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TIFU by spending over $100 on Troll dolls for Christmas

My brother and his wife had a baby two years ago, and due to COVID, I just met her in September and this will be the first Christmas I see my "new" niece.

In late November, my brother and his family were at our new house as were getting ready to decorate for Christmas and my niece quickly took a liking to a Santa Claus Troll doll my wife has had since childhood. Basically a Troll doll with a white beard and a Santa suit. She really seemed to love it. When she picked it up I said "It's a Troll doll!" and she quickly imitated saying "Troll! Papa Troll!". Seems like basically anything with white hair, or old men in general are "Papas", to her, which is what she calls my dad, her grandfather.

Flash forward to a couple weeks ago and I am talking with my sister-in-law and I ask what I should get my niece for Christmas. She said she was really into the Papa troll, absolutely loved it, wouldn't stop talking about it. So I thought great, I'll get some Troll dolls and it will make a nice, personal gift for one of my new favourite people.

Now I'm a bit of a weirdo in that I'll always do a fair amount of research - yes, even for a two year old's gift. Without turning this into a lesson on Troll doll history, I'll give a brief summary. In short, they were a fad 70 years ago, then after the fast was over, copyright ran out, and a bunch of companies started making cheap knockoff Troll dolls. 30 years ago the copyright was re-instated? and "official" Troll dolls came out, which maybe killed the whole fad. And then finally about 10 years ago, it appears they made an animated film and "rebooted" the dolls. I think that's right, but here's the article if you really care: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_doll

ANYWAY, trying to find new, "real" Troll dolls that looked like the ones I remember as a kid (and ones that look like the "Papa troll" I have) was difficult. The new ones that look like that are clearly poorly made knockoffs. The other new trolls look like the ones from the movie, and don't really resemble the ones I am familiar with. Now I could have just bought some of those Trolls, but I'm an idiot so I decided to seek out some "real, official, vintage Troll dolls".... for a two year old girl.

So I went on eBay, and managed to find someone selling 4 dolls, including a "Papa troll" (Santa)... in the UK. I'm in Canada. With taxes and shipping (had to pay a bit extra to get it for Christmas) it was $130. Way too much to spend on something she literally played with for five minutes, and for a two year old, but idc.

So here is the fuckup. I was talking to my brother last night and I told him what I got his daughter. He said something along "oh ok that's weird". I explained to him how she saw the doll at our house, and how his wife had told me that she wouldn't stop talking about it. He said he didn't know anything about it, but ok, whatever. I was a little deflated by this, not gonna lie. I started thinking it was a waste of money, and that I could have got her something she was more interested in. Little did I know just how much of a waste of money it was, until this morning, when my sister-in-law calls me, dying laughing.

I guess my brother talked to her about it and told her I spent $130 on Troll dolls, including the Santa one. Through what I can assume are tears, she manages to let me know that their daughter isn't into "Papa troll" she likes Paw Patrol. A TV show about a dog that solves murders or something. She assures me that my niece will probably still like my gift, and that this is the best gift I could have got her (my SIL), but... fuck.

TL;DR I thought my niece liked a "Papa troll" doll she found at my house, but she actually just likes Paw Patrol, and I spent $130 on Troll dolls she definitely doesn't care about.

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