Daddy Duty: Why are certain toys so dang hard to find?

Tim Walters
Florida Today
Isabella is all smiles after receiving a Paw Patrol toy during the holiday weekend.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw a commercial for the Transformers when I was a kid.

The year was 1984, and Hasbro was just releasing the Japanese-based toy line and a cartoon to match in the United States.

I was 7 years old. I loved cars. I loved robots. And Transformers had cars that converted into robots. Mind blown! I was hooked.

Tim Walters, USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA

This also was the time where toy companies were perfecting the art of creating cartoons with matching toy lines. (U.S. regulations had been eased on putting promotional materials into children’s programming).

Along with Transformers, there was G.I. Joe, He-Man and many others.

Each season the cartoons added more characters, which meant more toys, which meant more profit for the toy companies. Brilliant!

Here’s the problem: in 1984, Amazon.com and eBay didn’t exist. To find toys, your only choices were local retailers.

Some toys were extremely hard to find. My dad, always dogged and determined to reward me with the toy I desired, had an amazing way of finding even the hard-to-get Transformers.

I still have my entire Transformers collection, many displayed on a book shelf in my home office. They are beaten up, dusty, the stickers have peeled over time and some have become discolored.

Yet I still cherish them like treasure, because they remind me of a time when I was incredibly happy, and they make me think about my late dad, who looked as happy to give me a toy as I was to receive it.

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Today, not much has changed. Cartoons still have fun toy lines, and some in those toy lines are harder to get than others.

Here’s where modern-day technology comes into play: if I can’t find something locally, I can get it online.

But here’s where technology bites you: to get the toy that would have cost 10 bucks in the store, you have to pay much more for it on eBay or Amazon. I hate getting in bidding wars on eBay. I’m often shocked to see what someone will spend on a toy.

Another problem I run into is finding toys that aren’t in production anymore.

When my 4-year-old daughter Isabella became interested in the Disney “Cars” movies two years ago, I was lucky a third installment was coming to theaters, meaning new toys were being released.

But now she’s taking interest in other cartoons and movies that have been out of production or don’t have sequels. The only place to find those toys is online. And they are costly.

But even current toys can be costly.

I set out on a mission recently to find a $13 toy that I had seen in a Viera big box store a few weeks ago. When I went back to get it, it was gone. I looked it up online and the cheapest I could find it was $35.

Isabella plays with her toys on a recent Sunday afternoon.

I think this particular line is being phased out for new toys in the line. I checked around before biting the bullet and paying three times its worth online.

I checked several places locally, and finally, after much searching, I found one last week. When I saw it sitting on the shelf I felt like I had won the lotto. The store must have had 50 of the other characters, but just one of this one. And I got it. And I won’t be putting it for sale on eBay. I’ll be giving it to Isabella soon as a reward for good behavior in school and at home.

There’s no doubt about it: I get that same feeling giving Isabella a toy that my dad had giving me one. When I see her light up, I light up, too.

So here’s to all the crazy parents like me who go to great lengths to find toys for their kids.

We understand that to them, it’s more than a toy. It’s a friend. It’s comfort. It’s something that might be with them for the rest of their lives, reminding them of great times and beloved family members.

Walters has written the parenting column Daddy Duty since May 2014. Contact him at twalters@floridatoday.com