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04/07/2008: The Hundred Dollar Toys "R" Us Shopping Spree: Part 1!

I was originally going to compile all of this into one big article, but then I remembered that I work during the week and tend to dissolve into slush on the weekends. Rather than fuck myself again, let's split it into parts and strike while I'm still excited. It's time for PART ONE of my great, big, huge, gigantic, enormous $100 Toys "R" Us shopping spree report!

As you'll recall, Toys "R" Us received the popular vote in this thread, where I challenged you to tell me where to blow my $100 American Express gift card. Truth be told, I had no doubt that TRU would take the prize, and I probably would've rigged the poll with fake comments from "George223" and "PlanetAwesome" had it been necessary. I've always wanted to do a Toys "R" Us shopping spree.

In fact, I can't imagine that anyone who grew up when I did would feel any differently. I can't count the number of sweepstakes I entered and lost for such an opportunity. It seemed like the chance to win a thousand dollar TRU shopping spree sprung up at least once every six months throughout the '80s, and though I was only afforded one-tenth the budget for this project, the joy was still enough to make good on the trillion childhood dreams I had — dreams of combing the aisles with a shopping cart full of everything, tossing in video game after action figure after candy bar with all the gleeful abandon of a pig in shit.

No two Toys "R" Us stores are exactly alike, even if they seem to be on the surface. For this expedition, I had to pick my local store, which had stood in the same spot since before I was even born, and was ground zero for virtually every toy-related hunt of my life. It wouldn't be even a slight exaggeration to say that I could fill a book with memories of this single Toys "R" Us store. From meeting Darth Vader there in '84 to begging workers to "check the back" for an elusive Mondo Gecko all throughout '89, this has been one of my very few chosen places where all is right with the world.

I can't say for sure if I became a collector in adulthood out of mere appreciation for toys, or simply because I refused to let go of that sense of euphoria during my youth. Even today, where my toy store runs are limited to finding kids' birthday presents or something new to write about on the site, I still muster the same sense of tranquility that I assume other people feel when they step foot into their local sports team's arena, or, I dunno, Grandma's house.

The $100 shopping spree commenced this past Sunday afternoon, and the photo above does little to convey the absolute pandemonium I endured. Clumsily navigating a worn-out wagon around aloof parents and at least a dozen kids who had those ridiculous wheels built into their sneakers (I'm just jealous), my mission wasn't easy. I didn't want to limit myself to the two or three aisles of "major" brands. My goal was to comb through every last crevice of the store, questing to dig up all of the weird-but-amazing crap that isn't popular enough to be stocked where anyone incapable of crouching can find it.

With bruised knees and calloused fingers, I return to you now, the proud owner of $100.17 worth of brilliant garbage. It would've been $99.17, but the lady at the register had a really good hook for her "donate a dollar to autistic kids" speech. As much as I wanted to come in on budget, it's tough to respond indifferently to such phrases as, "hey, since you saved so much money on our clearance sales, would you mind donating a dollar to save an autistic child's life?" And even if I was considering saying no, she asked it loud enough for five other people to turn our way in wait of my inevitable response: "Sure, you bet!"

I digress. It's time to talk toys. Tonight's entry covers 33.3333% of the goods; I'll cover the remaining throughout the week. Oh, and should anyone doubt the validity of my wild stories about the prices I paid, keep in mind that I will scan and provide the full receipt when we wrap this up in Part 3.

TMNT "Michelangelo" Figure - $7.99: During my journey, I tried to steer clear of the big brands. But this guy just called to me. I can't remember if I've ever told this story — probably have — but I fell into the original Ninja Turtles toy collection by pure incidence. My brother gave me a few of the figures for Christmas in '88, which was technically a misfire for him since I'd only seen the cartoon a few times and hadn't at all been bit by the still-burgeoning wave of Turlemania.

And yet, something about those figures touched me immediately. They were brightly colored, being turtles and all, but they such an innate simplicity that one could've very well pictured Santa's elves crafting them with bits of plastic and small tubes of paint. As the toy industry headed into the '90s, most of the action figure lines became detailed to the point of being overdetailed. You couldn't run your finger down a four-inch dude's leg without trying to figure out if he had grenades sculpted over his calves or was merely happy to see you.

Many of the newer TMNT figures continue on with this intangible charm, but none to the level of the bug-eyed Michelangelo shown above, with skin three shades lighter than his brothers, and an expression shared only by Kevin McCallister when he stumbled upon the in-room mini-bar during Home Alone 2. Though an eight dollar price tag seemed a bit steep, I take solace in knowing that Michelangelo is exactly the type of turtle who'd get a real kick out of costing more than a dollar per inch.

Edu Science Authentic Fossils Collection - $4.99: Hidden near the back of the store, even beyond the lesser-visited Play-Doh and Crayola aisles, Toys "R" Us has a rather impressive section of "real learning" toys, ranging from virtual frog dissection kits to Sea-Monkeys, with a couple of foam great white shark dolls thrown in for good measure. I could've easily blown the entire hundred bucks on that stuff, but since I didn't want to bore anyone, I limited myself to this five dollar collection of totally legitimate fossils.

While I'll concede that the glory is lost once you open the package and have nothing but a handful of oddly shaped coral to show for it, the bubbly, term-filled window display makes that an easy folly to avoid. I mean, why bother opening the package if you're going to lose the ability to tell the difference between your trilobite and ammonite? The shark's tooth seems like the odd man out of the bunch, but I think we can all agree that no fossil collection is worth buying if it doesn't include at least one shark's tooth. It's kind of an unspoken law.

Hungry Hungry Hippos "Fun on the Run" Game - 5.99: I'm not entirely pleased with this purchase, and I think I've finally figured out why. I set my sights on the full-sized version, but since TRU was charging almost twenty dollars for it, the travel-sized edition seemed like a fair consolation prize. Only it isn't. And it's not because it isn't big enough, or even because there are only two technicolor hippopotamuses as opposed to the typical four.

It's the marbles. The shitty, lightweight plastic marbles cannot compete with the deliciously loud and clangy sounds made by the larger marbles in the full-sized edition. When I play this one, I never have the sense that I'm actively satiating my chosen hippo. I can't imagine that even a hungry hippo one-third the size of the ones I'm used to feeding would be satisfied with marbles so inconsequentially quiet and non-clangy.

I guess it was silly to expect that all of my purchases would be home runs, but this one stings harder since I passed on a far cooler travel-sized edition of Connect-4 for it. Yeah, there are less clingy clangs going on with that one too, but at least I wouldn't feel like I'm disappointing hippopotamuses with it.

Nerfoop - 4.99: My shopping spree was spiked with as much nostalgia as a romp through an old Sears Wishbook, so there was no way I could pass up this lost glory of youth: The Nerfoop! A small, harmless basketball hoop with a small, harmless foam basketball might not seem like the makings of the party of the century, but it really comes together to form exactly that.

The best part is, I've matured enough to where I'm not going to make the same mistakes I did as a kid; namely, the idea that I can slam dunk the little basketball without smashing the Nerfoop into thirty pieces. It's times like these that I wish we still used typewriters, for what scribe wouldn't cream at the opportunity to write a page of crap, tear it out, crunch it up and nail a swish through a Nerfoop that was strategically placed over a garbage pail? As things stand now, the best I can do is challenge the woman to a little one-on-one to decide which of us has to make the next pot of coffee.

The best tribute I can afford the Nerfoop is this: I don't know where most of the junk I bought will be in a month's time, but the Nerfoop? It'll still be in my living room. Definitely.

Star Wars "Character Wheel" - TEN CENTS!!! Before I tell you what a Star Wars "Character Wheel" is, I must reflect upon a visit to Toys "R" Us long, long ago. Back when they still had the giant bicycle section. It was probably 1987 or so. I couldn't believe my eyes as I passed by a rack full of Wheeled Warriors accessory packs, not just because Wheeled Warriors toys hadn't been made for years by then, but also because of their ridiculously insane price of eight cents a pack.

Needless to say, I bought each and every one of them, the total amount nearing twenty, and my mother couldn't debate the decision since even twenty Wheeled Warriors accessory packs still cost less than a single action figure from any other line. The accessory packs consisted of random guns and add-ons for Wheeled Warriors vehicles, and even though I owned not a single of those by that point, a bargain was a bargain.

I got these "Character Wheels" for the same reason, and this is proven by the fact that I bought not one of them, but ten. They're just little spinny wheel checklists of Star Wars action figures and LEGO sets, pointless for every endeavor outside of makeshift frisbee competitions, but at ten cents a pop, my only regret is that I didn't buy the remaining fifty. I'm seriously thinking about going back to collect the rest. I'm seriously thinking about being the least popular house on the block come next Halloween. Helllllllo fairy princess child…I do so like your faux wings…I do so hope you enjoy this STAR WARS CHARACTER WHEEL! Tricked and treated at the same time, biiiiitch.

That'll do it for Part 1. Let it be known that the ten-cent Star Wars frisbee wasn't even the cheapest thing I bought. If you yearn to learn what could possibly be cheaper than that, stay tuned for Part 2, coming sometime this year, or maybe the next.

I still can't believe it. TEN CENTS!

I haven't read the article, but I just want to let everyone know that the Iron Man Amped slurpee is awesome. I just got one, and I can't believe how good it is! Matt, I know you referred to this two blogposts ago, but did you get one? You need to. And then write about it. Also, I just got one of the simple Iron Man Collector Cups, but they have cups there where the lid is an Iron Man head. Really a pretty cool promotion. Okay, now back to the Toys R' Us shopping spree.

I got the cup, but as usual, it will take me several trips to several different 7-Elevens to find one that actually has the corresponding Slurpee flavor.

Hey this is the earliest i've ever been in the comments. Lovin all the stuff so far. =)

Ok, I was reading the other posts from this week, and while I was born in 1984, thus barely being conscious at the time of which you spoke, the recording of 50% of the Golden Girls hosting the opening of a Disney something-or-other is an awesomeness rarely experienced in my existence. My only question is: which 50%? (Please Bea and Rue!)

There was some Digimon stuff, including a cute carded pack of a bunch of mini-figures, which I very well may have bought if I knew shit about Digimon.

Fyarl: Close: Bea and Betty, which is interesting because rumor is that they hated each other.

The Mikey figure is sweet, watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the movie (1990), again last night and couldnt get over how Michelangelo would TOTALLY be the best one to hang out with if they were real.

Ok, so now I want to see it even more since you told me that! Although to be honest I will be picturing Bea Arthur picking up Betty White and tossing her through the air.

I was tainted durring that.. my girlfriend stated "..tshhh guys are so retarded" while casey and don we're working on the car… it was funny though cuz christ that movie is real. Only problem is i think the music dosent work for the movie

The best part is, they're Bea and Betty in the special, but they're totally playing Dorothy and Rose. And there are like 15 trillion other celebrities, too.

I was born in 85 but Im pretty sure EVERYONE who reads this site wants a full review of that.

Sweet! It's been so long since I've been this close to the top of the post! Helloooo all you late posters down there!

Man, what a haul. Glad you finally busted out the bags and got to typin'. I was really curious what Jeffery was hiding in there. My original Michaelangelo (I still have it) is still one of my favorite toys of all time. These new ones aren't doing too bad a job of capturing the spirit of the originals. Usually when a popular line gets reissued decades later they make so many changes it barely looks like the original. Speaking of which, I heard that the G.I. Joe HISS tanks and other vehicles are getting reissued soon, but with different paint jobs. And yeah, I agree, the 90's were terrible for toys. Everything went all day-glow and neon and there were like 45 attachments and shit. It got way out of hand.

Man, too bad about the Hungry Hungry Hippos. In theory, the idea of a travel sized one looks pretty promising. I agree though, you gotta have big, clangy marbles or what's the point?

Star Wars Character Wheel for 10 cents? Rock n' roll! That reminds me of this little dollar store that my mom used to take me to when I was a kid that had all kinds of odds and ends falling off the shelves. They had these little things that are hard to describe, but I think you'll all know what I mean. It's like a fold out scene, and you can put sort of temporary tattoo type stickers on them to decorate them. You place people within the scene to create whatever scenario you want, but it's kind of permanent cause they're like temporary tattoos and the only way to remove them is just to scratch it off. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

Don't tell me anymore, Matt. These little snippets of information will only make the wait worse, like knowing what you're getting for Christmas, except that it's July.

Oh and of the four turtles, I would pick Rapheal to hang out with in a nanosecond.

Id like to be around anyone BUT Rapheal… Needless to say I think he is the most like me.

Ahhhhhhhh! This is so weird, seeing pictures from other TRU's. Working at one makes me immediately go "Why the fuck is the preschool section so close to board games?!"

The Lego Spinner was actually a free giveaway when you bought any Lego Star Wars set, a while back. I can't even believe any store still has them! If you look close at the shelf label, on the right of the barcode, there's a 1, then an X. The X means they won't carry it any longer - another reason for it being 10 cents.

You sure have a lot of stuff on your shelves! Do you dust all that stuff? or just throw it out once in a while and start over?

for some reason 7.99 seems cheap for an action figure… does do (or anyone) have any insight into the prices say in the late 80's, compared to now?

When I was a kid, I always liked Mikey, but now that I'm older, Don is where it's at. Well…the 1990 movie version, anyway. That movie is way better than it has any right to be.

When my brother was a kid, he could get a GI Joe or Star Wars figure for a dollar to $1.50. By the time I got into it, Star Wars figures were $3.99. Add a dollar to that each time a prequel came out, and now it's $7 for a 3 3/4 inch figure. Those are Walmart prices, anyway, which is all I've got around here.

I need to raid a TRU soon. I was born in '87 but hell yes, do I remember those Big Bike aisles. Those kicked ass, especially when those "Power Wheels" started taking hold on the industry. Is it sad that I can go to both my local TRUs and remember where each respective aisle was?

I loved those ads on Nickelodeon of kids winning some contest that was never held going through one of those TRU shopping sprees. They always went for the video games, and I never know why they always got duplicates.

SamAel i'm a tempermental loner too. That explains why i've always liked Raph the best now thatI think about it.

Though I never missed the cartoon and saw the first movie twice times in the theater, I never had any TMNT toys. My cousin, who was then about four or five, was crazy about them. When he outgrew the toys in the mid-90s, he passed them onto my kid brother, despite the fact that the Turtles craze was long gone by then. I distinctly recall that the toys included the van, several turtles, Shredder, and the sewer hide-out. The toys were so battered and used by then, my mother kept them outside. Constant exposure to the elements and the sea air of the southern Jersey Shore assured that they did not stick around long enough for the turn of the millennium. They did make my brother a Turtles fan for life, though. He watches the new show as much as we did the old one, and he still has our old tapes of the original films. (And Raphael remains my favorite Turtle to this day. Tough and funny are a wonderful combination.)

Speaking of my brother, he had a Nerfoop for years. He used to challenge me to a game whenever I'd come home from college, and later whenever I'd visit from Wildwood. I'll have to remember to ask him if he kept it after he and my folks moved in January.

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what I'd buy with a $100 for Toys R' Us. Maybe a lot of stuffed Care Bears and discounted doll clothes for my Sailor Moon dolls. I didn't see the inside of a Toys 'R Us until college - the closest one to Cape May is 45 minutes away in Hamilton, near Atlantic City.

Yeah, when I was a kid, Mikey was the way to go, but I'm with you Annette, I like Donatello a lot more now. I was at a skating ring recently and they actually had the original Ninja Turtles arcade game there. It might still be my all-time favorite arcade game. I was trying to play as Donatello, but accidently hit the wrong button and ended up with Ralphael. Funny, cause he's always been my least favorite, even now. And I too, am a tempermental loner.

Yeah, and those Toys "R" Us contests were weird, cause the kid would just run around the store like crazy, throwing crap into his buggy all willy-nilly, not seeming to pay any attention to what he got. Man, I would so formulate some kind of game plan before I went in there if that was me. I'd head straight to the video games, then to Transformers, then who knows….but there would be some kind of plan for sure.

Awesome. I, too, miss the days of the old TRU, where they had huge isles and to get a video game you had to take a paper slip to that room hidden in the front corner of the other side of the store…. well, that's how mine was >.>

And surely you didn't miss the big Speed Racer display they probably have now, eh? >.>

I ALWAYS wanted to win these contests on Nickelodeon (well either this or get to play on Bozo's grand prize game)…

My gf and I talked about how we would have raided the video game aisles during the shopping sprees.

So in 2006 for Christmas I went to the Mall and bought her $500 in gift cards to 20 of her favorite stores and bought a little metal shopping cart and wrapped it up. In the cart, aside from the cards was a set of rules that she had to use the cards up completely in one trip to the mall like a real shopping spree.

I got her cards to SBarro (so she could eat), Hot Topic, NY & Co., Steve & Barry's, Victoria's Secret, Gamestop, Old Navy, Bath & Bodyworks, Yankee Candle, etc, etc….

It took her 6 hours at the Mall but she used every card. And her expression when she opened the present… hands shaking, biggest smile ever… was worth it.

Oh man, I wish someone would give me a $500 gift card shopping spree like that. That would be epic and amazing.

Matt - just another request for some Iron Man goodness. I'm in search for a 7/11 near my locale and hope to find some of the cups before they disappear.

Anyone know if they're planning on Iron Man cereal? I'm always a sucker for the comic themed cereals.

Matt - avoid Digimon at all costs! While I enjoy Pokemon, Digimon was the soul-less wanna be that killed Spider-Man Unlimited and Xyber 9 with it's near domination of the Fox Kids Saturday morning block. The dribble that came from that show still angers me and annoys me to this very day!

Tomagotchis were the shit! The original Digimon were cool too, except my 4th grade teacher picked mine and Jason's up (the friend I tried whoring out on Brawl since he has no Wii buddies and I don't own it) after we battled in the middle of the classroom.

When I was little I actually won a $100 gift certificate to Toys R Us at one of my mom's company picnic things. I got a lot of little crap that I can't recall now, with the exception of one of those cool stuffed animals that you could take in the bathtub with you. Those rocked.

I don't think I would have been bored by more of the fossil stuff. Though I would like to see it all out of the package. Kinda weird though, that you can buy fossils.

This makes me so sad that I have only ever been to TRU once in my life (because I won a gift card).

Also, I would not be at all disappointed at getting a Star Wars wheel for Halloween…it would join the ranks of pretty much everything else I love–filed under "crappy but awesome.'

DJD The toy you were referring to is called Presto Magics by Ban Presto. I used to LOVE those things! And I happened across a blog one day where the guy was talking about how he WON the SUper Toy Run when he was a kid….let me see if i can find it again.

I'm kinda buzzed right now…I just drove a few feet down the street to 7-11 and got an iron man slurpee…its good but it has that icky red bull after taste….ick.

By the way, my favorite Turtle was Michelangelo. Not one Leonardo, although some of my fraternity brothers would beg to differ.

thats the page with the guy from wining the toy run…..its mostly on the bottom of the page…

There is somthing that I noticed last night about Michelangelo in the original 1990 film that makes me love him most. In the cartoons it seems like Mikey dosent really understand how dangerous and critical their exlpoits are so he is just goofy. However, in the film I get a sense that Michelangelo is completely aware of how screwed up things are and so he compensates by trying to ease tension with jokes. If I was fighting crime or doin some crazy stuff that's who I'd want around as my best friend.

Sorry to be so late to the game…actually I probably haven't posted in something like a year. Blame it all on a horrible year of school (or on the rain, which ever makes you happy). I missed the vote, but I'm glad TRU got the go ahead. I'm looking forward to 33.33% more TRU coming soon.

OK, so really the point of posting was to add my Brawl code to the pack: 1118-0055-1227. I've tried to add everyone in the last few posts, so add me back.

I'm also a Donatello fan, mostly because he was the smart one. I've always liked the geeky characters in groups. Beast is an underrated X-Men. Love Batman over Superman. Spidey, of course, rules. Mr. Terrific is great in the JSA.

I think the learning toys are kinda underrated. One of my favorite toys was a toy microscope that had little slides. I've always liked the electronic learning toys, but they're as expensive as real video games, even now.

Of course, the ULTIMATE learning toy, the one that both genders could own without ridicule, The Easy Bake Oven. I loved baking in it. Heck, right now I'm watching a Food Network "Chefography" on Julia Child.

I never saw the appeal of the easy bake oven myself. But then again that's probably because I was a very lazy boy. lol. XD

My Toys R Us has a too-giant kids clothing section. It makes me sad thinking about all the floor space lost to that…

I never got to go to TRU that often, came from a Kaybee and generic drugstore toy family. TRU was a once in a blue moon event, loved going on occasion though, loved the bike aisle.

Remember going there for my ninth birthday and getting the long awaited Barbie Ice Cream Factory, with a "real ice cream maker. The ice cream it made sucked…and the thing was a huge let down.

Any chance, that this will all get compiled into a regular article when it's done?

Oh well, looks like you got some great stuff (the fossils and the Michelangelo fig being my favourites).

Interestingly enough, I had my own Toys 'R' Us shopping spree a long time ago. It was after I won $50 dollars in "Toys 'R' Us money" (do they still have that) from selling the most in my school's fund raiser, and many of my relatives gave me more of the same for X-mas (leaving me with $100 within Toy's 'R' Us).

I don't remember what all I bought, but It did include a couple NES games and a few Godzilla videos, so I was happy.

Anyway, in case anyone's wondering, I just finished that comic-book script I was writing. Now, I just gotta buckle down and draw all the artwork.

Maybe it's because the nearest TRU is in a ritzy town but I can't imagine getting great deals like these. Even at my local Target the clearance stuff doesn't usually get too much cheaper than a buck. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough.
Can't wait for Part 2!

The only thing I can think of that would be cheaper than the 10 cent Character Wheel would be a piece of Bazooka Joe. But that would hardly be worth the price, seeing as how unsatisfying the comics usually are.

Not sure what happened to my last post, but for some reason it didn't show up. Anyways, here it is again:

I just want to put something out there right now. If by some remote chance someone who's reading this might become the future ex-Mrs. DJ D, a $500 shopping spree is the PERFECT gift. I'll make it up to you, swear to god.

In fact, I might treat myself to my own little mini-shopping spree in a couple of weeks. It'll probably be around $200 though. I think I'm going to plan a day that will involve Japanese Hibachi for lunch, then I'll take in a movie, followed by a trip to Best Buy, then the comic book store, then a quest to find a 7-11 with an Iron Man slurpee. Come to think of it, I doubt I'll wait 2 weeks for the slurpee. I gotta get on that this week.

mandy_the_big_3-0_loometh_nigh_Reeves, Thanks for telling me about Presto Magics. I totally forgot what they were called. The ones I had were all Star Wars themed and took place on all the planets that were in the movies. They came with lots of the characters and loads of little laser blasts and explosions and crap. They should start making those again. I guess kids these days don't have the imagination we used to.

It's funny cause I just got back from IHOP for a late dinner (4 pitiful, shrunken overpriced chicken fingers and fries which promptly gave me one "doosy of a two-sy" if you know what I mean…um…too much info?) and when I turned on the TV, Golden Girls was on. It was the Lifetime channel, which I swear I don't remember watching before I left the house. I caught the end of the episode and Dorothy was telling some woman to go to hell. I don't know what it was all about, but it was a great place to come into an episode. I can only think that the "Spirit of X-E" changed the channel on my TV while I was gone.

Ah yes, being a fan of yard sales I know how hard it is to not walk away with something that is dirt cheap or free. It's very hard and I have actually walked away with things that I regretted buying or walked away and then the next few days I kick myself because I wanted that thing so bad and I had the money right there in my hand. Sure I don't HAVE the space for it and it was a stupid thing but it LOOKED cool and that is all that matters right?

I am thinking of one specific thing. For 10 dollars this old lady was selling a cookie jar that was McDonald's Grimace with a scarf on and a Santa hat on and the cookie jar was overall Christmas themed. I don't need a cookie jar but it was a Christmas Grimace! On ebay he is about 10 dollars + shipping.

DJ D
You got chicken strips? At IHOP? We had oatmeal raisin Cookie pancakes tonight for dinner too bad you couldn't of just came over and ate some of those. They were very delicious.

I watched once on tv a contest this woman had a timed shopping spree I think it was 20,000 at a mall but she could only shop for 2 hours. She went into the furniture store and got some furniture, then went over and got some clothes etc. you could tell she was very focused and planned very throughly.

DJ D, I had a Presto Magics book when I was a kid! It was a SOUTH PARK one! I got it for Christmas 1998 when I was 11-years-old. Clearly, my parents were quite relaxed when it came to what I watched. I still have the book in my closet. They called it a "Stickyforms Adventure!".

You can be a fairy princess and like Star Wars. I didn't get into Star Wars until middle school or so, but this was my childhood: play with My Little Ponies for a while, then go outside and be a Ninja Turtle for a while. Repeat ad nauseam.

Forget Iron Man slurpees, everyone must go buy some AMP traction. It's MT. AMP energy drink, but in grape. Let's do math…

It's Pitch Black with a kick. The taste is almost 100% like the original kick ass pitch black.

While admittedly awesome, I'm not sure what you're supposed to do with the Star Wars character wheel. Place bets on what character the wheel will stop at, like roulette?

I like the idea of the $100 shopping spree. I found myself in a similar situation with a $100 gift card. I'm a music freak, so I went wild on Amazon.com buying up $100 worth of CDs. Good times.

I wouldn't be too upset about the Hippo ordeal, even the big version has crappy marbles. They are too light and as soon as the lip of the hippo touches it, they go flying across the board. Now, if you compare it to the 80's version, that was the real deal, those marbles were painful. I always liked trying to launch them high into the air with the black flipper thing, up until they all rolled under my bed into the farthest corner that only a cat could reach, and my cat was never good at fetch.

Why the hell are the Turtles' eyes so damn far apart now? When they're updated again for the next generation of kids will their eyes end up on either side of their head like an actual turtle? Where will that stop? Will they eventually meet on the backs of their heads? And will they still have pupils?

Ooh i too was tempted by the ownership of tiny hippos only to be dissapointed by their lack of clonky-clangs… although they do make a fantasticly annoying sound if you play in a confined space. I'm sure its the only time in my life i'll be asked politely to "put the hippos down" by an air steward… i hope its not though…

on an vaguely related note… i made a personalised edition of Guess Who? for my gf using pics of friends and more importantly enemies. Its by far the most fun i've had playing a board game since using muscle men in a game of risk… i'd recommend the idea to anyone

Matt: At least your childhood TRU is still there; ours closed down moths ago, and while I would love to go the the haunted one, its just not the same. T_T T_T T_T I shoulda bought something the last time I was there, even if I was a shitty travel hippos game.

Come on, guys. Iron Man is going to rock because Tony Stark is the biggest asshole on the planet next to Pym, and has the shittiest villian line-up. ANY change is an improvement! XD On a covering-my-ass-note: I like Iron Man, but I'm a huger fan of the Fantastic Four run w/ Steve Wiernigo (sp?).

And the only bigger asshole on Matt's street for Halloween will be the crusty old woman who still gives out pennies for trick or treat. ^___^

I totally made a TMNT reference at my job at officemax the other day. I answered the phone and had to transfer the call to someone on the floor. so i told them there was a call on line one about shredders, and a call on line two about rock-steady and be-bop. oh i am a master of awesomeness….

And sorry for the possible double post but TresJolie9 are you talking about the barbie ice cream maker that kind of looked like an ice cream cart that you could make the barbies play with and also you could make ice cream with? if so, I had one, and only made ice cream once with it, it was so terrible that it was never used again, and only used to set up an ice cream parlor for the barbie town (thats right, I would set up all of the playsets around my toyroom and make it into an entire town…it was insane and i miss it dearly)

10 cents Star Wars Character wheels, not the cheapest item??!??!! My mind reels at what you coul dhave possible found for less than that. I didn't think anything existed for less than 10 cents.
Needless to say, I await with breath baited.
(dudes, peep my new website - it sucks!)

I haven't seen that one yet, but it sounds good. And the Amp Iron Man flavor was great and I don't even like Mountain Dew.

Also, could I make the suggestion that whenever someone goes to 7-11, they go to this website,

and put in whatever flavors are there. That way everyone who goes to that site can know which slurpee flavors are where.

Bah, Oklahoma 7-11s don't have Slurpees. They have "Icy Drink". Most generic name for a product ever.

Does anyone have old pictures of video game sections from stores or rental places, like with old Nintendo game boxes and shit? The link in the other article with the pics of old Intellivision displays was pretty rad..

Oh, and I was about to say, as a child, it would have RULED if I'd received the character wheel, but yeah…I would have been totally confused. I had no idea what SW was, and even if I had known, I would have wondered why it wasn't some sour candy in a Yoda-shaped plastic container or something.

The fossils are giving me nightmares about how much Biology studying I have NOT been doing. Thanks.

What's with all this digimon hate?? I was a mid nineties kid and digimon was definitely my childhood obsession. Come on, the show was a million times better than pokemon!
They even had their own transformers!! Oh my god the transformers.
I got rid of all of mine somewhere along the line. D:
Am I the only person here that secretly dreams of running across one every time I step into a TRU?

The thing i love about the VHS of the first TMNT my friend has is that there's a Pizza Hut ad before the movie but the movie exclusively uses Domnio's Pizza. Craptacular!

Aaaaaand Matt's back! Woo! I was excited to see my RSS feeds updated with a "(2)" next to the X-E section. Yes, I subscribed. You're welcome.

I was so damn excited to see the Nerfoop. We still have one at my house from when I was a kid. I hit my growth spurt late, so my parents would have had to hang it on the door knob for me to dunk. That or I could've tried to jump/miss the ceiling/dunk all at once from my bunk bed.

SpoonyBard - my digimon hate comes almost entirely from the cancellation of nearly the entire Fox block of toons for endless hours of Digimon. Not only did I dislike the series, but it was made worse by the loss of Spider-Man Unlimited and Xyber 9.

I just broke the 20,000 point plateau in Kangaroo with an alltime high score of 21,000 motherfucking points! Yes, I have a Kangaroo machine in my store.

You work somewhere that has Kangaroo! Holy shit,that is awesome. Here I am,playing Kangaroo in my off hours without pay,like a chump!

jjwspider- That makes sense. Personally, I don't remember watching much of Fox Kids before digimon, though I do remember catching some shows every now and then like Big guy and Rusty and The Tick. I was more into ABC's "One Saturday Morning" thing at the time, if anybody remembers that.

No matter what your preferences are though, think we can all agree that today's saturday morning cartoons should be killed with fire.

Spoonybard what saturday morning cartoons ? All I see on saturday mornings is a wierd computer generated cartoon about pinatas and a show about that raven girl, which is'nt even a cartoon.

Spoonybard
Except for the new TMNT cartoon. That's good. Not the "flash forward" version, though. That sucked…

Agreed - many of them seem to have lost the magic cartoons once had. I would have to say though that Spectacular Spider-Man, Legion of Super-Heroes, The Batman and TMNT are all entertaining toons that should be allowed to survive. The rest, you can burn all you like.

The above post is mine, but supposed to be addressed to Spoonybard. I shall now go run and hide….

In my opinion, the truly great Saturday Morning shows were Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Land of the Lost, and Superfriends.

There are some modern toons that are good. Some are over , some are still coming out with new episodes, but overall, toons nowadays just suck compared to past ones.

Justice League/Justice League Unlimited was awesome was it was on. The new Batman cartoon has gotten pretty good recently too. I just wish there was a Batman related cartoon that could get Bane right. All the incarnations of him I've seen have just not looked like the original villain should. Nitpicky I know but he was/is an awesome villain.

Matt, glad to see you are back to posting man. I've just recently (Within the past few months) been introduced to your glorious website, and I'm hooked man… Its good stuff. I seriously check your website every goddamn day.

Also, looking forward to the rest of the Toys R Us posts. I've seen some crazy shit at my local TRU.. Its an old-school one too.. Ahh. good times.

Dan, I agree about Bane. Even though i'm more of a Marvel fan, I like Bane. I think the Batman the animated series Bane was a pretty good version. Not perfect , but pretty good. I still remember the issues where Bane came up with that plan to tire bats out, then strike when he was very vulnerable. He broke his back for cryin out loud. On top of that bats seemed pretty intimidated by Bane. Oh and Bane actually deduced bats idendity. Impressive.

Kid Nicky, it's my Kangaroo machine in my store. Plus, I never have any customers so I get to play it all day! You know, that first sentence made me feel pretty good about my life. The second one, not so much.

I needed this so bad XD
I was having a shitty day and this just made it a little better.
Enjoy you Ammonite.
Thanks! ^_^

WOW I was late. You got some cool stuff, there. Now I want to go on a $100.00 shopping spree at TRU… I'd probably not much, just couple of Nintendo games… wait, thats not fun, I'd by a lot of small things! I want $100.00… While I was cleaning out my room, I found 15.00!!! now get more money, then waist it on Mario Kart Wii, THAN a shopping spree… and a slurpee, and see the Iron Man movie. Why an I telling you all this? Oh, when I get my Dad's IP adress I'll give you my all my friend code. Then I can get pwd by all of you! I'm not that good… Oh, and I WANT THAT TMNT FIGURE!!!… can't wait till SNT to say it at the appropriate time… well, great post as always!

True, all of you have good points, I'm just sad that the Saturday morning magic is pretty much gone now.
Fox doesn't even air TMNT anymore! If memory serves, it's just been whittled down to three or four shows now. :/

Awesome new posts Matt! I think you have pretty much lived out every child's dream of going on a shopping spree at TRU. I wouldn't mind going on a shopping spree there now!

On a side note though, I really think you should build the review of the 50th Anniversary of Disney by the Golden Girls. I would have been about 5 when that aired, but I doubt I ever saw it. Judging by the comments there are quite a few people young and "old" who would like to see it… plus the golden girls just plain rock.

Not sure if anyone posted this yet, as I haven't read all the posts but I think the phrase "It's not that I mind being pegged as the kind of guy who'd twist and shout over a cheap foam dragon; it's just that I dance like an asthmatic folding chair." just won my sentence of the week if not the whole month LOL…..

I got one of those dragons for my 9 year old son in a TRU in Redlands CA. Of all the stuff in that place, he wanted a dragon. I thought the old timey construction was kind of neat.

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