Taipei Toy Shops

Taiwan is becoming more and more important in the Asia toy scene. In addition to the yearly Taipei Toy Festival, there are frequent collaborations and exclusives between Taiwanese companies and companies from Japan, Hong Kong, and elsewhere. Plus, Taiwan is the home of some great designers like Mark Chang and BB Birdy.

Many of the best shops are located in the Eastern part of the city. They're all within walking distance of the Ding Hao department store (pictured above). To get there, take the MRT to the Zhongxiao/Dunhua station and get out at exit 11.
Monster Taipei is one of the city's main toy stores. It's located on the 3rd floor of the Ding Hao department store. MT carries all kinds of stuff, from Star Wars to designer toys to a bit of kaiju. The owner of the store, Jen Huang, is also the force behind the Taipei Toy Festival.
Pics from the shop:

A couple of minutes' walk from Ding Hao is Hot Dog Toyz. They carry a pretty wide range of toys and have a ton of small blind boxed series (including a mountain of CI Boys!) Also lots of Bearbricks, US toys (like Spawn, Simpsons, etc) and some Japanese toys, like Bandai kaiju. Pics:


Kikaida in da hizouse!
Finally there's Paradise, which is about a minute's walk from Hot Dog. They're the newest of the lot, but in just a few years they're really made a name for themselves. Paradise has a close relationship with Spanky (out of Nagoya, Japan) and have put out a bunch of exclusive Wonderfulman shirts and toys. Plus, at this year's TTF, they had some of the show's best exclusives, including a Joe Ledbetter Gamerita and T9G Rangeas. Pics:

Taiwan is well-worth visiting, for its food, museums, tea, night markets...and toys! ^_^