I was looking for the BBs at a Toys R Us a while back, and ran into two boys who looked disappointed. I asked them who they were looking for; and they were looking for Blackout. I told them I saw a few up at the mall. And they begged their mom to take them there. X) It was so cute. She gave in and said "...Okay 9_9.."

I also saw a little girl running for a Prime helmet playing and with the buttons. "Oh COOL   MOM LOOK!"

 

I have no such stories of helping ignorant parents or grandparents in the aisles. In New York you keep to your business and move along. I certainly won't chat up a kid, I don't want Chris Hansen showing up at my house with his camera crew.

Back on topic (somewhat), I do purchase extras and donate a sizable pile of Star Wars, GI Joe, Hot Wheels and of course TFs to Toys for Tots each year.

 

My warm fuzziness came from getting my older brothers' four boys interested in collecting. I got each of them their first TF. They were hooked. Although their interest in the last couple years has waned, to date they still have more than 200 toys in their combined collection.

For about 5 years straight, every Christmas I gave each of them a new TF or one from my personal collection. They also love to visit me just to see my collection. Back in the late '90s when I moved back from college and was living with my parents for a while, one of my nephews described my collection thusly: "Uncle Craig's bedroom is like a toy museum."

I have several other stories where I've helped parents and kids track down the toy they wanted at various TRUs, Walmarts, and Targets in the last 10 years. I've even sent some here to the Junkion forum to find specific items, rather than using ebay or amazon.

One other story, and I'll shut up.

This past January, I went on a trip to Orlando for 4 days, but by the last day I was running very short on cash for my trip home. And yet out of habit, I found myself visiting a local TRU just to see if they had anything new.

...which they didn't. However, on my way out I overheard a couple talking about having bought the wrong TF. "We need the one that changes into a planet," the husband was saying.

Helpful as I am, I turned to tell the guy that they didn't have it unfortunately.

And then I remembered that by chance I thought had a Cybertron Primus still in my trunk--a second one I'd bought on clearance just a couple weeks before. I told the guy that it must have been meant for us to meet that day because I might have one I would be more than willing to sell right out in the parking lot.

He said, "I'll take it. I need it for my son's birthday party tonight. That's all he asked for."

So they followed me out to my car, I popped the trunk open and sure enough, there was Primus packed alongside my luggage. With the guy needing the toy very badly for his son's birthday, I really could've exploited the situation and charged him $60-75 for it. And he probably would've paid it. But that's just not in my nature.

Instead, I said, "You name your price." And he pulled a $50 bill out of his wallet. I said, "That's about the original retail price. You got a deal."

I still made $20 profit, and he went home happy. And I'm sure his son was happy too.

And it gave me the cash I desperately needed to cover my gas and meals for the trip back to Atlanta.

 

I've tried helping out parents confused about TF toys from time to time, but they always listen better to the store stockboy, because someone who works in a toy store/department MUST know more about toys than someone who doesn't work there, right?  


Oh, and I give to Toys for Tots the last several years.

 

That's a really nice story, Voiceroy.

Ya know, scalpers wouldn't have such nice stories to tell...they're missing out.

--Moony

 

I've convinced This kid to buy Movie Swindle. he said.

"Mommy,I want to buy the car" (^_^) Cute,huh?

I also helped people conviced them to buy bonecrusher and Swindle.

 

  Thanks!

Moosh

 

There's an employee at a TRU in Texas (College Station to be precise) that's obviously a TF fan and probably a member here. He's helped my mother several times when she's gone in looking for toys, either for me or for the kids she babysits.

Last year she went in looking for Classics. The guy at the store showed her the various ones, and after she said she was looking for Optimus Prime, he let he have the last one in the store, telling her that he had held it back to buy when he got paid. It was a nice and completely unneccesary thing to do, I hope the store got more in.

I'm also one of those that's wary of talking to kids in the toy aisle unless their parents are there. I've explained the difference between good guys and bad guys for several lines to confused parents and grandparents before.

I was in Target in June, right when protoforms were the only ones out. I was picking up clearanced priced classics, and this family was in the same aisle looking for movie toys. Their kid (about 7 I guess) had Proto Prime in his hands but clearly wasn't happy. He threw it back on the shelf and was ready to leave when I asked him what he was looking for. He wanted Prime, but thought the protoform was stupid looking. I told him looks were deceiving and I explained why I thought he was cool, since he looked great in robot mode, he had great articulation, etc.. I guess it worked, he took the toy back, and the parents seemed relieved that he would be happy with it.