1984 Toys “R” Us Christmas Sale Circular
What did Toys R Us have on the shelves for Christmas of 1984?
For most of the year, when the newspaper showed up in my family’s house, I was only interested in the comics section. But as the holiday season started to roll around and toys sales were starting, I found myself going straight to the inserts and sales circulars. What I wanted was reference material for my Christmas list. Something I could point to make my mom aware of exactly what I hoped to get. I would bring them to bed with me at night and instead of reading a book or comic, I would just read and re-read them, staring at each toy and wondering if any of them would show up under our tree on Christmas morning. Not many of them did, but the dreaming and planning was still a lot of fun.
Nowadays, I still enjoy looking at the old relics of sales past. They are wonderful historical artifacts and they take me right back to when I was a kid. So, I would like to share with you a Toys “R” Us circular from 1984. It was published right after December of that year. Like most of their sales offering during these years, it promised that their “prices will be no higher through Dec. 25th.” So no matter when you shop at the store this month, this is what you would have paid. Let’s jump in and look at some of the highlights on each page.
What an amazing way to kick things off. You have a great Christmas ball motif and five items I would have been happy to get. I loved Star Wars and the Rancor was a great-looking toy, but as a committed player of Dungeons & Dragons, I would pick Tiamat all day, every day. I know for a fact she was on my list, but sadly, never arrived. Soundwave and the Rancor were also on my list during this era. RoboForce is an interesting toy line, I have one that I picked out of a bargain bin years ago and you can still find them at reasonable prices, although, I am not so sure about toe Patroller Vehicle. I guess I should comment on Snake Mountain. Of course, I wanted it, but at that price it was very out of reach.
More D&D figures, please! That is Bronze Dragon & Strongheart. At some point I picked up Strongheart, but still don’t own his might flying mount. Some really cool MotU vehiclse and Castle Grayskull. I was a dabbler in the this toy line, I supposed I would have committed more if I had gotten anything outside of the handful of figures I got. I was just too into other toys at the time, namely, GI Joe. I did see Dune, but it didn’t capture my imagination enough to want the toys. Since I was a Marvel reader it didn’t occur to me to pick up their action figures, but that Hall of Justice looks pretty great. My dark horse pick on this page is the Blackstar Motorize Wagon. Looks pretty dangerous.
Go Joe! Since all of my friends were into GI Joe, together we had all these GI Toys. When I got the HISS I was dancing around. I still liked Star Wars and on this page was my most treasures Star Wars toy that I still owned, the Millennium Falcon. My friends didn’t like playing Star Wars anymore, but I frequently played with the toys and the Falcon was usually the center of action.
Crossbows & Catapults deserves more attention. What a great idea for a game and some of these accessories are really something. Verbot was the stuff dreams were made of.
Realistic guns in the lower right hand corner were a real draw for us. We played gun make-believe games frequently and this was still the era when the realer the better. These two are really neat, but I was pretty happy with my small cap guns and didn’t care to waste any of my limited toy wish list space on toy guns.
I am amazed at how many toys from 1983 are still making a splash in 1984 with just small changes. This year instead, instead of Cliff Hangers, they had Super Cliff Hangers. I don’t care how old you are or what decade it is, when you drive a slot car up a wall in the dark, it’s pretty satisfying.
This is around the time one of my friends and me were getting into trains and he got the GI Joe train set, while I got a more generic HO scaled set with that Santa Fe engine you see above. My interest in the set lasted a lot longer and at some point he gave me what was left of his track and cars. I wasn’t into roller skating, but I knew several people who got those Nash Cruiser Skates.
More trains and some great looking models. That Tyco set is closer to the one that I got. I dreamed about setting up a bridge and trestle. It lived up to the hype.
Potato Clock was a pretty big deal for a few people I knew. I liked science as much as the next person and I thought it was interesting, but I also thought it was a waste of potato that I could eat. Only the coolest kids who were in the know got a Robotech model. I wasn’t one of those kids.
Radio Control vehicles like the Sandmaster were always on my list, but I am glad my mom never tried to stretch to get one for me. In retrospect I would not have been able to keep up with the battery needs of a toy like that.
Things. Just. Got. Interesting.
The Commodore 64 was released in the summer of 1982, but by Christmas of 1984 it was finally getting into the territory where I could legitimately hope to afford one someday. I had the VIC-20 that I was happy with, but all eyes were on the C64 and that floppy drive.
I still used a tv for all my computing at this point, but was intrigued by them. I would eventually get an amber NEC monitor in a trade with someone who was more skilled at dumpster diving than me and it became an early prized possession.
I don’t think realized by the winter of 1984 that the ColecoVision was on its way out. It was always something I wanted. Wonder how many people bought it with the Cabbage Patch Doll offer? Both seemed like they were past their hype peaks. Still one of the best systems of the era, and I sat that even though I was an Atari kid, and hated the joystick.
Speak & Read and Speak & Math were pricey! My honorable mention for memorable toy on this page goes to the Little Professor. Small but proud. Keep teaching, Lil’ Pro.
I look at this page and see two things I wanted and remember asking for. The Handheld 2 screen Electronic Donkey Kong II and Wizard’s Quest by Avalon Hill. What I did get was the Entertainment Tonight Trivia Game. Not sure why, but later on I was also given the People Weekly Trivia Game. I liked trivia, but I didn’t ask for either of them.
I think my family had hopes that I would become a game show winner someday. Sadly, never happened and modern game shows aren’t very interested in “Who was married to Brett Somers?” What I would have been happy to get was the Pop-O-Matic Chipmunks.
An easy page for me. While I appreciated the Cabbage Patch Kids and liked the Care Bears, I wouldn’t have spent much time thinking about wanting them since I had so many options. Looking at it now, I wouldn’t mind playing around with that Soap Shaper.
I thought this would be a pretty easy page, but then I spotted ol’ Lurky. A sidekick perhaps, but a fun looking plush that I would have been happy to get and wish I owned now. Poochie and the Get Along Gang were nicely designed and I watched the The Get Along Gang cartoon, but never collected the toys.
I had a Team Murray bike. Not one that is pictured here. It was built like a tank compared to my friends bikes that were much fancier. I rode it just about every day until I felt that I was too big to do so. Eventually I would get a 10-Speed bike. I loved how fast you could go on that, but it lacked the personality of my original bike.
That Little Tikes toy chest was so popular. I think every other boy I knew had one. I inherited an old wood toy chest that I think was made in the early 50s or late 40s. It was solid wood and if the lid came down on your head, you felt it for a few hours.
I still wouldn’t mind getting that A-Team Van Playhouse.
Who puts the future in your hands!? Robotix! Another happy memory was getting a Robotix set for Christmas from my grandmother. It might have been her best gift and I could a lot of play out of it. Still pulling it out from time to time for years afterwards. I used to dream about Capsella and I still think they were amazing, but once I got Robotix, I was all in on it.
Electric Toothbrushes were huge back in in 80s. I really wanted one. That Talking Viewmaster is pricey! I guess that’s what you pay when you want a Thriller toy.
I had a Chipmunks plush, it was a Theodore. What I wanted was Alvin, since I thought he was the cool one, but now I am pretty happy I got a Theodore. I wonder if I got him because they were sold out Alvins or if my mom just made a decision based on my temperament. I don’t think I got Garfield plush at this time, but I would get one later in the 80s.
WOW, that Strawberry shortcake Happy Home is very expensive.
I didn’t play with Barbie dolls, but the Barbie Corvette was pretty amazing. If only it was to scale with my small action figures.
Back page stuff is all doll-related. You can see Strawberry Shortcake trying to get into the Cabbage Patch adopt-a-doll world. That didn’t catch on.
The real star of the page isn’t the toys though, its Gtv. Geoffrey directing a music video or some sort of performance where Michael Jackson and Great Shape Barbie take the stage together, it doesn’t get much more 1984 than that.
The 1984 Toys R Us Christmas circular had a way of pulling you in with page after page of bright plastic dreams. I still think about it whenever I run across an old ad in a newspaper archive, mostly because so many of the toys in it lined my shelves or lived rent free in my head for years. It is funny how a simple flyer that was tossed out by most families ends up feeling like a small time capsule for the rest of us.
The big names were there of course, sitting shoulder to shoulder with lines that barely lasted a season. Even the oddball toys had their fans, and somewhere out there a kid was circling a cheap robot with the same enthusiasm another kid had for the newest action figure wave. I remember doing that kind of circling myself, usually with a pen I was not supposed to be using on the furniture.
Do any of the toys ring a bell for you. Maybe one of them sat under your tree or maybe it was the thing you kept pointing at during a long shopping trip. I am always curious to hear what people remember from these old ads, so feel free to share.