"Is it hard to find toy soldiers?" Topic

I admit hat it has been a long time since I had to buy toy soldiers, but today at Target I looked in the toy department and couldn't find any toy soldiers, or G.I. Joes (or toy guns). Is this a PC thing, I can find numerous Star War toys but no military toys.

At target, it is PC. Hit your local Hobby Lobby or Michael's for toy soldiers.

I just gave a bunch of G.I.Joe's from the 90's away….

GI Joe's are on the downside right now. They didn't even produce a 50th anniversary figure this year. The market isn't there right now for him. The bubble burst for GI Joe around 2005.

I've seen classic plastic toy soldiers (about 40mm?) in grocery stores recently, just like when I was kid in the 60s.

Of course, you have to go pretty down-scale (think mom-and-pop) to find them. But they're out there.

Toys R Us, Hobby Lobby, various dollar stores for bags of plastic toy soldiers.

I've seen Force of Valor toys at Target and Walmart. Most guns I see in toy stores are Nerf types. The local Hobby Town carries bags of toy soldiers as does many of the Dollar stores.

I want to add, if you are looking for plastic toy soldiers, there's tons of them out there. They have expanded into zombies, pirates, etc. Toys R Us carries a lot.

Target must tailor their product selection pretty specifically based on store location. Ours has tons of "war toys", possibly because their aren't many options for toy shopping in town.

Not to mention bags and bags at the local Dollar Store

Thanks for the suggestions, we have a Hobby Lobby across the street, a Dollar store close by and a Walmart about 5 miles away, I'll try those. Our Target has almost nothing for men, no books that men would want and few men's clothes. But I was there with my wife and thought they would have some.

Yes,check the dollar stores.They also sell the bags fullof old Airfix WW2 knock offs.

Yes, Target and Wal+Mart tailor there selections and prices based on the location of the stores and customer base. Area's with a lower economic base will sell the same item cheaper than in an area where the population is better off economically.

It's been quite a few years since I walked down the toy isles in department and drug stores, looking at the availability of bags of plastic "army men". In my childhood these were nicely formed and hefty toy soldiers. The best of the best were by Marx. But they weren't cheap. The cheap variety were good enough. Then I noticed that the nice sculpts were gone and replaced by thin, almost flattened crap figures. Historical details were gone too. Junk toy soldiers. For a very brief spell I saw a return of the very same "old school" toy soldiers that I had as a boy, and I bought several bags of them for my boys. Alas, they went the way of almost all toys and are no more. I have not seen a reissue of those toy soldiers, only the crap, cheap, puny ones. But as I say, it's been quite a few years since I even looked. Maybe I will take a turn down the toy isle the next time I go shopping, and make a mission of exploration out of this for a while, then report back?…

I think the "crap" toy soldiers are chinese knock-offs of chinese knock-offs. Many of these ones are similar to the ones I had as a kid…except mine were much, much better and sharper detailed. Multiple generations of pantographed copies, in other words. Even those, however, are not as detailed as the ones my dad had as a kid (so these are dating back to the '50s).

Damon.

For quality, you almost surely have to search on-line.

Try Toy Soldiers of San Diego

sdsoldiers.com/openingp.htm

Also, Steve Weston Toy Soldiers.

plasticsoldiers.co.uk

This has always been my go to guy for anything plastic. He has the old school stuff as well as modern manufacturers.
link

Most of the army men stuff I see now are all different scales in the same bag. Im never expecting Perry quality, but some of the figures are just blobs.

Toy Soldier HQ
Toy Soldier Depot

Both have classic and new soldiers for sale and they are good companies.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

Don't forget to check the "Bargain" aisles near the entrance. One of my local Targets had small bags of very large army men (about a dozen per bag) for $3. USD
If you don't see them at yours, it's not a PC thing, it's a "what sells at this location" thing.

By the way, for some great, smaller scale squads, see if your Target has "Risk: Battlefield Rogue." Mine had this game on clearance recently. Not enough to beat a dollar store bag, of course!

I've found Halo and Call of Duty megabloks guys at our local Target, as well as of course tons of Star Wars stuff.

Don't forget to check the "Bargain" aisles near the entrance.

Yes, I too have seen toy soldiers in Targets "bargain dollar" section from time to time.

I'm not sure why people are so quick to assume its a "PC" thing. MOST places don't carry them; Toys R US carries them in big jugs (along with swell plastic dinos!), but their obviously larger selection gives them that luxury.

And yes, Hobby Lobby always has a pretty good selection.

Agree about the Chinese knock-offs, plentiful at Dollar Tree. But there are a number of sources along with the two excellent ones listed above.

Those I have seen at the Dollar Tree are of such abysmal quality, they are not even worth blowing up with firecrackers. Those molds must be a terrible sight!

The most popular toy soldiers these days are sold under the brand names Lego and Playmobil … They take up the role in the toy ecosystem of today that traditional toy soldiers had 100 years ago. Look at the function, not the form!

The classic 40mm toy soldiers are frequently available at the CVS drugstore I go to. Every once in a while at a local grocery store. This is in Raleigh,NC.

Of course you can order Conte!

Get with the Ultra-PC program, man.

Criminals are good, and guns are bad……….

Kids nowadays spend more time on Call of Duty than they do on plastic soldiers I think.

Gotta prep them young.

Another recomendation for Nick and DeAnna at Toy Soldiers of San Diego. Great toy soldiers and nicer people you will never meet. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of a couple sets of TSSD's new Mexican lancers for use with my Conte/TSSD Alamo.

Classic Toy Soldiers also deserves a shout out. Tons of variety.

What is at Toys R Us these days?
As an old man, I have not had a legitimate reason to go there for a few years.