Awesome, thanks Bumblethumper. Your story is a happier sliding doors version of what happened to me. For some reason I always thought Hot Rod might have been one of the toys there, maybe because he was one I would have particularly liked. Do you remember where that aisle was located? I remember it being on the left as we were leaving, although there may have been another section to the shop leading to the entrance/ exit. The toys you mentioned were all autobots, were there any decepticons there at all and were they "only" 1986 releases? Based on the case assortments I guess Wreck-Gar and Blurr should have been there at some point too. What kind of volume of these toys was there? Other than those '86 releases do you remember anything else they had or how big the overall selection was? I presume they had the contemporary lines (gold box classics, Euro releases etc) and maybe some stuff over from the Action Master / Micromaster era? I wonder if they had other older lines around for other toy-lines too... Also, any idea of when exactly you made that visit? Was it as late as 1992?
For information Generation 1 -Chinese toyline. I was long out of collecting by that point, so never saw any of those, the most I remember seeing post-Micromasters was some G2 in Nimble Fingers in Stillorgan when getting art supplies for school.
clearly wasn't paying attention there, just skimmed the thread. TechnoBot's link including the word 'counterfeit' probably threw me. It's a bit of a confusing situation. Most TFs come from China anyway, so presumably these were made for the Chinese domestic market, but were in English packaging for whatever reason. I can't really date it but 1992 would make sense. It certainly couldn't have been any earlier than 1991. As far as I can tell it was 1986 UK stock. Maybe it got lost in the back of someone's warehouse for a while. I have a feeling Wreck-gar was there, but it is only a feeling. They appeared to have a lot of Ultra Magnuses, which I always particularly wanted. I seem to remember the TFs being somewhere towards the back of the shop. I remember it being a big section, with TFs on either side of the aisle. But this may not be an accurate recollection. I can't comment on what Decepticons may have been there. Unfortunately I gravitated towards that which most interested me. I certainly don't remember any gold box 'classic' TFs. Just a vision of red TF boxes with the grid. They may have had some more contemporary figures, but I wouldn't have paid those much attention anyway. I was only there the one time, but for years afterwards, anytime we travelled in the vicinity I always hoped for a return visit. I assumed somehow they'd still be there, like the toyshop that time forgot. I sort of figured like the craze came and went and in those days I felt I was about the only person on the island who still actually appreciated just how cool TFs were. Everyone else I knew seemed to have moved on to Turtles or WWF or whatever the next thing was.
I think that's what caught my eye. I knew instantly what they were, although I never actually saw many G1 toys until I had access to the internet. I think my visit may have been around Easter 1992. I remember that store having two entrances- one at the side and one at the front. They may have moved the TFs at some point. They weren't really uniform TRU style aisles were they though? Not like this, slightly like this but not packed so high or tightly and the shelves were longer. How many '86 toys do you reckon they had in total? I guess it being old stock it is possible that they didn't have any '86 'cons at all? Those toys could have been stuck in the back of their stockroom for a few years but with the volume you saw perhaps it was a warehouse instead? It's strange that there was so many of them though given how popular they were in the mid to late 80s. Maybe at the time I thought (especially because I didn't know what they actually had) that that stuff had just been unsold for a few years but I think that was probably a pretty popular shop and it must have been a restock of sorts, although I bet that '86 stock sat for a while in '92. I also never really remember seeing TFs in discount type stores either. Do you remember how they priced them? I can relate to the "only person" feeling too, a few people at school liked them at different stages but most of the other kids had moved on. Although we were actually young enough to have missed out on the initial craze/ fad aspect of the whole thing. That said, the toys did apparently still sell quite well at the time. I remember being in that Toymaster a few times subsequently but by then any TFs were long gone.
Any more I could say at this point would just be speculation. All I can say is that through child's eyes, it seemed like a lot at the time. I think you have a better idea about the layout of the shop. The aisles certainly wouldn't have been anywhere near as wide, or piled as high as you'd get nowadays. Put it this way: nothing was beyond reach. It was a big toyshop by the standards of what I was used to in those days. Certainly bigger than those I knew in dublin. But what seemed like an impressive stock may not have been all that much. Though it was enough to make an impression. It was nothing like say, Hamley's of London which I visited about twice. They seemed to have almost a whole floor devoted to transformers. I can't comment on the prices, but I remember buying a goldbox Classic Tracks in a dublin toyshop for about £14 punts. Expensive. I got Overlord for Xmas around that time. I think the pricetag may still be on the box about £32, which sounds like a pretty good deal.
Very true about the perception of volume and impressiveness as a child. What stock did Hamley's have at that time? Did they have older year's Tfs? I guess at a store like that there would be a lot of emphasis on display and showing the product. Did you miss out on the Classics gold box Jazz? Looking through some posts you said you'd wanted that character a long time...
Was in Nutgrove Tescos today. New wave of TFP commander class with Skyquake, Bulkhead repaint, extras of Ultra Magnus, Starscream, Ironhide @ €11.99. Repaint Wheeljack/Knockout/Flamewar wave of Legion @ 7.99. Voyagers @ €14.99. No sign of Bulkhead/Starscream. Spotted a lone Arcee deluxe, also €14.99. Wasn't interested. yeah, I never saw Jazz at retail back then. About 2 years ago I ordered Encore Jazz, so all is good. Only other goldbox classics I managed to get were Onslaught and Springer. Onslaught from Rathmines Toymasters, and Springer and Tracks from Rathfarnham shopping centre. Both shops are long gone. Visiting Hamley's would've been earlier, some time in the 80s. I remember they had Fortress Maximus, which I wasn't very impressed with for whatever reason. I'd never heard of FM in those days. Anyway, there was about zero chance of getting a toy that big. I got Pretender Classics Bumblebee, which I was thrilled with. A few weeks later I lost it when it fell out of my pocket in a playground. Still have part of the shell.
Funny that I'm posting this in a thread about TF spotting but there's something about walking into a store as a kid not knowing what you will find that is impossible to replicate. I'm not sure how fussed I'd have been about FM either. As impressive as that guy is I probably would have been more thrilled to see a Hot Rod or Smokescreen, I had more exposure to them thanks to the cartoon. Still think it's bizarre so many '86 toys showed up in the one place. I know there are still some case finds even now but not usually of that volume. I must have been in quite a few toy shops in those years and I don't really remember seeing any TF pre-dating about 1990. I know this is speculation but if they found those in their stockroom or got some from a warehouse maybe they never bothered ordering the contemporary Tf's at the time? I think Toymasters are independent so they could have stocked however they wanted.
Tesco Dundrum have Voyager Wave 2, got myself Bulkhead and Starscream. The best part was 14.99 each, when it said 31.99 on the shelf, best surprise ever. They were up on the highest shelf so I could not see if they had dreadwing.
Interesting finds on Jervis st today. Couldn't say no to Kup. Arcee I wasn't really pushed about, but on the basis that it might be hard to find later, I caved in. Toymaster had about 4 Kups left after I got mine. Must be plenty of that figure in his case assortment. I imagine these ones will either shelf-warm or be 'scalped'. The only other new figure was something called Shadow Strike Bumblebee, which I presume not many will want. Saw only 1 other Arcee in Smyths. Dreadwing's in the same case as Bulk and Starscream? Did not know that.
I think it depends on if Tesco have gotten in Wave 2 or 3, since they had a lot of Wave 1 leftover it is difficult to tell. I think Wave 3 is just wave 2 minus megatron and plus dreadwing
interesting... too bad there are such vast quantities of wave one. Which never seems to fail to be overproduced and overordered.
I'd happily take a Stealth Bumblebee as well. Would make for a good Dragstrip with a bit of paint, in my opinion.
Hmmm. So those Kups are probably the leftovers of a cherry-picked wave. Maybe people are waiting for the preplanned Ironhide version? But Kup is way cooler than Ironhide. I'd still get Airachnid so I can have my turn to moan about it. Though people always complain about triple changers. Then they wonder why Hasbro hasn't done Springer, Sandstorm or Blitzwing. Compromise is to be expected. I had to look up Dead End, and now I feel like sending Hasbro a colour wheel. Rumble I can take or leave. Looks interesting and original, but I've never seen such shoulder kibble. Go for it. Kill shelf-warmers and support independent retailers. Anyway, you can't go far wrong for a tenner.
I'm a fan of dead end too but not as a stunticon character, I have yet to see him locally but I think he has a transtech/ beast era look to him. His colors remind me of waspinator more than anything else and if I got him I'd probably shove the mutant head from my old broken waspinator onto him.
Selection of Prime toys in Smyths at Fonthill. Mostly Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, Knockout, Hot Shot, an Arcee, a Vehicon and a Ratchet. All €11.49, I think. Plenty of voyager Primes and Megatrons too, around €22 I think, although I wasn't looking too closely. Had the Ratchet and Vehicon in hand, but put them back. Going to leave Prime well alone.
might be for the best. Distribution has been disappointing, and I'm not optimistic about their prospects going into 2013. There just seems to be a very small trickle of new product coming in. Anyway, Wheeljack has been about the only figure I really liked in the line, but mixed feelings there because I hate his characterisation in the show. I'm sticking with the line for now, but as soon as they get to beast hunters, I'm probably out. Maybe it'll grow on me, but so far I have zero appetite for that stuff. Right now what I'd really like to see is Fall for Cybertron voyagers.
I completely agree. I want to try and get the remaing toys I need from the Prime mainline, as well as a few from the Arms Micron and First Edition lines. I might get Predaking, but other wise, it's all Fall of Cybertron stuff for me next year.
Wave four and five deluxes are in the Toymaster in town for a tenner. Last seen were four Kups and a stealth Bumblebee.
