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Post by Pinwig on Jan 8, 2015 22:20:05 GMT
I feel post 1 of this thread needs attention drawn to it: Ahh those were the days. Shame they wont happen again. If Ian ever offers you a sure fire cert in the 3:30 at Doncaster don't place the bet! Yeah, blew that idea by buying the lot from Amazon in one hit. Still. It was nice to go to Smythes and feel the thrill of thinking, "Have they got them? What's that? oh my word, it's Silverbolt!" |
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Post by Shockprowl on Jan 8, 2015 22:40:48 GMT
Now please predict the release of a nice big re-issue box of Action Masters. Make my dreams come true. -Ralph Action Masters will NEVER be released! NEVER!!! *awaits announcement...* |
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 8, 2015 22:44:21 GMT
Still my favourite TF line.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 8, 2015 22:45:47 GMT
I don't think I ever saw a RID Mega for sale in the UK, even grey imported discount stock. Enough people have for me to be convinced it happened. Were the Trainbots Megas? Because I recall grabbing a set of those for someone from Jenners in Edinburgh when a single case turned up unexpectedly. My recollection is that they showed up sometime after the majority of the range and are believed to be grey imports. Possibly at about the point TRU was getting the grey import wave with the Build Team and Stormjet I've never seen a Euro boxed version to convince me otherwise. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 12, 2015 15:38:59 GMT
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 12, 2015 17:53:16 GMT
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Post by Llama God on May 12, 2015 21:40:54 GMT
Ooft. That really hits the old nostalgia bone.
It struck me again today, as it struck me every time I go there, that the B&M in Shawlands is situated in what used to be the local Woolworths. And although I only moved up here a couple of years ago, it was the Woolworths on Cosham High Street that I used to go into as a wee godlet in an attempt to find cheap toys. Things change, and yet, they remain so very much the same...
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Post by Shockprowl on May 12, 2015 22:23:38 GMT
Oh... God... those were the days. Oh man.
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Dezzeh
Thunderjet
Wait, what?
Posts: 4,888
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Post by Dezzeh on May 13, 2015 8:19:56 GMT
Obviously we all look at this with rose-tinted glasses, but, 82-89 really were the best times to be a kid.
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Post by Fortmax2020 on May 13, 2015 8:58:55 GMT
Looking at some of those FB pictures... Two Duocons were worth half the price of a Scorponok??
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 31, 2015 21:05:39 GMT
The places I remember seeing cheap TFs were mainly "pop up shop" discounters. Even longer ago in Kingston there was a very dingy pop with Joustra Diaclone: That's how I got my Windcharger and Gears This image popped up on Richard Marson's twitter feed today:  The discounter in the background is the shop I bought Windcharger and Gears from! They're standing on the junction of Fife Road and Clarence street in Kingston! |
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 21, 2016 21:33:52 GMT
Bumblebee and Shockwave I picked up back home, in a toy shop in Portsmouth that is sadly long closed (and was the place where I received my first lightsaber, at the age of five, from a visiting Darth Vader). I used to frequent Portsmouth a lot as a kid as my dad would take me to the library, but I find myself unable to visualise toy shops, which seems unlikely. Where was the one of which you speak? I must have been there. |
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Post by Llama God on Mar 21, 2016 23:32:07 GMT
Beatties. On the corner just down from Allders, halfway down Arundel Street. It was a really tiny place. But yet, it had the good stuff...
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 21, 2016 23:37:47 GMT
Part of a now extinct chain. And where I bought my action masters from in Kingston
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Post by Baron B of Triple B on Mar 22, 2016 0:22:09 GMT
We had a couple of them in Glasgow, I think they were model specialists weren't they? The one at St Enoch briefly turned into Electronics Boutique before they were all changed to Game stores and is now a Maplin.
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Post by Llama God on Mar 22, 2016 8:02:11 GMT
Aye, I think that's how they started. But my local store, at least, had also branched out into toys, with a separate section for modelling. This was a fairly canny move, because this was in the days before Portsmouth had a Toysaurus - making them one of the best toy stores in Commercial Road after Woolworth's.
Now... now there neither. Sad times.
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 22, 2016 8:11:18 GMT
Beatties was my source for Playmates Star Trek toys back in the day. As well as cheap Hartnell DW VHS tapes!
-Ralph
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Post by Baron B of Triple B on Mar 22, 2016 9:04:22 GMT
I can't remember there ever being a TRU near me when I was young. I got most of my toys from Jolly Giant, which is still the greatest shop in history and it saddens me that I won't get to take my son in there to buy toys, or Woolworths of which there was a large one in Glasgow City Centre and an even larger one at Parkhead Forge. Ones now a Poundland and the other is a Sports Direct.
There were a few smaller shops that I would've got toys in but those were the main ones.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 22, 2016 9:30:44 GMT
We had a couple of them in Glasgow, I think they were model specialists weren't they? My memory of the Beatties in Kingston was that it started off as a Train and Model specialist late 70s/early 80s. Ours had two floors so models upstairs, trains downstairs or something similar. My first memory of it having toys comes from 1982 when we found the ATAT Commander, Luke Hoth, Tie Pilot, CloudCar Pilot, 4 Lom*, R2D2 Sensorscope and C3PO removable limbs wave in there. It was also where we finally found Zuckuss* early the next year and got one with the mail away Admiral Ackbar offer on it. They had a spot to the left of the main doors where the boys toys went. (* reverse names as necessary) I can remember them stocking LOTS of Masters of the Universe at the same time including the Vehicle and Figure packs and 3 figure packs nobody else did. I can remember Bearties being the first place I saw Head and Targetmasters in 87 (my earliest TF memory of them) and holding and wanting Snapdragon and not being able to afford it. Instead of saving my cash for a few weeks I went round the corner and bought Flywheels from Woolworths! I have a Headmasters offer/competition leaflet in my collection which came from there! They were also good for Action Force and the only place in town that got in any of the 1988 figures during 1988! Sadly it was the crappy wave with Iceberg & Monkeywrench in it but I did buy Roadblock in there from that assortment. I can remember scooping the entire 1990 range out of there in one visit! 1990 was also the year I red hazed on Action Masters the first time I saw them! I've got some vague AM Powersuit and 92/3 toys memories but the next thing I can remember buying in there was G2 Sureshot and Archforce in 95, but the TFs were at the back of the store then by the stairs. There's some posts on the TMUK chat archive about them getting in lots of BW basics Autumn 1998 that were Chinese grey imports when you couldn't find Rattrap or Terrorsaur anywhere else. I'm trying to remember when it all went under for them but my memory has it the writing had been on the wall for some time :-( |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 22, 2016 9:33:02 GMT
I can't remember there ever being a TRU near me when I was young. The nearest TRU to me growing up was the one in Woking, one of the first in the UK. We used to pass it driving to my uncle's house. Would my parents stop? No! But all four of us wanted to go in there! |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 22, 2016 9:53:33 GMT
There are some more Beatties memories in the earlier pages of this thread.
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Dezzeh
Thunderjet
Wait, what?
Posts: 4,888
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Post by Dezzeh on Mar 22, 2016 11:54:33 GMT
I still look back fondly on the nearly full aisle dedicated to glorious robots in Beatties in Winchester
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 22, 2016 20:59:40 GMT
Beatties. On the corner just down from Allders, halfway down Arundel Street. It was a really tiny place. But yet, it had the good stuff... Yes! Oh how could I forget that. Of course. Went in there many a time. Coo, you've just restored a missing memory. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 1, 2016 18:41:47 GMT
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Post by The Doctor on May 1, 2016 20:45:45 GMT
I just get a white screen.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 1, 2016 21:10:57 GMT
works fine here. What you looking on, pc or ipad? Browser?
Bonus points if you can identify the three carded figures visible.
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Dezzeh
Thunderjet
Wait, what?
Posts: 4,888
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Post by Dezzeh on May 1, 2016 21:36:05 GMT
The site does not like mobile browsers at all, I suspect flash is involved.
Got a direct image link?
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 1, 2016 21:55:39 GMT
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Post by Pinwig on May 1, 2016 22:01:55 GMT
Those were the days. Why isn't life still like that.
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Dezzeh
Thunderjet
Wait, what?
Posts: 4,888
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Post by Dezzeh on May 2, 2016 6:08:49 GMT
Sadly my eyes are no longer good enough to make out that picture, through the blur it seems like double targetmasters
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