Q1 2010:

Up to the first half of 2010, I was still very much into collecting the latest toys of the toylines that I was interested in. 

In January 2010, I snapped up quite a number of the G.I.Joe movie toys that were on mass clearance sales at many departmental stores then.  It was a bountiful harvest time for G.I.Joe toy fans and I was estatic to have gotten the figures and vehicles at that opportune time!

Q2 2010:

Then I started getting obsessed in wanting to complete the LEGO castle sets that I missed out many years ago.  And so I went on a shopping spree, both online and at physical shops to hunt down all those missing sets that I wanted, for don’t know what crazy reason.  It was just a sudden intense period of unexplained obsession back then. 

Q3 2010:

This period was spent building up and reviewing a number of the LEGO Castle sets that I bought a few months before and being pleased that I acquired them despite lots of effort.  But fatigue gradually set in from all that LEGO building, photo taking and online toy reviewing, that my mad craze over LEGO finally waned.

Q4 2010:

Gradually my toy collecting pace slowed down a lot in the closing months of 2010.  This was mainly because I began to run out of proper physical storage for more toys.  Hence I had to collect less or forgo buying some of the toys I had originally wanted.  In a way, it became a good thing in the end because I realised that many of the toys that I skipped having, were really impulse toys to me after all.  So that’s a relief!

My thoughts for 2011:

I shall still continue blogging about the latest news on the toylines that I normally blog about, mostly about Transformers, Marvel Universe, G.I.Joe, My Little Pony and other Hasbro toys and such. 

2011 should be an exciting year for Transformers movie fans, as the third installment of the movie - Dark of the Moon (DOTM) is expected to be screened in cinemas in July 2011.  There will surely be lots of sneak preview photos of DOTM toys being released or leaked online to drive fans and collectors crazy again, like it happened in the months before the ROTF (Revenge of the Fallen) movie release in July 2009.

For the G.I.Joe movie sequel, the filming plans seem to have stalled for now, so I don’t expect the sequel to be ready this year, which is fine with me.  There will be plenty of other toy distractions to take its place.

If I have complete control over my thoughts, impulses, emotions and obsessions, I would rather embark on a new lifestyle in 2011 rather than continue collecting even more toys to restart the vicious toy collecting cycle all over again for another year.  But I know that my human mind is weak when it comes to temptations and discontentment with what I already have.  Hence 2011 is likely to be another challenging year for me if I want a change.  Nevertheless, I will still up keep this toy blog as long as I have not left this hobby.

Happy toys collecting everyone, and Happy 2011!

Iron Man 2 action figures - Movie series wave 6

If you do indeed collect the many variants of certain toys, this is a sure way to increase your toy collection massively, especially if your variant toys happen to be the main and best selling characters of that toyline!

For many collectors, the most recent variant toys that comes to mind are the 2010 Iron Man 2 movie 3.75-inch action figures, where countless variations of the main character - Iron Man, seemed to be churned out by the dozens in every wave released in the retail stores.  I bet that you can really count at least a dozen different Iron Man figures hanging on the store pegs, all in different armor and colors. 

Then there are the Movie and Comic versions of these little 3.75-inch Iron Man toys to take note of!  You really marvel at Hasbro for being able to conjure out so many kinds of variant Iron Man toys, from just 1 character!  I believe that from the movie, most people can only recall Iron Man himself (in his red and gold armor), War Machine and at most the villain Whiplash!

Some collectors including myself at times, have a weakness for collecting variant toys of a favourite character.  For me, the variant toys I collect are nearly all the different versions of the Deluxe Bumblebee figures from both the first and second Transformers movie toylines. 

———-

Just a few days ago, I was looking at my box containing the loose Transformers toys I own, and I counted about 15 Deluxe Bumblebees in there, not including the Human Alliance (HA) and Legends ones that I store elsewhere.  And to think that I only collect the movie versions of Bumblebee, and not the ones from the classic G1 or Transformers Animated (TFA) toylines, but I have a fleet of him already in my collection, OMG!

Do you collect variant toys too?  Feel free to share your thoughts and comments here!

Well firstly, I didn’t get myself any new toys for Christmas this year.  I just wished to have a long and extended break, and not collect toys or think about toys all the time.  That is why my blog posts have thinned out for a long time recently.  Since I wasn’t really in the mood to think much about toys, I naturally had very little toy collecting topics to blog or post about, other than the release of some new Hasbro toys into the market.  

I hope my readers didn’t get too disappointed when you visited my blog during this period and did not find new blog postings to read.  I really had nothing much to say during this lull period.  After a while, you do realise that the cycle of our toy collecting hobby gets very repetitive and predictable. 

A new toy comes out and we all get excited about seeing the online sneak preview photos and want to buy it so badly.  Then when it is out for sale, we get excited again because we finally have the physical toy in our possessions.  For the Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) Legends Devastator toy above, I got him around this time last year and I was definitely very excited about having him then.  But in the whole of 2010, I barely looked at him as he stayed in storage in a cupboard… 

The interest in our latest purchased toy tends to only last from as little as a day to perhaps 1 week, before we all get bored with it.  Then we will go online to find the next ‘hot new’ toy to excite us, and repeat the vicious and never ending cycle all over again.  I have had many great and exciting toy finds this year, but without looking into my toy storage boxes, I think I can’t recall most of them by now.  So sometimes I wonder why am I still collecting all these toys in the first place?

What about you?  Do you have such displacement thoughts about your toy collecting hobby at times?  Please feel free to share your comments here!  And happy holidays to one and all!

While chatting with a fellow toy collector some weeks ago, he mentioned that he bought quite a lot of new toys from the recent Singapore Toy Games and Comic Convention (STGCC) 2010.  He had them all stashed inside his rather bulging backpack.  He aimed to return home to keep his toys aside first before his wife came home later that day.  It seemed that his wife would ‘nag’ at him if she discovered that he bought more new toys for his collection and fill up the home!

I was like, OMG, I do that too, although the person in my family who nags at my ever expanding toy collection is mainly my mom!  I have been smuggling toys home for lord knows how many years already!  Sometimes I even leave the big bulky purchases in the car boot and then retrieve them from it after my parents go to bed, LOL!  It was better than being seen carrying in those new bags of toys when I entered the house during their waking hours and be nagged at, again!

When you are a toy collector and you live with other non-collector people in the same home, this nagging situation from them can arise, especially if they are the ones who own or co-own the home you live in!  That means if those other people have a say in the household, your toy collecting hobby (or rather toy hoarding habits to them) can become a source of constant friction with them if not managed well from the beginning.

But since most toy collectors cannot stop themselves from buying more of the latest collectible toys, they do resort to ’smuggling’ them into the house, as long as they can hide them well.  Another toy collector friend of mine keeps getting nagged at by his mom about his ever growing and out of population control toy collection.  He shrugs her off by claiming that those new purchases were actually old purchases that he had taken out from storage.  He doubted that she believed him completely but he got away with it, LOL!

So, do you ’smuggle’ your newly purchased toys home as well?  Do you feel some sort of guilt when doing it?  I know it isn’t a pleasant thing, like we’re doing something on the sly behind the backs of our loved ones, though it’s not an issue that borders so extremely like on the betrayal of trust.  Most of us can’t help it, until the day we gradually get out of this toy collecting hobby. 

Do feel free to share your thoughts here!

Following my previous postings on the recent Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention (STGCC) 2010 held at the Suntec City Convention Centre on last weekend, here’s an unexpected exhibitor spotted there:

At first glance I thought I saw incorrectly…

…Then their big sign above confirmed it all.  It is indeed the National Library Board (NLB) participating at the STGCC 2010! 

There were just a few visitors looking around at this NLB booth, so I decided to go closer and see what are they promoting in a toy fair.  Somehow I believe that the vast majority of visitors to the STGCC are there specifically for the toys, that’s why they paid to enter (presumably majority are ticket holders). 

Like to many of the other visitors there, the books and even the DVDs that the NLB were promoting to the public, were not really on my mind at that moment.  Books rarely mix well with toys, unless they are comic books or books related to cartoons and movies.  I know they mean well, but the atmosphere didn’t seem conducive enough, with many toy and gaming distractions everywhere in the events hall. 

Perhaps some individuals did benefit from seeing the NLB there, but not me.  I love to read, but being at the STGCC was not the time for me to be keen on books.  However it’s still nice that the NLB had their presence there, so I decided to highlight what they were offering on my blog.  Hope you’ll remember to drop by your nearest library some day to relive those memorable childhood and student days!  And by the way, the public libraries these days are very spacious and comfortable to be in!

For the local Gashapon fans and toy collectors, seeing this large booth at the recent Singapore Toy, Game and Comics Convention (STGCC) 2010 is like being in Gashapon paradise!

There were not only scores of Gashapon machines there to play with, but also scores of Gashapon fans and collectors who were drawn to them like magnet!  You could see the people’s eyes lit up as they descended upon those machines to scrutinize what toys were inside them and to ‘try their luck’ at getting their covered ‘prizes’!

Believe me, this Gashapon booth is very popular with the visitors that day.  I actually had to wait many times for the crowd of people to clear out a bit for the moment to snap my photos, because I didn’t want the people to block all my photo view of the Gashapon machines, LOL!

Here we have a cluster of Gashapon machines…

…and these are some of the nice litte toy ‘prizes’ that could be won from playing the Gashapon machines.

A clear photo shot of the machines, free from people mulling about in front of it! 

This photo is very hard to take because people keep moving past, in and out of the row and bending down to look carefully at every machine here, LOL!  I wanted this photo to show the sheer numbers of machines along that wall.

Ah, at last another set of Gashapon machines that were not blocked by people at this moment!

Oh yes, they had a green pail at the side for people to discard the unwanted palstic capsule containers after they had taken out the toys inside.  The capsules would eventually be recycled.

And there you have it, ‘Gashapon paradise’ at the STGCC 2010!

In this blog post, Let’s take a look at a special niche of attractions seen at the Singapore Toy Games and Comic Convention (STGCC) 2010 - cosplay and movie charater replicas!

A special place was set aside for the cosplayers to gather, but at this point, they had all gone a wandering somewhere else in the event halls!

Yup, the sign says it all what this section is for.

Then I found the cosplayers all gathered a few rows of booths away posing for scores of eager photograhpers there. 

This is another group of cosplayers posing in a group photo there.

Then we move to the movie character replicas…

…like Jar Jar Binks from the Star Wars movie.

Darth Maul was also there to pose for photos with visitors…

…and so was the ever popular Darth Vader!

And the infamous Freddy the Nightmare!  This replica can move his head and arms at every few seconds interval too, hence it wasn’t easy capturing this pose!

In my next post on the STGCC 2010, I shall blog blog about Gashapon booth there!  Be back soon to read and view all about it!

Following my previous postings on the recent Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention (STGCC) 2010 held at the Suntec City Convention Centre on last weekend, here are some of the events and exhibitors seen there:

Queue for autograph sessions by comic book writers and artists etc.

Autograph session in progress.

There is a section with tables and seats all set up for playing game cards…!

…And another section for computer gaming tournaments, such as the Online SEA Games 2010!

Comic book booths are there.

The main stage area near the back of the event hall…

…where many people are queuing by the side…

…for this!  AKB48 is Japan’s leading girl idol group and they are here to perform their latest songs, play games with their fans, and provide autographed copies of their latest albums.  It’s indeed worth it for their fans to queue up for this opportune moment to get up close and personal with their favourite stars!

Another comic book booth.

More toys, …

…even more toys…

…and yet more toys…

…and some more toys, at nearly every turn and row of booths there!

Starhub’’s mobile booth is there too, like in the previous years!

My blog post shall be about the Cosplay and Movie Characters Replicas seen at the STGCC 2010.  Be back soon to read and view them!

Following my blog post yesterday about the ongoing Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention (STGCC)2010 that is taking place this weekend till tomorrow at the Suntec City Convention Centre, today’s blog post is about the nice Star Wars toys display seen there.

Ok these 2 are not exactly toys.  The Stormtrooper is actually a cosplayer while R2-D2 is a prop.  They are positioned against a Star Wars backdrop for visitors to take photos with.  Taking photos with your own camera or with the designated photographer are chargeable.  I think the former is at SGD 5.00 per photo while the latter is at SGD 6.00 per photo, which is printed out for you.

Here we have another cosplayer standing a little away from the Stormtrooper and R2-D2. 

Then we come to the good stuff which is someone’s Star Wars collection on display.  This collector(/s) is clearly an army builder and you can see why.

Firstly there are multiples of the several kinds of Star Wars figures and vehicles there.  But I also like the use of the white snowy base and mountain side hangar backdrop for this display.  It can pass off for both indoors and outdoors scene.

This has to be my favourite part of this entire hangar display scene - the pre-flight briefing!  It reminds me of a store where the retail staff all gather for a briefing at the start of each work day before the shop opens, or some factory floor workers’ briefing by their supervisors!  This part reminds me of work.

Wow look at the use of those yellow maintenance machines and cranes above each X-Wing Fighter and those parts look to be made of LEGO, nice touch!

The Millenium Falcon and boy this one’s huge!

Another view of an X-Wing Fighter with a yellow ladder attached to it for the pilot to climb aboard.  I recall seeing such yellow ladder sets that were packaged with a pilot Luke Skywalker being sold at the STGCC for 2009.  They were part of Hasbro’s exclusive Star Wars toys from the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) 2009.  The multiple ladder sets are well used in this hangar scene! 

Here is another Star Wars toys scene.  Upon closer inspection, I realised that these toys are all made of LEGO!  And this collector’s an army builder too, assuming that all the pieces seen here belong to the same owner.

When you display these collectible movie toys with other relevant pieces of the same series, you get a well documented scene which conveys a thousand words without the use of speech or writing!  I do admire the creativity of the display artist here!

Enough said, this AT-AT has been felled by the defending forces that it was attempting to attack but fell short of its targets! 

But the ‘Chicken Walker’ ahead of the fallen AT-AT is close to making possible damage on this part of the defence wall…

And then from nowhere up the snowy LEGO hill behind the defence line comes a saviour!?  Seriously doesn’t this guy in red here resemble Santa Claus?  Did he drop in with a load of Christmas presents, or with more ammunitions to support the defenders?  

Or maybe this is an enemy in disguise who somehow managed to sneak up behind the defence lines to attack them.  Well I’m not a Star Wars fan and so I’m only speculating the storyline here based on the observations made, LOL!

And this is about the only large Hasbro and LEGO toys related display in the entire STGCC 2010.  There are also booths selling assorted Hasbro, Marvel and other US action figures toys.  They are the familiar local collector’s toy shops like those seen at the Sunday Toy Market at China Square Central.

The rest of booths are dedicated to local and overseas designer and anime toys, Japanese anime toys, gaming, comics, artist autographs and cosplay etc.

Come back again tomorrow as I blog about the exhibitors at the STGCC 2010! 

Today is the first day of the 3rd annual Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention (STGCC) 2010 and I was there to attend the event!  I was fortunate to be provided with a Media / Blogger pass that gives me free entry to the event, many thanks to fellow toy blogger LEon of Open The Toy for helping me out on this!  

Upon arrival, you will surely notice the extra grand ticketing booths at level 1 of the Suntec City Convention Centre, complete with the ultra gigantic banner above it.  You wouldn’t need confirmation with the staff if you’re in the right venue, for it’s all so big for you to see!  Each ticket now costs SGD 15.00 if you buy it from here.

This is the top view of the same ground floor ticketing booths area as seen from around level 3.  Having tickets for this year’s event means that more manpower and staff have to be deployed for this round.

This is the nice and informative twin archway outside Hall 401.

This is where members of the media and cosplay contestants go to register themselves outside Hall 401 before they enter the place.

Then beside the media and cosplay counter is the one-way entrance to Hall 401.

Next to it is the exit of Hall 401, also manned by a staff.

Just outside and between Halls 401 and 402 are a series of events boards that list all the notable events for all the 3 days and their timings.

Here is the smaller single archway outside Hall 402.

There is also 1 door for entry, and another for exit.  The staff will make sure that you go in and out of the events hall via the correct doors.

Here is sSomething for all ticket holders to take note of when they choose to re-enter the event halls on the same day.  And yes if you have been to any other events held in such adjoining halls at the Suntec City Convention Centre before, both the halls are connected inside.

Are you feeling exciting about what’s beyond those doors to the STGCC 2010?  I shall reveal and blog about them tomorrow.  Come back again to read them!