Masters Of The Universe Display in Mall 1986

[JHaynes]

I found this and thought I'd put it up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bYc6lvGnNM&feature=related
I find it amazing that this video was kept, in the UK we never got anything as grand as this. I don't think Hasbro did anything like this with Transformers, but if they did it would be cool to see.

[bumblebee]

looks quite cool

[Killamarshan]

That's fantastic.

Back in the 80s I remember toy stores putting up big toy displays and having toys scattered around the floors that kids could play with ... doubt it would happen now though, the toys would be nicked and the displays vandalized.

[bumblebee]

kids now arent like they were in the 80's to now

[Prowler]

Yeah, when I was a little kid I went to the New York Toys R' Us store and F.A.O Schwarz stores in downtown Manhattan and they had huge displays with G.I.Joe and He-Man figures, some you could play with along with their play-sets and others in huge displays around both stores.

It was awesome to see at the time. The G.I.Joe ones were awesome and I remember getting a ton of toys from there after having played with them and seen what I liked about each. They were basically testing centers for me. I remember thinking and picking which ones I liked and which ones I thought were crap by playing with them there.

Awesome memories. :)

[SirLagerlot]

when I went to the New York toys r us a few years ago, it was pretty much still like that!

Toys r us here in the uk though, are pretty much just warehouses.

[Ravage]

kids now arent like they were in the 80's to now

Erm, you werent around in the 80's, how can you make that statement.


when I went to the New York toys r us a few years ago, it was pretty much still like that!

Toys r us here in the uk though, are pretty much just warehouses.

Uk TRU are dire pits in which we hope to find some kind of light. Staff are rude, management are useless, and they can't even get their own security policies right!

[we_are_forest]

I can't click on the link as youtube is blocked at my work although I'll hazard a guess at it being a Castle Greyskull display for figures?

I remember seeing one on ebay.com a year or so ago.

[JHaynes]

It's more than that it's the whole works including Eternia, plus there's holograms that are projected showing He Man and Skeletor fighting. I remember seeing some cool displays in the UK, but nothing like this, as Sirlagerlot says Toys R Us was a werehouse, they had just about everything, but never really displayed it.

[we_are_forest]

Blimey, talk about going to town!

I seem to remember the TRU in Nottingham had a ROTF display on the wall that moved where it looked as though Prime and Megs were fighting - sounds pretty feeble compared to the He-man one.

[Prowler]

when I went to the New York toys r us a few years ago, it was pretty much still like that!

Toys r us here in the uk though, are pretty much just warehouses.

That sucks. Most TRU stores in the States are good and have decent displays [not as extravagant as the ones in New York and a few other places, but really decent looking displays] but for the most part you can't play with the toys 'cept for a few choice stores like the one in New York. I like the TRUs here in the States... the ones in the UK sound awful.

[Death's Head]

Toymaster in the UK (a regional toy retailer) do have some excellent window displays in their larger branches, as well as some decent in store displays. It's really nicely laid out and the staff are much more amenable than TRU's. TRU in the UK always have an air of ruthless efficiency and managers always seem to be stomping about the place looking fierce and the staff look harrassed. I don't think the American store model is applied very well in the UK (in fact, this is one of my bug bears with American multinationals - there's no concession to running things in a way more suited to territories outside the US). The stores are generally run on a skeleton team throughout the year, with only one or two checkout assitants available and virtually no one on the shop floor, the managers always look tetchy and harrassed and seem more concerned with keeping standards impossibly high than on concentrating on making the stores inviting and friendly. I see more staff straightening shelves than interacting with customers - in fact the focus on this at the expense of dealing with customers in a given aisle is quite shocking. Just what is more important?

[Prowler]

Yeah, that's a ruthless business model, but I think they're trying to please their American Overlords because they're a lot more relaxed in the States. Toy stores should be more inviting and should not be run like Wal-Marts. I mean, their core clientele are kids.