December 4, 2015
By Dance Aoki
In the weeks leading up to Christmas Day, the island’s toy merchants will be keeping their finger on the pulse of the most popular trends coming through Santa’s Workshop and doing their best to keep shelves stocked.
Kids across the island are making sure to remind their parents and the big man in red that they belong on the “Nice List,” especially when almost every toy store will be keeping Skyboards in stock.
The motorized wheels of Skyboards are reminiscent of Segways, but without the bulky handles. They’re as trendy and youthful as high tech skateboards.
Toy stores are also trying to ride the wave of excitement leading up to the release of the next Star Wars film, scheduled to hit theatres Dec. 18. Everyone is bringing in all of the toys associated with the spectacular science fiction epic.
Since the premiere of first Star Wars movie “A New Hope” in 1977, the toys inspired by the franchise have helped moviegoers of all generations keep their love for Han Solo, R2D2 and the Skywalker clan alive. When they couldn’t buy the toys themselves, fans would make them.
With a new generation of young Jedi’s and their parents anxiously awaiting the release of the film, a Christmas tree well-stocked with Millennium Falcons and light sabers will be appreciated by everyone in the family.
Another one of the biggest and most baffling trends currently filling toy stores is the Shopkins franchise. The Shopkins toys are tiny figurines of characters inspired by items found in grocery stores. The characters have big, expressive eyes, friendly smiles and adorable names like Aspara-Gus and Noni-Notebook.
In each Shopkins pack, a new character awaits, but the contents of each pack contain at least one mystery character. To find out more about what other people are finding in their Shopkins packs, search YouTube for Shopkins Unboxing videos.
KD Toys at the Micronesia Mall makes sure to keep all of the most recent electronics in their store alongside their toy selections since electronics prove to make great gifts for older kids and kids at heart. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus is one of their featured items this holiday season.
Toys R Us, also located at Micronesia Mall, will continue providing tried and true gifts for comic book fans of all shapes and sizes. Marvel Avengers continues to be a popular franchise among the island’s toy-loving families, with the new Marvel Super Hero Mashers that includes a group of characters from Marvel Comics that can be attached together to create one big character.
At Twinkles in the Guam Premier Outlets, you can find a special selection of Jelly Belly’s Bean Boozled game. This game of chance is perfect for kids with adventurous palates. With the flick of their wrist, the spinner wheel may command a player to eat one of Jelly Belly’s most delicious flavors, or one of their weirdest flavors. The only way to find out is to play.
