Monday, May 5, 2014

80's Toy Show - 05/04/14

I was at the 80's Toy Show this past Sunday and I actually took my point and shoot camera this time because I always find it interesting when other sites post pics of conventions that they go to and I thought I would return the favour for those not from the Toronto area.



There is no specific order to the display of these pictures, but since this is not strictly
a Transformers show (like TFCon), I took a few shots of the overall hall and then any tables which had TF's on them.
 
As you go through these pics, see if you can notice the difference of what types (G1, 3rd party, etc) of Transformers are available.
 

This was one of the outer hallways before entering the main showroom.
 
One end of the showroom

One dealer out in the hallway had this at their table.
I would have grabbed the Seacons but it had been opened and the figures looked a little dirty.
The e-Hobby stuff was also opened.
I already have the carded Takara Combaticons at home MOSC.




My dealer friend "E" from Madhaus Toys table.
Click HERE for his site.





The next 5 pictures come from the table of one of the shows sponsors, B & K Collectables.

This dealer was one of the very few strictly Transformer dealers at this show.

















My Cartoon Heroes
Another one of the main, though not just strictly, Transformer dealer Spiros who is usally at most of the shows.

Another fine selection to choose from.
You might be asking what treasures did I come away with from this show.  Well, for the first time ever, this is the 1st show that I nearly came away with empty handed. 

I spent:
  • $20 gas
  • $20 admission
  • $10 on two donation toys to get in 15 min early (ahead of the early-bird crowd)
  • $10 on six carded figures (you'll have to wait for my next post)
I wouldn't exactly say that I was disappointed with this show.  sure, there were lots of pieces that I still needed to complete certain parts of my collection, but the ones that I saw weren't up to snuff for me so I didn't really want to settle.

There certainly was a common theme throughout the TF tables, and that was the increased amount of third-party products compared to the slim number of G1/G2 figures.  My dealer friend "E" has mentioned it a few times that he has been slowly shifting his business to that end of the spectrum as well.

I don't think that it's a lack of interest from collectors, but rather more collectors are buying up and just sitting on their collections.  It sure does make it harder to find good pieces other than trolling eBay and paying shipping prices.

In the end, more money saved for me, albeit temporarily, since TFCon is coming up quickly in a few months in July.



3 comments:

  1. hey Joe, thanks for this post. Really enjoyed the photos. It's heartwarming that there are shows like that... where there are so many toys and people with shared interests.

    Like your dealer friend "E" said, there really is a lot of third party product. And lots of people are shifting their focus there because they can churn out product at a great pace.

    It's a pity there isn't more real 80s stuff...

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  2. Thanks for checking the post out HD.

    We have a number of these shows throughout the year, but I usually only end up going to 2-3 of them (the other main one being TFCon).

    I can appreciate the third-party products, but for their cost, along with not fitting into the direction that I'm taking my collection, I just can't buy them. They are great for continuing the TF line as well as to help promote to newer audiences though.

    There was one G1 item that I considered buying, though it was loose; it was a G1 Whirl, complete and it looked to be in near mint condition for $90. I don't know....maybe I should have grabbed it but I really prefer my stuff to be boxed. I had gone into the show with the hopes of coming away with some e-Hobby figures but the only ones I saw were opened.

    TFCon should be much better in bringing out the G1 figures.

    Cheers,
    Joe

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  3. Awesome pics! The prices on the boxed G1 figures didn't seem absurd to me. It looks like they may have been missing inserts, but they still seemed like decent prices.

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