remembering toys: michael lau's tom*kids
seeing any images of Michael Lau's Tom Kids would always inevitably remind myself
of a time when they slipped my grasp ... /// CLICK ON FOR A TALE OF WOE
t'was an early and awkward period in my
WHAT IS:
The Tom Kids set was created to build interest in the Hong Kong-based startup internet company. The hype behind Tom.com with the addition of six limited edition Michael Lau figures helped make Tom.com a huge buy when stock became public. The Tom.com logo is an aserix (*) Michael put the symbol somewhere on each figure. For example the asterix is shaved on the back of the afro of Immune, wide on the t-shirt of Tomm and tattooed on the left eye of Ocellus. [read more about Tom Kids on michaellau-art.com]
altho bare in mind, i collected ML "backwards" ... started off fine with LamDog, then an original Tattoo ... then deviated off-track and back unto Crazy Children, starting with #9 & 10, and worked my way backwards (*yikes*). everything was made "easier" as i'd just started a new career, drawing a quasi-decent pay-packet back then, which allowed me the naive freedom to "add to cart" (which of coz led to my eventual financial downfall a few short years later :p) ... anyways ...i had answered an online classifieds ad from a private collector; who'd claimed he was letting go of his collection of 12"-figures and loose accessories. visited his abode and promptly plonked down serious change for 1/6-streetwear clothes (predominantly HK's Cool Toys' brand - still have'em) ... and then he had to whip it out and showed me his Tom Kid-set (!!) including 3 of the boxes signed by ML himself (!!!!!!) - and it was available for sale...
i'd actually struggled online with Tom*Kid deals for quite sometime priors, never able to agree on either the product pricing, nor ginormous shipping hassles ... and here "in hand" was a set with a decent price, sans shipping-costs! the toygawds had granted me a boon, i thought ... i had been a
it took me near a week to finally decide and to
on the agreed day of the transaction, with effin' cash-in-envelope (im old-fashioned that way), i was enroute to his home (again) when i received a call half-and-hour before our designated meeting-time. amidst the rumbling of the public bus, and in faint mumbles, dude decided not to sell the set.
i'd be lying if i said i wasn't devastated.
first thing that came to mind was: "have you sold it to someone else for a higher price and chose not to tell me?" (i trust in my gut instincts and they have not been wrong in situations like these since :p) ... but instead i asked if he'd wanted more money, which he denied. he liked it too much to sell them now. okay.
disappointed, i left it as it was and went back home, dejected and at the same time, sorta breathed a sigh of relief, becoz i'd saved 1.2K, innit? ... but of coz a few days later, i blew near the entire wad on completing my Crazy Children-set (#1-6 for 1K SGD) LOL ... anyways...
if my muddled memory served me right, a short few weeks later, as i visited one of my regular toy-haunts (on my former Saturday Toy Runs), i spied on the top-shelves an entire set of Tom Kids on display! this time going for SGD$2,500 (double of what i might have paid for) ... upon closer inspection, i'd found out that 3 out of the set had their boxes signed by Michael Lau ... and i died a little bit inside ...
the coincidence was so subtle it slapped me like a cyclone. or mayhap he'd changed his mind "again"? or mayhap there really existed multiple versions of signed ML-toys?
i never did ask the perp more about the matter, nor have i kept in contact with him. until now, i cannot even remember his name, nor his face, actually (and im the one who bears grudges LOL) ... it was his choice not to sell in the first place, and i'd not been cheated of any money, had i? ... but i will always remember Tom Kids, and the phantom-feeling of missing an opportunity, or mayhap tis the unresolved fact that i was cheated out of my bounty instead LOL :p
the toys may be innocent, but tis their mortal owners that take away the joys of collecting with incidents like these. but i have to thank him, whomever he is/was, actually = for since then, i've never truly and fully trusted any living soul when it comes to toys-transactions (sounds dire, i know! LOL) and tho it wasn't that i've been cheated out of my money (becoz i didn't spend it, did i?), i have "learnt" not to take B.S. from anyone ~ regardless what whatever given situation would be. i have no tolerance for people who take me as a fool or an idiot, and hence does not deserve any respect due. but one thing remains unchanged tho = i may feel the need to confront and resolve any misunderstandings, but i choose not to. becoz why do, when you're not the one B.S-ing the other?
it's just toys after all :)
... and no, i still do not have Tom Kids in my humble collection ... and once in a while i still drop by the toyshop, and i would still see the Tom.Kids on the shelf, untouched ... or maybe this was the boon that the toygawds have granted me instead? heh.
