The Toyshop days

[lepage]

Marvelmania's sales thread in marketplace got me reminiscing about the good old Toyshop days.

Long before a computer and Ebay, there was garage sales , flea markets, and best of all , there was the Toyshop newspaper!

One of the best things in the world for me was to go into the bookstore, grab that Toyshop, rush home, and settle in to see what kind of treasures awaited within it's flimsy newspaper pages.
I bought my first set of apes as an adult from a guy out of Mass. from an add out of Toyshop. I remember buying carded Trek figures and Six $$$ man stuff. There was just so much to see in that newspaper!
I recall the phone conversations closing the deals. There were long distant friendships established as a result of those adds. That newspaper gave me so much!


Dave

[kennermike]

Marvelmania's sales thread in marketplace got me reminiscing about the good old Toyshop days.

Long before a computer and Ebay, there was garage sales , flea markets, and best of all , there was the Toyshop newspaper!

One of the best things in the world for me was to go into the bookstore, grab that Toyshop, rush home, and settle in to see what kind of treasures awaited within it's flimsy newspaper pages.
I bought my first set of apes as an adult from a guy out of Mass. from an add out of Toyshop. I remember buying carded Trek figures and Six $$$ man stuff. There was just so much to see in that newspaper!
I recall the phone conversations closing the deals. There were long distant friendships established as a result of those adds. That newspaper gave me so much!


Dave

I do remember Toyshop well especially in the early to mid 90's it was big

[Marvelmania]

I hear you Dave! It used to be my toy hunting bible. Those were fun times. I'd get it in the mail then tear through it looking for deals! It was a lot of work but when you did get something it was a feeling of real accomplishment! Great articles and memories!
A few weeks ago I went looking for my old box of them. Come to find out it had disappeared, been thrown out or misplaced somehow and now I'm in the hunt to replace them.

[jwyblejr]

I had left a bunch of mine with a friend who ran a small flea market in upstate NY. He passed away a few years back so I have no idea what happened with the flea market or them.

[cjefferys]

Oh yeah, I first stumbled upon an issue back in 1990, and after that there was no turning back. That's what opened my eyes to how much Megos and other toys were selling for, if anything it ignited my passion for toy collecting even further. I saw that there was a whole world of toy sellers and buyers out there and was exposed to items that I never even knew existed (a Japanese GI Joe in a Godzilla costume?? A 12" Tusken Raider released in Mexico in the 70's??? I never imagined such delights!).

I really, really regret tossing out all the issues I bought during the 90's. I'd love to browse through them again. Here's a site that has archived some Toy Shop pages, mostly Star Wars related, but still fun to look through:

http://www.sandcrawler.com/webpages/chrisgscrapbook/

[megoat]

LOVED Toyshop. I used to buy their small business card sized ad space and list 20 or so things for sale. Once the issue came out my phone would start ringing for a couple of weeks. Was sorta interesting to talk on the phone to other toy nerds--had a few chats with some total FREAKS. Hahaha. I miss those days. Seemed a lot more mysterious back then....

[rche]

I dunno megoat - there is a whole lotta mystery suspense and freakage on ebay anymore.

I went to look for my stash of Toyshop, but all I could come up with was some Big Reel papers (same sort of thing but for 16mm film) and a large stack of Comic Shop News.
Rats! Like Chris said, it would be fun to take a look back through those. I was mostly hunting vintage SW at the time. It would be a kick to see some of the lines that I have more recently begun collecting.

[shazam7208]

I loved Toyshop...I bought/sold and traded so much stuff through there. I still have a few issues packed away!

[EmergencyIan]

I too used to look forward to each new issue of Toyshop. It really was the source for everything vintage from Toys to Lunchboxes to old films, TV series and 16mm reels.

- Ian

[GlobalObserver]

I never even knew that Mego made a removable cowl Batman until the mid-90's when I saw one listed in Toyshop. Previous to that, if someone had told me that their childhood Batman had a removable cowl, I would have spit in their eye and called them a liar.

[HardyGirl]

I used to have a subscription to it. When I moved I had to throw them all away. The only thing I got from the classified was a SMDM Christmas story album. Fun stuff! I remember I could see my building from the bus stop down the street and when the mailman dropped it off, I came rushing back up the hill to check it out!

Oh wait...maybe it was Toy Talk? Does someone have a pic of the cover?

[MIB41]

Those were great days. But I do appreciate what the internet can do now. It's nice to be able to see new figures for free without having some store clerk bug you for reading a magazine if your not going to buy it. But there are plenty of great memories from those days.

[misterdroid]

I subscribed to toyshop for many years. It was great. Don't really miss the non-transparency auctions, but I tried to avoid those if at all possible. Most importantly I met some great people through toyshop. I miss that, having guys from literally around the world call and say, "Guess what I got!", and working out a deal, or just talking toys for a while. The internet is great but those days seemed more personal.

[jwyblejr]

I've told this story before but I'll tell it again because it's funny. There was a seller who had an ad in Toyshop with Megos and Star Wars listed for really cheap prices. I called to see if he had any of the Star Wars stuff left and I get "Sorry,the Megos are all gone." Then he hung up. No idea what had happened with the Star Wars stuff.

[madmarva]

Loved Toy Shop and the Comics Buyer's Guide, both. It was always great to come home for lunch or after work and find one or the other in the mailbox.

Certainly, getting news on the Internet is quicker and of course ebay, for all its ills, makes collecting anything and everything easier, but there was something about that anticipation that's not really there anymore.