My Toy Gallery

 

This is the display cabinet in my study hall.  It is actually a bookcase with 8 visible shelves and 2 more closed bottom shelves.  The top 4 shelves seen here are used to store my collection of G1 My Little Pony figures.  However, not my entire G1 pony collecion is here.  There are some just as many more G1 ponies in my room!

The lower 4 shelves (partially seen) have all been recently allocated to my books after their former pony occupants ‘emigrated’ to other pony collectors in the past year.  I got this cabinet from Courts many years ago and it is perfect for my toys and books.  I still see 3 of this same cabinet being used in a toy shop at China Square Central! 

 

Close-up of the left side shelves.

 

Close-up of the right side shelves.

 

Close-up of the top left shelf.

 

Close-up of the lower left shelf.

 

Close-up of the top right shelf.

 

Close-up of the lower right shelf.

 

UK/Euro McDonalds G2 My Little Pony - Princess Starswirl & Sunsparkle, with their accessories.

 

 UK/Euro McDonalds G2 My Little Pony - Sweetberry & Morning Glory, with their accessories.

 

From left to right: My Little Pony Fair 2008 Exclusive ‘Providence’ Pony MIB, San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) 2008 Exclusive ‘Ninja’ Pony MIB & 2008 ‘Blue Art’ Collector Pony MIB.

 

From left to right: My Little Pony Fair 2008 Exclusive ‘Providence’ Pony, San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) 2008 Exclusive ‘Ninja’ Pony & 2008 ‘Blue Art’ Collector Pony.

 

G3 My Little Pony Ponyville Popcorn Theatre playset (closed) and assorted Ponyville ponies.

 

G3 My Little Pony Ponyville Popcorn Theatre playset (opened) and assorted Ponyville ponies.

 

G3 My Little Pony Ponyville Popcorn Theatre playset (opened) and assorted Ponyville ponies.

 

G3 My Little Pony Ponyville Stage Showbus playset (closed) and more assorted Ponyville ponies.

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It wasn’t easy taking this shot.  Angel felt very cramped up in the small space and kept flapping his wings about.  He knocked the heads of Beast and Cyclop with his wings and the pair ended up with feathers in their mouths.  Iceman had feathers stuck all over his icy body.  It took some minutes to clear all those loose feathers away. 

Finally I managed to take this shot.  And yes, Iceman did smack that ball of fine ice into the back of Marvel Girl’s head immediately after I took this photo.  Cyclops saw it coming but was not quick enough to stop him.  For his prank, Iceman spent the next half an hour suspended in the air near the ceiling.  Marvel Girl refused to release Iceman from her telekinetic grip until she ‘cooled down’.

 

This looks to be a ‘messy’ scene.  Black Cat seems to be pouncing on Beast who looks like he’s running to Professor X for help.  Jean warns Cyclops to avoid Iceman’s icy fist while Spiderman stayed ‘glued’ to his perch, deciding that it is wiser not to interfere.  Angel lost his cool while atempting to keep order.  Professor X is asking for our empathy as his students have finally gone ‘nuts’…

 

Hmmm… I only realised that this shot looks blurry while editing it.  It looked fine when I checked my digicam.  Anyway I adore this set as they are the best replicas of the X-Men characters offered by a Fast Food chain.  Okay Storm could had been improved.  Gambit was the first to be offered, then Cyclops, Storm and finally Wolverine.  I remember that Wolverine was a birthday gift to me from my secondary school classmates.  I was excited to receive Wolverine cos he was the best looking figure of the set!

 

 X-Men Movie toys from Burger King.

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 Fantastic 4 Movie toys from Burger King.

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 Spiderman Movie toys from Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

 

Spiderman with Mary Jane.

I found this couple while going through my action figures collection recently.  I totally forgot that I have these 2 action figures cos it’s been so long since I laid my eyes on them!  These figures were made by Toybiz and their designs were based on the wonderful and exciting Spiderman animated series of the 90’s.

 Un-masked Spiderman with Mary Jane.

For the Spiderman figure, you can change his head to that of Peter Parker, and poof you get Spiderman un-masked!  He comes with a camera to sling around his neck too.  He has limited poseability as he’s not made in the super-poseable Spiderman mold.  Come to think of it, I have that other super-poseable Spiderman action figure by Toybiz too!

Un-masked Spiderman with Mary Jane, plus camera and collector’s pin.

Mary Jane is made from the original Invisible Woman (of Fantastic Four) mold by Toybiz.  I find that this mold suits Mary Jane well.  This is one of my favourite mold for female Marvel Universe action figures.  Unfortunately Toybiz didn’t make a painted version of Invisible Woman in this pose, just the transparent version…

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25th Anniversary Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Movie action figures by Playmates - Leonarado (blue), Raphael (red), Donatello (purple) & Michelangelo (orange).

 

 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Movie toys from McDonalds.

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 Disney’s Hercules Movie toys from McDonalds.

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Disney’s Kim Possible toys from McDonalds.

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Disney’s Mulan toys from McDonalds.

Here’s my complete collection of all the 8 Mulan toys from McDonalds.  You can imagine the amount of McDonalds’ Happy Meals I had to eat up just to get all these toys!  At least the McDonalds toys in the late 90’s resemble the movie characters very closely, not like some of those I see today. 

I have 2 Mulan figures so that I can display both versions of her at the same time.  The Mulan figure is also designed to ride on her horse, Khan!  Although most of the animal characters are not to scale, the main characters in movie are well represented here.

 

As soon as the Disney Mulan toys hit the local stores back in the late 90’s when the movie was shown in the cinemas here, I went to hunt down most of the Mulan action figures sets.  I first saw the Mulan toys preview photos in the Toyfare magazine.  Hence I knew what and which Mulan toys were coming out.

Disney’s Mulan action figures by Mattel, her as a lady and as a soldier.  These 2 Mulans were quite common at Toy R’ Us, together with the Chien Po action figure (coming up below).  However, they all disappeared from the racks soon after I bought mine.  Not sure if they were eventually bought by kids or toy collectors though.  That round yellow cookie-like accessory is actually an umbrella.

Next we have Mulan’s commanding officer and love interest Captain Li Shang, and the main villain Shan Yu.  These 2 action figures were impossible to find in the stores here and back then, only Toy R’ Us was selling this series of single pack Mulan action figures.  The other departmental stores only had the Barbie doll-sized Mulan dolls and some of the other variant action figures box sets. 

Here we have the so-called gang of 3, as referred to by the Disney production team.  They are Yao (short guy), Ling (slim guy) and Chien Po (huge guy).  Chien Po was always the one found and left in the stores.  I finally tracked down the Yao and Ling 2-pack; Li Shang and Shan Yu action figures at the then Clarke Quay flea market about 1-2 years after the Mulan movie!  Luckily I managed to get them all Mint-On-Card (MOC)!

 

The following are the rest of my beloved collection of Disney’s Mulan action figures posing with the magnificent and courageous steeds seen in the movie!

This is the Mulan action figure in her training attire and she came paired with Khan, her strong and bold horse.  I tied a red ribbon on his tail to replicate the red cloth that is tied on his tail as seen in the movie.  Mushu and Cri-Kee came with the single pack Mulan action figures that I posted about yesterday.  Together, they all make up Mulan’s personal winning team in the movie!

Next we have Mulan’s commanding officer and love interest Captain Li Shang, riding on his impressive Imperial Stallion.  Li Shang is also in his training attire and he came paired with this horse, which I have named “Feng”, meaning “wind” in Chinese.  Feng’s tail was not painted grey like his mane, so I wrapped it with red ribbon to replicate his bound up tail as seen in the movie.

Here we have both Mulan and Li Shang riding on their respective horses.  I think they look great riding side by side together.  Well in the movie, I don’t recall seeing them riding their horses while in training attires.  However these 2 action figures are more suited to ride on their horses because their legs are not inhibited by any armour.

However I still think that both Mulan and Li Shang look better posing with their horses while wearing their armour.  The only thing is that they can’t ride their horses while in armour.  Anyway here is Mulan, together with her inseparable animal ’sidekicks’ - Mushu, Cri-Kee and of course Khan!

This is Captain Li Shang in armour and posing with his horse “Feng”.  I think they both look so smart standing together!  I’m glad that the Mulan horses are made to scale with their riders, not like those horribly off-scale Barbie dolls and horse sets, where the dolls are obviously too big for their horses.

Now both Mulan and Li Shang in battle armour are standing with their respective horses.  Their battle armour are well designed and they do resemble ancient Chinese armour.  The Mulan horses are actually modelled after the Tang Dynasty-styled horse statues and paintings.  Most of them back then had bound up tails like “Feng” here.  Fortunately Khan still retains a nice flowing tail despite having a red cloth tied to it.

Last but not least, battle armour Mulan and Li Shang are seen here with their horses Khan and Feng respectively once more.  This time, Mushu and Cki-Kee have decided to join in and they sneaked up from the back to take the photo together.  If you have seen the straight-to-DVD-release Mulan movie sequel, Li Shang finally knows of Mushu’s existence and meets him too!  

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My 1:24 scale Bburago Lamborghini Murcielago diecast model cars (grey & yellow).

 

My 1:24 scale Bburago Lamborghini Gallardo diecast model cars (yellow & black).

 

My 1:24 scale Maisto Lamborghini Murcielago LP-640 (white) & Bburago Lamborghini Reventon diecast model cars (iron grey).

 

My 1:24 scale Bburago Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera diecast model cars (bronze & yellow).

 Read all my Lamborghini blog posts here.

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Here is a photo of my Streetfighter action figures that I bought years ago from the departmental stores.  Back then, I thought the adult figures looked very cool while the kid versions were cute.  Then they spent many years living in a box that was stashed away deep in a high cupboard.  It was only sometime last year when I was searching for other toys that I re-discovered them. 

These figures have very limited movement, only at the shoulders, pelvis and necks.  However their painting and sculpting details are quite good, that’s why I impulsed-bought them back then.  There were also other main and lesser known Streetfighter characters in the series but I only bought these.  Too bad there was no kid version Cammy in the series.  If not, I could re-enact a story starting from their childhoods till they grow up!

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I got  these 5 Saint Seiya action figures from Clarke Quay flea market many years ago.  They came in very simple packaging, consisting of a small plastic bag just big enough to contain each figure and secured by a small piece of card on top and behind, with Japanese words written on it.  I think the backcard came with a string to hang up the entire package.

These action figures stand at around 4-inches tall and they have movable joints at their shoulders, elbows, pelvis and knees.  However some of those joints are getting loose, hence they can’t hold certain poses for long anymore. 

I used to have 3 box sets of Saint Seiya VCDs - the 12 Zodiac Warriors, the Poseidon and Asgard series.  I watched them once a very long time ago and have since sold them to another Saint Seiya / anime fan.  The story is quite good and the show is rather long, with plenty of pretty violent fighting scenes for the excitement factor. 

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I found this guy high up in my cupboard that I needed to use a ladder to retrieve him.  I used to watch the Voltron cartoon series during my childhood and I even used my Lego bricks to build mini Lionbots to re-enact the scenes from the weekly episodes.  I only got this die-cast metal Voltron toy around 8-10 years ago and it had to be shipped in from Taiwan.  The shipping costs were quite extraordinary due to Voltron’s heavy weight.

 

Here we have the 5 Lionbots that make up Voltron.  I prefer the Lionbots in the cartoon series where all the lions looked to be of the same sizes.  For practical reasons, the Voltron toys couldn’t really replicate the Lionbots as seen in the cartoons, if not the resulting Voltron robot wouldn’t look proportionate.  Only the Blue and Yellow Lions look most like their cartoon counterparts.  The Red and Green Lions resemble weasels while the Black Lion looks like a bear!  Toys…

Update: The above Voltron set has been sold.

 

These mini Voltron Force action figures were bought at a departmental store some years ago cos I found them very cute.  The pilots stand at nearly 3-inches tall while their lion counterparts are half their heights.  Both the pilots and their lionbots have magnets beneath their feet so that they can stand firmly on the metal coins they came with.  As such, they don’t fall over easily. 

The metal coins are engraved with the drawings of the human characters and their respective lions.  These figures were sold in matching human and lion pairs, so I had to buy 5 pairs to complete the Voltron set.  The lion figures are quite life-sized compared to their pilots and they look more like pets here!

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Titan A.E.!  This is an animated movie done by the short-lived Fox Animation Studios.

Back in 2000 when Titan A.E. was released in the cinemas here, there was hardly any marketing hype I could recall about it.  I first read about its then state-of-the-art clever use of both 2-D and 3-D animations to create the wonderful visual effects of the movie, in the local newspaper reviews.  So I went to watch it to see how good those so-called effects were.  I must say, the results were indeed stunning, especially when you watch them on big screen!

I rarely have a liking for space shows, even for Star Wars, but Titan A.E. blew me away and it still remains the only space show that does it for me.  I got the VCD when it came out many years ago, and recently I also acquired its DVD from a MJ Multimedia outlet for SGD 12.90!  One thing to note though, its VCD and DVD cover pictures don’t do the movie justice.  They are just too bland but they hide a treasure within!

This space ship is called the Valkyrie.  It’s the main and largest space craft used by the good guys.  I loved the Valkyrie when I first laid eyes on it in the movie as it looks so 3-D and beautiful on screen!  You can shoot out projectiles from the top of the Valkyrie toy.  When you place your fingers on the metal buttons on both sides of the Valkyrie toy, you can hear “missile-firing” electronic sounds! 

Well, you definitely need batteries to power those sound effects.  The Valkyrie actually came with a Cale action figure, who is the male protaganist in Titan A.E., but here I pair up Akima with it since she is its original pilot in the movie.  Cale only guest piloted the Valkyrie for a while.  One thing to note is that all the Titan A.E space craft toys are not made to scale with the action figures.  They are supposed to be way larger than the humans.

Next we have the villain’s Drej Stinger space craft toy and its accompanying Drej pilot action figure.  I love the luminous blue look of the Drej Stingers in the movie.  The toy however is purple in color.  This villain space craft comes with “battle-action” sounds and light, powered by batteries of course!

I remember that I bought this Drej Stinger space craft with the other 2 space craft mainly because it didn’t cost that much.  I can’t recall all their original prices though, but I think I got them all together during a storewide sale back then!

Last but not least is the Turbo Surge Phoenix space craft toy and it originally came with an Akima action figure.  Here I have paired up the Cale action figure that came with the Valkyrie space craft toy instead.  Since he was the one who fixed up and revitalized this originally run-down space craft in the movie, he gets to pair up with it.  In the movie however, Akima piloted the Phoenix as she was a more experienced pilot!

The Phoenix space craft does not have sound effects, just a blinking light.  When at rest, it ’stands’ upright like a space rocket on its turbo charges with the wings folded.  When in ‘flight’ the wings can expand to resemble one of those space craft from Star Wars.  However when I re-watched the Titan A.E. movie recently on my newly bought DVD, the Phoenix flew without expanding its wings. 

Storyline: In the year 3028 A.D. the earth gets destroyed by an alien race known as the Drej, who are made of pure energy.  Humans escape in space crafts and the survivors are scattered in refugee “drifter colonies” throughout the universe.  However the human scientists have a Titan project which possesses the power to create a new planet!  They managed to launch it to somewhere safe in the universe before the earth got destroyed.

15 years later, a young guy named Cale is being recruited by Captain Korso to search for the Titan.  Cale’s father was part of the security forces entrusted to hide the Titan back then but the latter perished soon after.  Cale has an electronic 3-D map of Titan’s location genetically encrypted on his palm.  Together with Akima who is Captain Korso’s assistant and a bunch of alien space crew, they all set off on board the Valkyrie space ship to seek the Titan.

Along the way, the Drej tail them so as to destroy them and the Titan.  The story has a predictable happy ending and the humans have their new planet to stay on once more.  The interesting parts to watch are the flights of the space ships, how the main characters manage to defeat such a powerful alien force and how the Titan eventually creates a new home for them.  The planet creation method may seem a little far stretched for some viewers but it’s not theoretically impossible though.  After all this story takes place in the 31st century.  At the end of the movie, you’ll also realise what does “A.E.” stands for!

Movie review:

The storyline of Titan A.E. may not be unique but throughout the movie, you get to marvel at the beautiful visual effects that combined 2-D and 3-D animation in the late 90’s can accomplish.  It’s just too bad that this movie is underrated.  However, the opening scenes showing the earth getting destroyed by the Drej forces can be a bit disturbing.  Luckily the stunning visual effects in the rest of the movie will manage to keep your mind away from that early depressing start!

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Transformers Movie Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) Deluxe Preview Bumblebee action figure - “By the Power of Graysku…..!!” (oops, incorrect quote from another cartoon series and toyline! I couldn’t help it!)

I had a voucher for one of the stores, hence I decided to finally get 1 ROTF Deluxe Bumblebee action figure and topped up with some cash.  He’s my first Transformers Movie Deluxe action figure, as I missed out on the earlier version from the first Transformers movie.  He looks so cool in robot mode, but it was ‘hell’ getting him into the car mode. 

 

My second Transformers action figure - ROTF Deluxe Sideswipe - MOC front view.

 

My ROTF Deluxe Sideswipe - MOC back view.

 

ROTF Ironhide & Starscream toys from Singapore KFC.

 

ROTF Bumblebee & Optimus Prime toys from Singapore KFC.

  

For Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) movie fans and toy collectors, look what Cathay Cinema has prepared for us!  This is a set of 4 cup topper (I think that’s what it’s called) ROTF figurines available with their Transformers Popcorn Combo Meals during the ROTF movie screening period!

Bumblebee - he’s the most popular figurine of the 4 but ironcially, the other 3 are more detailed than him!  Nevertheless, he’s got quite movie accurate feet, complete with the spurs not seen in his Deluxe or Human Alliance toys.  His right arm is a cannon with light blue color inside, showing that it’s activated and ready to fire!

Optimus Prime - He’s the next most popular figurine after Bumblebee and his details are way better.  The feet are quite movie accurate for the small size and he stikes a battle ready pose, holding a gun in his right hand.  His head is turned to the left and his paint job is great for the size and price. 

Megatron - He’s the biggest figurine of the 4 and that makes him the best value for money!  His paint job is rather simple, with tiny red eyes and back thrusters interior painted in gold.  He’s very menacing looking for a little figurine, making him worthy of being a Decepticon leader! 

Starscream - I wished that the 4th figurine be The Fallen but it’s Starscream.  His grey color has a slight greenish tinge to it.  His stripes are well-painted and he has a buzz saw on his left hand.  He’s also the second biggest figurine after his leader but I think he’s the least popular of the 4.  He doesn’t look that impressive on his own but will display well with the others.

Overall these ROTF figurines are nice souvenirs of the ROTF movie experience at the cinemas.  There is only 1 ROTF design for the plastic cup though.  Well at least the cups can be re-used or displayed with your ROTF collection.  They don’t take up much space since they can be stacked up. 

ROTF Human Alliance (HA) Bumblebee w/Sam action figures

More toy photos coming up!