The last two days I've done a lot of Christmas shopping, which also means I've been browsing around the toy aisles. Christmas time is a good time for toys but it's a mixed bag for collectors. Toy companies usually amp up production but parents are there snapping up a lot of the good stuff too. Meeting somewhere in the middle is the fact that there are a lot of good sales.


Few toy companies do better than Hasbro when it comes to making holiday sales. Hasbro had a ton of GI Joe stuff out everywhere I went. I was pleased to see a lot of the newest wave stuff out there as well. The price on Joes are still all over the place though, with buy one get one at some stores, $7.99 at others and $5.00 elsewhere.


For the first time this holiday season I saw Mattel making a push at Meijers. They had these little case packs in the aisles. It was filled with Barbies on one side, Hotwheels on the other and Batman Brave & The Bold on the other. As much as I liked the fact that these Batman figures were readily available, I still can't buy them. I like the Joker, but the hexagon holes are too much for me to overlook. I wish Wave 10 DCUC Joker was this available.

Mattel's holiday presence has still been pretty weak, but at least this is a start.


On the DCUC front it was a bit of a mixed bag. That's new stuff from the Chemo wave which is good news, but it's mixed in with Wave 1! Of course having Chemo wave stuff doesn't mean much when it was all Guardians and Black Adam. Seriously, there were SEVEN Black Adams on the pegs as well as like four Guardians. Nothing else though.


One thing I noticed in abundance these last couple of days is dime store style toys. I haven't seen these kinds of toys in major retail stores in years, but it must be coming back this Christmas. Here's a whole section of Whoopie Cushions and magic tricks. A gag aisle? I love it.



Plenty of these things I guess to be stocking stuffers I don't know.


And look, rubber "life-like" reptiles! This could be the work of Imperial Toys or another similar company. Nice to see that this kind of junk is still out there to be bought and sold.


Even more surprising than those 70's toys were these toys right out of the 1950's! Check out these Buck Rogers inspired spark guns. I saw these at Sears in their new toy sections. For $4.99 these little guns can't be beat. Classic old school sci-fi.


And finally I saw the original toy, the spinning top. These are metal retro inspired tops. I had one of these as a kid. I think everyone did at some point. Sometimes you can't beat a classic.

That's it from the field this week, but if you're out there shopping, you never know what you might find and I'll be sure to report in on what I see with TALES FROM THE TOY AISLES!