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Is it just me or are toy aisles at stores in a sad state of affairs? I know that in the Target I went to today the toy department was just a shadow of its former self. It even seems Toys R Us who claims to be "The World's Biggest Toy Store" seems to be shrinking the footprint of its stores. I remember going to aisle 7C of TRU back in the 1980's and seeing a forty foot section of pegs and pegs of action figures I would have loved to have back then, but couldn't because of money reasons. But it seemed like that section went on forever. Now the sections are maybe 15'-18' long and really picked over. Not at all conducive to buying something for your kids or finding what you want. It's not just the toy seller's fault; it is the manufacturers as well. I look at Hasbro and it seems that all of their Star Wars action figures that they put out are just recasts of the ones that were put out back when the Clone Wars cartoon started. I understand that this was the way that the Star Wars toy line was done back in the late 70's and early 80's, but the lead time on action figures had to be long because they did not have the design processes like we have now. That's why it took about three years between each movie to put out the toys for that movie. At least we had new figures from that movie to go with the ones that we already had. Now all the figures are exactly the same from year to year and the only thing that has changed is the packaging. About the only redeeming thing in the whole of the Hasbro Star Wars line is that they decided to do mini vehicles (mini-Rigs) and some of those are rather cool. You get two action figures and a mini vehicle in the package. At least the mini-rig is a new mold (most of the time) and the figures are repacks that you don't mind paying for. I know there are four mini-rigs at the local Target store, and three of them I would love to own. (Who cares about the Trade Federation vehicle?) The Yoda Jedi Starfighter is the one I want to get first. Even though we have not seen Yoda fly a Jedi Starfighter I figure he would fly one anyway. There's also an AT-RT with new Deco and the Attack Dropship that looks something like the 501st Legion would have flying support as they land. It seems to me that the only company that has had any innovation in creativity in their lines is Lego. Sure you have the licensed stuff like Marvel Heroes, DC Heroes, LotR/Hobbit, Star Wars and so forth, but you also have the Lego City line, NinjaGo, Chima (Which when I saw it for the first time I thought it said China), Monster Fighters and other things that parents would find a lot less expensive for their children to play with. In the Lego City line for example, you can get a police station and play cops and robbers in your house without having to worry about the neighbors calling the police on you when you and the kid(s) are playing outside. (Do kids even play outside anymore?) The only problem I have with Lego is the price of their individually packaged minifigs. You pay $3 for a blind packaged minifig that, if you have a good enough sense of touch, can be cherry picked for all the good ones. Granted I only have bought three of the figures and can't seem to find two of them, but the one I got first and still have looks like Dr. Horrible from the "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog" that Joss Whedon did during the writer's strike four or five years ago. Looking at Minifigs series 9 I so want the guy in the chicken suit. Knowing me when I buy one package, I'll pull something like the Roman Emperor or Movie Starlet. Although Lego could be making a killing offering blind packaged army builder minifigs for something like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. That was probably not in the contract they signed to make the licensed stuff, but it is a good idea none the less. This just may be the rose colored glasses of age talking, but when I was a kid the whole world of action figures was so neat, but now as I have grown older, I seem to want to shun the new stuff in favor of the old stuff. That does not mean from time to time when my nephew gets older I'll not buy him the new stuff, but I will buy the new stuff with reminders to him about knowing the roots of how that Star Wars action figure came about.
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