Little Plastic Man Toy Blog and Review Singapore: October 2009

Monday, October 26, 2009

You just can't separate CSC from a toy collector

I have not been to the flea market at China Square Central for many months but you just can't separate CSC from a toy collector. Hence with wife and child in tow, we went to CSC on Sunday to see if I can pick up anything to add to my collection.

We reached CSC at around 1.30pm and it was quite crowded. There were some stalls with "Sale - Only today" & "Everything must go!" signs. I had fun walking around and looking at what was on sale.

Thanks to Dennis for linking me up with Alan as I also managed to meet up with him and get my hands on some vintage Machine Robo aka Gobots. Majority of the Robots were in bad shape (loose joints, paint wear and missing parts) but I was happy that I was able to obtain back some of the items of my youth.

CSC haul
1) McFarlane Austin Powers (Clad in little more than his British underwear and a massive fluff of "real" chest hair)
2) Loose Han Solo as AT-ST driver
3) Machine Robo aka Gobots

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Thinkway Toy Story Collection

Thinkway had done a great job for the Wall-E line and they have continued this with Toy Story. I am really looking forward to their Toy Story Collection series which consists of :
1) Buzz Lightyear
2) Woody the Sheriff
3) RC
4) Rex
5) Space Aliens

They are highly detailed and movie accurate.
I am eyeing Buzz and Woody. Amazingly, their packaging will also be movie accurate (for Woody and Buzz at least). Another good thing is that they will be in the range of 12". You can read more at Thinkway's website.
The only problem I foresee is the high possibility that Singapore's departmental stores will not bring these in. I am already seeing Mattel's Toy Story toys but not Thinkway. Maybe I would have to look at the speciality toy stores which will charge a premium...sigh.

Woody the Sheriff

Buzz Lightyear

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Hasbro Toys R Us exclusive Transformers Universe G1 Commemorative Insecticons

As some of you already figured, I have started to focus my Transformers collection to only the G1 designs. I guess the designs bring me back to the good old day of my youth. As I am not willing to pay so much for the original G1 transformers, I will have to settle for the Encore & Reissue versions.

To celebrate 25 years of Transformers, Hasbro has come out with 2 Toys R Us exclusive Transformers Universe G1 Commemorative Transformers, Insecticons and Perceptor. The Insecticons are one of my all time favourite Decepticons! When I saw that Toys R Us were selling them, I just had to get my hands on them.

There are 4 main reasons why I love the G1 design Incesticons:
1) Black, purple, yellow & chrome is a rocking color combination!
2) They are robot bugs!
3) Individualistic, greedy, and arrogant and will work only for Energon cubes
4) 3 is always a good number for a group

The insecticons consist of:
1) Kickback who transforms into a grasshopper
2) Shrapnel into a stag beetle
3) Bombshell into a Japanese rhinoceros beetle
Pretty cool bugs I must say.

I don't really fancy the packaging as it does not give me the old school feel. I guess if the toy is of G1 design, the packaging should follow the same concept. Thankfully I don't keep my toys in their packaging so good riddance to the box.
Ok...being too harsh here...just basing on the design, I think the packaging is pretty attractive.

Love the G1 design so the overall sculpt is a 5 out of 5.
Transforming the robots to their insect mode is a breeze and you dont need the instruction manual. As compared to the recent movie's Transformers, transforming the G1 robots is really child's play.
The only minor flaw I can find are the stickers. Some of the stickers are required to be pasted over corners so it tends to come out. It can be quite frustrating.

Overall, these transformers are a must have for me as they were one of my most memorable toys back when I was a child. Keep the G1 trannsformers coming. I am really wanting Devastator and Hound!!