toy collectors prior to 1990

[MysteryWho]

See, that's interesting. I mean, it's always been best to get the stuff cheap when it's being thrown away by retailers before it all ends up in the secondary market. But I do remember the prices being really high for some things even at a time when they really shouldn't have been. Are we better off, as collectors, now than at any other time. Is it, overall, cheaper/easier to collect today than way back when. I think we all romanticize about what it would have been like to be collecting back in the day, but then again it might have been a royal pain. Also, if we had had the wherewithal to collect at that time, we wouldn't have a reason to, 'cause the fun would be gone. It's like a time travel conundrum, if you see my meaning. It has to be the way it is.

[Neutron X]

YES therer were. I opened Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and later Flash Gordon and displayed them on my dresser. The boxed Megos I bought later I left inside box because you could see through the window boxes.

I see people forgot to mention that OLD Toys were often sold at Sci Fi conventions like Star Trek and Dr. Who back in the ealry 1980s. I worked at Fantasty Books in 1984 and we had cases of Japanese model kit imports when the dollar was doing well against the yen. Dr Who was huge so we would get UK toys in form our buyers.

In 1986 when ownership of Fantasy Books changed, (we eventually became a chain of 4 stores,) The new boss loved toys. I remember unloading a 1,000 MOC Super Powers figures. They were going on clearance and my boss Nick was buying them up for .25-$1.00 each as he traveled the country doing Sci Fi shows. It wasn't uncommon to have multiple cases of Star Trek crew memebrs to fill orders with. My favorite shipment came in a giant box from UPS It was a refrigerator box cut in half filled with Pin Pin Mego figures MOC
Fantastic Four, Hulk, and Spiderman. If that wasn't enough we had 300 MOC Star Wars/ESB/ ROJ/POTF/ figures MOC in the back. I like Bobba Fett and rd8 so I bought them.

To be honest I had to get a second part time job to afford all my Comics and toys.

12" Gijoes were the absolute hardest thing for me to find. I had to go to 32 antique stores before I found anything vintage Gijoe. The prices were crazy with Cottswald back then. No pictures just a list sent out with prices. A nude painted head Gijoe was $70!!!!!!!! The good news is Ebay has driven down prices along with Hasbro's reissues. I now buy vintage gijoes cheaper than any other time ever.

[goldenryan]

i wonder if there were any comic book fans in 70's who left the toys in the packages or maybe openedthem just for display back then.

[Bionic Joe]

kb must of been the place to go to back in the mid-80's discounted megos and star wars , plus secret wars and super powers .

I never saw any MEGO'S at the KB near me but in the mid to late 80s i saw secert wars,super powers, star wars, indiana jones mostly just the sword guy, later they had the robotech figures and ships i brought those but passed on star wars and super powers D'OH

[goldenryan]

In the early to mid 80s comic books and sports cards stamps and coins were the accepted hobbies and old tin toys were popular with some. I rember a few comic book guys buying star wars and super powers figures but they were considered the super hard core comic book fan or star wars fan, Sadly back then i didn't go to K-BEE toys and stock up on the kenner star wars figures marked down to three for a dollar and even though i liked the super powers figures i passed on buying them D'OH. Around 86 i went to a star trek con in south Phillie and a guy had 8 inch MEGOS star trek MOC priced at $15 each so i brought Capt Kirk and MR SPOCK and i still have them today but sadly the bubble on MR SPOCKS card lifted off the card

kb must of been the place to go to back in the mid-80's discounted megos and star wars , plus secret wars and super powers .

[mego73]

i have always been fascinated by the collectors of the early days but maybe it's because i hate most of the toys made now i had a family member who collected mostly star trek and superman items and this was in the late 80's or early 90's but he did have some nice mego things those aliens were real rare back then. so please share some memories u have from the good old days of collecting.

I started collecting in the mid 80's. First by rediscovering Star Trek and getting some Star Trek Mego stuff from Brad and Jeannie Taylor of Third Planet Collectibles.

Getting a book about celebrity dolls allowed me to see again, many of the other Mego TV and movie figures and got me started.

[Bionic Joe]

In the early to mid 80s comic books and sports cards stamps and coins were the accepted hobbies and old tin toys were popular with some. I rember a few comic book guys buying star wars and super powers figures but they were considered the super hard core comic book fan or star wars fan, Sadly back then i didn't go to K-BEE toys and stock up on the kenner star wars figures marked down to three for a dollar and even though i liked the super powers figures i passed on buying them D'OH. Around 86 i went to a star trek con in south Phillie and a guy had 8 inch MEGOS star trek MOC priced at $15 each so i brought Capt Kirk and MR SPOCK and i still have them today but sadly the bubble on MR SPOCKS card lifted off the card

[samurainoir]

I first discovered a book called Garage Sale Gold at my local library in the late 80's or early nineties. I hit the garage sales pretty hard for a couple of summers in a row. Found one Superman Mego in awesome condition and it made me a happy camper. Mostly bought cheap loose stuff with an emphasis on Star Wars.

I became a collector of packaged toys of that era, starting with the Toy Biz Superheroes, followed by stuff like Batman TAS/Returns, Aliens, Star Trek TNG, and eventually McFarlane Spawn and the new Star Wars before giving it up. Only recently returned to collecting, but with an emphasis on vintage things from my childhood.

[GovernmentIssueJoseph]

Collecting? My brother SAVED everything. Well, what ever we didn't destroy with fire in our Super 8 films. Picked up a lot of stuff at the old Toy Shows and Thrift Stores in the early 1990s (especially in the Pacific Northwest)

[cjefferys]

when i first started back in the late 80's some of my friends were laughing at me. now i see them collecting too!! lol

Oh man, I remember looking for toys in department stores and Toys R Us during the 80's and being so embarrassed and self conscious. Worried about people pointing and laughing at a 20 year old man buying toys (or so I imagined). Now, I wouldn't even give it a second thought. Times have changed, and so have I.

[goldenryan]

I collected mainly comic books in the early 70's. Even though I was only a little kid I was pretty serious about it & had special bags / boxes. I quit later when I became serious about wanting a car. Then, in the early 80's, when I was in my 20's & had my own apartment, I had a job that gave me a little extra money so I started to collect comics again & did that for a few years. Then one day around 1983-84, I'm guessing, I drove by an antique shop that I used to see in my car all the time while driving to a friend's house. It had real vintage soda pop signs all over it & always sort of intrigued me. So, I went in...WOW! The 1st cool thing I discovered ( that wasn't $200.00+, ha ha ) was a vintage metal lunch box of The Incredible Hulk. Then I found a cool vintage Fisher Price pull toy, the Bumble Bee. I had one as a kid & it really brought back a lot of fond memories. I ended up buying both items for just $10.00. After that I was hooked. It didn't take long & I was a toy collector & became a dealer too. I used to set up at toy shows, flea markets, etc... I made a great living at it for around 10+ years. Then eBay came up. I was an eBay slave for about 13+ years & started in their 2nd year. The 1st few years were really great as there were many more buyers then dealers. The prices I got for stuff was crazy. But it didn't take long for GREED to totally kill the toy market. Soon, everybody & their dog was a "dealer wannabe". Garage sales became a nightmare. When you go to Estate Sales there's now a line around the block....it sucks. It's got so bad that it's almost imposable to make a living unless you eat, drink, sleep it...it sucks & YES, I am bitter. I would commit suicide but if I did that then both God & eBay would win. So...I started to do other things to live. I really miss the old days before all the corruption. I hope Google or some other large company comes along & totally KILLS ebay. They deserve it. They are a corporation that is totally BEYOND greed & have an immoral monopoly. They don't care about their customers, only shoveling money to their stockholders. eBay does NOT, in any way, care about the love & nostalgia of collecting. They only care about screwing dealers down to the micro-penny. eBay has ruined everything & pretty much ended the whole toy market.


Whoops, ok...sorry to vent but eBay sucks!

ebay is a negative thing in my eyes too. but it was just a matter of time time until something like that came along.
ebay, almost made collecting not fun me anymore. finding stuff like megos and redlines at garage sales is a rare thing nowadays.

[EmergencyIan]

Besides toy shows, back then, ToyShop magazine was a "place to find a lot of what you were looking for and a great "place' to make connections.


- Ian

[goldenryan]

yeah the early 90's were the golden days unless you were a collector in 80's but sadly 95% of us weren't. i still think i would enjoy going to the kane, ill show 15 years ago alot more than i would now. with all the new star wars ,trek, mcfarlane and all that other shelf warming crap.

[tomstoyz2]

I collected mainly comic books in the early 70's. Even though I was only a little kid I was pretty serious about it & had special bags / boxes. I quit later when I became serious about wanting a car. Then, in the early 80's, when I was in my 20's & had my own apartment, I had a job that gave me a little extra money so I started to collect comics again & did that for a few years. Then one day around 1983-84, I'm guessing, I drove by an antique shop that I used to see in my car all the time while driving to a friend's house. It had real vintage soda pop signs all over it & always sort of intrigued me. So, I went in...WOW! The 1st cool thing I discovered ( that wasn't $200.00+, ha ha ) was a vintage metal lunch box of The Incredible Hulk. Then I found a cool vintage Fisher Price pull toy, the Bumble Bee. I had one as a kid & it really brought back a lot of fond memories. I ended up buying both items for just $10.00. After that I was hooked. It didn't take long & I was a toy collector & became a dealer too. I used to set up at toy shows, flea markets, etc... I made a great living at it for around 10+ years. Then eBay came up. I was an eBay slave for about 13+ years & started in their 2nd year. The 1st few years were really great as there were many more buyers then dealers. The prices I got for stuff was crazy. But it didn't take long for GREED to totally kill the toy market. Soon, everybody & their dog was a "dealer wannabe". Garage sales became a nightmare. When you go to Estate Sales there's now a line around the block....it sucks. It's got so bad that it's almost imposable to make a living unless you eat, drink, sleep it...it sucks & YES, I am bitter. I would commit suicide but if I did that then both God & eBay would win. So...I started to do other things to live. I really miss the old days before all the corruption. I hope Google or some other large company comes along & totally KILLS ebay. They deserve it. They are a corporation that is totally BEYOND greed & have an immoral monopoly. They don't care about their customers, only shoveling money to their stockholders. eBay does NOT, in any way, care about the love & nostalgia of collecting. They only care about screwing dealers down to the micro-penny. eBay has ruined everything & pretty much ended the whole toy market.


Whoops, ok...sorry to vent but eBay sucks!

[MIB41]

Nothing substantiates a hobby like the almighty dollar... and those willing to give many of them to take it off your hands.