Hong Kong Recap - Transformers Kre-O

Over the next week (or two) there will be a series of blog entries regarding my finds (or lack of finds) from my recent trip to Hong Kong.

On the wish list (if I could find then) were some of the last waves of Kre-O that were sold over in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia, but never made it to the easier to access USA online stores and New Zealand retail.

Walking in a toy (and everything else) store that I would have never known about until I was taken to the store since the website was all in Chinese, I was amazed to see boxes of Kre-O Micro Changer Blind Packs sitting at the counter and on clearance as well. Collection 2 from 2014 was the first set that had no identifying numbers on the bags so I was unable to figure out what was in the bags from those on the counter - so with help I able to secure a full sealed box of 24 figures, which in theory should give me two complete sets.

Searching through one of the smaller cube stores in 'toy street', I was able to find one of the other Kre-O items I was looking for: Kre-O Battle Changers, sets that actually converted from robot to vehicle mode without the need to disasemble the figure like the earlier larger sets and the micro changers, As soon as I expressed my interest in the Battle Changers, I was told by the local Transformers collector I was checking out the stores with that she actually had a full set of them for sale. As a result, I suspended my search and agreed to purchase the 2 VS sets and the 5 single sets I required from this collector.

With Kre-O well and truly dead, I do not expect to ever purchase any more sets.

Hong Kong Recap - Blind Box Die Cast

Over the next week (or two) there will be a series of blog entries regarding my finds (or lack of finds) from my recent trip to Hong Kong.

After being taken to a toy (and everything else) store and seeing that they sold Japanese blind box items (known as gashapon), I started seeking out the other stores in the same chain to see what they had in stock. Eventually I came across a store that had two different sets of 1/64 scale "die cast" cars sold in these blind boxes - both by F-Toys, and both sets I had seen on my travels of the online store I get my Japanese Transformers from.

The first set was a Lamborghini set, featuring three different models of cars each with three colours on each car, for a total of 9 different combinations. Each box was marked with either a 1, 2 or 3 which represented each of the three different models available, so I was able to get each model with only the colour remaining a mystery. At a second store, each of the 1, 2, 3 numbers had actually been blacked out so the boxes were true blind boxes.

The second set was a Classic Japanese car collection and much like the Lamborghini set had three models of car, each with three colour combinations. Again each box was marked 1, 2 or 3 but this time I was unable to find a box #2 so could only get two of the vehicles leaving the colour choice a mystery.

Walking around a hobby shop that I stumbled across while exiting a department store, I saw some old blind box die cast that were familiar to me, the CM's 1/64 Rally Die Cast collection. Way back in 2008 while on holiday in Singapore (and before I was collecting die cast), I picked up a couple of these Rally Cars (from the Toyota and Lancia series). The versions I found in Hong Kong had been opened at some point and the contents marked and I picked up all they had in order to add to my small CM's collection.

Hong Kong Recap - Lego

Over the next week (or two) there will be a series of blog entries regarding my finds (or lack of finds) from my recent trip to Hong Kong.

I wasn't actually expecting to purchase any Lego while in Hong Kong mainly due to the prices I could see online being more expensive than local stores here in New Zealand (and then I had to somehow get the Lego home which no doubt involved some extra cost).

Sure enough, looking around Toys R Us, AEON and other department stores I found a few sets that had not been released at New Zealand retail (and didn't seem to be on the release schedule) but the prices put me off. That was until I went into a store in Ins Point, did some mental conversions of the prices from Hong Kong Dollars to New Zealand Dollars and was amazed at just how cheap things were - at least 20% cheaper than purchasing in New Zealand, and in some cases closer to 30% off. Armed with a credit card, I went back and purchased a few sets knowing that it was going to be a struggle to get them back to New Zealand.

My primary purchases were the remainder of the 2016 Speed Champions sets - I was able to get the four smaller sets via Japan, so I picked up the three larger sets at a decent price. These were not listed in the Australia/New Zealand January to May release catalogue and were "must haves". At luck would have it, upon returning to New Zealand I found that the Speed Champions line had actually been stocked!

The other purchase was an item I wanted to get in New Zealand but has it had only just come out was waiting for a decent sale to purchase. However the purchase price was so good in Hong Kong that I just had to purchase it at this store.

Sadly in all the excitement I did fail to purchase a few Creator sets I wanted that cannot be purchased locally - however, I am able to get from Japan and so will add to another Transformers order when I can.

Hong Kong Recap - Kyosho

Over the next week (or two) there will be a series of blog entries regarding my finds (or lack of finds) from my recent trip to Hong Kong.

During various searches of the internet for die cast news and information, I started reading about a company called Kyosho who do blind boxed die cast cars in 1/64 scale. They are said to be very highly detailed, and as I started looking into what had been released, I started adding more and more to the mental wish list - however as my only option was to import (at a general eBay mark up), I had managed to hold off collecting ... until I saw them in person!

Owing to the blind box nature of Kyosho, most of the cars I saw in the small hobby stores had been opened which made getting what I wanted a touch easier - and due to Kyosho mostly doing stock/street versions of the cars I decided that in order to restrict my purchases, I would go for cars with racing liveries.

In hand these cars are fantastic, with detailing that often surpasses that found on M2 and Greenlight items. Sadly, finding some of the older releases will be next to impossible without spending more than one should on a die cast car.

Hunting around the small collector stores, I also came across some more Kyosho cars, this time in small display boxes called Beads Collection. Again searching the internet for more information, I learnt that this was Kyoto's premium car line - having even more detailing than the blind boxed cars that were being released, and featuring many examples of Japan GT racing cars - a true gem of a line for someone like myself. Sadly I only found two of these models - but two is better than none!

Sadly, at this stage I have no idea how I will display any of these models - however, that is something to figure out for another day.

Hong Kong Recap - Tomica Limited

Over the next week (or two) there will be a series of blog entries regarding my finds (or lack of finds) from my recent trip to Hong Kong.

Browsing through many of the independent toy stores that play an important part of the Hong Kong collecting world, I started spotting Tomica cars I have never heard about before - Tomica Limited. Again searching online I found that these series started in 2001 and ended in 2013 after producing 156 numbered models, along with many other collector sets.

In order to keep my purchasing in check, I decided to focus on just getting a couple of example models from a sub section of the line - Japan Autobacs, featuring various race cars from the 2004. This self imposed rule was then later expanded when I saw a few more race cars from the same line, including a model I had been after for a while, but did not want to pay eBay prices for - although I think is still my most expensive die cast purchase.

Hopefully as finances allow, I can at least complete the Autobacs sub section of this limited line, eventually expanding the collecting goal to all the "race" cars in the assortment and then a complete assortment.