#flashbackfriday: Buying Toys
And while my life revolved around comicbooks and trading cards in the late-80s to early-90s, entering the workforce after my National Service in the early-90s onwards, I had begun to invest (more) into carded action figures, and eventually collecting the 1/6th-scaled hobby. A dispensable income makes for a huge difference in spending abilities, and I squandered my monthly pay on toys, on top of comics (less trading cards, in time), not to mention youthful pursuits and of course, "the ladies" … and even though I had been an excruciatingly shy bloke around the girls (still am no, I reckon), I admittedly had felt money was better spent to satisfy my own selfish need to embrace and hoard pop culture LOL
… no small wonder why I am still "single" now …
Entering the new Millennium, I had been neck deep in collecting "urban vinyls", predominantly of the Eastern persuasion, most notably vinyls from Michael Lau (who I reminsced about my previous throwbacktoythursday post), and Eric So. Shown below is a snap of a list/chart I had made to track my toy-wants (excavated from my recent CNY-Spring Cleaning efforts). The page had folded out to the various vendors who had offered them, with prices for me to compare.
The list seem "short" now, but back then? It was a daunting list to fulfill. As much as I (thought) I had cash to throw about, tracking down the items themselves, was ever the challenge.
By then I was heavily into Ebay and online classifieds (anyone remember YahooSG classifieds?), and spent endless waking hours (while not at work, of course ~*cough*) tracking down information and availability.
I came unto the internet at a relatively late stage (story of my life), maybe mid-to-late 90s? And was absolutely lost for information, if not for Ebay actually, who provided me with background info about the toys themselves! THAT was how I learnt what it was I had wanted! My toy-education started with Ebay hahahaha
And by 2001, I was emailing to-and-fro sellers from Hong Kong, and meeting up local (Singapore-based) sellers in the car park behind my work office! And within a short period, I had amassed toys on my list, and as well blowing up my credit cards (hence leading to the name "TOYS R EVIL", I sh*t you not! LOL).
The days where you'd buy from re-sellers with marked up pricing on collectibles had remained somewhat the same through the decades. "Flippers" exist because there is a demand for items that folks cannot procure straight-up. "Mules" only work so much, without being a burden to another person's enjoyment of whatever event that had the exclusives.
But one aspect of the game has changed though, is that one could now buy directly from the artist, and even select brands. Online media has made the connecting-path between buyer and artist/brand a tweet/instagram/add-to-cart away. Or that the proliferation of online shopping abilities has left folks spoilt for choice - something I had not necessarily imagined when I was making car park transactions on a weekend afternoon, ya know? As much as I wished it to be, I dared not imagine a time when I could just type in the shop URL, and add to cart, pay for item via PayPal or Credit Card (I no longer do VISA purchase since nearly a decade ago lol), and transaction can be done in less than 15 minutes.
Not only are "toys evil", "easy shopping" is evil too! LOL
To say that the internet has hastened if not aided tremendously in the evolution and advancement of toys - especially "art toys" not lined-up at mass market departmental stores - is a gross understatement. This is not a negative remark, mind you :)
You may not have a great product. You might even have the hot ticket everybody wants to own. With the internet, everybody who can afford the money and time, are on equal footing in scoring your product (KAWS sales at "OriginalFake"notwithstanding). Not necessarily "scary" (perhaps to old fogies like me), but an alarming surprise, and most times even a boon (when I could afford to shop online, anyways LOL).
Anyone can "buy toys" these days, as long as you could afford it, and you might not necessarily need to know the story much less the origin of the piece, in the first place. And the thrill of the hunt, is determined by your internet connection speeds? Times have indeed changed, hasn't it? But then again, maybe nothing has LOL
As far as your value as a "toy collector" might not be determined by the size of your collection, collecting and buying toys, should be a fun experience in the first place (although sometimes I recognize if it is a "stressful" effort too LOL). And my journey doesn't make me a "better collector", but just a personal journey I choose to share with you folks now :)
I wonder if any collectors out there have physical "lists" now? Even online "wants" waiting to be ticked off? Somehow the thrill of the hunt might not be as enriching as an actual "physical hunt", going from locale to locale, in search of that "holy toy grails" … hopefully one day, when I can (literally) afford to, I'd trail from country to country on this fantastic TOY HUNT! And in my hand? A (printed out) list of toys I am looking for :)
Cheers
Andy TOYSREVIL
FYI: ALL of the paperwork and lists shown here are dated around the year 2001.
… no small wonder why I am still "single" now …
Entering the new Millennium, I had been neck deep in collecting "urban vinyls", predominantly of the Eastern persuasion, most notably vinyls from Michael Lau (who I reminsced about my previous throwbacktoythursday post), and Eric So. Shown below is a snap of a list/chart I had made to track my toy-wants (excavated from my recent CNY-Spring Cleaning efforts). The page had folded out to the various vendors who had offered them, with prices for me to compare.
The list seem "short" now, but back then? It was a daunting list to fulfill. As much as I (thought) I had cash to throw about, tracking down the items themselves, was ever the challenge.
By then I was heavily into Ebay and online classifieds (anyone remember YahooSG classifieds?), and spent endless waking hours (while not at work, of course ~*cough*) tracking down information and availability.
I came unto the internet at a relatively late stage (story of my life), maybe mid-to-late 90s? And was absolutely lost for information, if not for Ebay actually, who provided me with background info about the toys themselves! THAT was how I learnt what it was I had wanted! My toy-education started with Ebay hahahaha
And by 2001, I was emailing to-and-fro sellers from Hong Kong, and meeting up local (Singapore-based) sellers in the car park behind my work office! And within a short period, I had amassed toys on my list, and as well blowing up my credit cards (hence leading to the name "TOYS R EVIL", I sh*t you not! LOL).
The days where you'd buy from re-sellers with marked up pricing on collectibles had remained somewhat the same through the decades. "Flippers" exist because there is a demand for items that folks cannot procure straight-up. "Mules" only work so much, without being a burden to another person's enjoyment of whatever event that had the exclusives.
But one aspect of the game has changed though, is that one could now buy directly from the artist, and even select brands. Online media has made the connecting-path between buyer and artist/brand a tweet/instagram/add-to-cart away. Or that the proliferation of online shopping abilities has left folks spoilt for choice - something I had not necessarily imagined when I was making car park transactions on a weekend afternoon, ya know? As much as I wished it to be, I dared not imagine a time when I could just type in the shop URL, and add to cart, pay for item via PayPal or Credit Card (I no longer do VISA purchase since nearly a decade ago lol), and transaction can be done in less than 15 minutes.
Not only are "toys evil", "easy shopping" is evil too! LOL
To say that the internet has hastened if not aided tremendously in the evolution and advancement of toys - especially "art toys" not lined-up at mass market departmental stores - is a gross understatement. This is not a negative remark, mind you :)
You may not have a great product. You might even have the hot ticket everybody wants to own. With the internet, everybody who can afford the money and time, are on equal footing in scoring your product (KAWS sales at "OriginalFake"notwithstanding). Not necessarily "scary" (perhaps to old fogies like me), but an alarming surprise, and most times even a boon (when I could afford to shop online, anyways LOL).
Anyone can "buy toys" these days, as long as you could afford it, and you might not necessarily need to know the story much less the origin of the piece, in the first place. And the thrill of the hunt, is determined by your internet connection speeds? Times have indeed changed, hasn't it? But then again, maybe nothing has LOL
As far as your value as a "toy collector" might not be determined by the size of your collection, collecting and buying toys, should be a fun experience in the first place (although sometimes I recognize if it is a "stressful" effort too LOL). And my journey doesn't make me a "better collector", but just a personal journey I choose to share with you folks now :)
I wonder if any collectors out there have physical "lists" now? Even online "wants" waiting to be ticked off? Somehow the thrill of the hunt might not be as enriching as an actual "physical hunt", going from locale to locale, in search of that "holy toy grails" … hopefully one day, when I can (literally) afford to, I'd trail from country to country on this fantastic TOY HUNT! And in my hand? A (printed out) list of toys I am looking for :)
Cheers
Andy TOYSREVIL
FYI: ALL of the paperwork and lists shown here are dated around the year 2001.
