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The Great Sci-Fi Toy Slump of 1979

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  • LordMudd
    Persistent Member
    • Aug 22, 2011
    • 1331

    #16
    Originally posted by palitoy
    Yeah, I think the culprit was likely oversaturation. SW sales were likely cooling off and then there was BSG, touted as the next Star Wars, it sold really well until it left the airwaves when it sunk like a stone.

    People tend to fixate on Mego's blunders but every article I've read from this era, BSG gets the most mentions as being something of a disappointment for retailers.
    This was the networks fault. If you ever read/heard the story of BSG, it was only supposed to be a 3 part mini series, but fans got wind of it during production and bombarded the network with letters, pushing it into a full blown series that the network did not want. They tried every underhanded trick in the book to kill it and they all failed. When contracts ran out they fired everybody, only to get hit by more fan mail. By that time, most of the cast would not come back, so we got the Galactica 80 series instead, which was deliberately so bad that nobody complained when it died.

    CCC.

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    • Mikey
      Verbose Member
      • Aug 9, 2001
      • 47242

      #17
      I remember seeing a horde of die-cast Y-wing fighters in a department store marked down to crazy cheap sometime between Star Wars and Empire ... Think the store was Grants

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      • palitoy
        live. laugh. lisa needs braces
        • Jun 16, 2001
        • 59200

        #18
        Y Wing was a Jedi toy and yeah, ROJ stuff just hung around. We had Jabbas until the early 1990s here.
        Places to find PlaidStallions online: https://linktr.ee/Plaidstallions

        Buy Toy-Ventures Magazine here:
        http://www.plaidstallions.com/reboot/shop

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        • Mikey
          Verbose Member
          • Aug 9, 2001
          • 47242

          #19
          ^--- must have got my wires crossed ... but now that you say that my memories are starting to make more sense.

          On rethinking where I bought it I'm pretty sure it was at Shelbys --- Which Grants sold out to in the early 80's

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          • jwyblejr
            galactic yo-yo
            • Apr 6, 2006
            • 11141

            #20
            Originally posted by palitoy
            Y Wing was a Jedi toy and yeah, ROJ stuff just hung around. We had Jabbas until the early 1990s here.
            Syracuse had them too. Kiddie City had Jabbas and Speeder Bikes until they went out. They sat over by the Eagle Force stuff.

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            • cjefferys
              Duke of Gloat
              • Apr 23, 2006
              • 10180

              #21
              Originally posted by Mikey
              ^--- must have got my wires crossed ... but now that you say that my memories are starting to make more sense.

              On rethinking where I bought it I'm pretty sure it was at Shelbys --- Which Grants sold out to in the early 80's
              Nah, I think your remembered timeline was correct. Although the larger plastic Y-wing was a ROTJ toy, the diecast one did indeed come out in 1979 between SW and Empire.

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              • cjefferys
                Duke of Gloat
                • Apr 23, 2006
                • 10180

                #22
                Originally posted by palitoy
                ROJ stuff just hung around. We had Jabbas until the early 1990s here.
                I remember tons of ROTJ toys on clearance back in 1988-91, especially at Zellers, they had pallets piled high with Falcons, Jabbas and Scout Walkers. The Walkers were even in Empire boxes, and were $7.00 a pop. I really wish I bought more than one, there must have been almost a hundred of them on clearance!

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                • palitoy
                  live. laugh. lisa needs braces
                  • Jun 16, 2001
                  • 59200

                  #23
                  Zellers was is exactly the store i was thinking of, they finally sold all that RoJ stuff just in time to put Dick Tracy cars in their stores for the next 7 years.
                  Places to find PlaidStallions online: https://linktr.ee/Plaidstallions

                  Buy Toy-Ventures Magazine here:
                  http://www.plaidstallions.com/reboot/shop

                  Comment

                  • cjefferys
                    Duke of Gloat
                    • Apr 23, 2006
                    • 10180

                    #24
                    Ha, I remember those cars! I wish I could go back to Zellers circa 1990 just once, whole walls of carded SW figures for a buck or two each! (including what are now real rarities, like the Canadian "transition" cards).

                    Comment

                    • acrovader
                      Career Member
                      • Jan 19, 2011
                      • 591

                      #25
                      Originally posted by cjefferys
                      Great pic, wish it was in color. Cool to see some Super Joes at the very far right too. But someone should have straightened that one Colonial Scarab box before snapping the pic!
                      The Plaid Stallions page has that pictured in color, even a more expansive picture, at that. I think it's in the 'Toy Store/Aisle' picture section. I think that picture is from Gimbels or Boston Store.
                      I am more than machine. More than man. More than a fusion of the two.

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