The Monday after Thanksgiving has been dubbed “Cyber Monday,” because, in past years, that’s one of the busiest days for internet shopping. Some suspect that this is because people go to stores to see items, then wait until they’re at work so they can find them cheaper online. There’s also the idea that people are ordering stuff at work so that nosy loved ones can’t snoop on their browser history.
Whatever the reason, on Monday many online retailers are offering really good deals or free shipping or all kinds of other perks, and since we try to suggest cool gift ideas that other blogs and websites don’t mention, we’re going to give you a quick guide to ten offbeat online retailers who have a wide variety of cool gift ideas that will make you look like a genius this holiday season. This is the 2017 PopCult Gift Guide Cyber Monday Preview:
American Science & Surplus
American Science & Surplus has been around for decades and publishes one of the most entertaining catalogs on the face of the Earth. They sell surplus items that include electronic components, gadgets, tools, toys, military pouches, cooking supplies, art supplies, pop culture oddities, educational materials and anything else they can get their hands on, cheap.
This is a great place to find gifts for the science enthusiast on your shopping list. They sell all kinds of motors and lights that can be used for home robotics. They also have military suplus gear that can be repurposed into all sorts of things. And where else can you find a three-foot-long test tube, listed in their catalog as “Test Tooooooooooobe?”
The American Science & Surplus website is the first stop for gag gifts, or “different” ideas for the “different” people on your holiday shopping list.
Archie McPhee
Archie McPhee is another online retailer that produces a great catalog. Originally a surplus novelty house, back in the 1980s, Archie McPhee quicky exhausted their supply of weird stuff, so they had to start making their own. You find products created for Archie McPhee under their “Accoutrements” label all over the place now, but if you want to go to the source, visit their website for a wide selection of things like rubber horse heads, super librarian action figures, squirrel underpants, chicken-flavored candy canes and stuff like that. It’s fun, and perfect for the person on your holiday shopping list with a healthy sense of the absurd.
Retro A Go Go
Retro A Go Go just makes cool stuff. Whether it’s jewelry, T shirts, parasols, tin signs or giant Ben Cooper Halloween masks that you can hang on your wall, this is THE place that just epitomizes coolness. You can find designs by Mitch O’Connell, licensed Ford and Chevy stuff, Monster stuff, Betty Page clothing and decor and all sorts of the coolest things on their planet.
Visit their website for the perfect gift for the coolest person on your holiday shopping list.
Cotswold Collectibles
Full disclosure: I’m friends with some of the folks who work here. Who wouldn’t be? I buy tons of their GI Joe-compatible figures, toys and equipment every year. Cotswold Collectibles carries a great assortment of vintage GI Joe and Action Man items, ranging from the 1960s to the revival toys in the 1990s and beyond, and they also make their own Elite Brigade items that bring back the glory days of The Adventure Team and also veer into the military side of things.
Lately Cotswold Collectibles has reached out to import terrific new 1/6 scale items from Spain, Brazil and France and they also offer a great selection of products from Dragon Models, Sideshow Toys, Hot Toys and many other top 1/6 high-end companies. If you have a collector of the original 12-inch GI Joe action figure on your holiday shopping list, you need to shop at Cotswold Collectibles.
Figures Toy Company
If the adult action figure collector on your list is just a little bit younger, you may want to visit Figures Toy Company, who are currently creating an insane amount of MEGO-style 8-inch action figures. Their bread-and-butter are their DC Comics figures, and the offshoot Classic Batman TV Show figures, but they also create 8 and 12-inch figures of KISS, The Monkees, The Three Stooges and several other pop culture icons.
In addition to that, they also make wrestling action figures in the same scale as the popular WWE figures. You can find Ring of Honor figures of A.J. Styles and Kevin Steen (Owens) from before they joined WWE, and several independent and legendary wrestlers.
But the real meat of the Figures Toy Company website is the MEGO style stuff. Not only can you get classic DC Comics figures (tons of ’em), you can also get carrying cases and reproductions of the MEGO Batmobile, BatCycle and Mobile Bat-Lab. If you have a MEGO collector (or indie wrestling fan) on your shopping list, Figures Toy Company is the place to go. They even offer a MEGO-style Santa Claus!
Check out the second half of our Cyber Monday Preview after the jump…
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