As 2008 comes to an end, it’s time to review my toy blog and toy hobby for the year.  I start with my toy blog which just turned 1 year old early this month.  Gosh, time really flies past very quickly!

Wordpress Matters

It is fun blogging about collecting toys and posting toy photos here to share with my readers.  I learnt more about using Wordpress and html codings to achieve my desired design results.  For e.g. I finally learnt to change the background colors of this blog from the default colors.  I also merged my 2 ex-blogs that I started in 2006 (TalkAboutCartoons.blogspot.com & TalkAboutToys.blogspot.com) to this one.   I take one step at a time and look forward to creating more design features for my blog.

Blog Directores and Stats Counters

I went to explore the various well-known blog directories like MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, blog stats counters, RSS feeds and how to add them here.  I remember that I first found the link to Shaun’s blog from a blog directory and then from his blog, I got to know and link up to other toy blogs on my current Blogroll.

Blogrolls

This is the year where I got to know many other fellow toy bloggers here in Singapore.  I added an Action Figures Blogroll to link to their blogs and I’m very happy that they linked back to my blog too.  I enjoy visiting their toy blogs and reading their postings each day and I appreciate their visits and comments too. 

Blogging becomes much more fun when bloggers and readers get to interact and share views with one another.  It is also a fast way of knowing the latest happenings or observations in toy collecting and the toy industry.  In a way it also lets a toy collector know that there are many other like-minded people around, so there’s no need to feel ’shy’ that he or she is still collecting toys in adulthood

Inaugural Annual Toy Awards 2008

This is also the first year where I did my inaugural Annual Toy Awards for my toys collection.  It was inspired by Shaun’s blog postings in December on his list of Top 10 Favourite Toys of the Year.  He encouraged fellow toy bloggers to come up with our own lists or something similar for the year end to share with everyone.  Many of them did and for me, here is my list of winners for my 5 Toy Award Titles.

Blog Plans for 2009

I will continue to improve my blog and postings with more informative articles.  The layout or template might change as I plan to explore better ways to display the various links, photos, articles, videos etc.  Each day as I blog, I’m also learning new things about Wordpress and its technical aspects.  As I gain new experiences with time, I would use them to bring both my blog and toy website to the next levels!

That’s all for my toy blog review for 2008.  I’ll post the 2008 summary of my toy hobby tomorrow!

Today I edited the cartoon pages at this blog by creating new pages for some of my favourite 80’s cartoons (My Little Pony, JEM, He-Man & She-Ra).  I intend to expand these pages a little in the near future.  The rest of the cartoon pages remain hosted at Blogger.

Then while visiting Talk About Cartoons, I spent some time ‘playing’ with the various widgets at Blogger and I did some updating of the layouts too.  This blog is still behind on its posts but I will continue to update and expand it in the coming months.

That’s all for a Sunday, gotta take a break and go enjoy myself now!  Tonight, I shall be watching the ‘highly anticipated’ and much hyped up Disney premiere of “Camp Rock” on Disney Channel.  Hope the songs there live up to the level of those catchy and vibrant ones in “High School Musical”!

I’ve added all the postings I made about the Singapore Toy & Comic Convention (STCC) 2008 in my Articles page.  I attended the 2-day STCC held in end June 2008 and took some photos of the venue, crowds and interesting toys spotted there.  The event may be over but the memories still linger.

The thing about blog formats is that many past postings get ‘hidden’ away with the additions of newer postings over time.  Hence unless you label them or remember their posting dates, it can quite a challenge to find them in the archives.  Most readers don’t read beyond the latest 2 pages of a blog anyway as they feel overwhelmed by the sheer volumes of content stashed there.

My next step would be to set up an online photo gallery somewhere, perhaps on Flickr, Slide or something similar.  I’m constantly getting new ideas from other blogs.  I want to make my blog more ‘dynamic’ and more ‘fun’.  At the moment, it resembles a static website more than a blog, haha…  

I decided to transfer some of my previous toy video posts from my old blog at TalkAboutToys to a dedicated page here.  Hence my Toy Videos page here is now opened for viewing, and the permanent link can be found at the top navigation bar of this blog.

My next step is to select and consolidate some of the posts on toy collecting to another dedicated page here for easier reference and access by readers.  That should take a while as I need to revamp some of those posts before I re-introduce them on their specialized page.

Meanwhile, have fun viewing the Toy Videos!

Website Matters - Wordpress:

I’m still getting used to my upgraded Wordpress admin panel. I’ve found most of the functions that I was formerly using but I still can’t find where the "post-slug" function went to. "Post-slug" allows the user to rename the blog post url for better keyword search, if not the blog post url will just follow the post title exactly. This url customising tool is supposed to aid in Search Engine Optimzation (SEO).

I realise that 2 of my Wordpress plug-ins, the Installer and the Ultimate Tag Warrior don’t work anymore. I can’t re-activate them without seeing a "fatal error" message. Maybe I need to upgrade these 2 plug-ins too. Gosh, people say "when one door closes, another opens." CNBC’s tagline is "when one market closes, another opens." For me it’s "when one techie issue closes, another opens!"

Everyday I deal with information overload as I research for new information to do my work. The ‘gurus’ say to solve one problem or complete one task at a time. Then more pop up and get in your way as you attempt to solve that ONE problem or complete that ONE task at a time. Geez…

Using Blogger vs Wordpress:

I have been blogging with Wordpress for around 9 months already but like most bloggers, I actually started with Blogger. If you have been using Blogger, switching to using Wordpress is like switching from using PC to Mac. It can be quite a ‘culture shock’ at first as you start all over again in looking for the functions you need in the admin panel. I don’t really fancy frequent change but when you are in the techie line like blogging, you can’t help but to adapt accordingly to the swift advancements on the internet. Instead of the "rat race" you get the "internet race".

Multi-blogs:

I started blogging about a year ago with Blogger. Actually my ex-colleague first introduced blogging to me back in 2004 but I was not ready to start it. It was only last year that I signed up with Blogger and explored its various functions. I started multiple blogs on various topics to have a feel of what I would enjoy blogging about. I’m a person with very diverse interests, but you have to realise that because you enjoy something, it doesn’t mean you will necessarily like to blog about it.

Narrowing down the blog topic:

Finally I narrowed my topic to sharing tips about toy collecting. I plan to further narrow it down in the near future because there are simply too many collectible toy lines around. Currently I blog on all the toy lines that I collect, which is quite a number.

Toy collecting and life in general :

As I had attended a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) seminar and read such books since last year, I would incorporate some of these ideas into my blog posts every now and then. Most of these posts are categorised under "About Life" . I also have some articles posted under "Money Matters" too. Those are mostly about budgeting for your toy collecting hobby, but they also apply to most other things in life.

My blogging journey is still ongoing and this blog is due for a major revamp in the coming months. That will be another techie issue to overcome as I work out my blogging plans for the rest of the year!

Website Matters:

I uploaded my new index page for ToyzToSell.com today!  I had long wanted to revamp that index page but I kept hitting a mental block on its layout.  It wasn’t supposed to be in this 3-column format like my blog but my original file with the 2-column layout, kept ‘hanging’ for no reason while I was building it.  That file sort of got ‘corrupted’ and I had re-do another file to replace it.  In the end, this is the result I have.

I know that my ToyzToSell website looks very amateur but this is all I can manage right now.  At least,  the website still serves its function.  Some day, I would like to outsource this website building aspect to free up my time.  I need to budget for that though.  Or I could also go for those open-source content management websites.  I just want my website to look more ‘pro’. 

Aweber

Did you notice that I now have an Aweber opt-in form on the top of my ToyzToSell index page?  Yes, I finally signed up with Aweber to start an email list for my subscribers.  It took me some orientation to get around the admin panel of Aweber but I am getting the hang of it.  I tested the opt-in form and it works like a charm, though I had to adjust some minor website details here and there.  Other than toy catalog updates, I definitely plan to provide more valued information to my subscribers in the near future! 

The Ezine picture was done with Photoshop and my current standard is only up till there.  I have not figured out how to insert photos onto the ezine cover.  My friend, who is fast in learning such techie stuff, tells me that Photoshop is easy to use.  Just read the tutorials and follow their given steps and instructions, she said.  I did and maybe it has something to do with my comprehension of English, or my left brain neurology is simply not as developed as in my right brain. 

Anyway, I’ll work out the techie stuff each day.  I got a bit tired from dabbling in so much html today that for a while, I was even typing in the html tab in my Wordpress, no wonder the words I ”bolded” had script next to them! 

Toy Observations / Toy review: 

I love horses for many many years, and I collect toy and model horses too.  These days I collect less because of space constaints and some other reasons.  But anyway besides My Little Pony, there are definitely some horses in my toy collections that leave a greater impression on me than others. 

This highly detailed and well-sculpted horse and rider set is from the McFarlane Spawn toyline.  They are Thunderhoof and his rider Spawn the Bloodaxe.  I got this set many years ago (I think it was either 2002 or 2003)  when they first hit the toy stores here in Singapore.  Actually I can’t recall if it was sold in the departmental stores here.  I got my set from a toy shop specializing in Spawn toys at the former Clarke Quay flea market. 

Anyway, I fell in love with this horse when I first laid my eyes on him at that toy shop.  There were stacks of boxes of him there at that time.  Today, I hardly see this set anywhere, not even at the China Square Central flea market (successor of Clarke Quay flea market). 

Actually I don’t collect Spawn toys.  These toys are not even made for children, but rather for adults who know how to appreciate the fine sculpting details.  The figures are also known to break easily during rough play.  Hence the Spawn toys are more for display only. 

I knew only the bare minimum on what Spawn was about when I brought Thunderhoof home many years ago.  Today, Thunderhoof and Bloodaxe remain as the only Spawn toys in my collections.  Official quote about Thunderhoof:

“Thunderhoof is a powerful and brutal steed with the unique ability to bridge the bottomless stretch of time and space between the lands of the living and the dead.  The horse is currently restrained in a cage made of human bones in the throne of the Realm of the Dead.  Thunderhoof wears a saddle, but no man has ever ridden him.  Until Spawn the Bloodaxe.  Did the noble stallion recognize some basic similarity betwee itself and the disfigured Bloodaxe?  An essential nobility of two creatures trapped in horrific circumstances, betrayed, but not beaten?  Would Thunderhoof be able to carry this warrior across the the unspeakable gulf between the Realm of the Dead and the Land of the Living?”

Toyfics: 

Remember that I mentioned in my post yesterday that I can ’see’ their characters and ‘hear’ what they ’say’?  Boy I had no idea the kind of sinister energy Thunderhoof had in him.  I find that “evil-looking’ toys do have some sort of “dark energy” around them.  Thunderhoof made Brego from my Lord of the Rings toy collection seem like a mere ‘pony’!  See my earlier post about Brego here.

Thunderhoof is a “monster”!  I had to be very careful when handling him, even though he is very small when compared to me.  His head armor is so sharp that I nearly got my fingers sliced off when I first touched him! Thunderhoof even ‘destroyed’ a few of my other action figures that I assigned to be his groom.  Those poor victims were ’stomped into pieces’!  Since then, he has remained in his box in one of my cupboards.

Thunderhoof and Bloodaxe do look like they had just came out from the gates of Hell.  When I was admiring him on the day I got him, his eyes glowed fiery red and he caught me in his gaze.  Then I saw images of a dark land with no light.  Scattered fires were burning everywhere, with bodies and broken armor littered on the ground.  Faceless hooded warriors rode about on their enormous heavily armoured steeds.  Those evil warriors used their iron spears to prod or turn over the bodies.  When movement or sound was detected from amongst the bodies, the warriors thrust their iron spears into the victims mercilessly.  Screams also echoed in the air as the horses stepped on their victims with their giant hooves!

I snapped out of that strange trance and quickly kept Thunderhoof away in my book cabinet.  I have only looked at him every now and then when I needed to find certain books in the same cabinet.  Strange isn’t it?  Some toys evoke such happy and innocent thoughts, but others just do the exact opposite.  I can’t imagine having many of such Spawn toys on display in a someone’s home!

~End of another toyfic that took place several years ago~

Website Matters:
I finally upgraded my Wordpress and now I need to get used to my newer admin panel.  Fortunately BlueHost has a 1-click method in their Fantastico section to upgrade Wordpress.  I’m not a techno geek and if I have to do the upgrade through the tedious steps outlined by Wordpress, I won’t even upgrade it at all. 

Right now, there are some functions that are no longer in their usual places anymore, so I will need time to accustom myself to this.  I look forward to adding some more cool Wordpress plug-ins in the coming weeks too!

Toy Observations / Toy Review:

Just 2 days ago when I was thinking about what to blog for my next post, I suddenly thought of my collection of Lord Of The Rings (LOTR) toy horses and their riders.  I have 3 of them and 1 of them is still Mint-In-Box (MIB).  I think I haven’t even seen them for a year!

This is Arwen with Asfoloth (the horse) and Frodo (the hobbit on Asfoloth).  Asfoloth is the darling of my LOTR collection.  I bought this set just for the magnificent white horse.  The action figures were not that well sculpted and their faces don’t really look like those of the actor and actress in the movie.  Anyway, I don’t care for these 2 human action figures.  This set sold out very quickly in the departmental stores and I had to get mine from the secondary toy market.

Here we have the Ringwraith and his dark horse.  I bought this set from a toy seller at the former Clarke Quay flea market years ago, together with the Asfoloth set.  The seller refused to sell both sets separately.  Fortunately I managed to sell off this Ringwraith set a few weeks later at a good price.  It was still the height of the first LOTR toys craze then!

This is Aragorn with his brilliant warhorse Brego and this is the second version of these 2 paired characters.  I remember waiting for the release of this set because Brego looks very smart in his battle armour, much better than his first version.  As for Aragorn, I regarded him as an “accessory”. 

Legolas and his nameless horse (whom I call Windstorm), were released together with the second versions of Aragorn and Brego.  I took these 2 sets out of their boxes soon after I brought them home.  The main regret about the horse figures was that their heads and necks are actually made of rubber surface, so that the horses could bend their necks up, down, left and right a little. 

Toyfics: 

Now, after being with toys for a period of time, I can ’see’ their characters and ‘hear’ what they ’say’.  I remember wanting to take a photo of the horses with their respective riders posing and holding the reins next to them.  

I realised that Aragorn had a slight phobia of his horse.  Brego was a vey aggressive horse that refused to stay still for my camera.  Brego reared several times, taking Aragorn up with him as the latter struggled to hold the horse down.  Finally Brego swung his head suddenly at Aragorn’s head and knocked the poor chap over! 

That was not all.  Brego then leaped off my coffee table and bolted across my living room, while my jaws dropped!  Legolas, who had been patiently posing for the photo with Windstorm, stared in disbelief at Aragorn’s ‘inability’ to handle his own horse.  Anyway, Legolas remained calm and offered to retrieve Brego for me.  Thank goodness!  Legolas was so sweet!

By this time Aragorn was already in a heap on my coffee table and yelping out in ‘pain’ as he clutched his right foot close to him.  Apparently, Brego had stomped on Aragorn’s foot and poor Aragorn wasn’t wearing ’safety shoes’.  Having handled real horses before, I know that one of the worst injuries caused by a horse, other than being kicked or bitten by them, is to have your feet stepped on by their iron-shod shoes!

Legolas retrieved Brego for me, but the stallon was still very fractious and refused to keep still.  With Aragorn still injured, I called off the photoshoot.  I had to keep Aragorn back into his box together with Brego, and I noticed that Aragorn backed away to the other corner of his box while I secured Brego with his original packaging wires.  Just before I closed the boxed and stored it away in my cupboard, I thought I heard poor Aragorn mumbling something.

~End of a toyfic that took place several years ago~

I couldn’t load my blog today from morning till evening, much less make a post.  Hence after I emailed to BlueHost for help, I postponed my blogging. (I later found out from BlueHost that my site meter was causing the loading problems so I removed it and my blog is back to normal, but minus the site meter for now).

Instead of going out out on a sunny Saturday, I stayed at home to catch up with my studies.  Gosh, there are still so much work to do even on a weekend and now my blog is offline, at least in my browser.  I’ve gotta get out of the house tomorrow to ‘breathe’, as I can’t stand being cooped up anymore!

Anyway for this weekend, I had wanted to check out the departmental stores if the Ponyville Rock Band Bus playset is on sale.  However, my ‘Play’ funds are a little low lately because of my other recent expenditures.

I also got quite a shock yesterday from seeing my latest credit card bill statement.  The charges listed there were all indeed done by me but I still had a shock upon seeing the total figure for the month.

It looks like my purchase of that much coveted Rock Band Bus playset has to wait till next month, or even till Christmas.  It’s not an easy time for me now mentally.  My emotions of resisting spending more money, and wanting to add more toys to my collections, are tearing my mind apart!  It’s so agonizing!

I’ve gotta find something meaningful to do to take my mind off buying more toys for once.  Perhaps I should re-think my vision and direction for this blog.  It’s coming to 9 months since I started blogging here, and it looks like it’s time to review my goals and plans for the rest of the year.