Toy shopping in Hong Kong

Last month I was on vacation and had a great time trawling the many toy shops in the city. What do you mean that isn't a great time? Oh, yeah, forgot to mention. I collect toys.

Anyhow, what a happy accident we ended up staying in Mong Kok, one of the busiest districts and home to a lot of the shops I wanted to visit. Cheers to the folks who let me take pictures of their merchandise/venue.

There are a few places you really must visit, Richmond 111 being one of them. This little arcade has 4 floors selling mostly 1/6 figures, lots of tiny little outlets crammed with so many goodies. It's amazing I walked out without buying anything, but what can I say? I'm that kind of shopper.

My only complaint was one shop owner who labeled his merchandise rather deceptively. I thought HK$218 was too low for a Hot Toys Iron Man and when I asked about it, I felt like being spoken to by Comic Book Guy. Please work on your manners.

In's Point looked great, except that the place was shut when I got there. Oh dear. Lesson learned for next time, don't leave it too late at night. At my next visit, I came away with 2 mini Gundam display heads. Nice little gifts for a friend.

Now CTMA, another place full of little outlets, selling almost nothing but toys. It's worth mentioning two stores, Superman Toys and Toy Hunters.

The former sells mostly anime toys and kits. Amazingly, it's quite a big place in what seems like a small arcade.

The latter is the official Hot Toys store, not that much on sale but more a place for them to display their upcoming figures. Personally I've always been content to use the internet to keep track of new releases, but who can say no to a real brick and mortar store?

Onto the next place...