'Twas not the season for some action figures, other kiddie toys

TAMPA -- The bike selection was slim by early Wednesday afternoon as moms and their children looked for ways to spend the kiddies' Christmas loot. Video games displays, too, were all but swept clean.

But music-loving youngsters could still put their hands on a Jerry Garcia action figure. For $14.95, it even came with a tombstone-shaped base that spurted licks from the dead musician's guitar.

Garcia appeared to have joined Harley-Davidson Barbie in this year's land of misfit toys.

Sales figures soon will reveal the true top sellers of the holiday shopping season. But a visit Wednesday to the Toys "R" Us on N Dale Mabry Highway, with its yet-to-be replenished shelves, revealed some of the not-so-hot picks.

Garcia, late of the Grateful Dead and father of music's psychedelic era, might have seen some humor in his company. Along with Barbie, he was joined by Ken, with his motorcycle helmet painted in flames, as well as an array of favorites from recent yesteryear.

The packaging on the Cabbage Patch Kid named Bobby Bentley screamed, "I love dinosaurs!" It urged passing moms in search of the perfect gift to "See all the cool stuff in my pocket."

But little Bobby, birthday Sept. 4, with a snake in one hand and toy dinosaur in the other, failed to find his way into a shopping cart.

A new series of Toy Story 2 figurines also remained in good supply Wednesday, as did Tickle Me Elmo and a Teletubby named Po.

If the retreads failed to impress, so, too, did an array of robotic kid companions that were supposed to take us into a Jetsonian future. No robotic dogs remained on the shelf Wednesday, but there were plenty of Roscoes, a metallic frog that can speak with other robotic animals, including turtles and cats.

"He really speaks his mind," read the sales pitch.

Emiglio, a radio-controlled robot, apparently does, too, in three different voices: robot, human and Martian. But shoppers seemingly tuned him out.

Toys that could talk to each other were a theme. But like Emiglio, that didn't appear to help the WuvLuvs, which still occupied several shelves Wednesday.

The packaging for the round, furry stuffed animals promised "a wee surprise inside." The surprise is that Mommy WuvLuv is carrying a baby in her pouch and "Mommy and baby talk and sing together."

Borrowing from Teletubbies, each baby WuvLuv has a babytalk-sounding name, such as "Dippy Do Do" or "Fwaidy," and children are encouraged to "adopt them all." But it appeared few were being adopted, even after a $10 knockdown to $19.97.

There still were plenty of stuffed animals, a few G.I. Joes and lots of board games, despite reportedly improved sales as Americans turned to more traditional games after Sept. 11.

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