G1 Sales Ads

[Roadbuster]

I grew up in the 80's (was 7 in 1984) but wasn't old enough to buy my own toys so my parents or family members bought most of them. While I don't recall the actual prices of the toys I do know they were differently priced all around the country. I thought I'd have some fun here and post some of the sales ads from the G1 era. Here is a couple from 1984:

(remember to click to expand the pic)



You'll see here some toys from other lines in 1984, including G.I. Joe and Masters of the Universe as well.

[Minerva]

Old ads for toys are actually pretty fun to see. The prices look a bit silly now, but the figures were pretty expensive back in the day.

[Roadbuster]

Yeah, they were definitely high end toys back in the 80's when the US dollar was worth a lot more. That first ad was from a Super RX Drug store in Miami, FL and the other one was from a K-Mart in Pittsburgh, PA.

Here's another one from '84 that includes the character bios on the sales ad. This one came from a sales ad in El Paso, TX

[Jose]

I love old magazine ads. Though the 30s and 40s are my favorites, when it comes to Transformers, you have to look at the 80s, obviously. And it's impressive the price conversion. Here is the back cover of one issue of the Transformers comic, Chilean print (picture taken from an old thread). Din was a retailer which sponsored the magazine and carried several Hasbro Toys. You can see in the blue/white drawings some Transformers taken straight from their instructions.



The USS Flagg is from a US ad. I don't recall this toy ever made it in here.



Inside some had coupons, and the price categories were Transformers. The most expensive were priced at CLP 25.000 (USD 50), middle end at CLP 15.000 (USD 30) and cheapest at CLP 2500 (USD 5). If you do the math, they were much more expensive albeit the numbers weren't.

[curch]

wow, that stuff is awesome to look at!

[Roadbuster]

Thanks Curch! Yeah, it's pretty interesting to look and see what these went for back in the 80's. Take this ad for instance (circa '85) where everything is on clearance. Minibots for $1.97! Constructicons for $2! Insecticons for $3! Shockwave for $7! Dinobots for $8.97! And Jetfire for $17.97!! Wow!! If only I had a time machine and could go back and hoard all those $7 Shockwaves...

EDIT: Remember to click the pics to get them to expand.

[skywarp408]

And Gobot Scales for 5!!! I had him ,lol. Need to get him back someday.

Here's the mother load.

http://pleasesavemerobots.com/vstp/vstptf85.html

I got my own peronal catalogs too. I will post them up near the Hollidays.

[Roadbuster]

Here's the mother load.

http://pleasesavemerobots.com/vstp/vstptf85.html

Yep. That's my source. Not too hard to figure out, though, with the pics I uploaded being watermarked and all. I figured I'd wade through all of them and upload the best or most interesting ones as a lot of the sales ads on there are hard to make out.

[Rhymus]

I love old magazine ads. Though the 30s and 40s are my favorites, when it comes to Transformers, you have to look at the 80s, obviously. And it's impressive the price conversion. Here is the back cover of one issue of the Transformers comic, Chilean print (picture taken from an old thread). Din was a retailer which sponsored the magazine and carried several Hasbro Toys. You can see in the blue/white drawings some Transformers taken straight from their instructions.



The USS Flagg is from a US ad. I don't recall this toy ever made it in here.



Inside some had coupons, and the price categories were Transformers. The most expensive were priced at CLP 25.000 (USD 50), middle end at CLP 15.000 (USD 30) and cheapest at CLP 2500 (USD 5). If you do the math, they were much more expensive albeit the numbers weren't.

How much for the scale G1 Broadside? ;-)