How did YOU find "TOYSREVIL"?
A few weeks' back, I had asked on Instagram & my personal Facebook:
"How did YOU find "TOYSREVIL"?"
Thru (toy) forums? Thru social media? Thru IG? Thru recommendations, or click throughs? How long ago was your "first time on TOYSREVIL"?
After twenty years in this toynews-biz, I am honestly curious! And I have been before (of course), but now's a apt time to ask, no?
These were what some folks shared:
BLOG-SPOTTED
"I believed I search for designer toy blog when I first started Classicbot.
And yours came up at the top." (Philip Lee / @classicbot_toy)
"I was exploring the toy world when I encountered your page around 2009-2010. Fell in love with the page and your tag line "Toys r evil, I love toys". Your blog introduced me to the awesome world of toys. Happy 20th Anniversary, TOYSREVIL" (Lino Reyes / @vectorizta)
"Blogspot" (Mark Barretto / @all.defs / I managed to meet him in person at PopToyShow SG 2024)
"Blogspot since 2011" (Jerico Canlas)
"Your blog. You were the first site to champion Dookie-Poo and you promoted him so much. I really appreciated it." (Manny Galan / @mighty_mandog)
TOYSREVIL: One of my most memorable aspect of running the TOYSREVIL blog, was the "Dookie-Poo PaperJam" contest I ran in 2008, alongside Free Downloadable diorama papertoys to go with the Dookie-Poo vinyl, something which I was very much in support of, for maximum play and display too!
"When the first Spider-Man 3 was being produced I found your blog with the first renders of Venom. That’s when I got introduced to designer vinyl and just fell in love with all the art." (@mikey_pip)
TOYSREVIL: I had a heavier focus on feature film coverage in the earlier blog-years, especially geek/pop-culture films, and I often regret "separating" that out into a dedicated film-hobby blogL, which never could generate enough views to justify the effort(s), but for me to geek-out whenever I wanted to, not being beholden to TOYSREVIL "being needed to be toy-focused" LOL
"TRE Steampunk art toy contest with Art of JEAA 2011."
(John Eugene Avila / @art_of_jeaa)
TOYSREVIL: One thing I truly miss about authoring the TOYSREVIL-blog, are hosting the (online) design/custom contests and/or competitions. I had such themed contests planned too, but ultimately the sheer lack of participation thru the years doused such plans altogether, alas.
SEARCH & SOCIALS
"Searching the net for an art toys blog like 13 years ago" (@bulletpunknetworkfans)
"I was in high school looking around the interwebs for urban vinyl art toys designer Michael Lau era ... Somehow It end up in TRE website and damn i thought this web was awesome as it speak my taste and language. But back then I didn't know who the handsome lad running the webpage."
(Indeed a cultured man Erich is / @erich_ongko)
"Search engines, then later on your social media accounts, I remember once
you did feature my 1st released. Way to go and more to come!!!"
(Gary Santiago Rojas / @iamresinworx)
"Googled search." (Michael Chuah / @michaelchuah)
"Thru your social media. Seeing you posts upcoming toys and events
and even upcoming artists like me. Thanks and happy 20th!"
(Entsong Jocson / @entsong3)
"Through Instagram back in 2017 when I was looking for more designer toy related Instagram pages to look at." (@clifftron1986)
"It was on Instagram, I saw your page way back 2021. I remember you shared my first ever art toy I made" (Jao Isaiah Perez / @jaop_clowder)
"On IG and at PTS 2023". (@aryamularama)
"Once I get to know about designer toys & went into the rabbit hole, eventually found your Facebook & Instagram. Can't forget the first time we officially met at Ozzo and also that long chat at coffee shop" (Edward Low / @drawdelow)
"It was long time ago I can't even remember how it was. Probably IG". (@sickemil)
"Facebook" (César Jc)
"Twitter 🐦 (2009/2010)" (Emily Döhler-Knox / @snakeglow)
"Real, old Twitter, I think. After the 2009 SDCC, my brother and I thought we’d move into the designer toy world. Sadly, we’ve collected more than we’ve made; however, I came across some wonderful people in the market, and you were one of them." (Bryce W Fauble)
FABLED FORUMS
"You think I can remember that far back? I'm old! Lol probably through forums I think, were you on Qeester at all?" (Jamie Mimic Stubbs / @the_real_mimic / Possibly on Ningyoushi)
"KRMB 1000 years ago!" (Jay Mazzone)
FACE2FACE
"The good ole STGCC days~~ Can’t believe how fast time flies!!!"
(Angeline / @littlemoxy_)
"2015 at IAF I guess. But from time to time, your toys posts popped up
on my FB. Didn’t who’s the founder until Jerry Teo told me."
(James Leong / @jamesleong007)
"Met you during SGCC with ma baws, Cipta, I believe! Thus begun the long long sweet romance between us pimpees and you tha pimp! Appreciate the love, always!!!" (Julian Aaron Widjaja / @julianaaronwidjaja)
"I had the fortune of learning about it directly from you at the 2010 STGCC, where we first met!" (Ryan Mennen / @enthropii)
"Stgcc" (Jefferson Ng / @jeffnjf)
"Marine Ramdhani and my tummy toys!!! (Also The Yellow Dino )"
(Aldo Khalid / @godoftoy)
"Kena forced to like it after taking art lessons from you :( ... Jk, was recommended to me on Facebook due to mutual follows! Happy Birthday TOYSREVIL" (Milo Peng)
"Meet u in person when Gene Whitlock introduced us and you told me about it lolz. I didn't have much awareness about global toy scene before that"
(Jess Emmett / @jessica_emmett)
"Aiyoooh, we both shopped at Cosmic, long longggg ago!"
(Gene Whitlock / @dangergene)
"Found Andy thru 1/6 Singster Warrior Forum … 24-25 years ago??" (JD Roy / @joestoys)
HE-SAY SHE-SAID
"I think it was back in the day... one of the Indonesia graffiti crew mentioned you" (Cipta Croft-Cusworth / @ggnwtoys)
LONG BEFORE YOUR TIME...
"I found TRE about 100 years ago way before IG had ads." (@robo_ohno)
"You were on the scene and an authority capturing the movement in designed toys. I think maybe 2005?" (@goheroofficial)
"I can’t remember exactly how, but after I discovered it, it was always a good source for me, almost like my daily vitamins.hahaha" (Ralph Guibani / @guibs.ph)
As a "collector" of carded action figures in the 90s, toynews consisted of pouring through ToyFare and Wizard magazines' pages, even Preview monthly catalogs! But ironically not at departmental stores LOL
In the early 2000s, I "upscaled" action figures into the 1/6th-scaled hobby, and practically lived amongst my fellow hobbyists on dedicated toy forums like One Sixth Warriors and Men With Dolls, before I crossed borderlines to the "urban vinyl" realm of Michael Lau, Eric So, and the Hong Kong toy-scene. Brothersfree was the perfect crossover of both "designer vinyl" aesthetics and 1/6th genre, IMHO. Ironically I do not own their figures.
None too ironically, where I once "shopped" for 1/6, as well carried a smattering of urban vinyls, and I subsequently explored dedicated "toy shops" outside of my weekly comicbook shops, and graduated to flea markets, both as a hunter/seeker and also behind the table hawking toys, so I could buy new toys.
It was around this time that "TOYSREVIL" was born, first as a self-identification, and subsequently as the name of my Multiply (no longer exists) and this blog you read now.
One of the first "blog" format I'd discovered was Vinyl Pulse, the result of a online search. There was also Plastic And Plush. Whereas English-language blogs - at least those ion Singapore - consisted predominantly of "hobby blogs", where individual collectors reviewed their purchases.
At that point in time, I was into flea market finds, so I thought what I could do was complement what was already out in the wwwild! Little did I know, "collecting toys" consumed me more than I expected, and I shared my passion on my blog!
When I decided to go down the path of presenting toynews, I had daily searches from multiple sites and forums, to collect toynews, as well I had asked to be on mailing lists, and subsequently received a fair amount of toynews submissions.
Then when "social media" took ahold of folks' online attention, emailed submissions became a rarity, and I was back to trawling the www for toynews, amidst my work schedules, which sometimes had gaps in the daily.
If I was a fisherman, I would be casting multiple nets across the length of the river, hoping to catch toynews. Some times I'd hit a good catch, most times I'll miss a catch I had just walked by none too long ago. It had become a "daily chore", in between my dayjob, of course.
And like that, I now end up seeing the timelines of my socials for smatterings of toynews, where sometimes I'd need to delve more into research for info and images, amidst offline tasks.
The aspect of the HUNT has become a fragmented endeavour, needing to seek multiple venues for morsels of toynews, and in many ways I am operating less as a "toynews blog", and (re)becoming a wandering collector of toynews with no toy-buying-power LOL
In many ways it felt like I have come a full circle, back to reviewing and showing toys, but the irony is my buying power has diminished since the decades, so I have welcomed the opportunity to review much older toys in my collection, and making them available at my Pop-Ups! LOL
THANK YOU all for reading and sticking by TOYSREVIL thru the toy-times!
Happy Toy Hunting, everyone!
Andy TOYSREVIL
"How did YOU find "TOYSREVIL"?"
Thru (toy) forums? Thru social media? Thru IG? Thru recommendations, or click throughs? How long ago was your "first time on TOYSREVIL"?
After twenty years in this toynews-biz, I am honestly curious! And I have been before (of course), but now's a apt time to ask, no?
These were what some folks shared:
"I believed I search for designer toy blog when I first started Classicbot.
And yours came up at the top." (Philip Lee / @classicbot_toy)
"I was exploring the toy world when I encountered your page around 2009-2010. Fell in love with the page and your tag line "Toys r evil, I love toys". Your blog introduced me to the awesome world of toys. Happy 20th Anniversary, TOYSREVIL" (Lino Reyes / @vectorizta)
"Blogspot" (Mark Barretto / @all.defs / I managed to meet him in person at PopToyShow SG 2024)
"Blogspot since 2011" (Jerico Canlas)
"Your blog. You were the first site to champion Dookie-Poo and you promoted him so much. I really appreciated it." (Manny Galan / @mighty_mandog)
TOYSREVIL: One of my most memorable aspect of running the TOYSREVIL blog, was the "Dookie-Poo PaperJam" contest I ran in 2008, alongside Free Downloadable diorama papertoys to go with the Dookie-Poo vinyl, something which I was very much in support of, for maximum play and display too!
TOYSREVIL: I had a heavier focus on feature film coverage in the earlier blog-years, especially geek/pop-culture films, and I often regret "separating" that out into a dedicated film-hobby blogL, which never could generate enough views to justify the effort(s), but for me to geek-out whenever I wanted to, not being beholden to TOYSREVIL "being needed to be toy-focused" LOL
"TRE Steampunk art toy contest with Art of JEAA 2011."
(John Eugene Avila / @art_of_jeaa)
TOYSREVIL: One thing I truly miss about authoring the TOYSREVIL-blog, are hosting the (online) design/custom contests and/or competitions. I had such themed contests planned too, but ultimately the sheer lack of participation thru the years doused such plans altogether, alas.
"Searching the net for an art toys blog like 13 years ago" (@bulletpunknetworkfans)
"I was in high school looking around the interwebs for urban vinyl art toys designer Michael Lau era ... Somehow It end up in TRE website and damn i thought this web was awesome as it speak my taste and language. But back then I didn't know who the handsome lad running the webpage."
(Indeed a cultured man Erich is / @erich_ongko)
"Search engines, then later on your social media accounts, I remember once
you did feature my 1st released. Way to go and more to come!!!"
(Gary Santiago Rojas / @iamresinworx)
"Googled search." (Michael Chuah / @michaelchuah)
"Thru your social media. Seeing you posts upcoming toys and events
and even upcoming artists like me. Thanks and happy 20th!"
(Entsong Jocson / @entsong3)
"Through Instagram back in 2017 when I was looking for more designer toy related Instagram pages to look at." (@clifftron1986)
"It was on Instagram, I saw your page way back 2021. I remember you shared my first ever art toy I made" (Jao Isaiah Perez / @jaop_clowder)
"On IG and at PTS 2023". (@aryamularama)
"Once I get to know about designer toys & went into the rabbit hole, eventually found your Facebook & Instagram. Can't forget the first time we officially met at Ozzo and also that long chat at coffee shop" (Edward Low / @drawdelow)
"It was long time ago I can't even remember how it was. Probably IG". (@sickemil)
"Facebook" (César Jc)
"Twitter 🐦 (2009/2010)" (Emily Döhler-Knox / @snakeglow)
"Real, old Twitter, I think. After the 2009 SDCC, my brother and I thought we’d move into the designer toy world. Sadly, we’ve collected more than we’ve made; however, I came across some wonderful people in the market, and you were one of them." (Bryce W Fauble)
"You think I can remember that far back? I'm old! Lol probably through forums I think, were you on Qeester at all?" (Jamie Mimic Stubbs / @the_real_mimic / Possibly on Ningyoushi)
"KRMB 1000 years ago!" (Jay Mazzone)
"The good ole STGCC days~~ Can’t believe how fast time flies!!!"
(Angeline / @littlemoxy_)
"2015 at IAF I guess. But from time to time, your toys posts popped up
on my FB. Didn’t who’s the founder until Jerry Teo told me."
(James Leong / @jamesleong007)
"Met you during SGCC with ma baws, Cipta, I believe! Thus begun the long long sweet romance between us pimpees and you tha pimp! Appreciate the love, always!!!" (Julian Aaron Widjaja / @julianaaronwidjaja)
"I had the fortune of learning about it directly from you at the 2010 STGCC, where we first met!" (Ryan Mennen / @enthropii)
"Stgcc" (Jefferson Ng / @jeffnjf)
"Marine Ramdhani and my tummy toys!!! (Also The Yellow Dino )"
(Aldo Khalid / @godoftoy)
"Kena forced to like it after taking art lessons from you :( ... Jk, was recommended to me on Facebook due to mutual follows! Happy Birthday TOYSREVIL" (Milo Peng)
"Meet u in person when Gene Whitlock introduced us and you told me about it lolz. I didn't have much awareness about global toy scene before that"
(Jess Emmett / @jessica_emmett)
"Aiyoooh, we both shopped at Cosmic, long longggg ago!"
(Gene Whitlock / @dangergene)
"Found Andy thru 1/6 Singster Warrior Forum … 24-25 years ago??" (JD Roy / @joestoys)
"I think it was back in the day... one of the Indonesia graffiti crew mentioned you" (Cipta Croft-Cusworth / @ggnwtoys)
"I found TRE about 100 years ago way before IG had ads." (@robo_ohno)
"You were on the scene and an authority capturing the movement in designed toys. I think maybe 2005?" (@goheroofficial)
"I can’t remember exactly how, but after I discovered it, it was always a good source for me, almost like my daily vitamins.hahaha" (Ralph Guibani / @guibs.ph)
As a "collector" of carded action figures in the 90s, toynews consisted of pouring through ToyFare and Wizard magazines' pages, even Preview monthly catalogs! But ironically not at departmental stores LOL
In the early 2000s, I "upscaled" action figures into the 1/6th-scaled hobby, and practically lived amongst my fellow hobbyists on dedicated toy forums like One Sixth Warriors and Men With Dolls, before I crossed borderlines to the "urban vinyl" realm of Michael Lau, Eric So, and the Hong Kong toy-scene. Brothersfree was the perfect crossover of both "designer vinyl" aesthetics and 1/6th genre, IMHO. Ironically I do not own their figures.
None too ironically, where I once "shopped" for 1/6, as well carried a smattering of urban vinyls, and I subsequently explored dedicated "toy shops" outside of my weekly comicbook shops, and graduated to flea markets, both as a hunter/seeker and also behind the table hawking toys, so I could buy new toys.
It was around this time that "TOYSREVIL" was born, first as a self-identification, and subsequently as the name of my Multiply (no longer exists) and this blog you read now.
One of the first "blog" format I'd discovered was Vinyl Pulse, the result of a online search. There was also Plastic And Plush. Whereas English-language blogs - at least those ion Singapore - consisted predominantly of "hobby blogs", where individual collectors reviewed their purchases.
At that point in time, I was into flea market finds, so I thought what I could do was complement what was already out in the wwwild! Little did I know, "collecting toys" consumed me more than I expected, and I shared my passion on my blog!
When I decided to go down the path of presenting toynews, I had daily searches from multiple sites and forums, to collect toynews, as well I had asked to be on mailing lists, and subsequently received a fair amount of toynews submissions.
Then when "social media" took ahold of folks' online attention, emailed submissions became a rarity, and I was back to trawling the www for toynews, amidst my work schedules, which sometimes had gaps in the daily.
If I was a fisherman, I would be casting multiple nets across the length of the river, hoping to catch toynews. Some times I'd hit a good catch, most times I'll miss a catch I had just walked by none too long ago. It had become a "daily chore", in between my dayjob, of course.
And like that, I now end up seeing the timelines of my socials for smatterings of toynews, where sometimes I'd need to delve more into research for info and images, amidst offline tasks.
The aspect of the HUNT has become a fragmented endeavour, needing to seek multiple venues for morsels of toynews, and in many ways I am operating less as a "toynews blog", and (re)becoming a wandering collector of toynews with no toy-buying-power LOL
In many ways it felt like I have come a full circle, back to reviewing and showing toys, but the irony is my buying power has diminished since the decades, so I have welcomed the opportunity to review much older toys in my collection, and making them available at my Pop-Ups! LOL
THANK YOU all for reading and sticking by TOYSREVIL thru the toy-times!
Happy Toy Hunting, everyone!
Andy TOYSREVIL
