What's my story? Prepare yourself 'cause this is gonna be along one...
Toy collecting has been a hobby for many years now. Gunpla became my first real obsession back when I was in highschool when I came home one day to find out that my younger brother had bought a bootlegged 1/144 HG Heavyarms custom. Back then, Gundam W was airing (Filipino dubbed) and was all the rage with young otaku here, so I just had to get my own. Unfortunately though, bootlegs are the only ones readily available in the provinces, Bandai gunpla were only sold in malls in the greater Manila area, add to that me being a student from a middle class family at a time when everything imported is expensive, so there is next to zero percent of my acquiring one for myself.
I proceeded to collect the entire Endelss Waltz series, followed by the G-Unit series and a few of the original Wing series, all bootlegs. My very first Bandai, non-bootlegged gunpla is a 1/144 Wing Zero Gundam (my bro got the original Wing Gundam.) Then came Gundam X to the Philippines, and I got myself another non-bootlegged gunpla, a 1/144 Double X.
I continued collecting gunpla, mostly bootlegs since they are cheap and readily available, and ended up owning all of both my brothers' (I'm the eldest of four, with a sister and two younger bros) gunpla when they got tired of them. Then came Tamiya Mini 4wd's, Crush Gear, Beyblade, B-Daman, Zoids... and yoyos. When I finally got to work, non-bootlegged stuff became within reach, and my collection expanded from there. I like collecting stuff that you can customize, so I learned modding and painting practically through my hobbies. Crash B-Daman, Metal Fight Beyblades, and Nerf Guns added to my collection. I also had my share of airsoft guns (most damaged and given away).
I discovered Busou Shinki during some random net surfing years back, when they had just released Waffebunny... and I got hooked. Unfortunately, I didn't know where to find shinkis in the Philippines, especially since most Filipinos collect gunpla and action figures. I searched Manila's malls and Divisoria for figures, including figmas since I wanted a Miku figma badly. I ended up with my very first figma, Kagamiku (not Miku, but close enough
).
Then came October last year, and my bro discovered GreatToysOnline, a Philippine-based online store, and suggested that I visit there one time. I've been going to Festival Mall in Alabang for years and didn't even know it existed! And when I got there... BANG!!! I was in otaku paradise!
They only had one shinki then, Xiphos. I was looking for an Arnval, my first shinki love TBH (I was playing Battle Masters then). So when I returned a month later, there were new stuff in stock, and I got my very first shinki... my Wave 1 Strarf, Noir. A few weeks later, I returned there to get my second shinki, Espadia, followed by Lancamento in December. I joined BSW February this year, and the rest is history...
Here's where I stand now;
Busou Shinki: 7 (Strarf, Espadia, Lancamento, Howling, Zielbellen, Oorbellen, and Baby Razz)
Figmas: 5 (Kagamiku, Miyafuji Yoshika, Kos-Mos, Nakano Azusa, and Kuroneko)
Nendoroids: 5 (Miku, Akiyama Mio, Haruhi, Nagato and Mikuru, all bootlegs)
PVC Figures: 2 (Haruhi and Akiyama Mio, both bootlegs)
Gunpla: around 100 by now (lost count), not sure since I bought original Bandai gunpla to replace some of my bootlegs, and some scrapped for shinki parts
Tamiya Mini4wd: 3 (sold some cars a few years back)
Crush Gear: 7 (or more, if I decide to assemble the spare parts into whole cars)
B-Daman: 6 (customized)
Beyblade: 6 (mostly Metal Fight models, most of my old ones were destroyed long ago...)
Zoids: 7 (old wind-up models)
Airsoft: M50 Sniper Rifle
Nerf: had 7 (Secret Shot, Maverick, Nite Finder, Recon, Magstrike, Raider, Barrel Break), only SS and Barrel Break are left with me, nephew got the rest
Yoyo: 20 (yes, I can play...)