SOMERVILLE — Josh Dahl’s collection of action figures had a good run. Many starred in photos, striking moody poses or facing off with enemies, on the artist’s toy photography Instagram page.
But lately, the 49-year-old said, he’s been thinking a good portion of his armada of Spider-Men and G.I. Joes, which he’s been collecting since childhood, could be needed elsewhere.
“I feel a bit selfish hoarding them. It brings me a lot of joy, but some kid could be playing with this,’’ said Dahl, who by day is a substitute teacher at Charlestown High School. So he considered lessons he’s learned from his favorite characters: “What would Peter Parker do?’’
Over the past few months, in an unassuming spot beneath the MBTA overpass near Sullivan Square, he’s been anonymously leaving action figures out for area kids or kids-at-heart to find, take, swap, or simply enjoy as they walk by.
“A ‘little free library,’’’ he said, but “for toys.’’
He will, for example, arrange wrestling figurines there on a handmade “cage match’’-style ring, fashioned out of a wire shelf. Or he’ll simply drop a plastic dinosaur near the sidewalk, and wait for someone to claim it.
Typically the toys disappear a few at a time throughout the day. Sometimes he spots items he doesn’t recognize, meaning someone else has left them there.
“People come by and value the toys enough to want them, but, in total Somerville style, also value sharing enough to leave some of the cool ones there,’’ he said.
It has become a group effort.
Friends have been rummaging through their basements and giving him bags of forgotten toys to distribute, he said. When he posted to a local Facebook page about the project, commenters said they too planned to stop by. (“This is really the Christmas spirit at its best,’’ one person wrote.)
Adding to the toy-centric vibe, someone else has attached lots of collectible Star Wars cards, the kind that come with action figure boxes, to a nearby fence.
A recent addition he spotted was a larger collection of Marvel and D.C. superheroes, possibly arranged there by their owner one last time before letting them go.
Dahl said he isn’t sure who’s helping, or how many people, or why. But word is spreading.
While dropping off some toys there on Thursday, Dahl spotted a mom and child watching him, and explained his plans.
“The kid immediately got excited and was like, ‘Cool! I have some toys at home that I hate!’’’ he said. “I said bring them down here for some other kid!’’
That this is taking off — particularly at a time of year when some kids will find, after a round of gifts from loved ones, that their closets are stuffed with way more playthings than they want or need — warms his heart, Dahl said.
“Imagine the next generation of Somerville kids coming up and sharing their toys with people they’ve never even met,’’ he said. “That is just the coolest thing.’’
Spencer Buell can be reached at spencer.buell@globe.com. Follow him @SpencerBuell.
