Mysterion the Mind Reader, one half of the celebrity mentalist act the Sentimentalists, is well known for the cabinet of curiosities he houses in his Toronto lair. But beyond the tribal skulls and freak animal specimens lies another collection of enormous proportions—his toys. A bedroom of wall-to-wall shelves houses Mysterion’s assembly of approximately fifteen thousand pieces, encompassing mainly action figures, along with some related playsets and vehicles, dating from the nineteen-twenties up to about 1990. To browse the display is to witness a century—and an alphabet—of popular culture heroes, villains, and oddballs: Annie, Buck Rogers, Captain Marvel, Darth Vader, the Fonz, Grover, He-Man, Pee-wee Herman, the Smurfs, Superman, and pretty much every professional from the golden age of the former World Wrestling Federation, to name just a few. “It’s like an alligator in the bathtub,” Mysterion said. “It’s going to grow to the size of the tub. When I got my first apartment, I got a two-bedroom. One bedroom was for toys.”
No mid-life crisis, Mysterion’s collection is a continuation of a childhood fascination. “I never stopped buying toys,” he said. “They’re something I’ve always navigated to, even as an adult. I worked at Zellers when I was fourteen. I’d make five twenty-five an hour, and each week I’d get my paycheque and buy three toys. In high school, I used to put notices on the bulletin board: ‘sell me your toys.’ ”
Mysterion’s toy-buying motivation, now, as always, is joy, not collectability or projected value. He rarely shops eBay, preferring the thrill of an unexpected flea-market find. “There’s nothing more wonderful than to rediscover something you used to own,” he said. “I once had a guy come over with a friend who looked like he’d just stepped out of a Mexican prison: face tattoos, his teeth were all silver, he was a dangerous- looking dude. Super nice guy. And when he went into the toy room, he picked up one of the little luchador wrestlers I had, and he started to cry, because it was something his grandmother bought him when he was a little boy. I was like, ‘You can have it.’ Toys are almost like magic.”
