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Dads and kids flock to toy fair
Simulacra: A man looks at display of miniatures at the Jakarta Toys and Kids Festival at Balai Kartini in South Jakarta
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span class="inline inline-center">Simulacra: A man looks at display of miniatures at the Jakarta Toys and Kids Festival at Balai Kartini in South Jakarta. The exhibition ends on Sunday. JP/DON
Hundreds of visitors queued to buy tickets to enter the Toys and Kids Expo in Balai Kartini in South Jakarta, which kicked off on Saturday morning.
Many arrived at the venue early in order to grab rare items they had longed to own, while others hunted for discounts of up to 80 percent during the two-day exhibition, which was open from 10 a.m to 7 p.m.
The twice-yearly expo was first held in 2012 and initially exhibited mainly collectible toys for adults. For this exhibition the organizers, Neo Organiser, have attempted to lure kids while retaining the adult fans.
'We now offer both collectible items for adults and toys for kids, so both fathers and children can visit our expo together,' Neo Organiser manager Freddy Robert Porung said.
At least a hundred exhibitors from Jakarta, Bandung, West Java, Surabaya, East Java and Semarang in Central Java displayed die-cast miniatures, Gundam robots, locally made Mokit models, Gashapon capsule toys, Lego and Tamiya, a Japanese brand of toy cars. A number of booths also offered wooden toys, online games and various educational games.
Die-cast toy booths appeared to dominate this year's exhibition as they were found in every block of the 3,500-square-meter exhibition hall. The miniatures, produced by using the die-cast method and made of metal and using various materials in the details, varied from cars and motorcycles to historical figures.
Vendors in the exhibition generally set a price tag of between Rp 25,000 (US$2) and Rp 1 million and above, with collectors explaining the prices depended on scarcity and vintage.
Dravy Pritama, the founder of the Indonesian Diecast Jeep Lovers community, said a Jeep Wrangler Coca-cola edition model car, for example, sold for Rp 90,000 in 1999 but now cost at least Rp 500,000.
Another fan, Samuel Sutarsa from Bandung, said he occasionally stayed overnight in Jakarta to buy die-cast toy cars for collection and business purposes.
'I have been collecting them [die-cast toys] for a year. I like it because of the unique models and the prices always go up,' the 20-year-old student said, adding that he was especially fond of popular Japanese die-cast car brand Tomica.
Besides die-cast toy cars, toy German soldiers from World War II at The Miniature History stall also attracted the attention of dozens of visitors. The stallholder claimed to be the sole Indonesian authorized supplier of King and Country, a British producer of military and civilian miniatures.
The figurines weighing about 10 grams and made of mixed metal, are hand-painted and have limited productions. They cost from Rp 600,000 to Rp 2 million.
Denny Priyono, the co-owner of The Miniature History stall, said his company currently proposed making figurines of Indonesia's first president Sukarno.
'If we can get 300 pre-orders then the producer will start making it. If the proposal is successful, we hope to see other series of Indonesian figures, which will help us learn our own history,' Denny said.
Besides imported toys from Japan, China, the US, Germany and the UK, visitors could also find toys made by local producers such as Arcraft from Semarang, which produces dioramas such as garages for die-cast cars and streets, sponge-assembly toy producer Fujima from Surabaya and arm-puppet producer Hania from Surakarta in Central Java.
