Toys and collectibles, from building sets to designer art figures.
Since 'Shut up and take my money!' is my favourite meme as a gadget buyer, I couldn't resist pre-ordering the Youtooz Futurama Take My Money Fry figurine in March 2024. It finally shipped in August, standing 5.2 inches tall.
LEGO Architecture Singapore 21057 is the line's biggest skyline at 827 pieces, featuring landmarks such as Marina Bay Sands, Lau Pa Sat, The Fullerton, and Gardens by the Bay's Supertree Grove. I ordered it from Shopee for S$89.90.
The KAWS:HOLIDAY exhibition ran in Singapore in November 2021 at The Float @ Marina Bay, featuring a giant 42-metre inflatable of KAWS' Companion figure. Alongside it, the collectible KAWS:HOLIDAY Singapore Figure was sold.
The LEGO Botanical Collection is a new range aimed at plant lovers. The first launch has two sets, the Flower Bouquet 10280 and Bonsai Tree 10281, each S$79.90, though I grabbed both for S$71.90.
LEGO Art is a new line that turns LEGO into wall art, essentially a guided jigsaw puzzle. It launched in Singapore on 1st August 2020 with four 40cm-square pieces, each S$219.90, including the Marvel Studios Iron Man 31199.
LEGO Wall-E 21303 grew from a 2014 LEGO IDEAS project by Pixar animator Angus MacLane. I bought it in May 2016 for US$59.99, where it sat for nearly four years. It's a 676-piece set with no minifigure.
An impulse buy during Lazada's 12/12 flash sale, the LEGO Hulkbuster: Ultron Edition 76105 went for S$147.70, well below its S$199 launch price from March 2018. It's a hefty 1,363-piece set with a new Iron Man.
The Razer THS Spinner is a glow-in-the-dark fidget spinner retailing for US$19.99. I got mine as a door gift at the Razer Phone 2 launch, where the phone debuted at S$1,249, exclusive to Singtel.
With countless fidget spinners flooding the market, likely all from the same Chinese factories rebranded, I turned to the /r/FidgetSpinners subreddit. It pointed me to sites like Fast Tech, Fidget HQ, and Fidget LA, on roughly a US$20 budget.
The Fidget Cube is a desk toy for restless fidgeters, dice-shaped with six sides for different actions: click, glide, flip, roll, rub, and spin. It raised a staggering US$6.4 million on Kickstarter; I pledged for two.
I spotted a November offer from Chowren Toys via Brickset for the LEGO Minifigure Display Case 16, dropping from US$29.99 to US$20.99. I bought two, forwarding them through HopShopGo, since their direct Singapore shipping was a pricey US$60.
To coincide with Fallout 4's launch on 10th November 2015, minifiglabs.com released a Vault Boy-inspired minifig with a Nuka-Cola bottle cap accessory. Dubbed Vault Boy and Nuke-Cola, the set sells for S$37.90, with registered local postage extra.
At PHPConf.Asia 2015, I bought the purple PHP ElePHPant plush toy from Jenny Wong for S$50, with proceeds going to PHP Women, a network supporting gender equality in the PHP community. On day two, I added the blue ElePHPant.
Accompanying the #LEGORebuildSG campaign are four LEGO SG50 Limited Edition Singapore Icons Mini Builds, depicting quintessential local icons: the Cable Car, Ice Cream Bike, HDB Flats, and Dragon Playground. They're redeemable at selected stores with a minimum S$50 purchase.
Part of the #LEGORebuildSG campaign, the Rebuild Your Memories Competition invited fans to construct their fondest Singapore memories in LEGO. It closed on 26th June 2015, and the ten winning entries are on display at Raffles City until 30th July.
I'm not too familiar with LEGO Ninjago, introduced in 2011 around four ninjas, Kai, Cole, Jay, and Zane, trained by Sensei Wu to fight evil and protect Ninjago. This summer, LEGO released nine new Ninjago sets and an Airjitzu Flyer.
Singapore turns 50 this year, and businesses everywhere back the SG50 tagline, including a favourite of mine, LEGO. Its #LEGORebuildSG campaign encourages fans to rebuild memories, and these SG50 Limited Edition Singapore Icons Mini Builds are part of it.
The Funko Pop! Goku (Super Saiyan God) is a limited edition Pop! Vinyl figure celebrating Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. FUNimation and Funko teamed up to create this Super Saiyan God Goku, available exclusively through FUNimation.com.
Funko Pop! Dancing Groot, from Guardians of the Galaxy, is now available in Singapore at all Simply Toys stores for S$18.90. You'll find Simply Toys outlets at VivoCity, Bugis Junction, Plaza Singapura, and other malls across the island.
Singapore's first LEGO Certified Store opened on 29th November 2014 at Suntec City Mall, officiated by Berit Basse, Denmark's Ambassador to Singapore. It's managed by Bricks World, the country's oldest, since 2003, and largest specialist LEGO retailer, spanning two units.
My LEGO buys mark the start of a toy collection for my new house, due late 2015. I've also begun collecting Funko Pop. Funko is a pop-culture, licence-focused toy company in Everett, WA, holding 150 licences including Lucasfilm and Marvel.
While staying at Empire Hotel Subang for MTV World Stage 2014, courtesy of GoodStuph, I explored the Empire Shopping Gallery below. A shop called Anime Trend caught my eye, where I spotted these Dragon Ball Z LEGO-compatible minifigures.