Wanted: Local Toystore(s) !!

damn..
i really find it hard to collect Star Wars action figures here in my area in the Philippines..
there's no decent toystore anywhere nearby, so all i can do is get my orders from other cities and have them delivered to my location..
the postage and the cost of transportation are almost the same, so i just let the couriers handle the delivery instead of picking them up by myself just so i can save time for other stuff - but the drawback is there's a possibility of losing your item in the process...

i used to order rare units from the US..
another reason aside from being 'rare' is that it's cheaper to get items there..
you just have to budget things properly, get a decent quantity of units, and they'll still end up cheap even if you add the international postage to your total cost..
but the local Customs has become more strict lately, and they seem to be putting more taxes and fees on imported goods..
as if they're actually doubling the amount that you have to pay..
and i think it's very unfair..
coz you work hard just so you can collect stuff which are not available in your country..
and the government is just making it harder for you..
can't they lessen the tax for packages that are non-commercial in quantity?
can't they get rid of the tax that they charge for the shipment of those packages?

it's not that we don't have any toystore in our province..
we have Toys R Us and Toy Kingdom in our local malls, but after the Star Wars 30th Anniversary line, they already stopped putting Star Wars action figures on their display..
it seems that there aren't enough buyers/collectors in this part of the country, so it's not practical to sell them here...

there are bigger malls in nearby cities..
but i find it impractical to travel and check on them one by one, and (most probably) just find out that they're doing the same thing like the toystores in my area...

it's a lot easier to find online sellers..
but they seem to take advantage of the situation..
usually, the more popular toystores would treat everything like they're just 'toys' in general, and would sell units around Php 500 which i think is just fair (though it's actually more expensive compared to western countries)..
but in the hands of local collectors/sellers, they tend to put 20% more for ordinary figures, and 60% or even higher than 100% for popular units..
another problem now is they tend to sell action figures as a set and not separately..
maybe it's because each wave is not entirely composed of likable characters, some may be very popular and the rest are just 'add-ons' to complete an entire set, so they find it hard to sell or dispose off the less popular characters...


for readers from the Philippines,
if ever you know of good toystores (anywhere near Metro Manila) that sells non-animated Star Wars action figures by Hasbro, kindly post a comment here..
i desperately need a Republic Trooper and an Emperor's Royal Guard...T,T