Loved those poster type ads when I was a kid. We looked forward to the Holiday edition of JCPenny's catalog each year...had pages and pages of stuff like these.

 

1990 was the year of multiple Erectors for Hasbro! They got Erector all over that catalog!



G2 Megatron has a blue face?

The 1995 Power Masters were in the catalog, even though they were UK exclusives? Maybe no stores in the US wanted them?

The 1995 Autorollers have blue highlights instead of grey.

 

Hopefully whoever wins them will scan them all at high res for posterity.

 

Funny but I don't think I've ever seen that Warhawk or Grizzly before - I must have let those ones slip though the cracks. I remember thinking Skyraven pic was cool when I saw it some time back - it's rather like the advert too.

The pictures that always give me a sad panda face are when you get pages of stuff that never comes out like the G2 Hero Repaints or the 2nd years Visionaries.

You can sometimes find some of the catalogues via an image search online from time to time. I like the retailer catalogues too they have some fun images in them too sometimes. (Like Marshalls, Littlewoods or Argos) someone posted a 1980's Argos catalogue some time ago for example.

I think I talked a 1994 USA catalogue out of Kirk Bozigian - I still have somewhere.

 

those 80s catalogs brings back so many great childhood memories. Wish I could afford them.

 

aww heck yeah! One year that stands out in particular was when 'Power Rangers Zeo' was out, I'd love some scans of those Wishbooks!

 

I sure hope so.

[Dr. Jones] They belong in a museum! [/Dr. Jones]

-Godspeed
Greenspan

 

I remember seeing these at toys r us. they used to put these out i think, attached to a shelf, so people could look at these, and go "oh my kid wants that! i'll make sure to come back soon to see if they have one!"  

 

Note Sunstreaker with red shoulder things instead of yellow.

 

the last picture, of 1995, with the g2 transformers... it shows a bunch of european only toys that as far as i know, were never released here.

how awesome!  

 

Note some color differences in some of the Race Car and Off Road Patrol, too.

 

Now I'm on a vintage toy buzz and my wallet is going to hate me for it.

the books are pretty cheap right now. But with all this exposure on the front page, that won't last long.

Kind of want to track down that gijoe eco warriors toxo lab to go with classics megatron display idea of obnoxiously bright chemical weapon themed decepticons.



Cowabunga.

 

Gotta hand it to Hasbro for Sunstreaker and Sideswipe ('84 catalog, page 5) - Similar Alt modes, but 2 very different transformations.

 

Interestingly (at least to a Micromasters fan like me), we've actually seen those colors of Tailspin and Swindler before. They make an appearance in some promo diarama shots that I found when unboxing my Roadfire years ago. I can't remember if they were on the box, or in the paperwork, but I know they're in there somewhere.

Also note how in these pictures, most of the Micromasters are sporting the exact same generic head sculpt. I think these are hand painted prototypes, and the head sculpts just weren't done yet.

 

I do remember these! Anyone got scans of the little TF catalog/brochure that came with the bots and boxes?

 

The Japanese Generations magazines reprint a comprehensive collection of them... throughout the years and in many languages. BUT they're shrunk down to fit about 7 scans per page. I would LOVE if they compiled all those official catalogs in FULL SIZE into a book.

 

The only problem with these catalogues nice as they are is that they do not detail things like the packaging variations on items like the Autorollers.

 

Wow that's some really neat finds.