Collecting Trading Cards with TOYSREVIL
Collecting non-sport hobby trading cards in the 90s, predominantly orbited around existing comicbook shops in Singapore. I remembered (vaguely) initially baulking at the existence of "trading cards" while I had was collecting regular comicbooks (Comics Mart at Serene Centre), until curiosity got the better of me, and upon my first opening(s), managed to land a "chase card", and the seed started to grow, into eventual obsession that had lasted a decent decade...!
While there wasn't a word for it then, which we now know as "FOMO" ("Fear-of-Missing-Out"), I devoured whatever I could get my hands on via PREVIEWS pre-orders, and eye-balling new titles I had missed out on, not knowing specifically what it was I was looking at, which dedicated magazines such as "Non-Sport Update" helped fuel that desire.
You know when folks go on about the "little black book", filled with "secret numbers" to individuals ... but how about this?
One respect of the Trading Card Collecting hobby, is the collation of "sets", where personally for me, was more feasible to collect the “basic” set, compared to attempting to complete the “chase” sets.
Based off sequential numbers (found at back of trading cards), I had multiple hand-written booklets like this, where I denote WHAT exact number(s) I needed, to complete my basic sets.
I used to carry this booklet around with me whenever I visit shops which sold loose/single trading cards, forever flipping thru stacks of cards to find the needed number(s) to complete my set(s), back in the 90s. I have not done so since I stopped actively collecting trading cards in the early 2000s tho… but now that I am diving back into the hobby - even as I attempt to sell them via the TOYSREVIL-table at Miku Market, and even some online - I do feel the "itch" to collect again, even if it means completing my sets from the 90s...?
I started with single packs and single sets, then graduated to boxes, featuring multiple sets needing to be completed. Depending on the publishers, some boxes yielded more than a single complete set (Comic Images had multiple sets), while some do not even yield a complete single set (!).
It was a "fight" between collating "complete sets" and "completing chase cards", which the former winning out, due to sheer affordability and availability, although I'd realized I had been hoarding much more chase cards thru the years that imagined, which I am priming myself to make available via Miku Market in weeks to come...!
I oft ask myself; "WHY COLLECT TRADING CARDS?".
I was already knee-deep into comicbooks, so "naturally" comicbook-related characters and concepts naturally fell into place.
And by the mid-90s, I had started working and drew a salary, which helped fuel the expenditure. And with my obsession with feature films and started working at a local broadcast station designing stage/entertainment sets, the notion of collecting both comicboox-related and films-related trading cards became a nexus perfect to represent both my personal and professional life, to
Was it an extension of my passions for both comicbooks and films? But just in different sizes?
The allure of movie-related trading cards and the possible behind-the-scenes showcased (much like extras on the DVD, which I too collected), was as desirable as I had also collected making-of-film books.
Comicbook-related cards are sometimes literal replication of comicbook art too, but the allure are the pin-ups and covers, which sometimes showcase new interpretations and illustrations, which became "added treats".. at least that is my excuse.
Ever so often, I am introduced to comicbooks via profiles on trading card sets as well, more likely from the indie titles/creators, but "mass" enough to be made trading cards in the first place. In many ways appeals to me like "anthology" comics which showcased "samples" of art and story - much like a "mixtape" - all of whom this greedy guy relishes!
Whatever excuses and reasons I had come up with (and will continue to come up with :p), the simple truth is this: I COLLECT(ED) TRADING CARDS back in the day, and my spread seen at Miku Market and online, is a direct archive of my self0indulgent geek life in the 90s, before I "discovered" girls and clubs, and got "distracted" with adult life beyond my personal geeklife. I had stopped actively collecting trading cards since the early 2000s, until now where I have excavated my collection to be made available, cheers.
Andy TOYSREVIL
