POP CULTURE COLLECTOR'S DILEMMA

In our pop culture life, we have always been spoilt with good products coming out from companies like Hot Toys, Sideshow Collectibles, King Arts, Neca, Hasbro, Kotobukiya, etc. Some of us may have outgrown the urge to buy any more of these so called collectibles but others may have upgraded themselves into higher end products from Gentle Giant, XM Studios, Premium Format from Sideshow and quite recently Prime 1 Studio. What really set Prime 1 Studio from the other higher end collectible companies is they really up the ante of what is available in the market with bigger outlandish polystone collectibles at a very premium price point. This has inadvertently push the high end collectors to make the shift to these type of collection bandwagon.

In my past year conversations with the high end collectors who have already amassing Prime 1 Studio statues, I realised that most of them may not know that sub consciously once you start getting into these high premium collectibles, there will be less hesitation of buying toys with slightly expensive but below the VVIP premium price as set out by Prime 1 Studio. This probably due to the fact that the collectors had already breach the so called high price point and anything below that may not feel as much pinch. Now it may not completely be true to everyone but this is my personal view with collectors in mid income level which I met who are willingly spend a big chunk of their hard earned money for the love.

We do know now that there are several main categories of collectors out there which can be summarise as following:-

a.       Low end toys collectors of everything by kids/teens

b.      High end collectors of 2 or 3 specific themes of collection. E.g. Star Wars,        

         Transformers, Ironman, Batman, etc.

c.      Single specific theme collectors E.g. Star Wars, Transformers, etc.

d.     Vintage collectors. E.g. Star Wars, Metal/Tin Vintage Toys, etc.

The above list does not even include hobbies which do not categorise as Toy Collecting like Lego, Gundams, Trains, Remote Controlled vehicles, model making and prop making. Some collectors may even be a cross between a model maker and toy collector too which is a great combination. We have seen some very skilled model makers building fantastic diorama in compliment with the toys and it does really brings out the environment and feel of what the original toy intended to be.

There are also a small particular group of vintage collectors out there who are spending a fortune collecting rare items. These rare items whether it is from Star Wars or others are fetching above USD10K and above. Most present collectors are also influence by the fact their old collection may fetch something at a similar price too by having their purchase minted in sealed box (MISB) for several years. Frankly, a Kenner Star Wars MISB item may probably fetch 50% higher the most which may cost USD50 for a USD25 original price item. Sadly to say, it would probably not fetch USD10K in the next 20 years to assist you in your kids college fees. The only true reasons a toy which can fetch substantial price are due to the fact that it’s likely a limited edition production of less than 10 pcs in the world and not an old item with 1,000 pcs already sold despite it being MISB. It can also be an unreleased version of a toy or prototype unsold to the public or the first debut issue of a popular franchise which was 40 years ago. E.g. Star Wars.

Therefore, for all collectors who intended to have their stuff MISB and hoping to strike jackpot, I would suggest that you rip the box and start playing with your old stuff. Sorry maybe the word ‘rip’ is a bit harsh here. The fact is that your collection will definitely not going to make you rich anytime soon. I genuinely feel that the real reasons some vintage collectors collecting these old but amazing stuff is to feel some of the old memories coming back to us when we are a kid and what we were experiencing around us during that time. That toy could be your totem or benchmark in a point of your life which you can relate to. It may not need to be even a vintage item to begin with. Most items which are 5 to 10 years back are still available and it really does bring back some fond memories of the toy or maybe your very own experiences in life back then.

It has been around 5 years as a collector but I don’t really collect every piece of expensive stuff. Some of my stuff probably cost less that USD1 and I’m still proud with it. My advice is try not to be a competitive collector among your friends and certainly not egoistic as you may end up spending something that you don’t need and dislike after a period of time. You may want to consider of trading or selling off some of your collections if you do not really want it so that they might just be someone out there who sincerely appreciate it. Never stack boxes of items that you buy which you never opened till your house has restricted habitable space for your kids and family. It can be a fire hazard too and obstruction to any fire escape in the event of any emergency.

Hope you guys like reading and please do comment and give us your views.

                   

ARTFX BATMAN V SUPERMAN 1/10 SCALE STATUE

There are some of the things that always bugs me when collecting pop culture statues which are mostly due to its high cost and sheer size to put it in a shelf. Unless we are high earning and our house are huge with a lot space to store the statue pieces, most of us are constantly struggling to figure out on how to expand our collections. Well, most of us who doesn’t come from aristocrat background or golden spoon in our mouths will have to really think of a way to keep up with the ever increasing collection.

Luckily we are seeing some light now with company like Kotobukiya Artfx/Artfx+  giving us 1/10 scale statues and most recently their Hulkbuster and Hulk statues were immensely successful product with their recently garnered ‘Statue of The Year 2015’ from Toy Fair 2016. Kotobukiya will also be releasing the upcoming Batman V Superman combo statues and I got to say the pose is really interesting. This is what statues are meant to be and it does take the similar approach as their earlier Artfx Hulkbuster/Hulk statue dynamic pose and give it a new action scene for the Batman V Superman statue. It certainly is a nice collectible which can be easily sitting in your shelf or on your desk without taking too much space.

I won’t be surprise if they throw in Captain America and Ironman in their next Artfx action pose statues for the Captain America - The Civil War movie. Here is a look at what to expect from the Batman V Superman statue by Artfx.

                  

PRIME 1 STUDIO UPCOMING G1 TRANSFORMERS STATUES

The Transformers franchise has come a long way since the cartoon days till the present live action movie. It was really an eye opener when we first watch the live action Transformers some years way back then. It was stunningly created when Blackout transform itself into the robot mode from the apache helicopter and start attacking the US Army base. When Michael Bay continue to helm the remaining sequels it was all too familiar with explosions, pyrotechnics, stunts and Victoria Secret adverts every now and then. Recently, we have seen several outstanding Transformers statues from Prime 1 Studio and we are quite excited then and even now it was very exciting to look at the upcoming Lockdown statue in its entirety.

Personally, I feel that Michael Bay needs to reboot/revamp/re-imagine Transformers so that it still looks as fresh as the original motion picture debut since he will be back again for another movie. The worst part is watching Age of Extinction’s Bumblebee head design totally change for the worst with sharp angles alienated look. Although Optimus Prime overall armour look is quite pleasant but why does he need to have a ‘bra’ looking chest plate which actually looks ridiculous. The new robot characters were rather good though and our advice is keep it simple and don’t over design the characters.

I still remember Sentinel Prime from Dark Of The Moon which was a nice character but why in the world does he need an ugly  Gundam ‘V’ fin and moustache on his face? I do understand that we need to maintain the face sculpt so that viewers can relate to the robot emotions but there are some things need not be overdone. It was only recently that something really caught my attention that Prime 1 Studio is releasing some Generation 1 (G1) Transformers statues very soon. Although these statues does not resemble the exact G1  likeness in the cartoon but it does have a lot of resemblance to the original G1 and the way it was design was to portray it in an updated look of Optimus Prime and Megatron that we remembered in our childhood.

I gotta say if these statues will be portray similar in the next instalment of Transformers, I’m sold. Bring it!

THREEZERO DISTRICT 9 1/6 SCALE FIGURES

I have always been thinking whether we will ever get a second chance to collect some really interesting characters from the movie, District 9 after its successful take on the sci-fi genre.  Weta workshop did put out an impressive mech suit and it was quite expensive for collectors back then. There are still a lot of fans of District 9 and we have waited more than 3 years now and there’s no news of Christopher Johnson coming back to earth as promised in the movie.

Nevertheless, hope has not forsaken us as ThreeZero is bringing Christopher Johnson and the mech suit in a 1/6 scale format as recently shown in Toy Fair 2016.  Personally, I’m very excited about this but I haven’t seen any preorder for it yet. I’m not sure whether there will be a Wikus character in 1/6 scale but if ThreeZero include it as part of the mech suit, it will certainly be a MUST BUY for me. They just got to throw in the exchangeable alien prawn arm too and have Wikus sitting in the Mech Suit cockpit will be outstanding.

Sometimes we just have to dream up some ideas for them but who else can impress us other than the creative minds behind all these toy companies. Let us all have a look at what we will be expecting from ThreeZero on this District 9 collectible.

PRIME 1 STUDIO LOCKDOWN POLYSTONE STATUE

I’ve earlier posted some photos a few weeks back and recently only I stumbled upon the newly released pre order photos of Prime 1 Studio Lockdown statue. There is no doubt Lockdown was a memorable character in the overhyped, overblown and overkill Transformers Age of Extinction movie. I guess most of us were already very tired and frustrated with the same old firecrackers blowing up in the city.

Well, as long as the Transformers movies are still making tonnes of money in the box office, we will be seeing it all over again albeit bigger, louder and nonsensical. I truly felt that they should have gone deeper into the mythology of these sentient robots and how it all come into beings. We certainly do not want to hear something like all sparks which created all these transformers because that is a very lazy lame duck excuses to write a story.

Frankly, the design of Lockdown really looks impressive on screen and certainly with this upcoming statue, we will get to eyeball all day on all the details which went into it once it is released. If only other deception characters like Shockwave were given more speeches or dialogs to interact with one another, it could have been a better movie. Let us just see what we are going to witness when Optimus Prime meet his creator in the next Michael Bay last bid of redemption for the Transformers franchise.

Accessories include :
- Two (2) STEELJAW
- One (1) Pair of Switchable Regular Hands
- One (1) Pair Switchable Regular fists
- One (1) Switchable Right Spark Extractor
- One (1) Switchable Right Regular arm
- Two (2) Heads (Regular, Battle visor)
- LED light up function on both heads