Entry tags:

msn messenger collectible toy

Life: The MSN Messenger points game

The FamilyMart convenience store franchise seems to have expanded since I left Taiwan in 2004, at the expense of the mom and pop stores that open 24 hours.

It is also running a toy exchange promotion, just like 7-Eleven did before it when I was last in Taiwan in December/January 2008. While 7-Eleven offered little Doraemon toys in exchange for points on stickers that you accumulate with fairly large purchases, FamilyMart is doing MSN Messenger pens. Each pen collapses on itself to turn into the familiar squat MSN Messenger mascot, only decorated in the manner of modern collectible toys.

Buy NT$66's worth of goods at FamilyMart, and you get one sticker in exchange. Paste ten of them onto the cards provided, and you can exchange them for a box which may contain one of six designs, or alternatively, you can get a pre-specified drink or a snack for free. The toys are a lot more fun, of course.

Each design is named and has the signature of its designer on the back of its head. The artwork is pretty detailed, though I had expected a harder type of plastic than the vinyl-ish stuff used.

I managed to exchange cards for three pens, and had nearly completed a fourth before we left. Oh well. Getting a coffee girl, a traditional Chinese girl, and a samurai guy pen isn't too bad.

I had hoped to get My Melody toys from Hi-Life the last trip, but we generally ended up at 7-Elevens. Hi-Life is now doing a tofu character toy which I'm not familiar with, and I only managed to get two stickers anyway, too few to get anywhere near an exchange.

7-Eleven was more of a let-down this trip as they weren't doing any more toy exchanges. Instead, you enter your receipt number into their iBON e-commerce kiosks for an instant lucky draw. I never had the time for that, and ended up passing all of my 7-Eleven receipts over to the Yus instead.

This picture belongs to the Taipei 2007/2008 set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shimmertje/sets/72157603670795470/