It's that time of the year again!
Filipino toy collectors' most awaited event of the year-- TOYCON 2014! ToyCon is an annual event in June that brings together toy collectors, artists, cosplayers, gamers, fanboys/fangirls from all over the country. It is dubbed as "the biggest pop culture and toy event in Philippines" and I have to agree.
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| Entrance to ToyCon 2014 |
ToyCon is a 3-day event last June 20-22, 2014 held at the Megatrade Halls in SM Megamall. The opening day was dedicated to those who come to ToyCon to shop around the stalls so the activity on the stage area was minimal, while the next two days were filled with shows and various contests happening simultaneously with the shopping at the stalls. Since my main purpose in attending the ToyCon was to buy figures, I attended the opening day since that would mean that I would be one of the first to scour the stalls. First to scour the stalls = higher chances of getting what I want.
I arrived at SM Megamall a little past 10:00 AM which was its opening time. As I approached the Megatrade Halls, I saw a LOOOOOOONG line to the ticket booths. I regretted not buying a ticket in advance. Eventually, I finally got to buy my ticket (costs PhP130) and got in.
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| Ticket |
At last year's ToyCon, I actually saw a loose IM2 Nick Fury but it was part of set and the seller wouldn't sell me the Nick Fury figure alone. During the time The Avengers movie was out, it's nearly impossible to find a Hawkeye and (especially) a Black Widow on the shelves. Besides the fact that they are short-packed, collectors and scalpers got them before I got the chance to buy them (and since I live about an hour from Manila, I guess the distributor didn't bother to send those rare figures to the toy stores near me, all I saw were Iron Mans, Caps, Thors, Hulks, Skrulls, etc.). I saw Black Widows and Hawkeyes on online shops but the prices are ridiculous, and you have to pay for shipping, transfer of money, and whatnot. So I'm really hoping I could find them here in order to end the two-year toy hunt. But as much as I want to get all three figures (which I knew wouldn't come cheap), I was on a tight budget since school hasn't started yet, which means no allowance haha XD. The money I'm using to buy the toys were actually the ones I've saved way back December, the glorious month where Christmas sheds an aura of generosity that compels parents, uncles, aunts, and grandparents to give money to children MWAHAHAHA!
There were a lot of displays to see around, here are some photos:
As I roamed around the stalls, I saw a Black Widow and Hawkeye MOC displayed upfront! I asked for the price-- the Hawkeye was PhP 650, while the Black Widow was PhP 800. I decided not to get them first to see if I could find a better deal. I saw another stall selling a Black Widow (also MOC), but it was priced at PhP 1,000. They also had a very rare The Avengers Nick Fury MOC! The Avenger Nick Fury was extremely rare in the Philippines, several toy stores even said that they never had them. So I asked for the price of the Nick Fury, and cringed at the mention of PhP 1,200. Expected, but a little steep for me. So I sadly walked away.
I saw some Black Widow from the Marvel's Assemble toy line, which would not really fit in on my movie shelf so I passed. Besides, I could easily track those down on local toy stores on retail price. Since I no longer so another Avengers movie Black Widow or Hawkeye, I returned to the first store I saw them. Thankfully, they're still there. I asked the saleslady if I could strike a bargain if I would get both the Black Widow and the Hawkeye. She then asked her boss, which was-- lo and behold-- FXFRANZ! If you don't know fxfranz, he's this guy who does video reviews of Marvel, DC, Transformers, Star Wars, GI Joe, Hot Wheels, etc. on YouTube. He's awesome and his videos are great, they helped me a lot on choosing which figures to pick. Go check out his channel on youtube.com/user/fxfranz and youtube.com/user/chefatron. (He has two channels, he uploads his video reviews on the chefatron channel now because there was some issue about his Google Account thingamajig). I wanted greet him but I was too shy XD. Anyway, he agreed to sell both the figures at PhP 1,300! Amazing, I bought them, no further questions asked.
With what's left of my budget, I decided to score a couple more figures. I found this bin of loose Marvel Universe/Marvel Movie toy line figures. I saw Captain Britain from the Greatest Battle 2-Pack, a set containing three Chitauri figures, various versions of the Red Skull, Red Agent with the weird bird-like shield, Crossbones from the First Avenger toy line, MU Falcon, MU Iron Fist, and a lot more, mostly Marvel Universe figures. I was about the spend the remaining money I have on Hogun and Fandral to complete my Warriors Three figures, but then I saw another Avengers Nick Fury! So I asked the busy storekeeper for the price, bracing myself for the expected steep price-- it was PhP 1,000! And that's not even the best part, the storekeeper was even willing to lower the price to PhP 900! So I hightailed to the nearest ATM, withdrew money, and went back to buy it! With that purchase, I ended a two-year toy hunt.
So with that, I left the Megatrade Halls a poorer yet happier man. I finally completed my Movie Avengers shelf!
I'm definitely looking forward to the Christmas ToyCon! How about you? Do you have any cool toy hunt stories? Share them!
Anyways, happy collecting!
-Kim :))
