The Christmas Toys Thread

[Frezzato]

I was looking through some Amazon Gold Box deals and ran across this toy line, Paw Patrol, which I guess is either made by Nickelodeon or has some corresponding show--well, after a cursory search I can only find footage of simple games made for kids. Quite inane, but still, it's for kids...

Anyway, I couldn't help but notice just how cool the toys are. Just look at this stuff [https://www.amazon.com/Paw-Patrol-Mission-Patroller-Exclusive/dp/B01MZXSSD6/ref=lp_17416204011_1_3?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1512553388&sr=1-3]. I mean, okay, so it's a dog piloting an airplane, but the design is so

Spoiler: neato:

NEAT! [/spoiler]

[spoiler=rant]
It has a transparent, opening canopy, lights and sounds, plus it's a tilt rotor [https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81Wr3cHtFzL._SL1500_.jpg] design which you activate via the button on the handle. And there's a ramp in the back for more--err--cop dogs I guess? I dunno.

Also, the ex-military side of me can't help but notice certain design elements that have gone into this toy. The rear ramp and rotors hint at the functionality of the V-22 [http://www.boeing.com/resources/boeingdotcom/defense/v-22_osprey/images/v_22_gallery_med_02_960x600.jpg] Osprey. And the stubby vertical stabilizers look [b]very[/b] much like the twin tail [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/F-35A_flight_%28cropped%29.jpg/1200px-F-35A_flight_%28cropped%29.jpg] on the F-35 JSF.

Man, if I was a young psychopath I would have likely stabbed another child in the arm with a pencil for this toy.

Then again, maybe not. I probably would have dismissed it as something from a kids' cartoon and just ignored it. Maybe if I were five I would have loved this thing. Either this or the related dog-driven emergency services vehicle [https://www.amazon.com/Paw-Patrol-Mission-Cruiser-Vehicle/dp/B01JA24DZ6/ref=pd_bxgy_21_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01JA24DZ6&pd_rd_r=50M3H41JYEFJJ0BT6C2G&pd_rd_w=yS9EP&pd_rd_wg=HcmnF&psc=1&refRID=50M3H41JYEFJJ0BT6C2G] that's also on sale.
[/spoiler]

What toys do kids want nowadays? What toys do YOU want nowadays? Are toys even still a thing?

 

[Scarim Coral]

I have no ideas what kids are into these days in terms of toys.

If I was more into Legos like some adults, I would had so totally bought these-

Spoiler: Yoda Starfighter

I don't know why but I saw it one day at a store and for it being ?20 it seen cheap to me. Also it's not a random buy per say as I know it was from The Clone Wars show.

Spoiler: Ninjago Drragon

Yes I've watched the Ninjago movie (least favourite of the 3 LEGO movies so far) and yeah, it is rad! For it being ?40 isn't bad per say since I've seen other Lego set that cost more than like that Poe X-wing! I'm quite suprised that the other Ninjago team mechs are also around the same price too!

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Huh...that doggo/aircraft combo reminds me a lot of Jet Force Gemini. All the dog needs now are hoverboots and a back-mounted gun.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

I didn't have too many toys growing up. Especially not cool stuff like space ships or neat stuff like that.

I used to use a broken N64 game cartridge as a space ship. For some reason its general shape enabled me to pretend it was a Snowspeeder? Maybe because I loved Shadows of the Empire so much and that came on a cart.

So yeah, just about everything that kids CAN get nowadays looks cool as hell to my younger self. I say can get because I don't really know any kids that care about getting these toys. Of course, the only kid I see regularly is my really young sort-of step brother, which you can get him a damn eraser topper with Paw Patrol on it and he'd like it. Just get him whatever has his favorite TV shows slapped on it and he'll claim it.

As for myself, Christmas was stupidly complicated anyway. The things I did want I couldn't get. Not because of price or rarity, but because my father (and various other members of my family) constantly locked out certain things if I expressed interest in them. Yeah, you got me on how that made any sense.

Video games? Nope, stop asking for video games. "You got enough" they'd say, while I had 5 PS2 games all of which I'd beaten several times. Not sure how they thought video games worked.

Pokemon? Nope, stop asking for Pokemon stuff. "You got enough" they'd say, while I had one Pokemon game and three chewed up figures.

Toy cars? Nope, sto--ehh, you get the idea.

It's no wonder eventually I just started asking for gift cards so early.

This trend continues to this day with my father.

I was told "No video games, no computer parts, no figures, no gift cards." You know what? Just forget it. If you're going to ask what I would like and then tell me I can't get it, then just get me socks or don't even worry about it.

 

[Vrex360]

Luckily both my nephews are too young to want Xboxes or anything like that so I can probably get away with giving them some dinosaur toys, given I volunteer at a Dinosaur exhibit going on right now in my spare time I get 30% off on gift shop merch so that's pretty easy.

Though my thing is I'm not going to get any 'mainstream' dinosaurs for them. No T-rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurs, Velociraptor, Brachiosaurus, Pterosaur and Plesiosaur/mosasurs.

Nah I'm going for the lesser known 'hipster' dinosaurs. In the hopes that one day the boys actually google them and learn things.

Bring on Acrocanthosaurus, Amargasaurus, Tuojiangosaurus, Deinonychus, Therinzosaurus, Styracosaurus, Polecanthus, Australovenator and so on.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Bring on Acrocanthosaurus, Amargasaurus, Tuojiangosaurus, Deinonychus, Therinzosaurus, Styracosaurus, Polecanthus, Australovenator and so on.

What about a trip to the zoo to see a cassowary?

Spoiler: Cheese...!

As for toys, I'm all about boardgames. And if you give me a lot of tokens, plastic bits and wooden meeple to playwith!

Like Terra Mystica or Archipelago.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Christmas shopping for my nieces is the first thing that has successfully made me feel old. I have no idea what's popular with kids these days.

Last year one of my nieces was obsessed with Paw Patrol. So I did a little bit of research on it. I watched some episodes, taking note of her favorite character (Skye), I looked into which toys in the line were popular, and when I checked with my sister before her birthday to make sure I wasn't going to be buying things that she'd already bought... I found out that my niece no longer cared about Paw Patrol whatsoever, because apparently she's all about Octonauts now. /sigh.

I now have a much, much greater appreciation for my parents' efforts to stay current on what the popular toys were when my sister and I were little.

Also, that Paw Patrol jet actually is pretty neat. When I was little, I loved military aircraft. I used to beg my dad to take me to airshows, and one of my favorite toys was this camouflage F/A-18 Hornet that came out with the movie Independence Day. Its engines would light up, it made sound effects, it fired little missiles and dropped little bombs, it had a few places where you could pry pieces off of it to expose little battle damage decals underneath, and was just generally pretty rad.

Spoiler

EDIT:

Off-Topic, but does anyone here actually do their toy shopping in person rather than online? When my sister had her daughters, I started out looking for toys for them in person at the same local Toys 'R Us store that my parents used to take me to when I was little. I figured that I could find out what was popular based on what had the biggest displays, and maybe get some help from the store's staff. What I got instead were a ton of dirty looks from people, including the staff. Apparently being an adult in a toy store without a child in tow is a faux pas? That seems absurd around Christmas time. It was easily one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my adult life.

 

[SupahEwok]

I'm a man. I don't have toys. I have tools. Me mucho grande macho!

In all seriousness this is the first year I didn't wishlist any games or lego sets or anything. Mostly just building up my kitchen, international food cookbooks, some regular books, Unforgiven and Once Upon a Time in America. I've got some parts I need to build an aging chamber for sausages and cheeses on there, but way far down, since I don't know if I'd be able to fit the whole thing where I'll be living for school (and I'd need a whole new set of bowls, molds, and pans and pots for the cheese making, which is a couple hundred extra dollars of investment and storage space needed that I don't want to dive into right now).

Although, a friend just told me that the SNES mini actually comes with games on it, and the lineup is very nice. I might pick that up for myself.

 

[Auron225]

I'm pretty sure toys are still a thing (as popular as ever for the very young kiddos), but kids are using technology earlier and earlier now. You can get those toy tablets that just have games and stuff on them... which I'm not sure I'd consider a toy exactly.

I think Lego is as popular as it ever was, so that's something.

A while back, an uncle of ours got an iPad for my cousin for Christmas. This was back when they were fairly new... and also our cousin was like 3 years old. We were all just confused and kinda sad that he had apparently skipped on from toys to tech stuff so young. He didn't even know what it was - he called it a "big phone".

 

[Frezzato]

snip

I, uh...yikes. If it's any consolation, I didn't receive a ton of toys when I was a kid, but what I received I treated like gold. It's one thing entirely when you receive exactly what you wanted, but to receive something--anything--would brighten some kids' lives sometimes. All I can say at this point is, now that I'm older, all I want to do is give presents, not receive them. In a way it's kind of like showing off, as if to drive home the point that I really was listening to said person many months ago when they were rattling on about something about Twilight or Steven Universe.

.

snip

I just looked up Octonauts and it's equally AMAZING. The quality of toys nowadays is, at a minimum, tenfold better than when I was a kid. I guess they'd have to be in order to compete with vidya games and...Nickelodeon? I don't even know what channels kids watch now. Probably just unboxing videos on YouTube.

.

...

Although, a friend just told me that the SNES mini actually comes with games on it, and the lineup is very nice. I might pick that up for myself.

I'm just gonna leave this right here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3PCskAVCi4].

Also, as someone who just today repaired my own electric clothes dryer, I'm sending you a high five.

 

[DarthCoercis]

I manage a toy shop, so you'd think I could give grand insight here, but I really can't, outside of generalities. Stuff you'd expect like Superhero toys, Harry Potter stuff, pokemon, lego, transformers and whatever merch from the latest kids' movie is around are the most frequent sellers. I haven't seen anything to suggest there's a "must have" toy for kids this year.

A lot more have been asking for board games, science experiment kits and semi-educational stuff than I've experienced before though, to the point where I had to make a 2nd order with my suppliers.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

A lot more have been asking for board games, science experiment kits and semi-educational stuff than I've experienced before though, to the point where I had to make a 2nd order with my suppliers.

Any particular board games more popular than the rest? My mom wanted to buy some board games for my nieces for Christmas, but she had no idea what's even popular these days. She had a stroke a few years back, so she's reliant pretty much entirely on TV commercials because she can't really go out much anymore... and there don't appear to be too many commercials for board games.

Right now she's mostly just re-buying all the same games that she bought for my sister and I when we were little.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

Just give me lego and I'll be happy

Nah I'm going for the lesser known 'hipster' dinosaurs. In the hopes that one day the boys actually google them and learn things.

Bring on Acrocanthosaurus, Amargasaurus, Tuojiangosaurus, Deinonychus, Therinzosaurus, Styracosaurus, Polecanthus, Australovenator and so on.

Baryonyx was always my favourite, personally

 

[DarthCoercis]

Any particular board games more popular than the rest?

Carcasonne, Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, Above & Below and the Zombicide series have been the biggest sellers for board games.

Exploding Kittens, Superfight, Cat Ladies, One Night Ultimate Werewolf/Vampire/Alien and Boss Monster 1 & 2 have been the fastest selling card games.

 

[Vrex360]

Just give me lego and I'll be happy

Nah I'm going for the lesser known 'hipster' dinosaurs. In the hopes that one day the boys actually google them and learn things.

Bring on Acrocanthosaurus, Amargasaurus, Tuojiangosaurus, Deinonychus, Therinzosaurus, Styracosaurus, Polecanthus, Australovenator and so on.

Baryonyx was always my favourite, personally

Mine was always Allosaurus (outside of T-rex which always wins no matter what), don't know if that's really 'obscure' though because while there's never been a mainstream Hollywood movie in which it plays a starring role, it's also pretty well known.

 

[pdrake]

Finding the best toys is difficult since that market is loaded with a lot of toys. There are some guides to consider at Kids Toys Top [https://www.kidstoystop.com/best-toys-for-boys/] depending on their age, so you might want to check that out as well. I hope it helps.