I wish that I had a time machine and could go back there and do some shopping. You know that the stuff in those pics is dirt cheap.

:/ oh to have a hot tub time machine. go back to my childhood body, start over, have my parents win the lottery and give them a list of what to get.

I remember those days.

I definitely remember staring in awe every time I went to the toy aisle and wishing I could win one of those shopping spree contests that TRU would run back then. The ones where you had only so much time to put as much as you could into 1 or 2 shopping carts. I had it all planned out: which aisles to hit first, what toys to put in the carts, etc.

There's also been many times I wish I could go back and beg my parents for specific Transformers. Fort Max, Metroplex, Scorponok and Trypticon immediately spring to mind.

Something else I remembered after looking at the pics. There weren't that many pegs back then, and a lot more shelving. I guess part of it was the amount of vehicles and playsets that were all the rage then. Now all we get usually is two shelves on the bottom and one on the top (all filled with crap most of the time).

Ohhh man. Memories!!!

Flaaaashbaaacks! Look at how well everything is stocked! I miss those days and going to Lionel Playworld with my Grandma

the 80s were the best time for being a kid, not only for shopping at a Toysrus, but also for the cartoons. It all went to hell around the mid to late 90s.

please post more pics or links

Those are some awesome pictures! Man, those were the days!

Awesome! I completely forgot about that and now remember thinking the same way. Thanks for jogging my memory. Funny that at 30 years old id still love to win a shopping spree like this.

Knowing our luck, if TRU did do one of those again, they'd throw in an age cap. ;)

When I was little we didn't have TRU, Walmart or Target here... we had Woolworth's and Kay-Bee though... Woolworth was my fav store.

being a kid in the 90s i can safely say cartoons hit sucksville after 9/11. huge difference.

also, after phantom menace came out, toysrus had such an overstock on figures that they had bargain bins for them. for how much? A DOLLAR. now theyre 9 dollars a piece and collectors items again. and beast wars toys are becoming valuable close to G1 prices.

Where were those Photos in the first post taken? I was assuming somewhere in the USA but then I saw the Zoids (including Red Mammoth) which I was sure didn't get a US release.

Nah, I don't think cartoons ever hit a point where they sucked. We just have an emotional attachment to specific cartoons of our childhood. There are cartoons coming out now that are fantastic like Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Young Justice, the Ben 10 series, Skyland, GI Joe Renegade, Superhero Squad, the new Scooby Doos, Generator Rex, etc. I can even appreciate that while they aren't particularly to my taste, products like Totally Spies, Martin Mystery, and the usual cast of Nick Toons are pretty decent.

And Teletoon had some good products. The 90s had great Disney animated series, Spider-man TAS, Batman TAS, X-Men TAS, Iron Man TAS, Fantastic Four TAS, Powerpuff Girls, Dial M for Monkey, Dexter's Laboratory, the post 90s anime craze started with Dragonball Z, Pokemon, Digimon and Sailor Moon. The 80s had great cartoons, but I don't think cartooning ever went down hill. There's just a point in your life that you kind of grow up and as such, you have little attachment to the cartoons of that era.

I've gotten to a point where I just decided not to write off any program until I've given it a chance and I think it might be a bit harsh to dismiss an entire decade as having nothing positive to offer. You may miss out on something really cool. :)

As far as toy aisles in the 80s and early 90s, I remember wanting (but never getting despite tantrums or the oh so familiar reverse psychology good boy ploy) those multipak M.U.S.C.L.E mini figures, Masters of the Universe figures, Marshal Bravestarr, those WWF Hasbro spring action figures, the tall LJN rubber WWF figures, Boglin hand puppets. I remember there was this Terminator playset where you covered an endoskeleton T-800 with flesh coloured dough and you could rip it off as battle damage. Also, Swampthing had really cool toys. Also, there were toys called Spinjas, they were like the Beyblades of the 80s and you had this little plastic box/ring you could keep in your pocket that came with two launchers and a set of Spinjas. Other than that, I spent a lot of my time at Radioshack playing the videogame demos or at K-Mart playing SNES in later years. LOL.

you forgot batman brave and the bold. RIP :(

I can't agree more!!!! I loved the cartoons shows growing up from the late 80's to well almost the late 90's and even a part of the 00's. I try showing my kids some of the shows I use to watch because...well I can't stand some of these shows they watch lol. Like Johhny Test I think it's called. I thought it was a remake of Johhny Quest. Man was I wrong lol. Well they look at my shows and say these are boring old and dumb :(

I remember the insane display Toys R Us used to have of the original Ninja Turtles, I lost my mind when I first saw that thing. I bet it pissed my parents off when I ended burying half of those figures in my backyard (hey, I was like 6).

I like how the shelves are just packed out. Stores today have a set plan on how everything is set out and where stuff goes on the shelves. Look at how many damn G.I.Joe vehicles are on those shelves! Forget other toys, this wall... is for Cobra.

My daughter's into Johnny Test as well.

But I have been able to get my daughter hooked on Beast Wars recently. She's also into Inspector Gadget, Danger Mouse, Looney Tunes and Pink Panther.

I have the whole series of the original transformers on dvd. Sure as **** my kids are going to watch it.

I cant get into the new shows though, nothing about animated or prime got me interested. Dont get me started on the Armada trilogy. I had no problem with RID though, so thats saying something.

The only cartoons these days I like are from DC and Marvel. I really think animators should go back to taking LSD cause thats how 90s cartoons shined and went really out there. Screw Spongebob, give me more Rocko's Modern Life.