Vintage 70's / 80's Argos catalogues

[spoons]

But Argos didn't advertise anything SW related until the Autumn 1979 catalogue and there ain't much in there at all, and then again nothing being advertised at all again until the Autumn 1982 edition which shows just a single page of a handful of ESB toys, maybe this was just an Argos thing and they were more advertised in others?, I don't know.

Anyway thought i'd post this as others may have fun with this...

http://retromash.com/argos/

Argos advertised SW throughout the early 80s but there isnt a lot to be had until ROTJ. I copied these pages from a site a while ago. Couldnt find anything from 1981

spring summer 1980

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autumn winter 1980

Argos_1980_b_aut_wint_2.jpg (173.47 KiB) Viewed 526 times

spring summer 1982

Argos_1982_a_spr_sum.jpg (177.83 KiB) Viewed 526 times

[spoons]

Here you go - here's all the pics from that earlier thread

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29718&hilit=argos

No bras though

[Mini99]

I never realised how expensive the Falcon was!
We (my brother and I) wanted the Action Man training tower, but were told that was too expensive, the Falcon was £5.00 more!
We never had either by the way!

[Snaketibe]

Here you go - here's all the pics from that earlier thread

http://www.starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopi ... ilit=argos

No bras though

Thanks for the link. Great stuff!

[paulcalf]

But Argos didn't advertise anything SW related until the Autumn 1979 catalogue and there ain't much in there at all, and then again nothing being advertised at all again until the Autumn 1982 edition which shows just a single page of a handful of ESB toys, maybe this was just an Argos thing and they were more advertised in others?, I don't know.

Anyway thought i'd post this as others may have fun with this...

http://retromash.com/argos/

Although star wars was first shown in UK cinemas in December 1977, most UK cinemas didn't show it until 1978.

Star Wars toys wouldn't have featured in Spring 1978 argos catalogue as it would have been produced before the toys were available.
They probably didn't feature in Autumn 1978 and spring/summer 79 for a couple of reasons: Argos may not have known how popular SW would be/they couldn't get sufficient stock of the toys.

'Palitoy brings Star Wars to Planet Earth' advert didn't appear until 8th March 1978 and some of the figures advertised were drawings rather than pictures of figures.

Star wars Comics in June 1978 still had drawings of figures in adverts, rather than pictures of figures.

[subzero]

Thanks for the replies guys some useful info to think about there, I did also wonder did Argos just simply not realise how popular the toys would have been?, I suppose there's plenty of stories out there of many different companies not foreseeing the success in a franchise and then not preparing for it.

Spoons - Yes I noticed that last page too which I think was the only one I could find that actually had figures for sale and an actual full page dedicated to Star Wars, the rest from other years was just basically scraps.

[theforceuk]

Yes I noticed no Star Wars in the 1981 catalogue, very strange. They did have quit a lot in the 1984 catalogue which is a double page, but not much really in others. I think it was their thinking to have a little bit of everything. As a kid I always remember wanting stuff that I only saw in the catalogue, like punch bags, table tennis table and a snooker table.

[bosk70]

I think I mentioned on the last argo's thread a few years ago, I could not believe the price £28.00 for the atat back in 81=82, what is that in todays money, it really makes you think how expensive toys were back then compared with today, (although some Hasbro prices are mad compared with other China produce) and how lucky we were to have these toys bought for us.
I don't believe I was spoilt as a kid but over the years I was lucky enough to have all the usual toys discussed in the resent toy thread (one toy line kid).

[subzero]

I think I mentioned on the last argo's thread a few years ago, I could not believe the price £28.00 for the atat back in 81=82, what is that in todays money, it really makes you think how expensive toys were back then compared with today, (although some Hasbro prices are mad compared with other China produce) and how lucky we were to have these toys bought for us.
I don't believe I was spoilt as a kid but over the years I was lucky enough to have all the usual toys discussed in the resent toy thread (one toy line kid).

Just did a calculation on this site http://www.in2013dollars.com/2015-GBP-in-2018?amount=1

It would have been the equivalent to spending just over £100 today. A decent amount of money for a parent to spend on just one toy.

Untitled.png (21.92 KiB) Viewed 493 times

[bosk70]

I think I mentioned on the last argo's thread a few years ago, I could not believe the price £28.00 for the atat back in 81=82, what is that in todays money, it really makes you think how expensive toys were back then compared with today, (although some Hasbro prices are mad compared with other China produce) and how lucky we were to have these toys bought for us.
I don't believe I was spoilt as a kid but over the years I was lucky enough to have all the usual toys discussed in the resent toy thread (one toy line kid).

Thanks for that Sub zero

I had that toy works garage and really loved that as a kid, I actually found it some years ago when clearing out my mums loft and now it is patched up and on display, bit of string and the lift was as good as new missing half the garage sign and one flag thou