Another tip to stretch your toy funds

Today’s visit to the flea market

My pony collector pal had specifically reminded me last night that we had made an agreement last week to visit the flea market at China Square Central today.  I said okay, that we’ll go together.  Knowing that he tends to wake up late, I called him this morning and we agreed to meet there. 

After reaching the flea market, I circled all the stalls for about 5 rounds but he still hadn’t showed up.  Hence I finally called him to ask his location.  And what was his reply to me?  That he was still at home.  Apparently he went back to snooze for “a few more minutes” which eventually stretched to more than an hour!  That’s what happens for someone who goes to bed at 4am!

In the end I called off the appointment! I also didn’t get anything from the flea market today as I was partly in no more mood to shop. 

Buying loose toys vs MOC / MIB toys

Fortunately, while looking around at the stalls, I found a topic to blog for today!  I remembered another tip to stretch your dollar in this current economic situation and still get to enjoy some mini toy luxuries.  The flea market aka toy market at China Square Central is not just a great place to buy Mint-on-Card (MOC) or Mint-in-Box (MIB) collectible toys.  You can also find lots of loose collectible toys on sale. 

It’s amazing how fast some collectors or perhaps kids, get tired of their toys so quickly.  The flea market was quite ‘flooded’ with lots of in-trend Transformers Animated figures, which is a relatively new toyline.  There were also of course loose Movie Transformers, Marvel, Star Wars and other popular action figures on sale everywhere at the stalls today.  Loose toys make such tempting bargains, especially if you are not shy to haggle for lower prices.

Loose figures, being out of package, cost much lesser than their MOC or MIB counterparts.  If you are  certain that you are defintely opening your toys to ‘play’ with or to display, you can consider buying loose toys instead of forking out more money to get the MOC or MIB ones.  However, some toy collectors prefer the idea and feeling of removing brand new toys from their packaging.  Well, it’s all up to the individual.

For me when I was actively shopping at the Clarke Quay flea market many years back, I did a combination of both.  Quite a portion of my X-Men collection came from other collectors who decided to let go their loose action figures and I picked them up for a steal.  I stopped collecting X-Men action figures since the more “manga-like” versions came out.  I much prefer the action figures that were based on the X-Men Animated series from the 90’s.

Also read: 7 tips to buy more toys with lesser money.