Mash'ems
If there's one thing I've learned while collecting Marshall merchandise, it's that there's no underestimating just what kind of toys, products, etc. that exists of PAW Patrol. One such item I wanted to talk about today are the "Mash'ems"; little squishy toys that you can... well, mash. They also very good at collecting dust and cat hair.
I've known about them for a while, and yet, I keep forgetting about collecting them. In fact, for the longest time, the only one I ever owned was the one you see in the picture above (which is based on the 2018 "Mighty Pups" mini-movie), and even that was something I purchased a few years ago. It wasn't until recently that I finally started collecting some more, and I thought it'd be fun to talk about it.
In fact, I've got a bit of an interesting story about one!
The thing is, outside of Ebay, I can only seem to find these things at a store called "Meijer". However, they've been out of stock for almost a year now. Well, they do have one Mash'em left, but it's a part of the cardboard box for display purposes. Interestingly, said Mash'em is of Marshall, which is the one I want, of course. I wondered if I could just buy that, or the whole thing, if I had to. Problem is, it doesn't have a barcode, so... is that even possible?
Thus, I started asking around. I was directed to customer service at the front of the store, and the employee there soon called the manager to see about letting me buy it. The manager admitted that stuff like this often gets thrown away once they're done with them anyway, so... he said just let me have it for free! Hey, I scored a new item for my Marshall collection, and it didn't cost me a cent! How about that!
Funnily enough, not even a month later, they redid their whole toy section and got a new set of Mash'ems in. If I'd waited even a week longer, it probably would've been thrown away and I would've missed my chance to get it. Talk about great timing on my part!
.......Oh yeah, the new Mash'ems!
Unsurprisingly, they're based on The Mighty Movie. These come in some mystery containers, which... I wasn't sure I wanted to try my luck with something like that again, since I rarely seem to HAVE luck with them (lest we forget...). Still, I figured it wouldn't hurt to buy one, just for fun. I purchased it, opened it up, and discovered...
...that I still have the worst luck. But hey, Rocky's another favorite of mine, so I don't consider this a bad find at all! Still, I wanted Marshall, so I figured I'd have to wait for one to show up on Ebay or something.
...That is, until I noticed something.
Each of these round containers have four very small holes on them. I'm not sure exactly why they're there, but I discovered that if I point my phone's flashlight at just the right angle, I can just barely make out a color or two on the inside. Thus, after some patience and a few weird looks from the other customers, I carefully peeked through container after containers until...
...I seen some red! I purchased it, opened it up, and sure enough, I was greeted by my #1 favorite spotted pup!
Okay, so I cheated to find him, but at least Meijer got a little extra money from me because of my first purchase! Besides, I'm kind of glad I did this anyway, because it wasn't until the sixth one I searched that I finally found Marshall. The others were all blue and green, so if I had picked them at random, I would've owned Chase and likely even more of Rocky. lol
Much to my surprise, there are many more PAW Patrol Mash'ems out there, such as some based on All-Star Sports, Moto Pups, and more. I'm three down, and... well, a bunch more to go! :)