I really confess that I'm a choosy toy collector. I always had this feeling that if that action figure is not there - better save the money than buy an action figure I wouldn't like. I could remember a lot of toys I wanted. Some of them were Bandai merchandise, Hasbro merchandise (and Tonka was rivals with Bandai), Marvel toys (way back Marvel got hit by the woke disorder), DC Toys, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the like. So, a lot of toys are already gone now but some were saved. I do miss some of my troll dolls. I was also thinking about what I wanted and why toy buying time with my parents ended up with them saving more money.
One time, there was the X-Men toy collection. I did have some toys given to be on Christmas and got them. I could remember my Wolverine action figure which I accidentally destroyed and I wish I didn't. There was also the Cable toy, Warpath toy, Gambit toy (which was broken), then I just stopped when the toys I wanted were no longer around. I also wanted the Cyclops toy. I wanted the Spiderman toy based on the Spiderman cartoon by Saban Entertainment but that certain model just wasn't there. Also, there were too many to choose from and I wanted that special toy for whatever toy line there was.
So the 90s for me were basically this - a quest to get that hot toy. Think of Turboman from the comedy Jingle All the Way - a movie that's entertaining when you're a child (though I was 11 when I saw it) but can get annoying when you're an adult dealing with last-minute Christmas shopping. I could remember my parents or my elders would make me ask for my Christmas wish as early as the first week of November so they can buy it ahead before it was sent in December. Then it came to me trying to struggle I was going 13 and I didn't want to give up on toys. I had to give up on toys because they were labeled as "for kids". So I did though I still had that desire.
So, I finally started having my own savings from being self-employed. Yes, family members ended up having a fixed amount that we got per month or per week depending on the agreement. We received no more and no less though we occasionally had an increase. I just saved whatever allowances were unspent in college, deposited them in my savings account, learned to use the monthly allowance, and then I wanted. I would go to a toy store such as Toy Kingdom or Toys R Us at an SM or Ayala mall. I would try to feel young but never bought the toys. Right now, I feel like I want to spend some of my longtime savings on a Super NES Mini since I never had one as a child.
Then I started my rekindling of stuffed toys in my late 20s. Nope, not for playing but for display purposes. I still can't get over some dog figurines that were broken because they were placed on a high shelf and an earthquake ended them. I thought that stuffed toy dogs would be better. Among the best places where I get them are Blue Magic (though I only ended up buying the huskies named Mr. Smith and Westcott) though I bought an Animal Alley stuffed version of the late Boo, the world's cutest dog as well. I wanted to get a second-hand Bolt the Dog toy but ended up finding a cute white pomeranian toy on Shopee. For me, getting some stuffed toys would be better than owning too many dogs. Washing stuffed animals is nothing having to drive them over to the vet plus making sure I have an appointment. They end up as display items though I do find myself somewhat attached to the cute white pomeranian toy I just showed.
So far, a lot of the toys I wanted are gone. Sometimes, I wish that Kurt Russell's Santa Claus were real and he'd give me some of those toys I wanted as a child. I even had a dream where I saw that version of Santa Claus, helped who I believe was a random old man, and he ended up giving me a Kamen Rider Black vinyl toy along with some toys I wanted for helping him out. Too bad it was just a dream! I do sometimes feel like I wish I had a time machine and get those toys I wanted. Going to the toy stores for nostalgic reasons can be a sad thing when you see the layout has changed. Gift Gate is gone, Nova Fontana is gone, Toy Kingdom gets new inventories, Toys R Us gets new investories, SM Toys gets new inventories... there's still that pain in my heart when I consider that I'm that occasional toy collector.
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