So does anyone have pics of TF's in toy aisles from the 80s

Discussion in 'Transformers Toy Discussion' started by FreshDebesh, Aug 24, 2010.

  1. RKillian

    RKillian http://www.rktoyandhobby.com

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    Can't imagine why. I had the damnedest time just getting retail when I sold on eBay. On the flip side, I don't shop on eBay anywhere near as much as I used to and it's _never_ my first stop for current products. "I bought everything at Target to flip for profit on eBay" sounds like "I put this screen door on my submarine to keep owls out electric yellow brain banana."
     
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  2. volatus

    volatus Cat Herder

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    We will never see that type of stock again, until we start chopping off the hands of resellers (figuratively, if possible). It needs to be illegal to purchase a product at retail for the purpose of reselling it. It's too lucrative, too compelling, and too toxic for society.

    Have anyone really ever been far even as decided to go want to look more like?
     
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  3. RKillian

    RKillian http://www.rktoyandhobby.com

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    Sounds more like a stroke. Anybody else smell burnt toast?
     
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  4. Murasame

    Murasame 村雨

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    This. Needs to be world wide law.
     
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  5. Sylent

    Sylent Making Cybertron great again

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    Looks like we both have the same memories. I can't recall a time as a kid when I went to TRU and didn't find what I was looking for. In that training video 18 seconds in, I remember the Transformers section at my local TRU looking just like that; minibot figures just popping off the pegs: All versions of Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, Brawn, Huffer, Gears, etc. Everything was equally-packed and there were no store exclusives to drive up prices.

    Way back before Fry's was an electronic store, it was a grocery store that sold Transformers and GI Joe in their toy aisles. I remember seeing a TON of Jetfire figures and other deluxe figures on the shelves and they were always fully-stocked. A far cry from what we see in Target and Walmart today.
     
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  6. TechnoBot

    TechnoBot Well-Known Member

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    the_old_force on Instagram showing us a toy aisle getting restocked in 1986...

    236232415_421839902550306_6876141701945349944_n.jpg

    Login • Instagram
     
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  7. Ramberk Magnus

    Ramberk Magnus Well-Known Member

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  8. UndertakerPrime

    UndertakerPrime Unlikeable dry-skinned biped

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    Excuse me, sir, don’t bother putting those on the shelf, I’d like to buy the whole aisle…
    ;) 
     
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  9. Murasame

    Murasame 村雨

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    I barely have memories of rotj figure being sold, I was too young then. But I didn't know star wars but wanted Darth Vader. Didn't get one tho. Never had a star wars figure even tho I love it. But I fit a tie interceptor model and someone gifted me an at-st model.
     
  10. Maz

    Maz Square One TFW2005 Supporter

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    Absolutely tremendous! Mad to think that toy aisles like this existed a mere 10 to 12 years before I started collecting as an adult...it's been longer since THAT, now!

    All the best
    Maz
     
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  11. LSyd

    LSyd Well-Known Member

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    I am trying to capture this look for my man cave(loft) stairwell. WIP. PXL_20210711_031803625.jpg PXL_20210710_022740262.jpg PXL_20210319_174314586.jpg PXL_20210320_053630842.jpg PXL_20210710_222556182.jpg PXL_20210320_053641747.jpg PXL_20210710_222545304.jpg
     
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  12. transmasterc

    transmasterc Well-Known Member

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  13. Primeultra

    Primeultra Well-Known Member

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  14. Strife

    Strife Well-Known Member

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    I'm a Transformers fan first, but it's impossible to beat how impressive a toy shelf looks with a wall of GI Joe boxes due to their size and box art. It's #1. Especially that late 80s/early 90s era when they leaned a bit more into the fantastic.

    God I recognize so many of those. Why did that era ever end? It was good and popular.
     
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  15. Toyzaremine

    Toyzaremine Well-Known Member

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  16. thenatureboywoo

    thenatureboywoo Veteran

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    This dude pulled so many phone numbers back in the day. He was a cool nerd before nerds were cool. I'm gonna have to go through my moms old photo albums for old pics of my opening transformers for special occasions.
     
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  17. TyrantGalvatron

    TyrantGalvatron Hasbro is NOT your enemy.

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    This is revisionist history at its finest. Yes the toy aisles had more product on them in the 80's. But that was due to more store space being designated for toys than it is now. Hell, there were entire superstores whose sole focus was toys.

    With that said, sure there were more toys. But they weren't necessarily the ones everyone wanted.

    Back then, there were still toys that were hard to find. Crazed parents would buy up hot stock of the most sought after items leaving the most popular items very difficult to find.

    There were numerous days that I went to the toy store (Toys R Us, Kaybee, and Child World) with money I earned through chores or getting a good report card only to find that they didn't have the Transformers, GI Joe, or TMNT guys I was looking for. There were plenty of birthdays where my parents couldn't find what I was asking for or Christmases where Santa didn't get the toys I was looking for from those lines because the stock wasn't available.
     
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  18. Primeultra

    Primeultra Well-Known Member

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    May I ask you where you grew up?

    Because I find those statements To be fueled more by pleasant nostalgia exaggeration then “revisionist history at its finest”.

    It’s true that those toys superstores weren’t always full of the toys you wanted, And yes toys often ran out of stock…..

    But I grew up in New York City, and more often than not those stores would restock the toys you actually wanted And quite quickly As long as it was within the realm of possibility…..

    And within the realm of the parents finding the time to frequently return to those stores

    By the time 1984 rolled around I was already 13 and would travel to any number of the stores on my own……Several times a week if I had to and the isles were never barren as they would fill the empty spots with all the products

    To say the least there were very few figures that I wanted badly That I didn’t have to search for for very long…..And even less figures I never found at all……Even at stores like TSS That wasn’t a Dedicated toy store.

    TSS Was in the 70s what target and Walmart is today…….And the toy section in most of them weren’t much bigger then a modern Walmart superstore…….But we used to keep the toy shelves full to near capacity

    Yes are used to work there in the mid to late 80s

    So maybe There were regional differences but I really don’t fine the recollections of those other posters to be very far off the mark
     
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  19. TyrantGalvatron

    TyrantGalvatron Hasbro is NOT your enemy.

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    No you may not. But thanks for the response.
     
  20. 2fabdad

    2fabdad Well-Known Member

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    I wanted Hotrod. Never found one. Then target master HotRod came out. Never found him either. Found tons of Kup blurr Scourge and only saw cyclonus once at the pharmacy. I was sick. By the time I saved up he was gone. I remember packed toy shelves filled to the brim with everything nobody wanted. Eventually they would go on clearance and parents would load kids up with Christmas filled with the unwanted masses and one or maybe 2 (if lucky) that made the wish list.
    I had a complete Abominus. I got him for my birthday it was the only combiner on the shelf with all the set. I wanted computron. They only had afterburners 15 of him.
    My friends and I moved off to Thunder cats and Laser Tag. It was plentiful.