SmartShanghai | [Covet]: Slugger Champions

[Covet]: Slugger Champions

By Morgan Short, Jun 25th, 2009 | In Shopping

"Covet" is a celebration of the mass accumulation of commodities. Basically, it's just seeing purchase-worthy stuff around Shanghai and purchasing it.

Item: Slugger Champions (broken)
Store: Loomoo
Price: 50rmb as is

Loomoo is a vintage toy store on Shaanxi Bei Lu, about a block and a bit north of Nanjing Lu. They specialize in recreations of tin wind-up toys circa 1950 or so. Their main items are variations of that Lost in Space robot (Danger! Will Robinson!), but they've got tin wind-ups in a variety of themes, including my favorite: the Slugger Champions boxing set (pictured above).

A classic match-up of black on white (and, to be sure, white on black), the wind-up Slugger Champions set is a powerful statement on the futility of racial conflict throughout the ages. The clunky wind-up mechanics metaphorically symbolize the perfunctory yet eternal cycle of racial violence, and the fact that the toy comes pre-broken engenders an even weightier metaphorical significance that we can't even begin to discuss adequately herein.

And it looks good on my shelf, right next to my "Most Improved Player: JV Soccer" and my mylar-bagged copy of "X-Factor #1".

At Loomoo it's all gear for adult collectors. Most of the packaging (including Fighting Champions) states "WARNING: THIS IS NOT A TOY. For adult collectors only". The tin toys are pretty sharp and most of them wind-up and wiz around, so I'm guessing they're trying to head lawsuits off at the pass. Loomoo also does non-nostalgia: t-shirts, Japanese toys, pins, notebooks, bags, and so on and so forth. There's lots of stores that sell "little neat toys and things" in Shanghai but at Loomoo they've got a real great selection.

Danger! Will Robinson! Asteroids! Bzzz!

And even if you're not looking to buy, it's still a good place to go and play around.

These are the kind of toys that come alive at night and get into adventures while everyone is sleeping.

Check Loomoo out on the web here. It's actually a really well done webpage so don't just disregard that link. Have a surf around.

Loomoo is at 348 Shanxi Bei Lu, near Nanyang Lu.