Rarities - 1994 Toys R Us Advertisement

The demise of Toys R Us is a sad story.  It died not due to diminished interest in toys.  But, instead, to unfettered corporate greed.  Really, KB Toys died the same way.  And, because of this, the idea of a toy store in 2023 is simply unfathomable.  My kids were fortunate to be old enough to enjoy Toys R Us for a couple of years.  They had great fun wandering the aisles, looking at all the cool toys that you couldn't find anywhere else.  But, it also died out before they were of an age to really appreciate it.  Now, when I see them scouring Amazon for obscure toys, I realize that were they just a few years older, we'd have gone to Toys R Us for them to browse and find something that interested them.

This takes us, then, to another lost form: the print advertisement.  Sunday newspapers used to be chock full of vibrant, color ads that were the main way many stores could communicate their goods and prices to their potential customers.  And, through these ads, we have a record of products and prices from their own times.  Below is one such piece: a 1994 Toys R Us print ad that appeared in newspapers throughout the US nearly 30 years ago.  

Some of the newspaper ads from previous years would include pre-production or early prototypes of toys.  In some cases, even an unproduced item or two might appear.  But, this one from 1994 is pretty innocuous.  The main thing you see is that Hasbro was really trying to push the 12" action figure line.  I never really understood this.  I fall right into the weird demographic who just missed 12" action figures as a thing and was there right as 3 3/4 was emerging.  So, I have no attachment or interest in larger toys.  But, Hasbro was hell bent on recapturing the emerging collector market and some kids with their 12" offerings.

From the 3 3/4 perspective, the ad doesn't feature much.  The line was dying at this point.  So, just featuring 3 products makes sense.  But, the outlandish $4.99 price on Shadow Ninjas offers all the insight you need into why that line stuck around well into 1996 at Toys R Us stores.  Those figures really didn't cost much more than that until the last few years when collectors have finally started to recognize how difficult they are to find in good condition.  I am pleased to see the white elbows, though, as this photo of them fresh from the factory with that condition shows that it was a feature of their design and not degradation from age.

The Blockbuster is a great toy.  I found mine at a Meijer store, though.  I'm not sure what I paid for it.  But, $25 seems about right.  I recall seeing the 1993 Jets at Toys R Us stores into 1995 and 1996.  But, they were ridiculously expensive for that era.  The first time I found the Blockbuster, I bought it.  So, my local store was sold out of them by the time I started searching out the ghosts of the Joe line.

The big showcase here is the Power Fighters.  Not that they are something we haven't seen before.  But, the fact that they were $9.99.  Nowadays, each of the figures from the Power Fighters will reach nearly $100 if they have the filecard.  So, seeing them so cheap is shocking.  But, to be honest, if I had found these at retail in 1995 or so, I don't know if I'd have bought them.  I don't like mechs.  And, that would mean paying $10 for a figure.  So, I might have missed out on them, even if the price seems absurdly cheap today.

The one thing that stores like KB and Toys R Us brought to the table was a guaranteed buyer for items that Wal Mart and Target might not want.  These days, toy retail is dictated by the whims of those two retailers.  When Toys R Us was around, their willingness to offer products that didn't sell out in 2 weeks allowed Hasbro and other toy companies to offer things that would otherwise have never appeared.  The only upside is that the direct to consumer model of things like Pulse still allows for some exclusives.  And, Haslabs offer larger scale toys that would have once been the domain of Toys R Us exclusives.  

I think we lose out by not being able to see toys on a shelf.  To see the packaging, hold it in your hand and want it.  But, that's also nostalgia talking.  That's a remnant of when I was a kid.  And, I see my kids getting excited over seeing something on Amazon, saving up for it and then getting it and then having the same enthusiasm for it as I did when I bought something at Sears when I was their age.  But, I still miss Toys R Us and wish things had turned out differently for it.