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!

The remaining Marvel Universe figures are on sale in my Toy Lockers at Toy Outpost.  Currently there is a 20% discount for them there, while stocks last and till further notice at my blog!

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.

Getting an insurance coverage for your toy collections.  I think hardly any toy collectors in Singapore do this.  However for some overseas toy collectors who live in disaster prone areas which are prone to floods, hurricanes, bush fires etc, this is something to seriously consider.  Sometimes it’s covered under the home insurance, but it’s better to confirm the extent of the value coverage, especially if the value of your toy collections is quite substantial!

Transformers Bumblebee Roto Bank

Just not too long ago, I blogged about the Transformers Optimus Prime Bank.  Here’s his counterpart - Transformers Bumblebee Roto Bank!  I’m not a fan of the classic Transformers toyline.  I prefer the movie toyline instead, and I look forward to seeing a movie version of Bumblebee made as a coin bank!  Then I can use him to store my spare change and save up for more toys!

Product description:

• “Classic Bumblebee!
• Save your change!
• Detailed rotocast bank!

This classic-style Transformers Bumblebee Bust Bank features an ultra-detailed sculpt by Chris Lee combined with durable rotocast PVC. This 6-inch tall bust bank will safeguard your valuable Energon Cubes or your hard-earned change with unwavering dedication just like the heroic Autobots themselves!”

Transformers Optimus Prime Bank

Look at this Transformers Optimus Prime coin bank!  He’s great for display, plus you can use him to save and store your loose change at the end of each day when you return home.  Then when you’ve accumulated enough money inside, you can use them to go buy some more collectible toys!

Product description:

• “Optimus Prime is here to protect your spare change from the Decepticons!
• Over 7-inches tall!
• From the classic animated series!

Featuring the transforming Autobot that started it all, the line of Transformers Bust Banks continues with none other than Optimus Prime himself!  Sculpted by Art Asylum and measuring over 7-inches tall, recreate the classic look and feel of the Generation 1 animated series, prepare your Matrix of Leadership and get ready to roll out. Order yours today!”

During a sale of course!  And when are the sales?  In the US, a major sale day called Black Friday is coming soon.  It falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November) each year.  On Black Friday, some US retail stores open their doors as early as midnight, and close only on midnight the following Saturday to accommodate the massive crowds that come!

In Singapore, the major sales we have are the Great Singapore Sale (around June to mid-July each year), and the year end Christmas and post Christmas sales.  In between there are the shorter period ad-hoc sales by the various departmental stores.

Here in Singapore, there are shopping malls and departmental stores that occasionally decide to open till around midnight during certain festive periods, but this practice of extended shopping hours is not fixed each year.  I’d rather have more short period sales spread out throughout the year.  Many collectible toys are released and sold in the departmental stores at different times of the year.

We may not have Black Friday here in Singapore, but we still have Christmas turning round the corner.  Our main shopping belt at Orchard Road is already lighted up with Christmas decorations.  They started earlier this year to dress up the street for the APEC meeting taking place in the coming week.  Locally, shoppers to Orchard Road get to immense themselves in the Christmas mood for a longer period!

If you have plans to buy some toys, whether for yourself or as gifts, now you can start looking out for the Christmas sale advertisements in the newspapers everyday.  The major retailers have definitely prepared some great offers for shoppers to enjoy, incuding on toys!  So start saving up to splurge during the year end sales, after which in Singapore, will be followed by the New Year and Chinese New sales early next year!

Happy toy shopping in the coming weeks and months!

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!

Our local departmental store OG is having its annual OG Anniversary Sale now!  It started yesterday (28 August 2009).  I’m not sure of the end date but from past experience, the month-long OG Anniversary Sale takes place around September every year.  Hence you can take it that for this year, it will last for the whole of September 2009.  If you are familiar with OG, it is also ONLY during this time each year that you can get your chance to obtain their OG Member’s Card!

What is the OG Member’s Card?

Most other departmental store member cards are in fact credit cards (that are in partnership with the respective banks) which you need to qualify for like regular credit card applications, in order be get them.  The OG Member’s Card is more accessible to most shoppers since it’s an in-store card that is not in partnership with any bank.

How to apply for the OG Member’s Card?

Basically you just need to spend a minimum of SGD 75.00 within a day during this sale period (combined purchases made on the same day are acceptable).  If you can’t make up SGD 75.00 worth of purchases on your own, you can team up with your family and friends buy some stuff together while you get the card.

For new OG Card Members…

…you take all your receipts and head to their OG Member’s Card counter (which every of their staff will know how to direct you to) to fill up a card application form.  After you hand in your form, you’ll receive your card on the spot!  It’s that simple!

For existing OG Card Members… 

…you take all your receipts and join a different queue where you hand them your current card for them to issue you the new card on the spot.  You need not fill up a form, unless you have any change of particulars such as your address to update them.  They use your address to send you mailers periodically to inform you of their store promotions etc.

OG Card Privileges

The OG Member’s Card entitles the card holder to receive 10% discount all year round, even on items that are not on sale.  It worked for the Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) and G.I.Joe movie toys.  Having some discount is better than none. 

Updated on 4 September 2009: G.I.Joe Movie toys are now on 20% sale at OG!  Saw the same at other departmental stores too!

Extra Info 

During the OG Anniversary Sale period, I also recall that for certain price controlled items, you’ll receive rebates in your receipt instead, which you can then use to offset the total amount in your next purchase (to be made within a certain period of course!). 

Friendly OG Staff

The above are from my past experience and I doubt they have changed their practice this year.  I’m not related to this store, but I do buy a lot of my toys from them using my past and current OG Member’s Card.  Their staff (I tend to interact most with the staff from the toy dept at their Orchard outlet) are very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable about the toys they sell.  They show much more initiative and render better customer service than most other retail places I’ve been to.

——–

So here’s your toy shopping tip for September 2009!  You’ve got a month to go get your OG Member’s Card.  The card will last you till this time next year where you make another SGD 75.00 worth of purchases during that next Anniversary Sale to qualify for your next card!  And so forth for the coming years ahead!  Happy shopping!

If you had been buying and reading our local “The New Paper” tabloid, you’ll probably know about the The New Paper (TNP) Dollars printed on the top left hand corner of the front page since 2 months ago.  The TNP Dollars are for readers to cut out and bid for electrical items, bikes etc., offered by “The New Paper”.  My family buys this paper everyday but we don’t bid for the prize items. 

I cut out all the TNP Dollars for my action figures to play and set up a mini ‘economy’ with.  However most of them are clueless on how to use ‘money’.  Hence my Transformers Animated Swindle action figure gathered up all the TNP cash (total of TNP$ 8,550 to date) and is asking for SGD 34.00 for them all.  

Interested buyers, please email me via my Contact Me page for further details to purchase these TNP Dollars!  *Note: Do not be detered by Swindle’s namesake.  I can’t help that Hasbro named him that.  Rest assured that I’ll be acting as his agent on the sale of the TNP Dollars!  My online references are found here.