East Village Horror Collectibles Shop Shelf: Toy Tokyo

Toy Tokyo is better known for KAWS and blind boxes, but it doubles as a horror collectibles shop if you know which wall to scan. The store is at 91 Second Avenue, between East 5th and East 6th Streets in the East Village, and its Mezco and NECA horror figures sit among the designer vinyl and anime toys. Come for a Pennywise or a Michael Myers, and leave with something you did not plan on.

The website greets visitors as the official Toy Tokyo store and calls itself a trusted source for authentic KAWS collectibles, which tells you where most of the floor space goes. Brands on the menu include Medicom Toy, Be@rbrick, sofubi, Ron English, Funko, tin toys, space toys and prints. Horror is not the headline here, yet it is the deepest section of the figures aisle, built mostly on two American makers.

This fall the shop is selling a How2Work x Kasing Lung Labubu Candy Corn Glow as its Toy Tokyo 26th Anniversary Exclusive, listed at $145 and already sold out online. That candy-corn Labubu is a neat summary of the store: a designer collectible with a Halloween twist, made for one shop. The site is run by Toy Tokyo East Village Inc., the company named in its footer.

The rest of the menu explains who else shares the room with the horror fans. There are collections for Hot Toys, Star Wars, space guns, Demon Slayer, Dragon Ball Super, My Hero Academia and One Piece, plus a run of Toy Tokyo Funko exclusives. Horror collectors who also follow anime or sixth-scale figures can cover several lists in one visit, which is the real argument for this shop over a horror-only store.

Mezco Toyz is the line to look for. Its 6-inch Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) is $49.99, and the Living Dead Dolls presents versions of The Nun from The Conjuring 2 and the Bubble Head Nurse from Silent Hill 2 are $49.99 each. A Living Dead Dolls Ghost Face in zombie edition is also $49.99, so most of the smaller horror pieces cluster at that price.

The talkers and big figures cost more. The Mega Scale talking Pennywise from IT (1990), 15 inches tall, is $99.99, and the talking Good Guys Chucky from Child's Play is also $99.99. A 15-inch Ghost Face is $89.99, and the Halloween III: Season of the Witch trick-or-treaters boxed set is $120. The splurge is the Static Six Red Pyramid Thing from Silent Hill 2 at $325.

NECA fills in the slashers and creatures. The Halloween II Ultimate Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis two-pack is $79.99, which suits anyone recreating the hospital chase on a shelf. The Gremlins 2 Ultimate Brain Gremlin is $39.99, and the Brain Gremlin and Gremlin Demolition two-pack is $74.99. For something lighter, the 1988 Beetlejuice in his red tux is $29.99.

The Nightmare Before Christmas has its own collection, and it is the cheapest way into the horror corner. Funko Pop! Jack Skellington figures start at $11.99, a NECA head-knocker Jack is $39.99, and a vintage Sega Jack Skellington coffin doll from 1999 is $24.99. If you are shopping for a younger fan who is not ready for Leatherface, this is the shelf to point them at.

The store location page makes clear that the New York shop cannot answer questions about orders placed on the webstore, which run through a separate customer service team. If you are chasing a figure you saw online, call the shop to ask whether it is on the shelf, since the two are handled separately. The webstore team says it usually replies within 24 to 48 hours.

Shoppers who want a specific Mezco figure should name the character and the line, because Living Dead Dolls, Mega Scale and the 6-inch range can look alike in their window boxes. Do the same with NECA, where the Ultimate versions of Michael Myers and the Gremlins sit beside standard releases at different prices, and a quick question at the counter saves you buying the wrong one.

The Gremlins corner is bigger than most people expect. Besides the Brain Gremlin, the shop lists a Gremlins 2 tattoo Gremlins two-pack at $59.99, an Ultimate Greta from The New Batch at $39.99, and a Santa stripe and Gizmo set at $39.99. Rob Zombie fans can add The Munsters (2022) Little Big Head three-pack for $59.99, and two Fireteam Elite Aliens, the Prowler and the Burster, are $39.99 each.

Toy Tokyo sits on a stretch of Second Avenue that rewards wandering. Walk north and you reach St. Marks Place, still lined with tattoo studios, record shops and cheap eats, then Veselka, the Ukrainian diner on the corner of East 9th Street that has served pierogi to the neighbourhood for generations. Turn south instead and the Bowery and the Lower East Side begin a few blocks away.

Horror fans can finish at Village East by Angelika, the cinema further up Second Avenue in a former Yiddish theatre, where a late screening makes a fitting end to a figure hunt. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for showtimes and a walking route that strings the toy store, a diner stop and the cinema together without doubling back.

Address: Toy Tokyo, 91 Second Avenue, between East 5th and East 6th Streets, New York, NY 10003. Email: sales@toytokyo.com. Hours on the store location page: open daily, 12:30 pm to 7 pm. Because the store and the webstore answer different questions, use the phone for anything about stock on the shop floor.

By subway, take the F train to Second Avenue and head north when you leave the station, or take the 6 train to Astor Place and head east. Both are short walks, and the Astor Place route takes you past the Cooper Union buildings on the way, a useful landmark if you are new to the neighbourhood.