Boy toys

I stopped by the local Toys R Us today this afternoon to pick up some model paints--I've finished painting my Moria goblin miniatures and am eager to start on some Riders of Rohan. Unfortunately, the local Toys R Us carries no model paints--apparently little boys don't assemble and paint models anymore. However, you will all be happy to know that there was an entire shelf full of Decapitating Action!® Spawn© Collector's Edition Action Figures on prominent display.

So, disheartened by the absence of models or model paints, I decided to look for a bag of those green plastic army soldiers that have formed an integral part of the earthly possessions of every male child ever born. (Hey, I want to use them for a WW2 roleplaying game--a lot cheaper than actual metal miniatures!) But alas, those too are a thing of the past; the Toys R Us did not have any.

How depressing.

The only positive part of the Toys R Us trip turned out to be the GI Joe action figures there. I was pleased to see that they're apparently revisiting the 1980s-style little poseable action figures, and they actually looked pretty cool. I noted that they are also now selling Cobra foot soldiers (the generic blue ones) in packs of five instead of individually. This is a worthy solution to a problem I ran into as a child--how do you represent Cobra's teeming hordes of faceless troops when you only have one Cobra soldier? Fortunately, today's generation of GI Joe-playing boys will never face the horror of that question.