Recently there was an article which I read with interest.  It was about the growing local trends of more and more people renting secure and air-conditioned self storage space for reasonable sums per month, to store their excess possessions that could not fit into their homes.

The original use for such space rental facilities was mainly for people to store their furniture etc., while their homes were being renovated, and while they stayed at smaller and temporary premises elsewhere.  Gradually when people started home based businesses and needed more space to store their goods and equipment, this storage solution worked well with them too. 

Then over the years as hobbies that involve collecting physical items became more widespread, people even rented space to house and store their precious collectible items!  This is also compounded by the lack of land in Singapore to build bigger average homes for all of us. 

It has indeed become a growing trend, though I first heard of this kind of external storage method for collectibles more than 10 years.  Back then a toy collector that I knew was already using a similar concept storage service, but the ‘warehouse’ back then wasn’t as sophisticated as the ones we have today.

Although I don’t use the above kind of self storage service for my toys collection, I do however treat my rental toy lockers at Toy Outpost as a kind of external storage facility for my toys that I don’t mind selling away.  In a way it’s better than keeping them at home where they are not seen and do nothing useful for me.

While the self storage may seem to be the solution for collectors in general, it ultimately does not address the root causes of such phenomena.  And that is, people are basically buying too many things for them to store at home.  Perhaps it’s true that our homes in Singapore are getting smaller, so some people feel that it’s out of their control.  Like it or not, land scarcity in Singapore is here to stay.  We can’t further expand our territories by a lot more.

However, our minds and how we manage our shopaholic emotions are flexible and not as rigid as physical space.  Hence, there is a pressing need for hardcore toy collectors to be focused in their toy collecting hobbies, instead of collecting nearly every fad toyline that comes along every year, collecting every toy in a toyline so as to “complete the sets”.  

We need to be aware of that modern media is throwing all kinds marketing tactics at us everyday, to entice us to part with our hard earned income more readily and buy things that we may and may not really need.  Be especially aware of “addiction” products and services, such as collectible toys and gaming.  “Addiction” businesses thrive on our addiction to what they offer. 

Older generations tend to save up much more than the younger ones do because there were much lesser entertainment and addiction distractions in the old days.  Today many people like to visit shopping malls when they are bored.  There is even a term called “shopping therapy” to relieve stress!

So the next time you decide to make your next purchase of anything, do be more aware of what factors are  influencing you to spend, and to consider very carefully whether you really need to.  We need take charge of our spending habits as early in our lives as possible.  Using self storage may seem like a solution, but if our uncontrolled spending and collecting habits persist, we’ll just end up renting more space to ’solve’ a space constraint problem that isn’t really getting solved.

But we don’t have to totally give up our toys collecting hobby.  Collecting in moderation and culling periodically will help to keep our toys population in check and manageable for us to enjoy the hobby.  I hope that you find this article useful.  Happy toys collecting!

A toy ‘drought’ is when the toylines you collect hadn’t had new toys that you are interested to buy, or the toy company hadn’t release anything new for a period of time.  Hence, you’ve got nothing to buy and become bored, which breaks your routine of exciting toy hunting.  Here is a list article that is built up from another similar article I wrote last year:

1) Firstly, you can take a break from rushing to the stores to buy your toys and spend quality time with your loved ones perhaps.  Or other aspects of your life that you had severely neglected while you indulged too deeply in your toy chasing hobby, like unfinished tasks and projects you had always wanted to do but didn’t have the time to do so.

2) Save up your monthly toy budget and keep it aside for better toys to come in the future.  There will surely be something fancy to drift into your ‘want ‘net’ sooner or later!  Always save up enough toy funds to splurge during a sale!

3) Or you can re-allocate some unused monthly toy funds to other enjoyments in life, like a nice hearty meal, a short weekend trip (to sight see or perhaps to buy more toys) with someone special.

4) Play with your toys, re-arrange your toy displays, clean your toys if they are covered in dust, or pull out your toys from storage to check on them and see how they are faring.  It feels good to admire your prized possessions every now and then, and look back on your past “achievements”!

5) Photograph your favourite toys and post their photos online to share with other toy collectors.  You can also start shortlisting the potential toy candidates to grace your top 10 favorite toys of 2010 list by the end of the year, like many local toy collectors do since 2008!

Bonus: Not a favorite with most people but very important - record and maintain your toy accounts to keep track of your monthly toy expenditures.  This can help you to “stay on the budget path” and not “stray out of budget”!

Do feel free to share more suggestions on other things to do during a toy ‘drought’!

In the midst of my recent clutter clearing session, I’ve decided to streamline my toy collections.  Hence some toylines will have to go.  It was a hard decision to make, but sacrifices are necessary for me to focus and have more room for the toylines that I love the best. 

Certain toys in my collections were collected on impulse due to movie fads.  Luckily these toys are far and few, when compared to my main collections of My Little Pony and Lego knights series that I collected for more 10 years. Not all my movie toys will be cleared out as I will still keep the most memorable ones.

In the meantime, toy shopping trips will be drastically reduced for me, even if it’s the annual Great Singapore Sale now, “sniff”!

Note: If the video doesn’t load, just click on it to link to its source webpage on YouTube.  I’ll fix the issue asap.

If you collect Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Classics (MOTUC) toyline, you would probably like to display your MOTUC figures using action figure stands made specially for them!  They all come in a set of 5 stands and 10 pegs.  I’m sure the stands will also fit the future She-Ra Princess of Power Classics (POPC) toyline that Mattel is planning for next year.

The figure stands are from Mattel as well and they take the shape of famous Ethernian Castle Grayskull brick floors and mini brick walls!  The stands have pegs with adjustable positions and the stands can be connected to one another too.   

The main issue as pointed out by the reviewer is that the stands take up some space and allow only limited number of MOTUC figures to be displayed on the same shelf.  But then most of the time, a slightly spaced out action figures display is more aesthetic to look at. 

Hope you like this toy display tip.  Happy MOTUC toys collecting!

Since I blogged about the great G.I.Joe The Rise of Cobra (ROC) toys clearance sale in local departmental stores some months ago, I still get some queries on where to find this and that particular ROC figure or vehicle, or playset at the rock bottom prices. 

Well you have to understand the pattern of stock clearance at retail stores, especially for fad items such as toys that are based on movies.  When the toys are collectibles popular with fans and collectors, a clearance sale would wipe out the most sought after pieces from the departmental stores very quickly. 

The next “big things” for the local toys scene are the Iron Man 2 movie toys, as well as those from Disney’s Toy Story 3 movie.  Hence inevitably, passe toylines like the 2009 G.I.Joe movie and 2009 Wolverine movie toys have been on clearance sale for the past several months to make shelf and peg space for the latest toys from other upcoming 2010 movies.

Nonetheless, some great gems from the ROC toyline are still found at very good prices, but in only very few departmental stores and some selected collector’s toy shops.  The local departmental stores that still carry the ROC toyline as of this week are: OG, Metro, and Toys “R” Us.  I don’t know what exact pieces they still have in their stores.  You’ve got to go there and find out yourself.

G.I.Joe The Rise of Cobra Pit Mobile Headquarters playset

For harder to find ROC figures, vehicles and playsets, most of them have been cleared from the departmental stores.  Your best bet now would be collector’s toy shops like Simply Toys, and the Sunday Toy Market at China Square Central (CSC).  The ROC toys still available there may or may not be at the rock bottom prices you prefer.  Well good luck to you, since we’re now at the tail end of this toyline.  It’s kind of like take it or leave it.

Here is a video review of the ROC Pit Mobile Headquarters.  This massive playset can still be found at Simply Toys at SGD 49.90, or at SGD 45.00 for their members.  You can call them to check for the stock availability before going there.  The box itself is very bulky and rather heavy, so preferably arrange your own private transport to bring it home!  Happy last minute ROC toys shopping, while stocks last!

While surfing YouTube, I bookmarked a couple of interesting video reviews of custom plastic display cases made for the popular 80’s Masters of the Universe (MOTU) figures.  The display cases can also fit in the sister toyline of MOTU - the Princess of Power (POP) dolls, as these are smaller than the MOTU figures.  

If you collect the more recent “re-issued” Masters of the Universe Classics (MOTUC) figures, you’ll be pleased to note that there are also custom display cases made to store and display them!  You can remove your MOTUC toys from their packaging to play and display, and then store them in an aesthetic manner, almost like they are still mint-on-card (MOC)!

Hope you like this toy storage tip.  Happy MOTU and MOTUC toys collecting!

I chanced upon this article on Seibertron.com some time ago and found it interesting.  It covers money matters, where to buy toys, discusses the emotions behind buying and collecting toys, more ultimate levels like toy fairs, methods of collecting, and coming to an understanding with your family members about your toy hobby. 

These are all topics I had covered  before in some way or another on my blog.  Now you get to read them from the perspective of collecting Transformers toys!  

Do you like to read more of such articles about toy collecting?  You see, most toy collectors go online to search for information of where to buy the latest toys they want, or to view photos of other people’s toy collections. 

If you want to read more articles about how to collect toys, or how other collectors manage their massive toy collections, do let me know.  I’ll post their links here to share with you whenever I come across them! 

Happy toy collecting!

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!

Have a monthly budget for buying toys - If toy collecting is a big part of your personal life, you can set aside about 10-20% of your monthly income to indulge in this hobby.  A budget will help to keep your monthly toy expenditures in check, and not let your home be so overrun by your toy purchases that you can’t cope.  If you can, keep a record book or an Excel sheet record of your toy accounts.  I know it’s a bit tedious but trust me, it’s a good habit to cultivate when you collect toys.  It’ll come in more handy when you decide to sell off your toys in future.

For e.g. the Transformers toys, video reviews allow you to see all the transformation steps, plus you get a better and 360 degrees view of the Transformers toys in their vehicle and robot modes.  For typical action figures like Marvel Universe and G.I.Joe, the toy video reviews tend to show the various points of articulations in the action figures, plus they also demonstrate how the weapons and accessories ‘work’. 

So how do you do a search on YouTube for let’s say, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) Leader Optimus Prime?  You can simply type “ROTF Leader Optimus Prime” in the search box on YouTube!  Over time, it helps to narrow the search if you know the Transformers class size (Leader, Voyager, Deluxe, Scout, Legends etc.) and the Transformers toyline series (ROTF, Transformers Universe etc.).  Remember, more practice will make your online toy research perfect!