Like most kids, my 5 year old son is in love with the Avengers! His favorite is "Captain of the America" as he calls him. We saw these shoes on here and noted the price in our heads as we were heading out to the mall anyway. We stopped at the Stride Rite at the mall and got his foot measured and tried them on then noted the price there was a little more. Since "Santa" was buying this for him, we didn't need it now so we ordered through Amazon when we got back home. This is his go-to pair of shoes and he is a picky kid who loves comfort. With how much he wears them, they seem to be holding up nicely and not wearing much at all. With kids I am always hesitant to purchase clothes or shoes that cost much since they outgrow so fast, but how happy he is with these and how well they are holding up has made it well worth it. When he grows out of them, they will still be in good enough shape to be a "hand-me-down" to a cousin.

UPDATE:
There is no way these will ever be handed down. I am pretty sure that my son will run the soles down until they are bald. Even with having three other nice pairs (we thought the nice ones would be perfectly cushioned for his picky feet). We were wrong. We need to remind him often that if he wears these too much they will go quickly. We also do this so that he uses his other pairs and we feel better about having spent so much more on them than we did for these here on Amazon.