Thursday, June 4, 2009

ROTF Midnight Toy Launch @ Forum The Shopping Mall

My haul from the toy launch (L to R):
Sideways, The Fallen, Leader Class Optimus Prime and Sideswipe
The queue of people snaking around the shopping mall
Our queue numbers

Starscream, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee
A picture taken with Bumblebee

Early birds waiting outside TRU


Countdown to the Toy Launch
The stacks of jigsaw puzzles for our members

I attended the Midnight Toy Launch at Forum The Shopping Mall last Friday to show appreciation to Hasbro's support for TF.SG ROTF Fans Screening, as well as to distribute the goodie bags to our TF.SG members and I must admit I was utterly shocked by the huge turnout. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine thousands of Singaporeans thronging a shopping mall at midnight buying toys, but that was how the situation was like then. Madness.
I joined the queue around 8 plus in the evening with Grimlock bro and it was about 1030 when Toys R Us started their activities for the night with appearances by Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Starscream. Thereafter, there was also a TF-related quiz and I managed to get one of the questions correct for answering that the other name for G1 Jetfire was Skyfire. The prize I received was a TF Lanyard. There was also a speed transforming contest where the prize was a TF watch. A pity I didn't get the opportunity to participate in that.
When the countdown towards midnight approaches, there was an air of excitement and anticipation for shoppers outside the TRU store. Finally when the shutters went up, there was madness as everyone, young and old, rushed into the store and started sweeping toys off the shelves and into their shopping bags. Some of the shoppers were old hands and knew what were the hot faves, such that stocks of toys like Sideswipe, Sideways and The Fallen were quickly depleted in no time. Leader Class Prime was also a fave, but because of the plentiful supply and the prohibitive price tag, it was always available. With good fortune, I managed to secure The Fallen stacked neatly within the other voyager class items, and was beaming with pride when I overheard other shoppers mouthing in envy, "Hey, he's got The Fallen." I quickly paid for my items to avoid the queue that would soon form, and received a goodie bag consisting of an exclusive toy launch T-shirt, mug, guidebook, car decals etc. I then proceeded to distribute the complimentary jigsaw puzzles to our members and eventually only left the shopping mall around 2.30am, exhausted but thoroughly satisfied. :)