Buying Geek Toys, Vintage Collectibles and Otaku Merchandise

A guide on where to buy geek toys and gadgets such as vintage comics, lava lamps, gamer shirts and action figures - locally and online.

Whether you are looking for the coolest geek gadgets or retro toys, there is an increasing number of places available that cater to geeks, nerds and otaku everywhere. This is just a brief introduction and guide to where to buy “all things geek”.

Shopping for Vintage Comics and Retro Toys Locally

Sometimes, you can stumble upon geek vintage at a flea market or a garage sale. However, if you are on the hunt for vintage comics or retro toys, there are several other places that could meet your geek shopping needs.

Comic stores, used book stores and some game stores sell new and used items. Perhaps the best place to find retro toys such as old Star Wars action figures, Super Nintendo® games and old comics is an antique store.Canadian collectors can find antique dealers in their area at Antiques Canada, while American collectors can search for antique shops on US Antique Dealer. Some antique dealers also participate in antique shows and toy expos.

Buying New and Retro Geek Toys at Comic & Toy Conventions

The Dealer Room Vendor Room is the place to go if shopping's your game. Vendors carefully select their treasure finds to match the clientele attending comic and toy expos. There, you can find vintage treasures, such as Snoopy lunch boxes, original GI Joe figures and old Superman comics. You can also find some of the latest geek toys, clothing and accessories, such as Pac-Man belt buckles, game shirts and geek badges.

Toy and comic shows in Canada are expanding yearly. Popular fairs include the The Edmonton Collectible Toy and Comic Show, The Red & White Calgary Comic & Toy Expo, Vancouver Comicon, Montreal ToyCon and the Canadian Collectible Toy Expo in Bulrington, Ontario.

Toy and comic fairs are alive and well south of the border as well. The Eckman’s Card, Comic and Toy Show is the longest continuously running show in the San Antonio area. Old Toyland Shows in Cleveland have been in operation since 1980. They specialize in old, obsolete, and collectible toys and models. Other annual comic and toy expos held in the US include the Sports Card, Comic, Toy & Collectibles Show in Pennsylvania, the CreatureCon Orlando Comic Book & Collectibles Show in Florida and the Chicagoland Entertainment Collectors Expo.

Buying Geek Toys, Gifts and Gadgets and Geek Shirts at Online Toy Stores

In addition to shopping at Amazon or eBay, there are a growing number of online merchants selling various items to help you master the art of “geek chic”. This is a short list of reliable online stores:

1. The Geek Chic (Canada): Founded in 2008, The Geek Chic Boutique offers a wide range of office toys, gadgets, games and geek apparel through their boutique in Fredericton, NB as well as on their online store. Popular items include the “It's not cartoons... it's anime” t-shirt, Nintendo® Zelda backpack, My Butterfly Jar and a USB MSN Missile Launcher.

2. Play-Asia (Hong Kong): Founded in 2002, Play-Asia is a leading online retailer of video games, DVDs, music CDs, geek gadgets and toys. The company caters to customers in Asia but offer selected items to international customers. Popular items include Pokemon Black, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix and LittleBigPlanet 2.

3. ThinkGeek (USA): Founded in 1995, ThinkGeek has mastered geek excellence. The company has earned an "A+" rating on the Better Business Bureau's website and received a Circle of Bizrate Excellence 2010 Award. Their human and canine employees list the following items as customer favorites on the company website: Bucky Balls Magnetic Building Spheres, Star Trek Enterprise Pizza Cutter and Biofuel Gourmet Caffeinated Popcorn.

4. Hobby Link Japan (Japan): A: Founded in 1995, HLJ sells anime and doll figures, scale models, anime items, toys, books, magazines and more to customers worldwide. Hot items include Sci-Fi Revoltech Mark VI (Iron Man), 1/72 Millennium Falcon and a DX Chogokin Macross Quarter.

Prior to shopping online, you should do your research. Read customer reviews, check the Better Business Bureau's reliability reports and read up on each retailer's terms, conditions and return policies.

Whether you want to buy a gift for your geeky friends, get your hands on the latest otaku plushies or track down your favorite retro toy, there are numerous places that can fulfill your geeky shopping needs. Antique shops, toy and comic expos and online toy stores offer a wide mix of gadgets, toys and clothing to suit geeks of all ages.

Originally published on Suite101.com on Jan 25, 2011. Updated June 23, 2013.

Grown Up Geek Messenger Bag Success

As some of you know, I've been looking for a grown-up messenger bag to replace my FMA bag. Even though I scoured my fave online geek and otaku stores and made a short list, none of them were screaming, "Take me home." Until last week. Last week, I stopped off at one of our local gaming stores, Imaginary Wars to pick up dice for my studio. I spied a Princess Leia purse. When the manager asked if I was looking anything specific, I inquired about grown up messenger bags. He pulled up the Chewbacca messenger bag.

From the understated brown colour to the embossed Star Wars logo, it oozes "grown up". However, to a geek, the strap is instantly recognizable.

The inside is pretty roomy as well. Decent pockets. Big enough to fit my netbook or my choir books and binders. Sturdy.

It's a keeper!

If your local geek store doesn't carry it, you can buy the Star Wars Chewbacca Messenger Bagon Think Geek (click on link) or Amazon.

Are you a Misodoctakleidist?

Trust me, you aren't the only one. If there's actually a fancy term for it, then this is more common than you think. "Misodoctakleidist" means...

...Drumroll please....

"Someone who hates practicing the piano." (Source: Encyclo)

What does this mean to you? Well, isn't it comforting to know that you aren't alone? However, just because you don't like it, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. If you want to learn a particular song, or if you're getting ready for a performance, competition, festival or exam, then you just have to - as one of my senior students told his junior - "Suck it up, Princess!"

The things that happen when you get one student to help another.

Thanks to my friend and colleague, Hetty Jagersma for the word of the day.

Exploring Japanese Independent Study

It's official, our Japanese language school is changing classes to Thursday nights next year. Several of my classmates are in the same boat as me: Thursdays just don't work. We could check out the continuing ed Japanese classes at MRU or the University of Calgary, but the timing may not work for all of us as a group.

To that end, we have been talking about getting together on a regular basis next year to keep up with our studies. One thing we'll have to really practice is conversing in Japanese.

We also discussed the need to get supplemental Japanese study materials.

This is another area that is worth exploring - online independent courses. Here are some courses that I've found:

Japanese 199 - Independent Study at UC Berkley

JAPAN 041: First-Year Japanese, Part 1 at BYU

DeWitt HS Japanese Independent Study

THWOMP Interview: On Fun and Food

In Part Eight of this exclusive interview originally published for Suite101.com, Brad Stanton and Dave Marshall of the Nintendo® cover band THWOMP chat about fun and food.

Inspired by the music of video game composers Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Koji Kondo (Super Mario Bros) and more, Nintendo® cover band THWOMP share their music with gaming enthusiasts young and old at various geeky events.

Brad and Dave from THWOMP took a break from their Animethon 17 and CD release preparations to chat with me when I was a Contributing Writer for Suite 101.com. In this final installment, they discuss cosplay, food and shout-outs.

When you guys to gigs, do you dress up as characters?

Dave: "We want to. It’s a lot of work."

Brad: "There’s so many other things we have to do to get a gig going. Especially during a convention show…We really, really want to have some wicked cosplay stuff, but we don’t ever seem to have the time to pull it together. We have done some stuff. We did the “mad scientist” thing at one show and wore lab coats and crazy glasses. That was pretty fun. We should resurrect that one day, maybe."

The group dreams of having a show big enough to warrant costume changes between sets. "It would be awesome, but you’d need a whole production crew to do that," said Brad. "Then you’d need a budget that’s three times as big as ours."

Asking THWOMP About Favorite Snack Food

Dave: "Sushi. It could be breakfast. It could be lunch. It could be dinner. It could be a midnight snack."

Brad: "Well then, how would you not pick sushi every time? There’s no other answer, now that sushi is available."

Brad admits to favoring salty foods. "Brad has this thing called the “salt lust”," explained Dave. "Where there’s a bag of chips open and they’re not long for the world."

Anything else that you want fans to know? Future fans?

Dave: "Just our website."

Brad: "Oh, I see you have THWOMP in all caps, all the time on the page. That’s good. That’s important...A lot of people write it in lower case and put an exclamation mark after it and that drives me completely insane."

Any shout outs? Anyone you want to say thank you to? Acknowledge?

Dave: "Jenny Chan of Otafest and Adam [Scheopp] from Animethon. And Shawn [Hansen] from Otafest too."

Brad: "Yeah. Those guys have been good to us...and all of our parents for buying us Nintendo®’s."

More About THWOMP

THWOMP is a Nintendo® band comprised of Calgarians Brad Stanton (lead guitar), Colin Mitchel (lead guitar), Scott Munro (bass), Scott Moffat (drums), David Marshall (keyboards/percussion) and Kirk McVean (keyboards).

In the fall of 2010, THWOMP will host its debut CD release party in Calgary, Alberta. Many of these classic NES video game tunes will appear on the band's CD.

Nintendo® cover band THWOMP share their music with gaming enthusiasts young and old at a variety of gigs. Their primary focus is to perform for enthusiastic fans at anime conventions and comic-cons; and they dream of performing at the Penny Arcade Expo. For more information about THWOMP, the band or to listen to audio clips, visit their website and Myspace page.

Full interview series: Part 1 – THWOMP’s Origins | Part 2 – Band Names & Niches | Part 3 – Songwriting | Part 4 - Hey! Listen! CD Release | Part 5 - On Gigs | Part 6 - Convention Gigs | Part 7 - Video Games | Part 8 - Fun & Food