Toy Wiz Branded Toys Warehouse Sales Alert!!

Surfing the web and found out that ToyWiz will be having a Warehouse sale on 3-4 Jan 2009.
Venue: Amcorp Mall 3rd floor beside the Korean restaurant.
What kinda toys? McFarlanes, Barbies, Neca, Marvel Legends....collector stuff. Check it out at the link below!
http://www.toywizard.net/2009-toywiz-warehouse-clearance-sales-jan-3rd-4th-2009/

HASBRO INDIANA JONES COLLECTION

My friend once told me he got a Kenner Indiana Jones figure mint on card from a Grocery Store for RM1.00 when he was a kid. Ah...those were the days..Little did he know the value of it years later.

Before the latest Indy movie came out, there were very few licensed Indy figures available. The notable ones are ToysMcCoy figure and also the Disney Theme Park Exclusives. Those days, I got myself a complete set of the Disney Theme Park figures. The sculpting is so-so, articulation is lame and the accesories, well...better than some nowadays. Note: There are 2 versions of Indy.

Then this year we have the new Indy movie. I believe many collectors look forward to the figures and I am one of them. When it came out, oooh what the ....? Talking to some collectors, we all felt the line was a disappointment. The small figures have no Harrison Ford likeness at all except for the KOTCS Indy (the old man version). Funny, they can have a good Han Solo face sculpt in the Star Wars line but not in this line! The only figure I like is the 12" Talking Indy figure. Okay this one have Ford's likeness and some cool accesories and play features as well. Being an Indy fan, I did get some of the figures ....mostly at 50-70% discount (as expected). Shown here are just some of the collection. As you can see, I go for the deluxe figures more. There are more value compared to single figures. Example, the single pack Marion doesn't comes with pet monkey!

These figures are on sale now. Collect it if you like Indy.

Star Wars Japan Celebration Medicom Bearbrick

I got a complete set of Star Wars Celebration Japan Medicom Bearbrick as Christmas gift from my wife. This is a tie-in with Pepsi. There are kinda cute and 16 designs available to collect. I saw one set selling at Sg Wang for RM200++ This is my second set of Bearbricks. Before this, I only have the ToysRUs Japan Exclusive Bearbrick set for RM20.00 while is on sale!

Wishing all my friends and collectors "Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!"

My Superman Toys Collection

I have a few Superman toys/figures only. My favorite being the Target Exclusive The World's Greatest Hero Clark Kent to Superman figure. This one is cool as it is a 2-in-1 figure. You get Clark Kent (who else) and Superman. And it comes with a phone booth for quick change action!

Ebay selling at USD30-50 range.

Another favorite is the Silver Age Superman and Lois Lane figure. I got this many years ago while on a trip to Singapore. The figures have good articulation and you can put them in two beautiful pose, a standing on a base with American flag and also Superman carrying Lois flying pose. My next favorite is the Superman Doomsday boxed set that comes with the Death of Superman comic book. I got it at reasonable price in Borders. Produced by DC Direct, you can expect the kind of articulation from DC Direct figures. Comes with two S logo bases.

Ebay selling (Silver Age set) USD 40, (Supes & Doomsday set) USD 25.

Other Supes figures I have are from the Animated line, the recent Movie line and also some kid stuff. Funny, Superman figures don't go up in value as quickly compared to Batman figures though its one of the first (or is it the first?) superheroes created.

Barbie Dolls Collection

A toy museum can't just have boys toys right? Must have some dolls as well and of course Barbie made the A-list of must haves. Barbies are the 'big sister' of dolls as G.I.Joes are the 'big brother' of action figures. Both had been around for many many years.

I was exposed to the world of Barbie collection by a friend. A Barbie collector who is a guy. I learnt that there are many lines of Barbies but to simplify, there are the play lines (for little ones) and the collectibles (for not so little ones). I was surprised to note that there are many collectors out there and some are famous designers. I've helped him collected many Barbies around the world through eBay and I can see why he felt in love with them. (I am refering to the collectible type of course) The amount of details on the dressing - its mind blowing! My friend had since moved on to collect Fashion Royalty, a line of dolls which is very very limited, which in turn, very very expensive. I've seen the FR dolls, yeah there are beautiful.

Over the years, I've acquired a few Barbies but most are bought by my wife for me on special occasions. My first Barbie is the "I Dream of Jeannie" Barbie. My favorite Barbie is the Ferrari Barbie, it was one very posh and classy doll. I sold it to a lucky collector for RM500. As you can see, I collect Superheroines Barbies or Movie Tie-Ins. The Year of the Rat is one that I like because of the Barbie looks, kinda pleasant and sweet. You cannot miss Ken, Barbie's boy friend of so many years...oh yeah, I heard couple of years back, Barbie had a new boyfriend called Blaine..but Barb and Ken have kinda patch things up now..I have a FAO Shwartz Exclusive Tango Barbie and Ken in their happier days..I collect other dolls as well and most are sold. I have Bratz dolls, Britney Spears dolls (sold, kinda regret now) and Lara Croft (sold, also regret).

Kamen Rider Chogokin Souchaku Henshin Collection

The first time I came to know Kamen Rider (also known as Masked Rider) was one afternoon watching a Mandarin film called "Zan Tian Chi Se" (Lightning Riders) on RTM with my mother. I was (if not mistaken) 8 years old. My mom and I were glued to the TV set as we watch the first Kamen Rider film. The most memorable part was the hero's belt got this twirling thingi and then he did a sommersault in the air and transform....into Kamen Rider!

I do have some Kamen Rider toys but here will just share the Bandai's Chogokin Kamen Rider, also known as the Souchaku Henshin Series (SHS). What is not shown here is the SHS Kamen Rider Kuuga special collection. I have that in the glass cabinet which is difficult to take out now to photograph coz of the stacked up toys.

These are great play things. The earlier figures (KR1, KR2, KR3, KR Stonger, KR Amazon) have armor, wrist cuffs, shin guards, belt and helmet. The later figures have all that plus weapons and more accesories. They are very articulate for action posing. If you read my earlier blog, you gotta be careful when playing them, as I had an experience where I broke KR Kuuga's armor as I was removing it from the box! I thought Chogokin cannot be broken, I was wrong.

Collectible Value - Not so in demand now. There are better KR toys out there i.e. Sideshow Real Action Figures or Bandai's SIC collection. Buy because you like it.

Toys Collector Type

This is not new to toys collectors but sometimes people do ask me the same old question "You don't take out your toys ah?" Then I gotta explain the different types of collectors...Well here's my short version of the different type of collectors
Type 1: The Scalpers/Hoarders/Investors
I first came to know the term 'scalping' from a US collector. Scalpers are people who buy toys to sell them later...at a higher price. They would wipe out all the sought after toys from the shelf and then create a fake demand, and you'll see these toys appearing on eBay with "RARE" or "LIMITED" tag. If you check Toysrus.com or KBKids.com, you'll realize those are not so rare toys after all. This group preferred to be called investors instead of scalpers but there is really a fine line between them. Scalpers are out there for the money only whereas investors are true collectors. Scalpers are selfish, they buy all off the shelf, investors are not, usually they keep 1 or 2 extras and will leave the rest for other collectors.
Type 2: The Minty Glorys
This group NEVER removed the toys from packaging. They prefer the toys sealed and mint on card, even better with C10 condition. Some will even scrutinized every single detail like the painting of the eyeballs. And one even used black plastic bag to wrap the toys. I asked "Why?" He answered, "To protect the box from the sunlight!" Believe it or not!! They are all out for perfection in the toys. Sometimes this group can be very hard to please.
Type 3: The De-Virginizers
I learnt the term "de-virginizer' from a Barbie collector friend. This group is the opposite of the minty glorys. They de-virginize the toys to touch, feel, play, pose and display them.
Type 4: the OOAKs/Customizers
Again I learnt the term OOAK from the Barbie collectors. OOAK stand for 'One of A Kind'. It means a customized or DIY toy. This group are toys Frankensteiners, they break, modified, attach and create their very own collectible. Some even sell their creation in eBay. The Barbie collector once customized a Ken and Barbie into Robin and Marion. And it comes with a customized box!! If not mistaken, he won a prize for that.

Which type am I? I am a 80/20 cross between Minty Glorys and De-Virginizers. 80% of my collection are mint, 20% are loose and displayed.