They were easy for me to find in the 80's. Almost every store that wasn't a gas station had them. You didn't have to fight off the grown-ups either collecting or scalping them.

Bingo. Back then the "collectors" market just wasn't really there. Just a bunch of us kids getting them to play with. How times have changed.

Is there any way to get the numbers from Hasbro? How many Transformers were they selling in '84 through '86 compared to today? Honestly, how well do TFs actually sell, and are we in any danger of Hasbro pulling the plug on the line? :tfsad

 

Seems like the 80s toy nostalgia fad is winding down. I think RiD rode in on the wave with great success a few years ago, but the current Energon, Alternators and Universe toys seem to just be clogging up shelf space. Add in the fact that the Energon cartoon isn't big with kids, and, well... :tfsad

As long as the Transformers line makes a profit for HasTak, we will have them on shelves.

 

The fandom is huge. In fact I dare say it can survive without it being overly popular with today's kids. There is 20 years of TF history and fan build up now. A lot of the sales are us older collectors.

 

As far as how many were sold in the 80's, TONS! :) Not too many things were more popular back them. Heck even the local CVS (and other drug stores) had a ton on shelves back in the day.

TFs aren't the number one toy selling line on E-bay for nothing, ya' know. :thumb

 

 

TFs ARE FOREVER! :clap

Tfs are the top-selling toy on eBay? Seriously? Didn't know that...

wel it makes sense, you can get originals there cheaper than the reissues and specials editions too.

 

( alt price in america is $20.00 right and in uk they cost £20.00, and there is about $1.8 to £1 :roll i hasbro uk release products late and more expensively by the look of things)

Yeah almost every store had TF's. K-Mart, Wal-Mart, KB toys, T R U, Fred's, Roses, every little mom & pop store had some kind of TF's back in the day.

Y'know, speaking of mom and pop shops carryng TFs... a CVS I stopped at a month or so ago still had RID Spychanger 2-packs on the shelf. I think they wanted $7.99 for Ironhide and Mirage. No wonder they're still there...

The 70s and 80s were superior decades to now. Sports was better; TV was better; We had the commies instead of these ghetto terrorist scumbags; movies were better; Rap came from the 80s; My 49er/Laker teams ruled the 80s and early 90s; Toys were definitely better in terms of marketing and THAT WOW factor walking in the toy sections of K-Mart, TRU, KBtoys, and Walgreens.

.....and of course, the cartoons were wayyyyyyyy better.

 

I feel sorry for kids today.

and THAT WOW factor walking in the toy sections of K-Mart, TRU, KBtoys, and Walgreens.

The good old days.

And while we're on the subject, I miss character specific "tech specs" or "file cards" or whatever you want to call them on the backs of the boxes.

 

Half the fun of toy shopping used to be reading those cards to see who was stronger, faster, just all around cooler. And which one is the leader?

 

My five bucks wasn't going to be spent on a tactless all muscle/no brains Cobra soldier or some peace loving Autobot. I wanted brilliant bad guys and good guys that would get the job done. A well written tech spec would have me dreaming of the day the toy would be mine more than something like a useless mini-con peg action feature ever would.

 

A kid nowadays has no means of comparisson beyond appearences. And, while I guess some people might like that it leaves a little more to the child's imagination, I still think it sucks.

Did any of you ever stop to think that the current problems in the toy market ie; availability of newer toys and high prices, are a direct result of us, the collectors market?

 

With the advent of the Internet, we became a tour de force in terms of toy buying. We didn't have to worry about going to Wal-mart or TG&Y or K-mart, because whatever we wanted was at out fingertips. So the stores order less, but they are also aware of the collectors market so they, in conjuction with Has/Tak know they can get more from what they are selling and that we'll pay for it. We all Starscream about the reissue prices, but i bet that most of us has at least one or two of them if not five or six. We complain but we still cave because of our nostalgia... Hasbor and TRU knew this going in. If it costs them $4 to make the toy another $3 to package and ship then TRU pays Hasbro $11 per unit but charge us $19.99, they are making an 80% profit! and we pay for it cause we are collectors.

 

Just some thoughts