Philippine collector amasses super-sized collection of fast-food restaurant toys
Philippine collector amasses super-sized collection of fast-food restaurant toys
APALIT, Philippines (Reuters) – From the age of 5, Filipino graphic artist Percival Lugue has had a ardour for gathering toys from fast-food restaurant chains like McDonald’s, Burger King and home-country favorite Jollibee.
Now, practically 5 a long time later, the 50-year-old has about 20,000 toys packed from ground to ceiling in his dwelling and holds a Guinness World File from 2014, when his assortment reached greater than 10,000 objects.
“The toy is sort of a storyteller in itself,” mentioned Lugue, explaining his interest whereas sitting amongst an eclectic mixture of toys in his three-storey dwelling.
“For instance, it provides me a glimpse of that individual interval once I received it, the story of what is going on on, what are the incidents which are hooked up within the acquisition,” he mentioned.
Lugue, who lives in Apalit in Pampanga, a province northwest of Manila, constructed his dwelling particularly to accommodate his assortment.
He likens the thrill that getting new toys provides him to Christmas morning.
He has all the time performed with the toys, however at the same time as a baby took excellent care of them and put them on show “in contrast to the opposite children, who would tear up their toys into smithereens.”
Whereas most of his toys have been obtained by means of private purchases, some have been donated by family and friends.
“I’d invite my pals to… have lunch at McDonald’s… and in a single sitting I’d be capable of full the entire set,” he mentioned.
One in every of his most treasured items is a “Hetty Spaghetti” figurine, a mascot from the Jollibee chain that his mom gave him in 1988.
His dream now could be to ultimately put his assortment on show for the general public and even open a museum to “give others an opportunity to revisit their very own childhood reminiscences.”
