Chucky of Child's Play (left) & Spider-Man of Marvel Super Heroes (right)

How many who visit Penang know of the existence of the Penang Toy Musuem? Not many, I am afraid. This has to be Penang's "best kept secret". I too "stumbled" across it accidentally when a friend showed me photographs of the exhibits. Being an avid otaku and an avid comic magazines reader/collector I was intrigued and I told myself I had to visit it.

Penang Toy Museum

My opportunity came in July when I went to Penang for the Japanse festival of Bon Odori. Immediately after the festivities I went straight to the museum.

The humble building belies the wonders inside. Tucked away in Tanjung Bungah, in front Copthorne Orchid Hotel, it is reputed as the largest of its kind in the world, housing over 100,000 toys, dolls and others fun collectibles. It has also entered Malaysia Book of Records as the first toy museum in Malaysia and with the largest toy and figurine collection.

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The exhibits are a feast for the eyes and the creativity simply amazed me.

The museum was borne from a “passion for toys”, said its founder Loh Lean Cheang. He was inspired with toy collection after visiting the London Toy and Model Museum at the age of 19.

He bought his first toy, Popeye, in 1973 for £0.5 pound and over the next 30 years his collection grew and grew. Today, this entire collection is at the museum and it is immense.

Darth Vader of Star Wars (left) & Silver Surfer of Marvel Super Heroes (right)

According to Loh, some of his toys come from a rare limited edition that he acquired during his travelling around the world. One of the most expensive collections that he has is the 1.8m-tall Gundam robot from Japan, which cost about RM9, 000 (US$2,500).

Inside the 650 sqm space are various sections that include the Chamber of Horror, Chamber of Monsters, Chamber of Fantasy, Chamber of Comic Book Heroes, Hall of Virtual Reality, Hall of Rock, the Star Wars Collections and more.

Harry Potter (left) & Patrick Bateman of The American Psycho (right)

A walk through the museum is a journey of sights and sounds as each chamber/hall has its own sound effects and motion sensors triggered off movements among the exhibits.

If time were on my side I would visit the museum more often, and marvel at Loh’s creativity in giving us toy lovers such a paradise.

Author's Note:

Adrian Teoh, a college lecturer by day and an otaku (an avid fan of anime and Japanese comic books) by night, has been an avid comic reader since he was a young kid. His comic interest extends to Japanese manga including Dragonball, Fist of the Northstar, Samurai X, Saint Seiya and many more.

He started collecting comic books ever since he could afford them, starting in 1999 when he received his first pay check.

Adrian also cosplays ("costume role play" with participants dressing in costumes and accessories of characters from anime, comic books, etc.), starting with the Gempak Comics Event and has since been hooked on it. In 2005 he took up photography and this is another of his passion.

• Photos courtesy of the writer