X-Entertainment.com X-Entertainment.com A Proud UGO Affiliate
My dying wish is for an owl/camel hybrid, which I call camowl.
« [Main Index] »

The Toys R’ Us Catalog.


I think you'll like this one - a page-by-page look at the Toys R' Us 'Out of this World' Toy Book, covering He-Man, Centurions, Inhumanoids, She-Ra, Lazer Tag, and a whole lot more. Enjoy. Suck my bandwidth.

Posted by Matt on 04/30/2003. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 62 comments

So, where’d you find this one, Matt? Great article, love the Hulk Easter Egg.

Chestnuts roasted by Mr. Mr. Mr. @ 04/30/2003 5:56 PM

Excellent! Not exactly funny, but it was fascinating. Surprised there’s no NES adds, though!

Chestnuts roasted by Freezair @ 04/30/2003 6:12 PM

Because I grew up in the country, before a time where crazed paedophillic madmen lurked around behind every bush, a lot of my friends had tunnels of fun and used them as backyard tents. I wanted a tunnel of fun. I craved a tunnel of fun. I NEEDED a tunnel of fun. In hindsight, I’m lucky I didn’t end up in some reparative therapy prototype being exorcised of my homoerotic girl-loving demons based on that alone.

Also? I love the wood master deluxe wood table and four chairs. I mean, really, it’s a cool thing to have when you’re a kid. But are you really gonna be sitting around playing poker for bits ‘n’ bites with all the other kids just hoping that someone says "Jeez, Sarah — the natural finish on this table is just *gorgeous*!"

Chestnuts roasted by Molten @ 04/30/2003 6:47 PM

Molten:

I can’t be sure, but it sounds like the second coming of the Ruxpin might actually be Rupert the Bear, a pretentious English bear that did…stuff. I don’t know anymore than that. ANd I really can’t be bothered to even care.

I really wish I had paid more attention as a kid. I was pretty much all about the Star Wars, G.I.Joes and Transformers, and never really got any of the other stuff. I hope they bring back Inhumanoids and Centurions, because I probably would have loved them then, and now I don’t have to rely on my parents. Just my wife.

Chestnuts roasted by Sean @ 04/30/2003 6:59 PM

I wanted Centurions badly. The only subsitute I had was the Legos long strips that had holes in them for use of putting in wheel spokes. Was not as much fun. After seeing the cyborgs in that ad and imagining combining the two halves of the villains, I just couldn’t take it. I’d kill for Centurions action figures, even the used ones on ebay.

Too bad I’m too old to be playing with toys.

Chestnuts roasted by Go Knock Jimmy Down @ 04/30/2003 8:40 PM

I had a lot of the things in the catalog. Brings back memories…

Chestnuts roasted by JG! @ 04/30/2003 11:31 PM

I used to have one of the Centurions. But it was at the end of my first run of toy buying days, so I never got big into them.

Inhumanoids either.

Though I wished I had kept that Robotix kit I had and seen in that flyer.

That thing was sweet.

I knew I shoulda bought the rerelease at the World of Science store a year or so back..

But no love for M.A.S.K. Matt?\

Cmon, those toys KICKED ASS. 1/2 sized GI Joe figs with transforming vehicles..

Back when I was playing Warhammer 40K every week, I was REALLY wistful for the Boulder Hill Playset to use as uber scenery. A big perfectly to scale gas station that turned into uber combat base..

Another of the toys I was stupid enough to get rid of as a child..

Chestnuts roasted by Bloodcat @ 04/30/2003 11:35 PM

Oh yeah, the NES really wasn’t big until 1988-1989.

Sure some people got them in 1985-86, but they were mostly being test marketed at the time.

Christmas 87 was the NES’ first BIG year.

88-89 is when it became a legend.

89 is also when I bought my Sega Genesis. 87 was the Commodore 64. 86 was the Nintendo. The Commodore 64 was the best, and I still use my Genesis to this day.

I was never a big Nintendo obessive. Too many other game systems outshone it.

Though a fond memory was Christmas 90, when I got RPGs for the NES, C64, and Genesis. Some lovvin for every system..

Chestnuts roasted by Bloodcat @ 04/30/2003 11:43 PM

beautiful! brings it back

Chestnuts roasted by dan @ 05/01/2003 12:46 PM

matt, when are you going to get around to reviewing the corey haim e! true hollywood story (not that you promised to do it, but it just *has* to be reviewed)??? the next time it’s on TV, which isn’t often for some reason (perhaps the brass at e! have something against corey), i’m going to tape it and send it to you for a proper review. this thing’s mind-blowing; you haven’t lived until you’ve seen corey jamming on a casio.

Chestnuts roasted by jason @ 05/01/2003 1:48 AM

..if only everyone would keep Toys R Us catalogs.. I still have a Fluppy Puppy. >.>

There were no My Little Ponies though, that sucked..but the kid in the Lazer Tag helmet was a good tradeoff.

Chestnuts roasted by Hollow @ 05/01/2003 2:49 AM

Great article, shame about the lack of transformers. Does anyone remember the fat, glossy Lego catalogs of ’88? Or the Matchbox cars catalog circa ’83. Time to trawl eBay..

Chestnuts roasted by crispin @ 05/01/2003 3:36 AM

Matt — I vaguely remember Blinkins and I’m pretty sure you’re right about the frog. Also, the full description reads: "Blinkins-trapper has light up eyes, snapping net for prey!" That about says it all right there. I remember having a few Blinkins too; they were pretty cool. Anything with antennae and hair in fun colors rocks. Also, their bottoms were soft. And they lit up! Not as cool as Glo-worms, though.

Chestnuts roasted by Wes @ 05/01/2003 4:58 AM

all that stuff was extremely over priced. I have a rub-a-dub doggy…and as cool as it is…im not quite sure if its thaaaaat cool to pay that much. Toys suffer the same over priced fate now a days too.

Chestnuts roasted by kennef @ 05/01/2003 9:59 AM

I had the fisher price microscope. When I first found out about masturbation, I used the microscope to count my sperm. Sadly, there were none. Maybe cause it only magnified 2x.

Chestnuts roasted by chad @ 05/01/2003 10:37 AM

This article brings many memories back. Horrible, terrible memories of the time I worked at Toys R Us. I can still hear the whiney children, you know. Every night when I go to sleep…

Chestnuts roasted by Casey Jones @ 05/01/2003 10:39 AM

My sisters and I had quite a few things from this catalog, including that Pamela doll. Seeing that picture brought it all back… the cloth body and the rock-hard arms and legs, and the slot in her back to put the themed card of sayings. We had the out to dinner version :P I am going to ask my mom why the hell she paid 50+ dollars for that thing!! But yeh, this is bringing it all back to me. I miss my old toys. And our Commodore 64, which my parents DONATED when I wasn’t looking. ::seethes::

On a side note, that Nokia floating ad is really pissing me off, I don’t have the greatest connection as it is. See if I ever decide to buy a Nokia phone now. :P

Chestnuts roasted by Amanda @ 05/01/2003 12:11 PM

Wow. Who else went throught this going, "Had it, had it, wanted it, friend had it, wanted it, had it, had it. . ."

Great job Matt. Stuff I haven’t thought of in YEARS. Construx, Rub-A-Dub Doggy, the Fischer-Price tape recorder. Man!

Chestnuts roasted by Dane E. Coffey @ 05/01/2003 12:30 PM

matt, thanks for the trip down memory lane. i remember spending hours in toys ‘r us, back before video games when they actually had a lot of toys for kids ten and under. these days it seems like toys are going out of style, believe it or not. once kids turn 5 or 6 they just play video games, which is cool but dude, sometimes you just need a gi joe to kick some ass.

Chestnuts roasted by alex kidd @ 05/01/2003 1:21 PM

all i can say matt, is thank you. You are a hero among us twenty-somethings. Thank you. THANK YOU.

Chestnuts roasted by wack0 @ 05/01/2003 1:47 PM

Hell, you’re a hero to us 15-somethings too, Matt.

Chestnuts roasted by Mr. Mr. Mr. @ 05/01/2003 1:50 PM

Matt, you may be interested in this site:

http://www.amoktime.com

It’s for a store out here on Long Island (the most brilliantly named place in the world…it’s a LONG ISLAND…get it?) that sells old toys. LOTS of old toys. And some Japanese Transformers. They had a giraffe in Japan, with it’s tongue permanently sticking out…

Chestnuts roasted by Nemesis @ 05/01/2003 2:17 PM

WOW! that was too much fun. I dont’ remember blinkins either and I usually remember everything. I had so much of that stuff. ALL of page 1 and so much of the rest. Was I spoiled? I didn’t think so before but seeing how many toys I had, I am starting to think my mom was more generous than I believed. Please do more of these. I loved it.

Chestnuts roasted by t-rah @ 05/01/2003 2:21 PM

WOW! that was too much fun. I dont’ remember blinkins either and I usually remember everything. I had so much of that stuff. ALL of page 1 and so much of the rest. Was I spoiled? I didn’t think so before but seeing how many toys I had, I am starting to think my mom was more generous than I believed. Please do more of these. I loved it.

Chestnuts roasted by t-rah @ 05/01/2003 2:22 PM

Matt, once we’re in six pages or so don’t we deserve a respite from those terrible ads?

Chestnuts roasted by Ben @ 05/01/2003 2:45 PM

Add A New Comment!


This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2003 at 5:39 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.