A visit to the Penang Toy Museum "World's Largest Toy Museum" Part 1

Claiming to be "The World's Largest Toy Museum", the Penang Toy Museum houses over 100,000 toys, dolls and others fun collectibles. It has entered Malaysia Book of Records as the first toy museum in the country and it has the largest toy and figurine collection. The Penang Toy Museum is located at Jalan Tanjung Bungah, Penang, Malaysia in front of Copthorne Orchid Hotel. Pretty easy to find if you just follow the road leading to Batu Ferringhi.

I've just visited the Penang Toy Museum yesterday. I think the building originally was designed and used as a nightclub / bar with an Egyptian theme because there were Mummy statues, Egyptian hieroglyphs and other icons related to ancient Egypt. Even the toilets have an Egyptian theme. Why do I say that it used to be a bar / nightclub? There are the existing structures like bar counters and high and narrow table tops for putting your drinks all facing inwards and surrounding the now non-existing dance floor. The bar stools and counters have all been removed and replaced by metal racks that house the toy figures. A thick perpex / acrylic cover is secured to the front of the racks and acts as a protecting screen between the toys and visitors.

The Penang Toy Museum is full of plastic action figures / toys! I've never seen so many toy figures in my life (it's MASSIVE) and it is truly an eye opener and made for a most memorable and interesting visit. The sad thing is, the owner had neglected to care for and maintain the toy displays and layers of dust have accumulated over time and some of the displays are even covered by dust. No effort has been made to clean the displays even though visitors pay a fee (RM20 per adult) to view the exhibits. Some of the figures have fallen over and toppled onto other figures displayed and they have been left there as they are. It's a pity because it would have been a more pleasurable experience if the owner had bothered to pick them up and re-pose them and clean the shelves of the dust. It's almost like a toy GRAVEYARD than a museum because of the sad state of the toys and displays. The place also stank because of the stale air and poorly maintained condition including smelly toilets. If the owner was a true collector, he would have taken more care of his toys and the place instead of just collecting money and not doing anything about the slowly decaying conditions :(


Nonetheless, let's get on with the show. You get to view most of the exhibits here on the TOY HAVEN blog without having to endure the not-so-pleasant conditions :) First, let's start with the Chamber of Horror where toys and movie merchandise produced for Horror movies are displayed. Click on the pictures for a bigger and better view ;p

Click on the picture for a bigger and better view :)

The Nightmare Before Christmas, often promoted as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, is a 1993 American stop motion musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. The genesis of The Nightmare Before Christmas started with a poem written by Tim Burton when he was a Disney animator in the early 1980s. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from "Halloween Town" who opens a portal to "Christmas Town". Walt Disney Pictures decided to release the film under their Touchstone Pictures banner because the tone was rather dark for children. The Nightmare Before Christmas was met with critical and financial success.

Pictures are better viewed in a LARGE format :) just click

Corpse Bride, often promoted as Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, is a 2005 stop-motion-animated fantasy musical film directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton. It is set in a fictional Victorian era village in Europe. Johnny Depp led an all-star cast as the voice of Victor, while Helena Bonham Carter (for whom the project was specially created) voiced Emily, the title character. Corpse Bride is the third stop-motion feature-film produced by Tim Burton (not including his short film Vincent), the first two being The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.

Some close-ups of the cast of characters which include: Johnny Depp as Victor Van Dort, a shy and socially awkward young man AND Helena Bonham Carter as Emily, the Corpse Bride, a vulnerable and charismatic young woman. Both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter will act together again in Tim Burton's 2007 black comedy horror musical film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Pictures are better viewed in a LARGE format :) just click

Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley.

Other famous movie monsters made into toys include Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), The Wolf Man (1941) and Dracula as well as The Bride of Frankenstein.

Alice Cooper, Edward Scissorhands and Alice Cooper figures

Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists (Murray, Aykroyd and Ramis) in New York City, who start a ghost catching business. It was followed by a sequel, Ghostbusters II in 1989, and two animated television series, The Real Ghostbusters (later renamed Slimer! And the Real Ghostbusters) and Extreme Ghostbusters.

Click for a bigger and better view :)

Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise based around several animated television series and related works produced from 1969 to the present day. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears in 1969. This Saturday morning cartoon series featured a talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo and four teenagers — Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers — who solve mysteries by exposing seemingly otherworldly ghosts and monsters as non-supernatural criminals.

Part II: 1/6 scale 12-inch action figures as well as some of the larger than life statues seen at the Penang Toy Museum.