How was collecting before Internet became mainstream?

[potato]

Toyfare ended like 5 years ago.

I loved Toyfare until the end. But towards the end, so much information was redundant or delayed compared to the info I got online.

It was my source of information and entertainment for years, and I loved that magazine.

I only read the Twisted Toyfare pages. The rest were meh... more on He-mans.

 

[evenflow]

I remember as a kid going into toy stores and learning about new figures by the back of the packaging or what was on the shelf.

Then it was learning about new stuff at toy shows. I first learned about the Super Amigos Riddler that way.

Then it was learning stuff through magazines. I was so amazed when i first read about Vlix.

 

[darthkush]

When I was little, it was purely from tv commercials or actually going to the toys r us and seeing the product. I remember buying my first ninja turtle(well rather my mom buying it) in the late 80's. I had seen one very effective tv commercial advertising the new toyline/show. We were at a Bradley's(remember those?) and I saw an open case of turtle figures. I got Leonardo and my brother got Michaelangelo and we were hooked. Now toward the mid to late 90's I learned about new toys almost exclusively through Wizard and then Toyfare magazine. At the height of the X-men/Spider-man/Marvel lines and the beginnings of the Star Warsower of the Force line was when these magazines were the be all end all for info on toys. Somewhere around 2003 or so, the internet caught up with the magazines and they broke news/photos way faster and that's when the magazines began dying. I loved those old magazines but yeah, I wouldn't go back. Toy collecting is rapidly turning into a niche adult market as kids lean more and more towards games and electronics and I think the internet is where it should stay and belongs now.

 

[choopie]

Back in the 80s I used to order stuff through mail order catalogs and magazines. And I kept up with new product via ToyFare. I still have a Dave Dorman Indiana Jones print that my parents bought me out of Starlog. I loved that magazine.

 

[Mad Old Lu]

It was a more “innocent” time. When I was maybe 11 or 12, I found a comic book shop and THAT changed my life. Before, I relied on my local newspaper shop to buy my comics. Sometimes I would miss an issue just because I didn’t make it to the shop that week and it was gone the next. Then when I found the comic store, I discovered back issues! I could also trade! A second one opened up soon after and I went to that one all the time. It was run by a little old lady and her (older) son and they got to know me and what I liked. So if something had come in that she knew I’d be interested in, she would set it aside for me or let me know it arrived.

Buying records was also a surprise. Sometimes I would leaf through Rolling Stone and see a small blurb about an upcoming album or that the band was working on new stuff. Or maybe the radio station or MTV would make a big deal out of announcing the new single. But most of the time a record would just appear! And forget about listening to an album before buying. You had to gamble $8-$14 on a whole album if you kinda liked the one single. The best you could hope for is borrowing it from a friend or just getting a friend to tape it for you.

As far as toys, I remember ads in Starlog and comics. I remember lusting after the 12” Indiana Jones action figure I saw the mail away ad for but just couldn’t afford to order it. Getting the Sideshow one in 2008 was a dream come true for me and it started me collecting these figures. I also ordered the Secret Wars Iron Man from a comic because that was the only way to get it back then (my local Toys R Us didn’t carry them at the time). Then I came to NY for college and there were a couple of second hand stores where I saw my Grail: the Six Million Dollar Man! I had one when I was a kid and it was lost to time, but I had always wanted to get it again. But they were selling it for over $100, and in 1991 to a poor college student it was unattainable. I would go to that shop practically once a week and drool over it, because I hadn’t even seen one at all since maybe 1978. Once I discovered Ebay in 1996, that was the first thing I bought, and for maybe $20. I think I got a MIB one later for like $60.

Now getting anything is so relatively easy. I don’t mind not having the “hunt”. I’m getting too old for that and I wouldn’t have the time to devote like I did when I was a kid. Online forums like this are pretty great because growing up with comics and toys as my major interests (and even specific bands), it can feel a bit lonely. Finding a kindred spirit was rare. I only had my cousins to talk to and share those interests with. Most of the kids I knew growing up were not interested in what I liked, and certainly not to the extents that I like them. So being able to share my thoughts and read other’s thoughts about collecting is great. Even going to comic con is surprising to see how popular it has become! I remember going to comic conventions in church basements. Now the Javitz Center sells out in a day! And even the girls who go to the cons—where were those cute little nerd girls when I was growing up? They may not be “10s” but it would have been great to have someone who actually shared your interests!

 

[plasticcrapmoneywaster]

..........I do miss being a kid/young adult, going into a toy store or big-box and having my mouth drop at something that was delightfully unexpected. There is a lost joy to having something be the first time you lay eyes on it is when it is already in your hands.