05 September 2010, Sunday –I was skeptic at first to go to Toy Museum in Penang Island for I know I’ll surely miss my son, Gabby more. But heck, I decided to push through with my own “field trip” and thought that it’s better to check out the place so that when I get the chance to bring him and his mom over to Penang, I know our way out.
Imagine more than a thousand collectible toys under one roof! It’s far from Toy Kingdom and Toys R Us because toys aren’t for sale and no one is allowed to touch anything for they’re encased in mirrored racks nonetheless, my solo trip brought back so many memories not only from my childhood but from movies that I enjoyed watching.
Let’s start off with House of Horror toy collections: Bride of Chucky (1998), a 4th installment movie from Child’s Play series. Would you play with them? Hell, no! hehehe 
But honestly, my ultimate goal in traveling from our place in Butterworth to Penang Island by bus, ferry and a long trip via bus again was to see and to capture this monstrous dolls. I saw a couple of movies from its series and they were really freaking weird and scary.
It was fun seeing these horrific dolls at the museum. For unknown reason, they made my Sunday afternoon, LOL!
Hellrasiser (1987) and Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street (1984 and 2010).
The Crow (1994) and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).
Moving on with the more fun stuffs…
ET (1982), X men series (2000 -2009).
Matrix trilogy (1999-2003) : I love these Neo+Trinity movies!
Shrek (2001, 2004, 2010) : My family and I watched all Shrek movies; Gabby even has its DVDs; who doesn’t love this ogre?
He also loves watching Kung Fu Panda (2008) on dibidi dibidi.
Lilo and Stitch (2002) and of course, Mr. Bean...
Gabby also likes Monsters, Inc. (2001) while Tina and I are fond of watching Pirates of the Caribbean series (2003, 2006, 2007) over and over…
Some of the cartoons I grew up with…
Voltron (1984).
Toys and more toys : Pikachu, Naruto, Street fighters, Star Wars, Star Trek…
The Incredibles (2004) and everybody’s favorite, Harry Potter (2001 -2011).
IronMan (2008-2010) and Tomb Raider (2001)..
Spiderman and Silver Surfer from Fantastic 4 :
For girls and ladies, there are Barbie and Japanese dolls at the Toy Museum they’ll surely like.
There are several more toys on display including Disney’s Mickey Mouse, Looney Tunes, Garfield, Batman and others but I can only post as much.
I remember having GI Joe action figure collection during my wonder years but lost them in time.
Gabby has started building up his collection of McDonald’s Happy Meal toys and whatever pleases him.
Perhaps at this point in time, if there’s one group of collectible toys that I want to start buying for myself, or better yet would appreciate to receive as presents (ehem, paging family and friends!), it would be from Toy Story (1995 -2010).
Tina, Gabby and I simply love Toy Story series. The friendship between Woody and Buzz Lightyear is as classic as their movie’s theme. The series presented the importance of those junkie toys and issues beyond animation.
Although it took me half hour bus ride from Butterworth to Jetty (RM 2 or PhP 28 one way), 15 min ferry ride from Jetty to Georgetown (RM 1.20 roundtrip, PhP 16.80) and another 40 min Rapid bus ride from Jetty to Tanjung Bungga where Toy Museum is (RM 2.70, PhP 37.80 one way) and adult entrance fee of RM 20 (PhP 280), the experience of reviving wonderful memories with some of these toys and their movies was really worth it.
What are your favorite toys?
Enjoy your new week, everyone!
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Toy and Fantasy Museum is located in front of Copthorne Orchid Hotel, Tajung Bunga, Penang Island. Open daily including weekends and holidays from 9AM-9PM. Parking area is spacious and taxi cabs other than public airconditioned buses are also readily available near the entrance.
The FIRST 30 minutes of the movie were the most interesting. It was a clear-cut description of Wolverine’s life from a mere prepubescent until he was recruited by Colonel Stryker. Effects were edgy at the beginning credits especially when the brothers, Wolverine and Victor a.k.a. Sabretooth fought side-by-side in Civil War to establish the characters. Those scenes remind me of another Jackman’s movie, Swordfish where similar effects were used. Hugh Jackman was in his best element as he reprise the role of a mutant with metallic claws and regenerative abilities enabling him to heal rapidly. 
The Oscars is over and watching it on cable few hours back, made me realize how much my wife adores Hugh Jackman who hosted the 81st Academy awards. She admitted long before her admiration to this 40-year-old Australian actor among other celebrities & I think nothing’s wrong with it (?) but seeing her eyes glued to the TV every time he occupies the screen made me NOT jealous, or insecure but a bit ENVIOUS . (oops, that reminds me that envy is one of those deadly sins, tsk tsk tsk…) lol!
I admit he did a great job as the host of the Academy awards as he gave the show a new kick by spicing it up with his Broadway & Tony awards-like moves & tunes. I liked his engaging opening number that introduced the Best Picture nominees and ofcourse the broadway-inspired stint with Beyonce Knowles and the stars of High School Musical, Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron was indeed something. Jackman is the first Oscars host who is non-comedian compared to those who already hosted it. Nonetheless, he did well and really pulled off the show. 
Most of my date movies with Tina before starred her crush which include Van Helsing where Hugh Jackman played a vampire-buster, the helplessly romantic movie Kate & Leopold opposite Meg Ryan, Someone Like You with the pretty Ashley Judd, the flopped movie Scoop & even the cartoon movie Flushed Away where he lent his voice to the main mouse-character, & ofcourse, my personal favorites Swordfish and X-men movies. 
OPINION COUNTS…