This has been a very busy week for me.  There are still parts of my home that I have not thoroughly spring cleaned yet.  Bags of recyclables like paper and flattened carton boxes are lying around awaiting the recycling truck to come by.  If not I’ll have to lug them to the recycling bins soon.

My toys that are on display in the open have been scrambling madly for suitable “hiding places”.  This is done every year to ”protect” them from the young children of visitors who would by drop by my place during Chinese New Year (14-16 February 2010). 

Although I know that toys are originally made to be played with my kids, but once they are MY toys, they are out bounds to all children.  Yes, I’m that “territorial” and protective of my toys collection!

Once the Chinese New Year celebrations and house visiting are over, my toys will be “set free” into the open once more.  Till then, they shall stay “safe” (from manhandling by kids) in their temporary storage places allocated to them! 

We’re already in the 2nd month of 2010.  Time flies by very quickly doesn’t it?  Chinese New Year (CNY) is just 2 weeks away.  Have you began your spring cleaning yet?  I started doing mine bit by bit early last month.  There are still a load of old stuff waiting for me to clear out, so that they can make room for my latest possessions that do not have a proper space to ‘live’ in my home yet!

Some of the old stuff have served me for a very long time and I had stopped using them in recent years.  Hence, it’s time to “let them go”, so as to “bring in the new”.  Emotionally, I sometimes find it a bit hard to dispose of my old stuff, but logically I know that it’s the best way for me to move on.  Like they say: “Time waits for no one”.  So we better make the best of time and live our lives to the fullest while we can right? 

Here’s happy spring cleaning to readers who are preparing to celebrate CNY!

Avatar Interactive Battle Pack Set

This is a follow up on my earlier blog post on “Avatar Toys Augmented Reality Demo“.  I’ve seen the above Avatar item on sale online and wondered how does it really work?  Then I got my answers when I found the following YouTube videos:

Avatar toys i-Tag Battle Pack: Battle Stumbeest vs AMP Suit.

At the moment, the level of technology only allows limited and continous repetition of a fixed set of movements on these 3-D images.  I’m sure in the near future, so much more could be potentially achieved in this field! 

When you see these videos and if you didn’t know how such augmented reality stuff actually works, you could have easily thought that those 3-D images had physically materialized above the i-Tags!  In actual fact, they only materialized virtually on your computer screen when you activate those i-Tags with your webcam.

Avatar toys i-Tag Battle Pack: Neytiri’s Banshee vs RDA Samson Gunship.

If only these 3-D images could materialize in our real world when we activate those Avatar i-Tags.  It would be even cooler if we could also control the actions of these 3-D images to fight an opponent Avatar i-Tag!  This would be more advanced than how those Digimon games of the 90’s (where you could make 2 Digimon characters fight together on the same screen when their game consoles are physically connected!).

Avatar toys i-Tag Battle Pack: Navi’s vs RDA Soldiers. 

Oh my, those Navi’s are so tall when they are to scale with the humans!  But in a real fight against soldiers with such modern weapons, the Navi’s are no match unless they take the soldiers by surprise in an ambush.  Fortunately these are virtual images and no ones gets hurt, phew!

——– 

In a way, the Avatar battles between the humans and the Navi’s remind me of the early days conflicts between the cowboys and the native Americans (aka Red Indians).  I observed (when I watched American TV shows made in the 60’s and 70’s) that little American boys in those decades liked to role play the cowboys vs native Americans gun and arrow fights. 

Back then, the latter were viewed negatively as “savages”, much like how the bad humans in the Avatar movie viewed the Navi’s.  Of course those past decades were the times when people were less sensitive about ethnic tolerance issues in the US.  Now people are more aware and accepting than before.  Hopefully the Avatar movie manages to reinforce the important of human harmony in our real world.

Last but not least, I leave you with this video on the 3-D i-Tag image of the Pandora landscape.  Watch what happens to the image when the i-Tag is removed from below it (yeah I was surprised by the result too)! Enjoy!   

As a follow up to yesterday’s blog post on how to quit your toy hobby, here are some tips on managing your toys population and keeping you happy with your toy hobby:

Toy population control tips

Most toy collectors I know, do not collect just one toyline.  They tend to ‘jump’ from toyline to toyline due to fads and effective marketing gimmicks by the media, especially for movie toys.  Hence they end up with lots of toys over the years.  ideally, older and “out of season” fad toys should give way to “new fads”.

So it’s best to periodically cull your older toylines that you no longer like.  You’ve got to treat them something like old clothes.  They’ve served their purpose in your life and they should be passed on to others who appreciate them.  This will free up some space for new toylines into your life.  

Toy storage tips

If proper toy storage is a big issue for you and you don’t wish to cull so many toys, and that you are very sure you still want to keep on collecting toys, then you can consider investing in some creative and fun ways to display and store them.

Some toy collectors have literally customised their homes to suit their toy hobbies.  Here is an example from Singapore:

@lex Gen X 1:6 Hardcore and his Toy Haven!

You don’t have to revamp the entire interior deco of your home for your toy hobby, but just dedicate a section of it to store and display your toys aesthetically would be good enough!

Do let me know if these tips have been useful to you.  If you have more to share, feel free to add them here.  I’d love see your contributions!

This blog post is a modified version of an email reply to one of my blog readers.

My Toy Story

For me, I’ve been collecting toys for over 10 years.  At several points, I wanted to quit due to lack of proper storage space, and declining interest in some toylines that I used to like.  Sometimes it was due to stress at some points in my life.

I started in the mid-90s with Toy Biz X-Men action figures, which I still have (I think no one collects them anymore).  Then I went on to collect vintage 80’s My Little Pony (MLP) and all to the current MLPs.  The MLP global online collecting community is very active, so I can clear some of my unwanted pony herds quite conveniently, though sometimes at below cost, since I open most of my toys.

Toy quitting tips

If you really want to quit this hobby completely, it’s better to let it ‘die off’ gradually than do a sudden drastic ‘kill’.  After all, you probably have collected them for many years by now, which means they are a huge part of your life.

Before you quit your toy hobby, you’ve got to find another fulfilling hobby to replace it.  A new hobby that fits in with the current stage of your life, and one that would take up so much of your time that your toy hobby will not such an obsession as before.

The learning of your new hobby and the toy selling tips above should ideally run concurrently.  If you have a new hobby to occupy the newly freed up “toy void” in your life, the chances of really moving on are greater.  In other words, if you have no new hobby to replace your 20 year old toy hobby, you are likely to revert to the toy collecting cycle over and over again.

Last but not least, stay away from places that sell them, or places where you know toy collectors tend to gather (both online and physical venues).  Do not tell yourself that you are only looking and would not buy.  Chances are that you will eventually end up buying something if you keep looking at it and that will likely kick start your toy collecting hobby all over again. 

Toy selling tips

- Forums

If the toys you collect are still popular with collectors today, your best shot is to find the leading online forums for those toylines and join them.  Introduce yourself first and contribute meaningfully & regularly in their discussions.  Share your toy collecting knowledge and experiences with the others when they post queries. 

Then after a few months (you use this time to take photos and compile toy descriptions etc.), you may post your toy sale list for others to see.  You can also include a link to a webpage of toys you have for sale in your signature.  Don’t post your sale list too soon after you join.  People may get put off.

- ebay

Read and follow ebay rules, terms and conditions for selling there. 

- Consignment

Find out if your local collector’s toy shops have this service.  Some of them do, provided if they think your toys can sell and they have the shop space to spare.  Terms and conditions at their discretion would apply.

In Singapore, I do sell my toys on consignment at Toy Outpost.

Tomorrow, I shall post some tips on managing your toys population!  Be back to read them!

The new year brings about another major activity for me - the Spring Cleaning before Chinese New Year (CNY, which falls on 14 & 15 Feb this year)!  With just slightly more than a month left till CNY (where the traditional Chinese aren’t supposed to clean the house or clear out clutter during the first 15 days), I started to clutter clear the table in my bedroom. 

The dust that settled there must be the main cause of my worsening skin irritation in recent weeks.  And so I cleared out some paper trash, and I finally sent out the bag of paper toy packaging (of toys that I opened some weeks ago) to the recycling bin, at last!  Let’s hope my skin issue improves after that.

My award winning Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) Deluxe Preview Bumblebee toy watched me as I went about my spring cleaning session for the day.  The dust that flew up must have been too much for him, so he folded himself into his car mode to continue observing me.  He must be ‘relieved’ to know he’s safe from the clutter clearing plastic bags next to me, for this year, LOL!

How about you?  Have you started in your Annual Spring Cleaning yet?  Or are you still busy going shopping and bringing more stuff into your already cluttered home?  LOL!  Feel free to share your spring cleaning thoughts here!

The following are the photo attractions at the Las Vegas Strip, plus the great variety of beautiful hotel architecture to admire.

This is where I stayed for 5 nights at Las Vegas.  Just look at the luxurious amount of space they have for the driveway!  This is typical of the many large hotels there.  The dome-shaped roof above the lobby houses an indoor garden (which I forgot to take a photo of) that has a mini bridge and waterfall features.

There is a huge pond outside the hotel where everynight, a water fountain that replicates the the “eruption” of a “volcano” will take place.  You can view a video of The Mirage volcano eruption on YouTube.  This other video has the full version of the The Mirage Volcano performance.

Here’s a phot of the hotel taken at night while I was going back to my room.  The banners showing “The Beatles - Love” was sold out for the 5 nights while I was there.  I wonder why it was so popular though.  The replica volcano can be seen in the same photo.  You can view a video of The Mirage volcano eruption on YouTube.  This other video has the full version of the The Mirage Volcano performance.

This is the view from my hotel room on the 14th floor.  The pool belongs to the hotel.  In the distance, you can see one of the numerous mountain ranges of the Nevada desert.  Las Vegas is built in a very huge and flat valley.  There were hardly any clouds in the sky during my stay. 

These are Bally’s Hotel and Paris Hotel.  The replica of the Effel Tower is a distinctive landmark along the Las Vegas Strip.  The Las Vegas Strip is long stretch of straight road where the most happening attractions of Las Vegas are situated.  The various major casino hotels and hotel shows are located there.  The concept is similar to Orchard Road, our local shopping belt.  For the Las Vegas Strip, it’s their hotel casinos and hotel shows belt.

Read more »

After my 2 week long holiday in the US (Los Angeles & Las Vegas), I touched down at our Singapore Changi Airport yesterday morning!  Contrary to popular belief, I didn’t get jet lagged from my 16-hour long flight (plus another 2 hours transit in Manila). 

However, I do need to re-acclimatise to the local hot and humid weather.  The temperature in California and Nevada was around 10-15 degree celsius only.  This holiday in America is an eye opening and very fun experience for me.  There were the usual shopping and sightseeing, which I plan to blog about in the coming days, once I have the photos ready for uploading.  And yes, I also did some inevitable toy shopping there!

Upon getting back online, I realise that so much has taken place in the toy arena recently such as - further discounts on movie toys like Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) and G.I.Joe in the local departmental stores; ROTF EZ Legends Devastator, ROTF Legends Soundwave and Wheelie are now selling at local departmental stores; official photos of ROTF Human Alliance Barricade and Mudflap are now available online, just to name a few.  This means there will be no lack of blogging content for me for the rest of the month!

The blog posts to expect here in the coming week would cover the following:

1) Toy shopping opportunities at Walmart at Long Beach California, FAO Schwarz (aka Toy ‘R’ Us) at Las Vegas, Universal Studios and Disneyland.  Read more [>>]

2) Photo attractions at the Las Vegas Strip Read more [>>], plus the great variety of hotel architecture to admire.  Read more [>>]

3) Visit to the magnificent Grand Canyon, 1 of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World.  Read more [>>]

4) Visit to the famous Hoover Dam and Lake Mead (featured in Transformers The Movie, aka TFTM).  Read more [>>]

5) Visit to Universal Studios and Hollywood, known as “The Entertainment Capital of the World”.  Read more [>>]

6) Visit to Disneyland, “The Happiest Place on Earth” in California.  Read more [>>]

7) City Tour in LA, plus a short visit to the famous Santa Monica Beach (remember Baywatch?); Hollywood Walk of Fame; plus a drive up to Hollywood & Beverly Hills to view the huge houses and mansions owned by various Hollywood stars and other rich people; drop by the famous Rodeo Drive, where almost everything sold there (especially the fashion items) are notoriously unaffordable to most people.

8 ) Toy shopping and toy packing tips during a holiday trip.  Read more [>>]

Now I’m off to unpack my luggage, take photos of my toy hauls, and prepare my holiday photos for my blog!  Meanwhile, the weekend is here and the local shopping malls are having store discounts on toys and other stuff.  Happy Christmas Shopping!

Reasons for not doing so…

I guess for the majority of toy collectors out there, your answer to this question is “no”.  To keep track of your toy spendings is after all quite a tedious task to begin with.  You’ve got to have a certain amount of discipline to update the records diligently and regularly.  To people who hate dealing with numbers, even doing the simplest of accounting is mental torture to your “already exhausted from work or school” brain.

Then there is the other extreme where the reason for not having a set of toy accounts is simply to escape from, or prefer not to face inevitable and harsh “reality” that you are probably spending way too much money on your toy hobby.  You know very well in your heart that you’ve shelled out quite a sum of your monthly income on your toy purchases each month.  You’ve got the estimated total in your mind, but the true total figure will be too dreadful to deal with, LOL!

Not doing so is normal instinct…

I know and I understand how you feel, after all I’ve been there and done that.  Keeping track of your  toy purchases is one of those things in life which we know that is good for us, but not critical enough for our lives to depend on that will make us practise it.  It’s like we know that regular exercise is good for our health but we don’t feel like doing it.  Or that we should eat more vegetables and fruit to balance our diets, but meat is generally more tasty and satisfying to our palates.  Basically it’s human nature and habit that we seek instant gratification over long term benefits.

I tracked my X-Men toys collection

During my early days of toy collecting, I did keep a special note book to record all the X-Men toys that I bought.  I even awarded “medals” to the 25th (silver), 50th (gold), 75th (platinum) figures that I acquired.  This was to signify some sort of milestone in my toy collection, a similar concept to our Singapore Tourism Board awarding a prize to the 1,000,000th tourist to arrive in Singapore for that year!

I didn’t follow up for My Little Pony… 

As time went on, I got lazy and didn’t practise this good accounting habit for my collection of My Little Pony toys.  By the time I thought of starting a record book for my ponies, it was too much effort to recall all their cost prices.  Furthermore they were mostly imported, hence they had the added shipping costs.  My X-Men toys were nearly all from local sellers.  I only acquired one of them from US ebay because no local seller had that piece, despite searching here for years.

I resumed having toy accounts for 2009…

Since this year, I began to resume having a set of toy accounts for the toylines that I started collecting in 2009, such as the Transformers movie toys, and the Marvel Universe toys.  I didn’t record all my 2009 toy purchases for each toyline right from the start when I got the first piece per toyline, but only about a month after (I procrastinated).  When I did and finally read my toy accounts, the monthly figures were enough to shock the hell out of me.  That was one reason why I finally chose to give up my Marvel Universe toys collection a few months back.  I still have some MOC pieces left for sale at my toy lockers.

Is there regret?

Not really, because I haven’t completely recovered from my shock at seeing my toy accounts yet.  And that was only for 2 toylines!  I collect way many more toylines than just 2.  The rest have become impossible to track, unless I use estimated numbers on their costs.  Nevertheless, I’m still interested to know what are the latest new waves of toys for these toylines.  Seeing new stuff planned for the market still makes my hobby exciting, even though I do not plan to buy every single piece of the new toys. 

Your thoughts?…

So do you keep a set of toy accounts to track the “entries” and ”exits” of the various toys in your collections?  If you do, feel free to share on how this has influenced your toy hobby.  If you don’t, you’re also welcomed to give your thoughts and comments here.  If keeping track of your toy accounts can be made simple and super convenient, will you want to practise it?  I would love to hear your views on the above!

What I mean is that way before the days of the internet, long before you found out from the world wide web that toy collecting is actually a popular hobby shared by millions of people around the world.  If you had been collecting toys for that many years like me, did you openly let your friends know that your hobby was collecting toys back then? 

And when you went to buy your collectible toys at the departmental stores especially, did you some what feel embarassed that you did not bring a young kid along with as your “disguise” as you queued to pay at the cashier?

Very way back in my early years of toy collecting, I found it a bit “weird” to enjoy visiting the toy sections of departmental stores and Toy “R” Us.  That was during in my secondary school and junior college years.  I stuck out so obviously from the other customers who were mainly parents with their kids. 

But since I liked the toys that I collect so much, I managed to develop a “thick skin” over time and learnt to suppress the conflicting thoughts in my mind.  During our growing up years, we tend to be influenced by the people around us and we prefer to fit in with the “acceptable social norms” set by our parents and the friends we hang out with.  

Of course these days with the internet, we toy collectors know that we are “normal” people (what a relief to know!) with a very decent hobby.  It’s now very common to see adults buy toys at any store, and that it’s obvious that they are buying the toys for themselves.  Even the staff who work at toys stores no longer find it ‘amusing’ that more adults seem to be collecting toys. 

More and more collectible toy shops have also sprung up over the years in Singapore to serve our small but growing toy collectors’ market.  We have our weekly Sunday toy market at China Square Central, and now we even have our very own annual Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention (STGCC) in our second year! 

If you are a toy collector who started this hobby less than 10 years ago, I guess this hobby didn’t seem to bring much or any “social stigma” for you.  After all, you knew from the start that there are many toy collectors out there, whose personal collections are more than enough to open their own private toy museums! 

For me I have been collecting toys for more than 15 years, so I don’t really know how the newer toy collectors felt in their early years of collecting.  To me, I’d already “been there and done that” when you came along.  I presumed that seeing “senior” toy collectors like me around in the local toy markets, you perhaps felt more assured about your hobby, and you even strived to surpass our collections.  In short, you had some form of “benchmark” to “compare and measure to”.

But let’s say like me, you had started out this hobby with little or no “benchmark” in your circle of contacts (before the days of the world wide web), would you have continued with your toy collecting hobby as the sole “grown up weirdo who still plays with toys”? 

Did you know that in my early days of toy collecting, when the cashier asked me if I wanted the toy gift wrapped, I said “yes!”?  At least it gave the impression that I was buying the toy as a gift for a kid (who did not exist) and not for myself.  That was back in those early days, LOL!

So how about you?  How long have you been in this toy collecting hobby?  What were your early years of toy collecting like?  Free to share your thoughts and experiences here!