jason1980s
Main Eventer
Joined on: Sept 30, 2009 14:58:56 GMT -5
Posts: 2,311
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Post by jason1980s on Aug 1, 2021 14:25:12 GMT -5
We all know about the Black card LJN series or Green card Hasbro but where they any other toys you found impossible to find during your childhood? And what were the reasons why it was so hard?
As a kid my grandmother found the Green card series at a Hills in PA during a trip to PA during the weekend of her mother's funeral so those weren't tough for us but the tough ones for me were the second Police Academy series and the Blank from Dick Tracy. From what I read the Blank was pretty much made only for Canada which is strange but no idea what the deal was with Police Academy.
I would love to hear examples of tough 1980s or 90s toys and why they were difficult to find.
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Post by JC Motors on Aug 1, 2021 14:32:14 GMT -5
The Lost World Jurassic Park Series 2 action figures were very hard to find. They are quite expensive on the secondary market. I would love to own the Nick Van Owen or Ajay Sidhu figures but they are way out of my price range
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Deleted
Joined on: May 14, 2024 20:46:59 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2021 14:54:20 GMT -5
I didn't want one, since I wasn't 3, but Tickle Me Elmo was the x-mas toy one year. First time I ever saw grown ass parents fighting and playing tug of war over a toy.
For all the superhero figs, etc, there was always the one short packed figure that was impossible to find in a small city. Likewise trying to find the goalies for the starting lineup hockey figs meant hobby shop or bust.
My biggest grail quest was the short packed figure in the darkwing duck series, I forget which figure. Never did find it, but going from random store to random store on quests with my mom was surprisingly fun. Randomly scored my only hasbro in package (Smash) and only LJN in package (Gorgeous George) because of the Darkwing Duck hunts. Good times
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Post by Tim of thee on Aug 1, 2021 17:21:59 GMT -5
Jakks Diesel and Razor were impossible to locate. I had to drive up to Santa Monica for them at the Promenade.
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Post by CM Poor on Aug 1, 2021 17:22:21 GMT -5
My mom used to regale me with tales of the lengths she and my dad would go to get me the original Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures back in the 80s and 90s. Her stories were not that unlike some of the mileage I hear members here putting into their figure hunts. I had a very fortunate childhood, because I cannot think, for the life of me, of one TMNT figure I wanted that I did not have. When Power Rangers was the thing, those were pretty tough to find too, especially at Christmas. My parents were very good at what they did, because once again, my brother and I never wanted for Power Rangers figures. I know there were Zords we never had, but that was strictly a cost thing, and even then, they managed to scrape up for the DragonZord and the TigerZord so that we'd have the green and white rangers in our collection. My brother got big into the Beanie Babies at the height of that whole thing, and damned if my mom didn't know all the places to get them. I've still got two or three downstairs in a bin somewhere...when it came time to clear them out, I took the Princess Diana one, the OG Jerry Garcia before his estate made them change the name one, and possibly the green Ireland one. It still happens to this day, even to things we might not perceive as "collectible". My kid was into Daniel Tiger for a bit there, and those damn plush toys were a pain in the ass to find. My wife nearly hit the roof when I told her that he and I were out one day and I saw the Prince Tuesday and didn't grab it because he was acting up. Y'all ready for this? "One per case" We definitely drove back and got it. You'll do crazy chit for your kids.
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Post by Grumpyoldman on Aug 1, 2021 17:50:14 GMT -5
1983. The last 17 Star Wars Power of the Force figures. I found 15 at one mall. It took me 8 more years before I was able to find the Han Solo in Carbonite (on a Tri-logo card). I saw an ad in Toy Shop that a toy store in Holland was selling them for $40 each. This was before I knew about money orders, so I sent them $40 in American cash. 2 days later I thought I had made a mistake. A week later the figure came in the mail. The American dollar was worth almost 2 times as much as the Dutch guilder at the time. Lucky me. Later that year, I traded a mint blue Snaggletooth for a mint loose Yak Face (that was mostly found in Canada & Europe) to a guy in Belgium.
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Deleted
Joined on: May 14, 2024 20:46:59 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2021 19:16:16 GMT -5
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Post by vampiroporvida on Aug 2, 2021 9:26:22 GMT -5
Furby.
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Post by Valbroski on Aug 2, 2021 14:23:37 GMT -5
I couldn’t find a BCA Jacqueline or Dr Death figure anywhere.
Said nobody ever.
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Post by Randolph J 'Hurricane' Spencer on Aug 2, 2021 14:55:45 GMT -5
The first run of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers figures.
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Ohtimate Wahriah
Main Eventer
WF 10 Year Member
Joined on: Jul 1, 2008 12:35:07 GMT -5
Posts: 2,527
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Post by Ohtimate Wahriah on Aug 2, 2021 15:40:19 GMT -5
OMG so many, TMNT villains, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers toys, especially the Pink Ranger, April O’Neil, Fantastic 4’s Invisible Woman, Starting Lineups we’re VERY hard to find. I remember find guys like Stan Humphries and Steve Bono and being over the moon and they were not even that good haha. Tickle me Elmo was tough to find, Beanie Babies, Tamagotchi, original pack of Pokémon Cards.
The list is endless haha
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Post by Jack Specific on Aug 2, 2021 22:00:26 GMT -5
The Wii. Our kids wanted one more than anything that xmas. After much searching for ages we finally got lucky and found one, well sort of lucky. It was one of those independent video game stores at the mall. They wanted like $200 more than it retailed please they made you buy 2 games and you had to pay for them on top of that, not included in the inflated price of the Wii itself.
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Post by Grumpyoldman on Aug 3, 2021 14:57:32 GMT -5
The Dungeons & Dragons figures from LJN. It seems like they were only available at K-B & K-Mart. But they only had the same 4 figures.
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mcdleaf
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Mar 1, 2006 10:32:45 GMT -5
Posts: 312
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Post by mcdleaf on Aug 3, 2021 15:08:57 GMT -5
We all know about the Black card LJN series or Green card Hasbro but where they any other toys you found impossible to find during your childhood? And what were the reasons why it was so hard? As a kid my grandmother found the Green card series at a Hills in PA during a trip to PA during the weekend of her mother's funeral so those weren't tough for us but the tough ones for me were the second Police Academy series and the Blank from Dick Tracy. From what I read the Blank was pretty much made only for Canada which is strange but no idea what the deal was with Police Academy. I would love to hear examples of tough 1980s or 90s toys and why they were difficult to find. The Blank was the most ridiculous thing to find ever!!! I have heard the Canadian thing recently and i'm sure my poor mother wishes she would have known that since we searched every store for months to try to find that stupid thing and never did. As far as wrestling I only hasbros before the green series I remember having a hard time finding were LOD and for some reason the Honky Tonk Man. The good old days
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Post by k5 on Aug 3, 2021 15:52:01 GMT -5
I never saw an ECW figure outside of the few I ordered off eBay until I was like 20 years old (2010)
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Post by LaParka on Aug 4, 2021 21:44:07 GMT -5
There were tons of lines that had tough scarce impossible figures. Robin Hood had Little John, Darkwing Duck/Tale-Spin had a few but were pretty much obtainable they were 8 per set case of 24 Darkwing, Launchpad were heavy packed in the darkeing cases, Baloo, Kit, Don Kanarge were heavy in tailspin everything else was 2 per case. The Kenner Waterworl, Aliens and Predators had tough figures but with a little work and then the kb blowout sales you could get obtain them. Dick Tracy everything except Tracy, Sam, Lips, Big Boy, Influence were harder but with more options back then you could get a set Mumbles, FlatTop, Pruneface, Shoulders were the harder ones, Itchy, Rodent, Brow, Steve the Tramp.
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Post by bWo on Aug 4, 2021 21:56:19 GMT -5
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Post by Nivro™ on Aug 4, 2021 21:57:56 GMT -5
Mattel Target Exclusives
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Post by BoJack Hogan on Aug 4, 2021 22:08:22 GMT -5
Rogue and Iceman from the toy biz X-Men series.
I’m not positive, but I think the Iceman with the color change icicles was pulled from cases because the plastic was weak enough to freeze and snap. I recently found one MOC for dirt cheap and bought it. Tossed that bad boy in the freezer and the icicles still change color even in the package.
Rogue was a different story. I don’t think she was super popular before the cartoon, but her figure came out right at the height of its popularity. I don’t think I ever saw one in a normal store. They were at a Disney store for like double the price, much to the chagrin of my parents. I eventually got it.
Other than that, I only ever saw the Hasbro Nasty Boys at Toy Liquidators years after it’s release, possibly even in the Jakks days. I only saw Hasbro Bossman 2 and Honkytonk Man there as well, but they were still timely then, so I was delighted.
Anything older than hasbros is a little beyond my cannabis-clouded memory as I was still quite young then.
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Post by Grumpyoldman on Aug 5, 2021 0:47:25 GMT -5
The Angela variant fron Mcfarlane's Spawn line. Apparently there were some with painted panties & some with no panties. Sick freaks.
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