’ it roughly onto the counter table. 

Then as they use the scissors to cut out the tab in a non-chalant manner, you cringe when you see the blade scrap against the box or card packaging.  If you weren’t living in a law abiding nation, you would have felt like reaching over and personally strangling the person for doing those heinous deeds before you!

As a finale, your newly purchased toys get tossed like garbage into a large plastic bag, without effort or common sense to pack them in properly.  The bag ends up looking so bulky to carry like Santa’s sack, when a little re-arranging of the contents will do the trick.  Don’t retail stores ever train their staff do simple packing of customers’ purchases into the shopping bags.  It projects a good image on their part if they do, but no they don’t care. 

The whole experience is likened to having a fishmonger at the wet market slaughter your selected live crabs or live fish, and then toss the slaughtered or dying seafood into a plastic bag for you to bring home.  OMG!

The laymen will tell you to get over it, for those are only toys.  You were likely to open them anyway so what’s the issue.  And then you wonder if you are really going nuts to feel so upset, and perhaps it’s time to get a new hobby and move on with your life. 

Overall, life as a toy collector, like everything else in this world, can have its peeves as well.  How about you?  Have you encountered such incidents of the cashier manhandling your toy and other purchases?  How did you feel and react?  Feel free to share them here!

Other than action figures and vehicle toys, Hasbro has also lined up a series of role playing toys from their in trend Iron Man 2 movie toyline, for kids and collectors to enjoy.  Here are some of them.  Happy Iron Man 2 movie role playing toys collecting!

Iron Man 2 movie role playing toy - Triangle ARC Light.

Iron Man 2 movie role playing toy - Circle ARC Light.

Iron Man 2 movie role playing toy - Electronic Helmet.

Iron Man 2 movie role playing toy - Mask.

Iron Man 2 movie role playing toy - Water Blaster.

Marvel Universe Comic Packs action figures - wave 4 @ SGD 29.90 per 2-pack

Top row (from left): Bulldozer & The Thing; Dr Doom & Absorbing Man.

Bottom row (from left): Storm & Nightcrawler; Re-released from Wave 1 - Klaw & Captain America. 

For fans and collectors of the above toyline, you will be pleased to know that wave 4 of the Marvel universe Comic Packs have been spotted at local depatmental stores such as Taka an OG since this month.  

For a moment we thought we won’t be getting anymore of these since wave 1 came here last year and then stopped for months.  Happy Marvel Universe toys collecting!

Lately, the mass retail stores here have their toy sections flooded with lots of Iron Man 2 movie toys.  As you know Hasbro’s movie toyline patterns by now, those Iron Man 2 movie toys in the stores are not all that you shall see.  There will be more coming up. 

Although I have not personally seen these upcoming Iron Man 2 movie vehicle toys in local departmental stores, let’s take a look at what to expect in this “next big thing” 2010 Hasbro toyline.  Happy Iron Man 2 movie toys collecting!

Iron Man 2 Movie Red Vortex Car Vehicle Toy @ SGD 49.90 each.

Iron Man 2 Movie Racer Vehicle Toys - Wave 1 @ SGD 19.90 each.

I’ve been having some intermitten wireless internet connection lately because my router is malfunctioning.  Fortunately, the cable connection method still works for now.  Getting online has been a chore for me.  I’ll see if I can fix the problem, if not I’ll have to get a new router.  

I’m currently using LinkSys.  It came as a package with my broadband package.  It served me well for about 5 years.  Does anyone have a router brand to recommend?  Or should I just get another from my internet service provider?  Do give me your suggestions!  Thanks!

Iron Man 2 movie action figures - movie series wave 3

Top row (from left): War Machine, Iron Man Mark V Suitcase & Iron Man Mark VI (w/Power Up Glow).

Middle row (from left): Deep Dive Armour Iron Man & Iron Man Mark VI.

Bottom row (from left): Inferno Mission Iron Man & Iron Man Mark IV.

Do note that the above War Machine figure is the movie version, and not to be confused with the similar looking comics version, that was released here at mass retail a few weeks ago.  Happy Iron Man 2 movie toys collecting!

I blogged about wave 2 and wave 3 of Marvel Universe Comic Packs sometime in October 2009 and November 2009 respectively.  Since then, they have only appeared in some local collectors’ toy shops, and hardly seen at the departmental stores here.

Well good news for local Marvel Universe fans and collectors, these 3.75-inch 2-pack action figures are now available at mass retail.  So far they have been seen at Takashimaya and OG since this month! 

Wave 1 was sold here last year at mass retail for SGD 29.90 per pack.  So I suppose the price for wave 2 and wave 3 are the same.  Happy Marvel Universe toys collecting!

Marvel Universe Comic Packs action figures - wave 2 @ SGD 29.90 per 2-pack

From left to right: Spiderman (black) & Magneto; Hulk & Cyclops; Iron Man & Spider Woman.

Marvel Universe Comic Packs action figures - wave 3 @ SGD 29.90 per 2-pack

Top row (from left): Re-releases from Wave 1 - Klaw & Captain America; Spiderman & Thunderball.

Bottom row (from left): Ultron & Mr Fantastic; Hawkeye & Piledriver; Enchantress & Thor.