The Pre-WizardWorld Post-Lauderbrutal 1985 RoboEnvironmental Disaster Party

The twenty-second seal of the Roboplastic Apocalypse erupts like an underwater oil well spewing tremendous amounts of flaming oily 1985 toy robots into the gulf of Mexico. Yes it's a RoboEnvironmental disaster as I realize that in my carelessness and zeal to exploit the natural resource that is 25 year old pop culture, nobody noticed I used up all the 1985! Weep in joyful terror as the Nostrodomatron predicts a horrifying future where there are no more vintage toy robots newspaper ads left for future generations to bore themselves to death looking for at the library. Plus other deeply profound preponderances of great philosophical importance like why do the terrorists hate us for our toy robots and what's the best Micronaut thing to get Michael Golden to sign at a comic book convention. It's all here and more in this "I'M NOT WASTING MY PRESENT BY LIVING IN THE PAST, I'M RECYCLING PERFECTLY GOOD 1985" edition of the Podcastalypse!


Or download it directly

Service Merchandise 11/03/85 STEP UP TO THE MEG	Sears 11/06/85 SLEEP THROUGH TYRANNY

TRU 08 September 85

Sav-On 01/30/85

SHOW NOTES OF THE PODCASTALYPSE

• The heartwarming sense of self worth gained from ruining something good
• The downtown Fort Lauderbrutal library and the dangers therein
• It's hard to usher in the Roboplastic Apocalypse with reduced library hours
• Discovery channel Christmas lights maniacs and their misguided priorities
• Toy robots newspaper ad maniacs and their justifiably misguided priorities
• Lazy librarians from 25 years ago impacting my hobby
• Way more than anyone wants to know about Playworld circulars
• Michael Golden at WizardWorld Miami
• Crash course in Pallisades Acroyears variants
• Blanking on Blinky
• My Podcastalyptical effect on the secondary market value of ExoSquad comics
• break-Bucky O'Hare
  
• South Florida libraries are the Bermuda Triangle of Playworld newspaper ads
• The negative psychological impact of repeated exposure to 1985
• 1985 GoBot Trapper Keeper ad makes me wonder if I am paying attention in life
• How much 1985 is left out there?
• There is still lots of 1985 to go around now, but will it be there for future generations?
• Is my blog an environmental 80s robots disaster?
• Should we leave some 1985 for our grandkids?
• 1985 didn't end, it got put into little boxes at the library
• 1985 toy robots newspaper ads are a non renewable resource that I collect like baby seal furs
• The coming cheap labor based Roboplastic Armageddon
• Hopefully Vietnamese toy laborers don't shop at TRU
• Finding alternative hobby fuels
• Collecting not robots of toy robots but pictures of toy robots
• Spending most of my 2010 in 1985
• Reliving cool moment historical highlights of 1985 like serial killings and plane crashes
• Recycling 1985 responsibly
• break-Takara Microman Giant Acroyear
  
• Is that a Megatron in your mouth or are you wearing robot pajamas?
• Is this a Convertors toy robot ad or am I working in a robot assembling factory in Vietnam?
• Wizard World Miami pre-game highlights
• Landos and Batmans and DeLoreans oh my!
• The Podcastalypse procures a press pass
• Michael Golden and Bill Sienkewicz panels
• G4 at MiamiWizardWorldCon
• GoBots auction recap
• Learning to use the Robofacial Bookocalypse
• Don't Rocket Punch your friends!

MONSTER cyborg dollhouse GARAGE: Gobotronian househunters don't care about how many bedrooms you have because they can always sleep in the driveway

I once commented over on PlasticCrack that since toy robots were essentially Barbie dolls who turned into cars they should be called Carbie dolls or Carbies or something like that. (Forget calling them "action figures". I've always seen toy robots as a very distinct offshoot of action figure that shouldn't be lumped into the same category as He-Mans or Star Warses or Ninja Turtles.) By logical extension the only real difference between the play patterns of little boys and little girls is that Carbies turn into Volkswagens and dinosaurs or whatever. So since we are all little girls inside it is no wonder every kid in the 80s wanted dreamy mansions for their Carbie dolls. The trick was to give us Carbiedoll houses without making it feel like we were playing with Carbiedoll houses. I felt a little silly playing with Castle Greyskull and the Millenium Falcon because no matter how hard they tried to disguise that they were actually dollhouses, they were still very dollhousey with their little chairs and tables and places to entertain friends and have tea time. But toy robots that turned into Volkswagens and tanks didn't have enough leg articulation to get into a sitting pose and this is why the toy robot playsets ruled! Transforming Carbie playset engineers in the 80s focused on creating environments that combined the best design elements of mad scientist labs, prisons, gas stations and the most manly room in the house-the garage. There were no girly little chairs to sit in-just a lot of fuel pumps, crazy looking computer screens, ramps and jail cells. The designers knew that boys obsessed with toy robots just wanted to play with dollhouses like little girls but they didn't want to have any furniture to remind them that's what they were doing.



LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS CYBORG LAMBORGHINIS

Luckily the GoBotronian real estate market was exploding in the 80s. Tonka understood this and made a lot of playsets since GoBots were the perfect size for interacting with dollhouses. They had the GoBot Command Center, Thruster the Enemy GoBot Headquarters and even licensed out for production a cardboard playset called the Guardian Headquarters. But perhaps the most sought after and rarest (if it even exists at all) was the GoBotron Fortress. It was decked out with everything a transforming robot sports car could want for recreation-ramps, a periscope, big screen display monitors and even an Astrobeam Chamber for teleporting off to exotic vacation destinations. This stood in stark contrast to the Gobot Command Center which had a cafeteria, strategic command room and trauma and interrogation centers. The Command Center was more like the place they worked. What a cyborg Lamborghini really needed was a place to crash! The pictures here that convey the awesomeness of this ultimate GoBot crash pad are from the 1986 Tonka Toyfair catalog. SuperToyArchive also has a scan of its appearance in the '86 GoBot pack-in catalog. But what's really crazy about it is nowhere will you find an actual picture of one in somebody's robot collection because nobody knows for sure if it was ever released! Alex from the SuperToyArchive believes they do exist and that's good enough for me. This raises the question of what its value would be on the secondary market if one were to ever pop up for sale. Unfortunately the GoBotronian real estate bubble burst in '87 and that's probably why very few of these GoBot machineman caves were ever bought.



GoBotron Fortress No. 7258

• Now kids can get the Guardian home base featured in the "Challenge of the GoBots"!
• 9 different action features including: trap doors, periscope, and Astrobeam Chamber.
• High-tech detailing and graphics
• No batteries required

Ages: 5 and up
Master pack: 4

THE FUN OF YOUR ROBOTS WAS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO THE SIZE OF THEIR FORTRESS GARAGEIMUS

The GoBotron Fortress exists halfway chronologically between those other two great robot fortresses-Robo Force's Fortress of Steele from 1984 and the Transformers' 1987 playset Fortress Maximus. Back then all the robots were trying to out-fortress each other I guess. Toy robot real estate buyers must have had a lot of money to spend in the 80s because I don't remember anybody wanting to settle for a simple 1 Bedroom Maximus. Tonka's most direct robot housing competition in 1986 was Hasbro's transforming robot garage Metroplex. While the Gobotron Fortress was like the ultimate tiny toy robot bachelor pad, I have to give the edge to Metroplex for being able to actually turn into a robot. Yet from a practical standpoint I can see why the GoBots went the route they did because it must be kind of hard living in a house with its own cyborg brain, especially if he doesn't like the same television shows you do. Unless you turn into a television yourself you'll never get to watch any. And forget privacy in the bathroom.

I AM THE ONLY PERSON STILL HOUSE HUNTING THROUGH NEWSPAPER ADS FROM 25 YEARS AGO

I would love to find an ad for the GoBotron Fortress in some old newspaper from 1986 but so far I've been unable to. This is not because of that pesky little possibility that they don't actually exist but more because I haven't spent as much time in 1986 as I would like to. If an ad exists somewhere out there I hope one day to find it. As for the GoBotron Fortress itself I doubt I'll ever see one in my lifetime but I'm okay with that since what my family needs in a robot house has changed a lot since '86. If my son ever wants a straight up dollhouse I think I'll buy it for him without it having to be in some super macho robotic disguise with jail cells and laser beam turrets on the roof. I've come to terms with my Carbie loving side and I don't hide it anymore or manifest it as a hatred of real Barbies. I doubt GoBot Carbies ever were jealous of Barbie because of the extravagant lifestyle she led with her dreamy mansions and Lamborghinis and Porsches. They had the Lamborghinis and Porsches angle totally covered. OKAY MAYBE THEY WERE A LITTLE JEALOUS OF THE DREAMY MANSIONS.

RECY-KILL THE WORLD

The twenty-first seal of the Roboplastic Apocalypse breaks like your heart after Leader-1 dumps you for a younger, sexier Volkswagen in this VALENTINES FROM GOBOTRON edition of the Roboplastic Podcastalypse! Yes it's another all GoBots show where I discuss to myself the return of GoBots to DVD, a GoBots writer who's selling storyboards from the old cartoon, ads for GoBots kites & beach towels from 1985 newspapers and other ways I know Cy-Kill loves me. You'll scream like a little girl falling off a red robot motor scooter as you listen to 65 minutes of me trying to decipher hidden secrets of the universe contained within tiny little numbers printed on the corners of GoBots packaging from 1984. (Either that or you'll fall asleep.) Yeah I know Valentine's Day sucks but Leader-1 was bald anyway and there are plenty of other F-15s in the sky so enjoy these love letters from cyborg murdercycles and other GoBotronian enchantments in this latest Gobotastic Podcastalypse!


Or download it directly

15 September 1985


15 December 1985


Cheetos 13 October 1985

Target 03/24/85

Target 06/23/85

SHOW NOTES OF THE PODCASTALYPSE

• Challenge of the GoBots coming to DVD
• Why CotGB is important to more than just robotarded maniacs
• Megatron can't hate you like Cy-Kill can
• Are we on the verge of a GoBots renaissance?
• How unalphabetical that GoLion made it to DVD before GoBots
• Recent GoBoSynchronicities
• Writer Francis Moss selling GoBots storyboards
• Do-it-yourself GoBot DVD extras
• GoBots spread in Totally Tubular Toys of the 1980s
• GoBots contests and promotions in Cookie Crisp, Cheetos, Scott Towels and Nestle Quick
• The GoBots Nestle Quick contest winner posts a comment on a blog
• Creepy ad for a Creepy toy
• Creepy break!
• Early GoBots case assortment numbers and what they mean (to you)
• The '83 AFA 85 Cy-Kill that's actually an '85 AFA 85 Cy-Kill
• GoBot case assortment #7200 breakdown
• Intriguing eBay lot of 6 GoBots including a real early Cy-Kill
• Another 6 GoBot lot featuring early 7200 and 7201 series GoBots
• GoBot case assortment #7201 breakdown
• Another lot of early GoBots including the white Crasher.
• Final lot of intriguing early 7200 and 7201 GoBots including Turbo & Scooter
• GoBot case assortment #7202 breakdown-The first six super GoBots
• Assortments 7240 the GoBot Command Center and 7241 GoBot Monster Zod
• Confusion over the 7242 Collector Case
• Vintage Tonka catalogs on CD-Rom
• Don't rocket punch your friends!

We now return to Challenge of the GoBots...

Rarely in life does an event of such epic proportions occur that it shakes the very foundation of one's own worldview and understanding of the nature of existence while reaffirming a man's faith in the cosmic balance of justice in the universe. Yes, I'm talking about Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch being released on DVD back on January 25th. And just when the world's religions were recovering from that absolute proof that god drives a talking Volkswagen, another shock to the belief systems of all humanity came to pass when Shawn "Branded in the 80s" Robare broke the news to me this week that Challenge of the GoBots was coming to DVD. I was floored. Absolutely blown away. Because this means that obviously not only does god's Volkswagen talk, but he also has a thing for transforming red robot scooters. Either that or god's just a really big fan of vehicles voiced by Frank Welker. AREN'T WE ALL, GOD. AREN'T WE ALL.

Los Angeles 04 April 1985	TV Guide Chicago (date unknown)

YEAH THOSE FIVE GIANT COMBINING ROBOT SPACE LIONS WERE TOTAL RIP OFFS OF OUR SHOW ABOUT A LIPSTICK WEARING SPORTS CAR AND A ROBOT SCOOTER

Every time I found an old ad for the GoBots cartoon in some old newspaper I got a little sad because I could never find a way to blog about them without it reading like an obituary for a robot show long gone. But the news that the Warner Archives is going to put out Challenge of the GoBots on DVD is just the Baron Von Joyous occasion I was looking for to break out this stuff in celebration of this most significant of American cartoon robot shows. The two ads above use the same graphic but the text is slightly different, with one of them implying boldly that every other cartoon robot show was a ripoff of GoBots! Voltron definitely had the jump on CotG and depending on where you lived the Transformers may have aired first, too. I love how this ad tries to make up for that by using the popularity of the other shows as a gauge by which new viewers can estimate their love of GoBots (even though all GoBots really had in common with other robot shows was the element of transformation). I don't have a date for the one on the right because I got it from an eBay seller who goes through old TV Guides and clips out the ads, then puts them up in lots arranged by theme. Consequently all I got was the ad with no date information on it. It is interesting to note that in Chicago the five parter was shown over five Sundays, while in Los Angeles they ran it all in the space of one week.

CHANGING INTO A MOTORCYCLE WAS EASY, THE REAL CHALLENGE FOR CY-KILL WAS CHANGING THE CHANNEL

Houston, TX 11/07/85

Now I don't know who was directly responsible for putting GoBots ads in TV Guides and local newspaper entertainment sections but they did a good job. It may have been the show's distributor or Tonka's advertising agency Jordan, Case & McGrath that handled this sort of advertising-I don't know. In any case, the show got a lot more advertising in Sunday papers than I've been able to find for the Transformers or Voltron. And what fun ads they were! I've never seen anything quite like the one to the right from a paper in Houston, Texas where Crasher and Cy-Kill are having an argument over his addiction to the GoBots cartoon. Shawn's blog Branded in the 80s also has another TV Guide Challenge of the GoBots ad from September 16, 1985 where Cy-Kill is daring the viewer to watch the show. Such fourth wall breaking is unusual in toy robots ads but it's not entirely unheard of. There was one September 11, 1985 Voltron ad in entertainment industry publication Variety where the non-lion Voltron characters talked about the upcoming Voltron season. Then again, Voltron the robot never talked or watched television like Cy-Kill. These GoBots ads are still unique for being the only place I've seen robot characters talking to viewers and each other about the show.

Variety 27 March 1985


GO'D BUT NOT FORGOTTEN!

Speaking of Variety, from 1985 through 1987 the worldwide distributor for the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon ran a couple of ads that stand out as some of the coolest GoBots related stuff I've ever seen. Initially the ads featured an often used GoBot promotional image of Leader-1, Scooter and Turbo flying over the CotG logo. In subsequent years as the GoBots became part of the Hanna Barbera family of cartoon characters, Leader-1 was occasionally seen alongside classic characters like Yogi Bear, the Jetsons, the Flinstones and even Space Ghost. The first time I saw these "cartoon character parade" ads with Leader-1 hanging out with the other Hanna Barbera greats I was surprised because I'd never seen any GoBots depicted as part of that lineage. I didn't think Hanna Barbera considered their licensed cartoon characters part of the family so much as they were disposable entities to be erased from all memory once their popularity on the toy shelves faded. But here we had Leader-1 towering above all others just like he was one of the gang, proudly carrying the flag representing great American toy robot cartoon storytelling. I cannot express how awesome it feels to know that once again Leader-1 and the GoBot gang are receiving a bit of recognition and acceptance amongst the other gone-but-not-forgotten Hanna Barbera classics with the upcoming DVD on demand release of Challenge of the GoBots. Somewhere in heaven Cy-Kill is firing up his DVD player.

Variety 30 April 1986	Variety 15 April 1987

The Proper Care and Operation of your Gobackatron 1985Thousand

The twentieth seal of the Roboplastic Apocalypse explodes into flaming rocks just like the those tablets Moses threw off the mountain when his hobby drove him crazy.


Or download it directly

WHY AM I HERE IS A FUN QUESTION BUT YOU SHOULD REALLY BE ASKING YOURSELF WHY ARE ALL THESE ROBOTS IN MY HOUSE

Yes, sometimes it is really hard to figure out if your hobby is driving you crazy (especially if crazy was the way you started). And with that in mind I have assembled this extended monologue on what one should expect from their hobby and how to figure out if what you are doing is a) a hobby in the first place and not some bizarre complicated antisocial Star Wars nerd mating ritual or b) something really legitimately fun (but with severe psychologically damaging side effects). So for those wondering if what you do with your spare time and money is meaningful expenditure of your short time on earth or actually a symptom of mental illness, I offer you this 50 minute podcastalyptical advice. But before we start, know that if what you call a hobby involves toy robots you probably already had brain damage and that's gonna be a little tougher for me to fix with just corny jokes and pictures of 25 year old toy robots ads.

Sav-On 28 November 1985


This ad from Wilsons demonstrates how the cool thing about Cy-Kill was that if you transformed him backwards he looked even cooler.

Wilsons 04 November 1984


SHOW NOTES OF THE PODCASTALYPSE

TRU 12/12/85

Richway 11/10/85

• Pursuing the degree in Roboplastic Historianism is going well
• Return to Vintage Space Toast Tour Miami
• How to tell if your hobby is working
• In search of the elusive December 12, 1985 Skywarp Bop Bag ad
• The wages of not paying attention is repeated trips to Miami library
• Not finding ads but instead finding answers (which aren't as fun as finding ads)
• Goal of the day-reacquiring that giant December 9, 1979 Playworld Micronauts ad
• A new ridiculous quest-collecting Lionel Playworld circulars
• How to tell if your hobby is good
• The old ridiculous quest-reading all the Los Angeles newspapers from 1985
• break-Lionel Playworld: Toy Capital of the World!
• The traditional post library visit fish sandwich
• Upcoming José Delbo convention appearances (or the lack thereof)
• Three of the first four Transformers cover artists will be at Miami Comic Con
• break-Children's Palace: Everything a toy store commercial should be!
• How to tell what your hobby is all about
• Not finding things in common with other fans when you have everything in common
• Doing as the Cybertronians do
• How to tell you enjoy your hobby when you are the Mexican Luke Skywalker
• Making out in robot costumes is more mainstream than what I do with my hobby
• Being happy is not the same as being passionate
• How to tell if your hobby is actually dating
• Being the Tyler Durden of newspaper looking library clubs
• Brian Kilby is my Obi-Wan Kenobi
• Blowing up 1985 like the Death Star
• Dr. Geektarded-a true fellow Macrocranian
• Sliding around in inflatable robots and spaceships
• How to tell if your hobby has wonderfulness
• The tremendous amounts of fictional backstory included in 80s toy robot newspaper ads
• The upcoming Gobotacular Podcastalypse
• We're the Wheeled Warriors-don't wanna wheel no more! /Dokken
• Contrasting Wheeled Warrior newspaper ad fiction vs. cartoon fiction
• How to tell if you get your hobby advice from Alice Cooper
• How to tell if paleontology is a hobby
• Wizard World requires business cards of the apocalypse
• How to tell the Podcastalypse is over

Broadway 16 September 1985

DON'T ROCKET PUNCH YOUR FRIENDS!

Hanging out with my son and other assorted three year old hellions has taught me that preschoolers will mimic the behaviors of those people they most idolize, who are never their parents but instead the goofy cartoon monsters they see on Yo Gabba Gabba. Thankfully those goofy cartoon monsters are trying to teach positive values and acceptable social behaviors. I realize it's a form of brainwashing but I'll do anything to get my son to learn lessons like other people's feelings are important and cultural diversity is a strength of our society (or at the very least, don't bite your friends).

DOCTOR DEMON IS OUR PEDIATRICIAN

I ran into a problem today when I was getting ready to take my kid to daycare and from out of nowhere he throws his shoe at my butt while yelling "ROCKET PUNCH!" I had a flashback to over the weekend when we watched a ton of episodes of Tranzor-Z. It was kind of cute to see him run around the house with his arms in the air yelling "TRANZZZOR ZEEEEE!" in that funny way little 3 year olds talk. But the rocket butt punch was not a good sign. I should have seen it coming, though. During the weekend he went on a playdate with his mom (The Queen of Macrocrania) and she told me he was running around yelling "Tranzor-Z!" while all the other kids stood around wondering what the hell was going on. The other mommies wanted to know if Tranzor-Z was a Nickelodeon show and what time it came on, to which my wife responded, "Well, knowing his dad it's definitely not on Nickelodeon and it probably came out 20 years ago."

HOW TO RAISE YOUR KID THE GO NAGAI WAY

So while I was dropping the Prince of Macrocrania off at daycare today I realized that there would have to be an addendum to my usual goodbye speech. Before I left him with his teacher we went over the rules of good behavior real quick as we usually do. It's a short list but it covers all the major horrible things kids do to each other because they're not aware that other children are indeed alive and feel pain (and also because they are vicious hellions). In addition to telling him "...and remember, no hitting, no kicking, no spitting and don't bite your friends" I also had to throw in something about not rocket punching anybody. It was weird having to tell someone that while being totally serious about it. Don't rocket punch your friends! It sounded weird but cool at the same time. I'm not sure if I'm raising a) a little boy who confuses cartoon fantasies with actual reality or b) a super robot from 1985. What I do know is that the writers of Yo Gabba Gabba are benevolent geniuses who know more about what's appropriate for children than I do based on my son's behavior after watching Yo Gabba Gabba vs. Tranzor-Z. I will have to stop emailing them about how the robot in their show for 3 year olds could use some chest missiles, laser beam eyes and flamethrower breath.

Time traveling (and assembling a robotical army to conquer the galaxy) on a budget OR: The most fun I ever had with scissors and a kangaroo

Lionel Playworld 28 October 1984

Man I used to love clipping out Playworld coupons in the newspaper when I was a kid. They didn't print coupons in every ad so when coupons came up for robots it was like Christmas on GoBotron. Even more special and rare than toy robot coupons were the holy grails of Playworld discounts-$1 off anything in the store coupons. Oh man it was the wild west when that one came out. I'd go crazy thinking of the huge discount a dollar was. Back in the early 80s when action figures were no more than 4 bucks those 1 dollar coupons were a big deal! Plus they even let you use it with no minimum purchase so theoretically stuff that was under a dollar was free. If I could afford a time machine I would still print me up some Playworld coupons before I go back to 1985 because although I was only ten years old for that one year, I will always be a cheap bastardo forever.

09 October 1978	07 October 1979
07 October 1979	14 November 1979

THIS MUST BE WHAT MONEY LOOKS LIKE ON HOMEWORLD

What was awesome about Playworld was that they really put some effort into tailoring the appearance of each coupon to the merchandise it was for. So for example Micronauts coupons had line art of the Time Traveler on them and other lines had art representative of their figure selections. In a brilliant effort that got the maximum use out of these drawings they used art that was only meant for ads and made coupons out of it. I know Star Wars is so popular there's probably some country out there with Darth Vader on their dollar bills but Playworld was the first to have any form of currency with Muffett the daggett on it.

20 December 1985	10 November 1985

10 November 1985	12 October 1986

CHEAPNESS IS THE FOUNDATION UPON WHICH MY COLLECTION IS BUILT

09 November 1986

Another reason Playworld coupons were so great was because they were for stuff you actually wanted! Unlike those Sunday newspaper coupon sections that had loads of coupons for crap I didn't care about like food and Thomas Kinkade collector plates, Playworld knew the kind of financial assistance my roboplastical military industrial complex needed was discounts on Cybertronians. From a business standpoint maybe erasing your profit margins on popular robots people would have bought anyways wasn't such a bright idea. Coupons are probably really only supposed to be used to trick people into buying stuff they don't want, so running coupons for Transformers was like getting Carrie Fisher's autograph on your Star Wars comics but finding out she'll only give it to you if you also let her lick your face. I was all, heck yeah! On the other hand, I always admired the business savvy of whoever made the Walgreens circulars where they ran coupons for Rock Lords and Moto-Botz. That's the way you're supposed to do it! Walgreens knew their selection was less Princess Leia and more like getting licked on the face by a Rancor Monster. It's almost like they were daring me to buy their crappy robots I otherwise would never in a million years even consider owning. I gotta admit those discounts were tempting, though. Walgreens coupons were beer goggles for toy robots enthusiasts-they even made me want to buy Rock Lords. Walgreen sure knew my weakness, though. Give me a big enough coupon and I'll try anything, I don't care how ugly your Rancor Monster is.

Walgreens 11/30/86	Walgreens 10/15/86

GET IN THE CAR MARTY, WE'RE GOING TO PLAYWORLD

Since they were essentially creating incentives to buy crack, Playworld coupons had narrow windows of opportunity-most of them were only valid for 3-4 days. Maybe the deals were so good they realized these prices weren't sustainable if they ever wanted to make money supplying weapons and troops to toy robot army builders. There is also the possibility that Transformer coupons were an underhanded sales tactic and Playworld planned these sales anyways but by limiting the savings only to people who clipped the coupons they ensured that not a lot of people would take advantage of them. It's like having a sale but only for a select group of people who were reading your ads (which I guess is what coupons are anyways). Oh well while I'll never be able to fully comprehend great mysteries like time travel or toy robot coupon economics, I do know that Lionel Playworld was my favorite store. I think I'll print a couple of these out and cut them up then stick them in my pocket and never use them. That's pretty much what I used to do as a kid because I didn't have any money in 1985. I guess not much has changed in 26 years-I'm still a cheap bastardo looking at Transformer coupons. But I need to be prepared in case Christopher Lloyd or some other mad scientist shows up in my driveway with a pimped out DeLorean time machine and tickets to see Carrie Fisher at a bookstore signing Star Wars comics in 1984.

13 October 1985	12 October 1986