Here’s an interesting article about the do’s and don’ts of toy collecting to share.  Actually I have covered most of the topics mentioned in the blog post, except for toy photography.  I’ve been keeping this in my browser bookmark for some time and here are the links:

“Toy collecting tips and tricks - part 1″

“Toy collecting tips and tricks - part 2″

Happy reading, and don’t go overboard with your toy collecting hobby!

There were many sessions of autograph signing by the various artists for their fans at the Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention (STGCC) 2011 held at the Suntec Convention Centre last month:

Here is one of the queues on the first day.

This is the illustrator the fans were queuing to get autographs from.

And there he was signing away for his fans, plus stopping at times to pose for photographs with the fans’ upon their request.

This is another queue forming in the same section of the hall.

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And here is who the fans were queuing for.  Kipi is a famous cosplayer from Japan.

And her fans are delighted to have her at the STGCC 2011 that the queuing was worth it!  She also signed autographs for some of her fans who requested for it.

I still have some blog posts about the STGCC 2011 before I wrap up this series of blog posts about this event.  Read more about it my next post!

Let’s look at the attention grabbing Hot Toys booth at the recent Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention (STGCC) 2011 held at Suntec Convention Centre last month:

Just look at those eye catching images of the various famous comic book superheroes at the top of the Hot Toys booth!

Here’s the opposite side of the same booth, and the place was very crowded with visitors and fellow photographers too!

The Hot Toys on display were inevitably all protected within glass display cases, so it makes clear photography harder, especially with poor overall lighting in the convention hall.

I hope you can make out what figures and diorama are on display.  If I recall correctly, this one’s based on the movie “Alien”.

This diorama has a drunk looking unmasked Ironman sitting dazed in a giant “doughnut”, while his nemesis Whiplash surveys the damages he has done.

The sleek and cool looking Batmobile belonging to Batman.

Batman (on top of some wreckage) vs The Joker (sorry can’t see his face).

I think this one’s based on Lora Craft, correct me if I’m wrong.  She seems to be fighting off some zombie thugs.  Some of them appear to be groping her too.  I don’t think this is an appropriate scene to display at a convention where children can attend for free on the last day.

This guy’s missing half his face.  I wonder what’s with the obsession of people with gore (& violence) these days?  Some of these fans tell me it’s the attention to details that they appreciate in these things.  Then is it implied that beautiful things have no details at all!?  I wonder…

There were some more Hot Toys photos that I took but they didn’t turn out well due to the glass reflection and dim lighting.  Overall the convention hall is much darker this year.  My photo of the main stage was merely a patch of darkness, LOL!

I’ll cover more of the STGCC 2011 in my next blog post!

Here are some more photos I took at the recent Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention (STGCC) 2011, that took place at Suntec Convention Centre last weekend:

The booth belonging to Play Imaginative, selling and showcasing their various designer toys,

…such as Designer Mickey Mouse (or rather Mickey Mice);

… Carebears Keychains;

… with a lovely rainbow and clouds back drop for the cute little bears;

… Zodiac set of 12 animals (sorry for the blurry pic, poor lighting);

… a pair of cute piggy banks;

… more Disney character figurines on display;

… Gloomy the Naughty Grizzly (w/a rather “bloody” back drop);

… & last but not least, some iPhone cases printed with popular designer toy characters on them!

I believe all the above items on display at the STGCC could still be available for sale after the convention at Play Imaginative (@ SCAPE).

Happy toys admiring and collecting!

SingPost was there again at the Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention (STGCC) 2011 . . .

. . . with the launch of another of their STGCC exclusive Tokidoki toy sets!

Meet Superhero Mailman Zip plus his trusty & ever reliable canine sidekick Cody!

Their combine names are derived from the words “zip code”!

Price per set: SGD 49.90.

You can still buy them after the STGCC directly from SingPost, while stocks last!

Happy toys collecting!

Today is the first day of the 2-day Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention (STGCC) 2011, being held once more at Suntec Convention Centre!  Like the past 3 years, I made my way there today to observe the atmosphere and here’s the blog post for today:

Upon reaching the ground floor foyer of the main convention hall, we are greeted by this very beautiful STGCC lighted signage filled with DC Comics characters!

When I reached the 3rd floor where the ticketing counters are (at just before 10.30am), my first reaction was that the queues looked like a breeze to go through!

And then when I turned my head to follow where that longest was leading to, I saw this! OMG, what are they all queuing for!? Let’s take a closer look at those 2 signages.

Here’s the 1st sign and it explains most of the question!

And these 3 macho guys are what all those visitors are queuing for (priced at SGD 299.90 & only 500 of each available for sale)!  Later inside the STGCC convention hall, I heard from my contacts that the queue to purchase the above 3 exclusive Hot Toys actually started on Friday afternoon!  As people weren’t allowed to be inside the building overnight, they only managed to re-enter the building to continue queuing at the 3rd level when the building opened its doors at 6.30am!

The ticket counters had separate queues for normal ticket purchases (w/o getting the piping Hot Toys), for promotions or contests (e.g. cosplay), VIP tickets, internet ticket bookings, and of course for the highly coveted exclusive Hot Toys purchasers!

Here are the actual day ticket prices, no increase from the online pre-booked ticket prices, unlike last year.

Behind the cashiers is another long queue, though at least this one’s moving very smoothly!

So this is the queue for VIP Ticket holders (ticket prices worth SGD 40.00)!

Later inside the convention hall at the rear corner, I came across the collection point for the Hot Toys.  I stood near the counter and all of the purchasers bought 1 set of the 3 collectible figures.  The counter staff kept giving the same instructions to their packing colleagues behind, “1 set!”.

Upon collecting their prized purchases, nearly everyone opened the boxes carefully on the floor next to the collection counters to check their figures, watched eagerly by the other purchasers who were still in the queue!  Those toys aren’t cheap, so it pays to check them first before leaving!

And the “heroic trio” that caused all that queuing madness were on display at the collection point.  Too bad I couldn’t get clear close up shots of them as it was a struggle to jostle with numerous other photographers who just keep appearing from everywhere!

The above are what I have to blog about for this post.  I shall continue to blog about the other toy observations I made at the STGCC 2011 over the next few days.  The convention is from 20-21 August 2011.  Happy toys admiring and collecting!

San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) 2011 -

The LEGO booth & awesome LEGO displays!

Dates: 8-20 March 2011

Venue: Compass Point (next to Sengkang MRT Station)

Time: 10am-10pm daily

Although I don’t collect Capsule toys, this event will still be of interest to fans and collectors of this game and their collectible capsule toys.  Fellow toy blogger LEon has done a site inspection blog post on this blog - Open The Toy.

If you are free from now and till the end of the coming March School Holidays, why not head down to Compass Point to check out this Capsule Carnival?  Have fun, and good luck to you on getting the capsule toys you want from there!

The photos above are from the Facebook page of Singapore Capsule Toys.  View more photos and information about this Capsule Carnival at their Facebook Link. 

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. 

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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!