This picture was posted on the G.I. Joe forum Hisstank.com the other day and it made me wish, yet again, that I had a time machine:
Holy bejeebus, just look at that. Those G.I. Joe toys are just dominating that side of the aisle. I can’t really tell what’s on the other side, but if they’re not Joe toys that’s a lot of friggen space for one figure line regardless. Today we have the benefit of a lot more variety, so it’s rare to see that much of one thing.
Like many toy collectors, if I had a time machine the first thing I’d do (besides Marylin Monroe and punching jocks who were mean to me in the nuts) would be to go hog wild buying old toys. Even if I couldn’t bring them back with me, I’d still have fun while I was there. In fact, for years I had dreams where I’d go into Toys R Us and it was exactly like this picture, where any toy I ever wanted as a child was available. I’d fill up my cart and then I’d wake up, sad and angry at my teasing dreams. Then Kenner started making Star Wars toys again and I became a toy collector. The dreams mostly vanished at that point, yet pictures like this certainly brings out the old desire to go nuts in a store like this.
Mark
Wow. That is some amount of Joe toys. I could be wrong on this but I think the big figures low down on the left are the large Inhumanoids toys and just above them I think is the vehicles for the smaller Inhumanoids figures. I also think the toys beside them are M.A.S.K. toys.
I love pictures of toy isles from the 80's.
Kastor
Yeah i wish i could shop there right now. I would love to grab all those joe things at those prices.
Monte
…wow.
Just…. yeah.
Frogster
Paul cranking up the wayback machine again. I'd be going to the other aisles too and be all over the USS Flag carrier, Fortress Maximus, and Eternia.
Drunken Fist
That's awesome. I have similar dreams, usually about going into TRU and seeing several cases of vintage MAsters of the Universe stuff that they found in the back and put on the shelf. At '80s prices, no less! Waking up from that is always a bitter disappointment. Even if I couldn't buy anything, it would be great just to SEE that kind of setup for a great toyline these days. It just doesn't happen anymore.
Mario
Man, this is just what the doctor ordered. What I wouldn't give to be there right now.
Dark Angel
…I…I think I just…er…hmph…
…does anybody have a wetnap?
😉
Motorthing
Screw buying Joe-toys – my time machine would take me back to when I could buy New-york for a bag of beads then a quick trip to whatever passed for a property lawyer in those days and bam – back to the present as the worlds richest SOB and able to buy whatever the feck I wanted now anyway. I might stop off in 1979 on the way back and pick up a complet haul of Micronauts. Now that's a dream.
Where were we again…..?
Mark
Sorry for a double post but if I could go back I would be buying all the Thundercats (just to have set mint on card), MOTU, Bravestarr toys, a load of Joes especially the Cobra troopers and several Transformers.
americanhyena
This begs an interesting question, since I'm sure we've all got one.
What was your ONE toy (kid or adult) that you could have gotten, but didn't at the time and always regretted it?
Mine was Marvel Legends Juggernaut. I picked it up and said, "Neat..but not a Spidey villain." (all I collected at the time).
man if I'd only known.
PrfktTear
Aaah… that picture brings a tear to my eye. I don't know what it is, but toy aisles today just don't seem to have the grandiose majesty as they did back in the day. Going to Child World, the store seemed like it was as big as the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the shelves seemed to reach into the heavens.
I've never held one in my hands, but I always wanted a DinoRiders T-Rex.
I guess I'd go back in time and grab up a bunch of MOTU and TFs. The only thing to consider, if we went back in time and bought up toys, we might be preventing other fans from ever having got them!
americanhyena
LOL…I'm 90% positive that my neighbor still has his DinoRiders T-Rex. We loved that thing we were little.
jestergoblin
@prfkTear part of it is because of fire codes. turns out having super tall shelves covered with highly flammable materials can be a potential safety hazard.
still… i remember seeing aisles of TMNT like two decades ago. Now, you're lucky to get a peg.
PrfktTear
Yeah, I remember TMNT being five or six pegs tall and several arms lengths wide, and that was just the figures, never mind the playsets or anything.
Paul
The one toy I always wanted was Sound Wave, but once I got the Toys R Us exclusive version that pain kind of went away.
PrfktTear
Agreed… I got the TRU exclusive, it satisfies my cravings for SW. I ended up with a SW later on in my kidhood, but all the joints were extremely loose, and the casette front was broken off.
I'd love to get my hands on the SDCC exclusive SW with all the cassettes.
RageTreb
I also have dreams where I visit stores not just stocked with any and every toy I could want, old and new, but WELL stocked and at great prices.
I thought I was the only one. >_>
misterbigbo
That makes Toys R Us of today look sad in comparison.
@americanhyena, I'd totally get the USS Flagg. I would of course have to bring my current salary back with me to get it.
PrfktTear
Umm… so you guys don't dream about being on a desserted beach with a naked Angelina Jolie or Scarlett Johansson? 😉 Of course with every wave of G1 Transformers!
Tom
I've had dreams where I find some really cool Joe item, never seen in any store, just my dream state – and I never make it to the check out.
Ronnie
I not only dream of toys I want I don't have, I've dreamed of toys that never existed. I've dreamt of buying a wave of Danny Phantom figures from Palisades Toys, a long dead, (but awesome) more recent company, opened them, put them on my shelves… and woken up. DX
Wes
Ha ha, I have these kinds of dreams too! In fact, I've had vivid dreams of going to distant TRUs, buying old toys that miraculously remained on the shelves — or new toys that really don't exist — and getting them home… so vivid, in fact, that I actually look for the things for a little while before determining that I must have dreamed them up. I used to have dreams like this even when I was a kid, and for years I was convinced that I had simply misplaced a Wendy's Kids' Meal toy that, in reality, probably never existed outside of my subconscious.
I dream a lot about visiting TRUs in China (I actually did visit a TRU in Shanghai) and Japan (where I have never been, but my subconscious is quite skilled at adapting online photos) as well.
PrfktTear
Has anyone been to the TRU in New York City? I'd love to check that place out!
-x
Mark
@PrfktTear, the Dino-Riders were amazing toys, especially the T-Rex….I loved the art work on the boxes….They re-released the dinosuars without there armour as part of an educational toy line, I had the chance to get the T-Rex along with a lot of other, but without there armour they just were not as appealing.
If I could go back to track down one toy in particular it would be the Big Dai-X from X-Bomber/ Star Fleet.