During the holiday season, it becomes all the more apparent that we are all awash in useless stuff. From the once-a-year seasonal outfit to ornaments without sentiment, trinkets we soon discard, and gag gifts that don’t make it past opening day, the world pushes us to buy more of it all — stuff that we don’t need and, frankly, don’t really want. This puts us collectors in a troubling spot. Those of us who seek out carefully crafted figures and worthy vinyl, special edition DVDs, and signed movie posters will bristle at being compared with your average over-consumer. There’s not just nostalgia and dopamine-chasing in our collections; there’s something bigger and better.
As John Laroche, the protagonist (and thief) in Susan Orleans’ The Orchid Thief, puts it, “It's not really about collecting the thing itself ... It's about getting immersed in something, and learning about it, and having it become part of your life. It's a kind of direction."
So if you’re looking for funny gifts and sentimental garbage, you might want to turn to one of the many, many other gift guides out there. If you’re looking for direction — something that helps you connect with art, make it part of your life, and remind you of the direction you can take — this list is for you. We call it “Cool Stuff” and we mean it.
The Third Man 4K
As the nights get cold and shadowy, it’s worth bagging this crisp 4K restoration of an extremely cold and shadowy noir. A tantalizing story of murder and deception in postwar Vienna, this Orson Welles-starring classic comes with a bevy of special features, archive material, and critical appraisal.
Tron: Ares Soundtrack
The Tron soundtracks have been undeniable since the series kicked off over forty years ago, and Nine Inch Nails ably picked up the scoring baton from Daft Punk with this incredible electronic album, available in this Target-exclusive vinyl.
George Oliver Media Shelves
How do you arrange your vinyls and blu-rays? By genre, by artist, or alphabetically? This storage unit from George Oliver supports whatever organizational strategy you prefer, offering plenty of storage space and even slots to display your favorite collectibles.
Get The George Oliver Media Shelves at Wayfair
Bride of Frankenstein 4K Steelbook
The world has Frankenstein fever, but in lieu of Del Toro’s Netflix version getting a giftable physical release, treat yourself to this 4K version of the best Frankenstein film ever made, now 90 years old, which expanded the Universal Monsters legacy and introduced us to the lightning-bolt beehive of the Monster’s cursed Bride.
Frankenstein IMAX Poster
Teeming with color and detail, there is no better way to celebrate your love for Del Toro’s version of the Gothic classic than a copy of the special IMAX poster by artist James Jean, where the Creature’s reconstructed flesh is detailed with flowers and angel wings.
Get the Frankenstein IMAX Poster on Ebay
Samsung OLED S95F
You might not be in the market for a $2300 TV, but we can dream (or save up!), can’t we? If you’re a gamer and lover of movies, this 65” 4K Samsung Vision AI Smart TV is the kind of thing dreams are made of.
Get The Samsung OLED S95F at Samsung.com
Ahsoka Citizen Watch
Citizen Watch makes fantastic watches, and this Star Wars-inspired watch has the bonus appeal of a design that includes Ahsoka Tano’s recognizable Togruta face markings, a starmap, and minuscule runes around the edge of the dial.
God Emperor of Dune Folio Edition Book
The most basic of Dune fans will tell you the first book is the best. The hardcore fans will say that Children of Dune is the best sequel. But the true, off-the-rails spiceheads all know that God Emperor of Dune is Frank Herbert at his most bonkers. And what better way to experience the 1981 fourth Dune novel than in a brand new edition from Folio? With new illustrations, capturing the transformation of Leto II into the titular wormy God Emperor, this is one great find for the most discerning of Dune heads.
Twin Peaks: From Z to A Boxset
Twin Peaks is really three different entities: the original 90s show, the dark and mesmerising prequel film Fire Walk With Me, and the 2017 limited series revival. With this re-released box set, you can chart the evolution of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s cultural behemoth in one treasure chest box set, including 4K versions of two important episodes.
Sinners Soundtrack on Vinyl
A frontrunner for 2025’s most exciting film is also the most delicious and electrifying musical experience of the year. Not only does this vinyl include music maestro Ludwig Göransson’s original score, but there are also songs and original recordings performed by dozens of artists and cast members.
Balance Board Classic 88
Balance boards are fun as hell. And it’s not just because their usual purveyors are stoned, fit, hot, surfers with no attachment in life. Workouts on balance boards can be tough, are always fun, and keep your core engaged while gaming or catching up on Pluribus. Everyone’s doing it — join the fun.
Get the Balance Board Classic 88 at Switch-Boards.com
Secretlab TITAN Evo Gaming Chair
Is it the golden age for gaming chairs? The Secretlab TITAN Evo proves that it is. There is a bunch of ergonomic tech that you might expect with these chairs: Cold-cure foam, a proprietary soft and breathable fabric, a 4-way adjustable lumbar system (for the back/spine), a magnetic foam head pillow that is infinitely adjustable. The beauty is the smart design encourages movement and, of course, the nods to pop culture. There’s a wide array of chairs inspired by Demon Slayer characters, for example, next to Warhammer, Overwatch, League of Legends, and Final Fantasy characters. The list goes on and on.
Get the Secretlab TITAN Evo at Secretlab.co
Neuromancer Folio Edition Book
41 years after its initial publication and ahead of the much-anticipated Apple TV+ adaptation, The Folio Society has a new edition of the cyberpunk classic Neuromancer, with incredible, lush illustrations, and a new foreword revealing letters from young William Gibson worrying about the quality of what today is nothing short of a masterpiece. Molly Millions and Case have never looked better.
DNA Bookshelf
If you’ve ever spotted a spiral stack of books in a wizard’s study and felt jealous, this DNA Bookshelf by Cattelan Italia is a must-buy. It’s not just a great solution for book storage, it’s a unique and eye-catching way to arrange your growing collection.
Get the DNA Bookshelf at Room Service 360
Dune: Part 2 Limited Edition Poster
Shipping just in time for Christmas, Mondo and artist Hans Woody have announced an imposing screen-printed foil poster of Austin Butler’s mesmerizing Feyd-Rautha leading his army. The perfect gift for that serious Harkonnen fanatic in your life.
Get the Limited Edition Dune 2 Poster at Mondo
Sony INZONE H9 Headphones
The Inzone headphones are probably the best gaming headphones we tried out this year — doing a great job of blocking out the outside world even when the noisy world is trying to pull you away from the game. The microphone is crisp and, essentially, the headphones are super comfortable for long periods of play.
Get the Sony INZONE H9 headphones at Sony.com
Dark City 4K
Alex Proyas (The Crow) anticipated the existential spectacle of The Matrix by one year with this simulated reality sci-fi noir, and the stunning 4K restoration from the inimitable Arrow Video gives Proyas’ superior Director’s Cut ushers in the reappraisal that the film desperately deserves.
Marvel: Fantastic Four Folio Book
This Fantastic Four omnibus isn’t some massive book that you’ll stick on yourself and never want to open. Instead, a reproduction of various issues of a specific comic book line fills the pages. You’ll actually want to read this. Looks good on the bookshelf, too. These issues have been curated by novelist Jonathan Lethem and span the early 1960s run. His introduction helps to contextualize the selections and serves as the perfect chaser to watching the brand-new MCU film.
Upside Down Will
One of the more memorable and eerie recent Funko releases, this Pop! Nook captures the iconic look of Will Byers trapped in the Upside Down, with his Castle Byers hideout translated into the trademark Funko style. It’s a great gift to mark the long-awaited finale of Stranger Things this holiday season.
Get the Will Byers Figure at Funko
One Battle After Another Soundtrack on Vinyl
Trust Jonny Greenwood (you know, Radiohead’s lead guitarist) to compose one of the most unconventional and exciting scores of 2025, and this double LP vinyl edition of the One Battle After Another soundtrack is the best way to revisit the thoroughly singular sound of this year’s Best Picture frontrunner.
Panasonic Streaming 4K Blu-Ray Player with Dolby Vision
Once your Blu-ray collection hits a dozen (and how quickly it does), it’s time to upgrade your DVD player. Otherwise, what’s the point? You might as well as just stream it and live the downgraded life. This 4K player from Panasonic is the stuff a true home theater needs.
Get The Panasonic 4K Blu-Ray Player at Amazon
The Essential Sectional, Sabai
The only thing stopping you from the perfect movie marathon is not having the perfect movie-watching couch. Sabai calls this sectional “essential” for a reason – it’s comfortable, spacious, and available in a great range of colors. You should already be picturing assembling friends and family on this couch to watch Lord of the Rings or Star Wars with no interruptions.
Get the ultimate sectional at Sabai Design
Fantasticar
No Fantastic Four collectible sums up the retrofuturist style of the film more than this Fantasticar. The model is as cool, sleek, and swooshable as it looks in the film, and also includes a Ben Grimm figurine, which indicates he’s the best driver in Marvel’s first family.
Star Trek 10-Movie Boxset
23 years' worth of Star Trek movies in one box set, all transferred to Blu-rays from recent 4K remasters. It’s a terrific time to learn that there’s no bad Star Trek movie, with 10 adventures from the beloved original and The Next Generation crews that hark back to classic modes of science-fiction storytelling. Set phasers to buy!
KPop Demon Hunters Rumi Demon Poster
KPop Demon Hunters is still Netflix's runaway hit of 2025, and this print of HUNTR/X leader Rumi captures one of the film’s most emotional arcs – her struggle with hiding her secret half-demon identity – with gorgeous lining and colors. It’s one of the most eye-catching posters to gift the KDH superfan in your life.
Master & Commander 4K
This holiday season, why not bunker down with some seaworthy fellas and treat yourself to a rewatch of Peter Weir’s robust and sterling Napoleonic adventure film? Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany have rarely been more compelling on-screen as they are in this high-seas “dadcore” film, and this 4K version feels like the only honorable way to witness their ocean battles.
Gold Plated USS Enterprise-G
Fanhome has dropped the ultimate luxury gift for the pop culture obsessive in your life – a gold-plated die-cast model of the USS Enterprise-G, formerly the USS Titan, as seen in Star Trek: Picard Season 3. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more detailed and authentic fan model this holiday season; this gold-plated starship looks like it was lifted straight from a display case in Captain Seven’s Ready Room.
28 Years Later soundtrack (Young Fathers)
Danny Boyle featured Young Fathers on the T2 Trainspotting soundtrack eight years ago before granting them composing duties on a different long-awaited sequel to one of his best films. This red colored vinyl of their 28 Years Later soundtrack deserves to be displayed proudly and played loudly.
Samsung Z Flip 7
Is the flip phone a gimmick? Sure, but it’s a good one — and the Samsung Flip 7 is not just an incredibly capable smartphone, but the coolest on the market that better fits in your pocket and takes the best, and most discreet, selfies of any phone.
Get the Samsung Z Flip 7 at Samsung.com
The Radwagon 5 Electric Cargo Bike
The electric revolution is here — at least when it comes to two-wheeled vehicles. More e-bikes are sold in America than electric cars and they’re replacing an estimated 3.4 car trips per week. Why? You might find an answer in the RadWagon 5, a bike that excels at moving little people and big bags. With a 375-pound capacity and sturdy rack integrated with its frame, 60+ miles of range, and an ability to hit 28 mph, this bike truly gives cars competition — especially for the 5-mile and less hauls. The tagline says it all: "The minivan has met its match."
Total Extermination: The Peter Cushing Doctor Who Collection
Bet you didn’t know they made Doctor Who movies 60 years ago, did you? The longest-running science-fiction television series took a weird detour in the 1960s, with wacky Technicolor adaptations of two major Dalek adventures from the First Doctor’s era, starring Peter Cushing as a human version of the Time Lord. Yes, his name really is “Doctor Who” in these ones. Enjoy these 4K boxsets from Severin Films or face extermination!
Fantastic Four Mondo Poster
Mondo’s reign over cool illustrated posters of the biggest movies of the year continues with this eye-popping, retro-vibed The Fantastic Four: First Steps poster. Artist Tom Whelan captures the vibrant characters with head-turning colors, a throwback to a classic comic book cover.
Frankenstein Soundtrack On Vinyl
Alexandre Desplat’s rich, haunting score is a perfect fit for Frankenstein, and this vinyl edition with exclusive slipcase art from Mutant and Francesco Francavilla is just as hand-crafted, detailed, and retro as you’d want for a piece of Del Toro Frankenstein merchandise.
Nintendo Switch 2
The most important console launched this year, the Switch 2 is on the surface very similar to its 2017 predecessor. But that’s just at a glimpse. From the social functions (that C Button), the mouse controls, the snap-in-place joycons — gamers have only started to see what big changes these features mean for the next generation of Nintendo games.
Get the Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle at Amazon
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Gabrielle Zevin’s incredible novel about the rich lives of two game makers who escape messy lives to find love and joy and idealism through their art (and each other) deservedly gets the Folio treatment.
Shin Godzilla 4K Steelbook
Did you miss the best Godzilla reboot when it was re-released in theaters earlier this year? Don’t hesitate to buy this 4K steelbook edition, which delivers all the intensity of the modern, dread-inducing Godzilla film courtesy of Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, with a trove of bonus features.
IT: Welcome to Derry Poster
It: Welcome to Derry gets a lot of mileage from injecting creepiness to snapshots of a picturesque American small town, and this black-and-white print of the ominous Capitol Theater oozing a vivid red carpet of blood sums up the devilish menace that makes Stephen King’s mythology so exciting.
Get the It: Welcome to Derry poster at HBO.com
Re-animator 4K
The delightful, squirmy Re-animator reimagines Victor Frankenstein as an obnoxious med student inflicted with Lovecraftian neuroses – that is to say, he’s a creep and a twerp. Oozing with playful menace and gorgeous practical effects, this 4K upgrade of the best horror-comedy around is a must-have collector’s item.
Altered States Criterion
Do you miss when sci-fi movies were strange, spiritual, and hallucinatory? Criterion certainly does, and you can own the definitive edition of this iconic, consciousness-altering film starring a never-weirder William Hurt just in time to freak out your relatives by playing it over the holidays.
The Last of Us S1 4K
HBO’s The Last of Us is a juggernaut that will not slow down any time soon, and before Season 3 starts shooting next year, it’s time to revisit the TV version of the first game that grounded us in the rich, doomed partnership of Joel and Ellie, now in brilliant 4K.
High & Low Criterion 4K
Splendidly remade by Spike Lee and Denzel Washington this year, this top-tier crime thriller from the equally legendary duo of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune is expertly crafted and remastered to 4K by the fine folks at Criterion – meaning, it’s the best gift a film fan can receive.
Nike Stranger Things Shoes
An inevitable collab between two of the world’s most recognizable brands – Nike and Stranger Things – the subtle, weathered design of the Nike Dunk Low sneaker perfectly evokes the look and feel of a shoe that’s been used for escaping the Upside Down on foot.
Get the Nike Dunk Low x Stranger Things Collab at Stock X
The Return of the Living Dead 4K Steelbook
Nasty, silly, and punk rock – this gory and bombastic zombie film from the co-creator of Alien is one of the best of its genre. Scream Factory’s new 4K steelbook has quickly taken the crown as the definitive collector’s edition of the cult 80s horror.
Superman and Krypto Figure Set
Sideshow has brought out another high-demand and highly detailed collectible. This Superman and Krypto set captures with incredible accuracy the tough, boyish look that David Corensewet brought to his soaring performance as the Man of Steel, with every crease of his vibrant suit captured on the 1/6th scale figurine.
This is Spinal Tap Criterion 4K
Rob Reiner’s 1984 classic about a fictional, hapless English band is still the best mockumentary and a rockumentary around, a legacy that Criterion have honored with a superb 4K restoration, decades worth of special features, and even commentary tracks from the cast and their Spinal Tap characters.
ROG Xbox Ally
The ROG Ally is Xbox’s answer to the Steam Deck, the super popular PlayStation Portal, and the shiny new Nintendo Switch 2. And it’s a helluva answer. While Xbox is last in this ongoing trend, its reveal comes with just enough bells and whistles to make it a potential worthwhile competitor in an already crowded market.
Get the ROG Ally at Xbox.com
Mac & Me 4K
If you like Paul Rudd’s prank on Conan O’Brien, where he plays that one clip from Mac & Me but always hated how low-quality the footage is, now you can enjoy the unintentionally hilarious E.T. rip-off in baffling 4K thanks to the good weirdos at Vinegar Syndrome.
John Wick’s Mustang
Fanhome’s 1:8 scale model of John Wick’s preferred mode of transportation, a 1969 Ford Mustang, is just as meticulous and robust as the lethal, beleaguered assassin. You can build the model yourself with high-quality parts – a careful, detailed process that should get you into the appropriate John Wick mindset. This is a model subscription, so the parts won’t be shipped all at once.
iPhone 17
This year, Apple finally made a base model flagship phone that blows the competition out of the water. You can get more phone — a 120Hz screen, 256 GB starting storage, and a 48MP phone — for less. And isn’t that all we’re looking for?
Get the Apple iPhone 17 at Apple.com
Audio-Technica Sound Burger
So you’re not a record collector, but you want to listen to records? The portable, compact Sound Burger is a surprisingly awesome answer. From Audio-Technica, the place to get the best bang for your buck in turntables, the Sound Burger is probably the best entry-level turntable on the market. When you’re ready to settle down and upgrade … Audio-Technica’s got your number.
Get the Sound Burger at Audio-Technica.com
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: The Making of the Classic Film
The Search for Spock (1984)
Released in 1984, the third Star Trek feature film was, at the time, not considered as perfect as Star Trek II. But true fans know that The Search for Spock, directed by Leonard Nimoy, has heart and beauty to spare. Expert Trek historian John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto bring a new behind-the-scenes look to one of the most emotional and pivotal Trek movies of them all. This handsome coffee table book has new behind-the-scenes photos, tidbits, interviews, and more.
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: Episode III (Deluxe Edition)
Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Back in 2004, Star Wars fans thought that the final prequel film, Revenge of the Sith, would be the last Star Wars movie ever. And so, the novelization of the film — published April 2005, one month before the movie hit theaters — had to be a special one. And now, twenty years later, author Matthew Stover’s unique Star Wars book is back. Stover was given carte blanche by George Lucas to make this novel into a sweeping epic, told in multiple tenses and points of view. He was also able to incorporate non-canon elements into the stories of the various Jedi and give readers access to the mind of Anakin Skywalker in a way never done before or since.
Stover’s new Deluxe Edition contains countless wonderful annotations about his process and insights, making this a double deep-dive for the serious Star Wars scholar. The book is beautiful to boot.
