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From Lego to Barbie: Meet 4 adults who are into toy collecting
Remember when you were kids, long before the rise of smartphones and tablets, you used to have tea parties with your Barbie dolls and racing games with remote control cars.
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Not just for kids -- many adults also collect toys. (Shutterstock/-)
R
emember when you were kids, long before the rise of smartphones and tablets, you used to have tea parties with your Barbie dolls and racing games with remote control cars.
As you grow up, you put these toys inside a box and leave it in the attic or hand it down to other children, just like in the movie Toy Story 3.
Well, some adults refuse to let go of that part of their childhood and, now that they are grownups, they collect toys as a hobby.
Below are four toy collectors living in the capital city who share their penchant for collecting miniatures, games, action figures and dolls.
Wira Triasmara – Lego collector
Wira has been collecting Lego and figurines ever since he could earn his own money. The desire came from his unfulfilled childhood desire to buy toys – he wasn’t allowed to by his mother back then.
Now he has 100 Lego and other figures, including Happy Meal toys and a McFarlane Robocop action figure that he bought for Rp 1.4 million (US$107).
“These toys are priced from Rp 50,000 to Rp 1.5 million,” he said in a phone interview.
He doesn’t just let his Lego sit pretty on a table; sometimes he sets up a themed photoshoot for these toys, like for Easter or a Santa Claus special.
According to Wira, who works as a copywriter at a marketing communications company, his friends are happy with his hobby since they don’t have to think hard about what to give him on his birthday. His friends better take note because he has a Lego collection that’s still on his wish list.
“I want to complete my animal suit collection. It’s a bit pricey so it’s gonna take me some time to collect them all.”
Happy Novana Sari – Barbie collector
“I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world,” this song lyric from the 1990s Eurodance group Aqua is Happy’s everyday life motto as evidenced from her Instagram bio. The 25-year-old has more than 200 Barbie dolls that she’s been collecting since 2009 and she aims to promote her collection to the public by choosing one Barbie icon per year.
“This year’s choice is named Raquelle Millicent Jayne. Raquelle is the actual name of a Barbie character, Millicent is Barbie’s middle name and Jayne is because I created this icon in January,” she explained.
She also revealed that she allocates Rp 5 million to buy Barbie dolls and their accessories per month. Happy prefers to collect ones from movie series since she watches the films.
“I’m a member of Barbie Store Indonesia, even though the membership is actually meant for kids, and I come whenever they hold an event," she laughs.
When asked for her opinion about people who claim to be real-life Barbies, she said: “I think it’s too overly done. Just be yourself. If you want to look like one, just do a Barbie-inspired makeup look.”
Mohamad Rizki – Tomica collector
Mohamad Rizki has a collection of 6,000 Japanese-based toy Tomica cars at his house – yes, you read that right.
It all started in 2002 when a friend of his brought him along to a diecast swap-meet event – an event where toy collectors trade or exchange items.
“Back then in 2002, the price of one car was only Rp 15,000; now it’s Rp 59,000 and the company releases new models every month,” he recalled.
He doesn’t keep the hobby to himself; he co-founded Tomica Fan Club Indonesia together with four other friends and also barters with fellow Tomica fans.
“My best collection is actually from an exchange with a fellow friend. I exchanged my McDonald collection to get the Land Cruiser one […] Also, I once bought 30 cars from a friend for Rp 10,000 per car.”
Anto Nugroho – Vintage toy collector
Today’s millennial parents are often seen giving their children tablets or the latest game consoles to play with. That’s not the case with Anto Nugroho who takes his daughters to a traditional market every weekend to look for old-school electronic games that he can buy.
“I collect toys like Game & Watch, Nintendo 86, Spica and Game Boy […] The story goes back to when I was a kid. I was the only boy in the family so I had my own toy kingdom and now that I have my own money I want to collect all of them for myself.”
His children, although they have not yet inherited their dad’s hobby, love to play with traditional console games but often tell him that the game is too easy for them. He also shared that his wife sometimes gets irritated with his hobby of collecting “junk”, but the funny story is that during their wedding ceremony they had Mario’s cement factory arcade game as one of their mas kawin (obligatory wedding gifts).
For Anto, toy hunting is always an invaluable experience as each toy has its own story to tell.
“There was this one time I bought Nintendo Tropical Fish from Kaskus. I set up a meeting with the seller who turned out to be a woman; she told me that this video game used to belong to her son, who passed away, but she wanted to move on and that’s why she was selling the Nintendo. It really was a priceless moment for me.” (kes)
