Mr. Big Toyland Commercial

[karsiyakaningulu]

Yup I took my son there and he sent me this video, and told me how happy he was that we took him there once. But i remember taking him few times but who am I arguing with cause now I am 62 and forget things easily.. what a walk on the memory lane.......

[morganfitzp]

This ad was exclusive to Channel 25 during their weekday afternoon anime shows—way before the American anime craze!

[Daishikaze]

I WENT THERE!!!! When I was six we went there and my brother and I got identical Mekanda Robo godaikin toys.

[jptang1701]

Thumbs up if you begged your parents to take you here but they refused because it was to far...... I lived in New Bedford at the time so I know what I'm talking about!!

[claudio2216]

That was awesome...brings back memories

[LoranCehack]

I'm always amazed when I find pieces of mecha-related history, whether they be in toy or anime form, that came out of the Boston area. I'm an MA native but unfortunately, I'm a bit too young to have been around for this.

[kentavares]

thanks for the memories bro. Like others on this post; saw this commercial dozens of times as a kid. Always wanted to check this place out but never made it. Man, the money those toys are worth today. If I could only go back in time :)

[jsngallery]

Ha haaa, I remember this commercial. I ended up going there and getting one of the robots they had. Awesome, tks

[cg4167]

another piece of americana gone :(

[darthsideous1968]

I bought a medium sized version of the Argo from Star Blazers there back in the early 80s! I also saw a really sweeeeeeet fully functional daicast metal version of Grandizer there,with removable grandizer robot and saucer section as well, but sadly I didn't have enough money to buy it!!!!

[AWFULERIKTHERED]

I grew up in the south shore and everytime this commercial came on, i'd beg my mom to take me there. She never did, too far she said.....and no, i didn't kill her for it. Loved force five & star blazers, those were the days.

[lam533]

Those Japanese models used to cost an arm and leg, to this day I don't know anyone who went there to buy them but instead would just fiddle with them until the owner raised hell.

[drunkenkaraokeguy]

I never made it there and I'm still kinda bitter about it. Why wouldn't my mom take me there when I was 9 and just buy me a couple of Force Five figures like I asked over and over and over again??? Maybe I'll eventually work it out in therapy. Thanks for the video. I'm gonna go have a nervous breakdown, now...

[boofdfast]

OMG, this commercial was the shit back in the day. It used to always come on, when we were watching Force Five on Ch 25 Boston. I had Space Dragon, my brothers had Space Arrow and Star Poseidon... and we also had Godzilla with shooting fist, and Mazinger and Gaiking.

At least toys were made out of die-cast metal back then, not like the cheap crappy plastic, nowadays. Today's toys SUCKASS. lol

[exitplan2]

@boofdfast thats so funny you say that because i remember my grandfather saying "I cant understant why they use this cheap die cast metal today" i gess they used steel when he was a kid.

[boofdfast]

@exitplan2 Yeah, also toy guns back in his day were actually made out of real metal. Yikes :)

[dek1s]

didn't Mr Big keep the force five toys in a safe?

[dek1s]

"wow this just brought me back to when i was 6yrs old, i lived on robin st. wich was a 10 min walk to Mr Bigs... me & my cousin used to go there everyday... just to look @ the die-cast toys..... thanks for posting this!!!!

[ngvgnDOTcom]

Thanks for posting this. I went to Mr.Big Toy Land one time and bought a GoBot the helicopter one. I have some Force Five still on VHS. LOL

[hessdx1]

awesome. this was the only place to find this stuff. regular toy stores had no idea what you where talking ablout, and i was a japanese toy crazy fool. i still have a coupon from mr big toyland for buy one get one tickets good a the old general cinemas from nov.1983 left on main street... right on moody street

[axp80]

I grew up in Waltham in the early 80's, and was very familiar with this store. It was awesome, I went there for Force Five, Starblazers and eventually Robotech toys. It was great because they had a ton of inventory, but the problem was the incredibly annoying woman who worked there that used a cane. She would stalk you up and down the aisles and keep asking you what you wanted. I would try to hide from her. Regardless, great to see the vid, nostalgia is great.

[thephantomhoax2012]

I remember my first time there. I lived in Allston which seemed like a million miles away in 1981. I was ten and I wanted know al about Jesse Dart-he was that real to me. She gave me a quick run down of his origin. and i thought she was the holy grail. told me about a jesse dart book she had. I think she was pullin my leg-she then got me worked up over some Starblazers book. with diagrams and everything. I ended up geting the Sun Vulcan for X-mas which she told me was Danguard Ace!

[FlegDesigns]

Does this have anything to do with the amazing band Mr. Big?

[JockoV]

Holy crap what a great video! I was a really huge Force Five fan and loved Starblazers as well. I'm heartbroken that I never made it there. My mom didn't want to drive all the way out there. One time I actually mapped out a route to ride my bike there. Turns out it was about 10 miles each way. I was really tempted but probably for the best that I never tried because I probably would've died from exhaustion only being 11 years old :) Love seeing other peoples stories though. I'm jealous.

[Moogaar1]

I remember going there when Star Wars first came out in '77 & they were the first to have the figs! Good memories...thanks lectric!

[thephantomhoax2012]

Funny. I lived in Allston. and I asked my Mom how far away the place was and she says "50 miles, maybe 20"(?!) I walked away imagining myself riding my bike on the highway at night! Force Five was awesome. I watched it for like 3 yrs. starting around '80? then suddenly it was off the air and my friend, Ralph, said he found something better... it was Inspector Gadget! wtf. I almost felt like slapping the guy. I was dumbfounded by that statement. Just when you think you know a guy! good days tho:)

[mediacritic]

@thephantomhoax2012

Ha ha ha! That made me laugh. Inspector Gadget was excrement.

[mediacritic]

@JockoV

You shoulda done it. You'll regret it on your deathbed. :)

[Sheldonw1119]

Nice nostalgic post. I remember seeing this commercial but had no idea where Waltham was (I lived 30 miles away in Boston). I ended up going to college there. But by then, it was a fast food joint.

[G2CondorJoe]

I made it there once around '85 seemed like all the Force Five/Starblazers stuff was gone by then. Now as an adult I'm obsessed with Soul of Chogokin.

[Oddlogical]

Ah, memories! I saw these ads in the early 80s. I begged and begged my parents to take me there (we lived in RI at the time). We went and I bought a Sun Vulcan robot and, secretly, my parents bought me a Combattra which they kept in my dad's car trunk all year until my birthday! I still have both! Good memories...

[mediacritic]

@Oddlogical

That's nice. Sounds like you had great folks.

[BraveRaideen]

My !st Shogun toy was a Varitank, purchased at Hobby Hub in Apache plaza. It was tough, 'cause all the vehicles were there, I could only pick one, and chose the one with big pointy claws.

[lectricworker]

It makes me so happy that all of you love seeing this as much as I do. I'm happy I posted it! Off to play with Tetsujin 28 and Voltes V :)

[angeladthacker]

omg, its been about 30 years give or take since i've seen this clip.........i cant tell you the feelings it brings back....incredible

[plasticletters]

This place was like crack for me as a kid. One Shogun Warrior was never enough. Thanks for the post!

[yancypommerance]

This place was such a big part of my childhood...I used to go and drool over the robots along the right hand side of the store...I still remember it smelled musty like a warehouse and the old wooden floor creaked.

[llayam]

sandbox sent me...very cool

[yancypommerance]

When I was about 14 I got interested in old G.I. Joes, and they had an awesome display case on the right hand side, I must have dropped a grand there over the years. The most signifigant thing I remember that I had a memory of having one of the old galoob lone ranger dolls, and missed it terribly. They actually had one mint in the box, and though it was going for more, all I had was 25 dollars, and mrs big sold it to me for that much. Anyone know if they are still alive?

[rocker0001]

Wow..I lived in wilmington vermont..and we got this commercial..I always wanted to go..but mom wouldnt have it. :( Wish i could go back in time!

[NMNHTV13]

I always wanted to go there was a kid!!!

[gjelpd001]

its chris claussen doing the commercial not dana hersey. claussen and jj wright did the news briefs for wxne 25. i gather since FF was on 25 maybe there was a business arraingement.

[RafaelPhoenix07]

are those stores extinct now?

[tuxmant2]

Mr. Big's is long gone. (Sadly I too remember the comercials but never went to it.)

There's a place in Nashua, NH (?) called "The Comic Store" that always has been cool.

My friend and I years ago got to know one of the mgrs (?). One day a mgr of another comic store brought 3 roman albums of Star Blazers saying he couldn't sell them in the year he had them. Our friend takes 2 and says "BUY THESE!" to us. Within 10 seconds he sold 2/3 of the books the other store couldn't sell in a year! LOL

[diervek]

Awesome!

i used to shoplift from there all the time :D

[michelle66]

Wow! I remember this commercial very well!

I visited Mr. Big Toyland occaisionally and remember that the woman you see in the commercial was very sweet.

But, "Mr. Big" himself was a complete ass. He and his wife were rude and did treat everyone like shoplifters.

Thanks for posting!

[gjelpd001]

i thought it was just me that they profiled. i remember this short lady watch me every visit.

[thephantomhoax2012]

A year later but...if I remeber correctly I was yelled at by the old woman the first time a wandered through that place. I was a quiet good kid too!they were nuts in that place.

[mediacritic]

@thephantomhoax2012

Dude, I had a weird experience there too. I told an old lady about the Shogun figs I had. She salivated and offered me $50 for them! Then I spoke to some dude in a suit. He was clearly a sales guy. He wouldn't even respond to me! Probably figured I wasn't the one with the cake, so I wasn't worth his time. I remember it to this day because he was such a prick.  I guess when you're the only one selling what everyone wants, it goes to the head. Meh. Cool store, though.

[EF72777]

There is something about watching this that makes me feel old

[jacobye46]

They had a reputation for following everyone around the store and accusing them of stealing.

[mediacritic]

@jacobye46

Now I wish I'd stolen something. :D

[hakunamatata414]

Holy sweet bejeebus, I can NOT believe this is on YouTube. I grew up in Northboro MA... only actually made it out to "the Moody Street Store" (as we called it) a couple of times, but I definitely remember this commercial.

I think it's official now, my entire childhood is up on Youtube if I look hard enough.

[Nazman71]

I went there once and i got myself Star Dragon, my favorite shogun. Too bad you can't get those anymore.

[JackSzwergold]

This is an excellent piece of history that shows that (1) America did used to have mom & pop toy stores and (2) back-in-the-day, even small non-Otaku stores carried cool Japanese toys.

[zillis]

I lived in Brockton when this commercial aired during Force Five. I practically begged my mom to take me to Waltham but she never did. Woe is me.

[captainmelio]

Channel 56 WLVI during Creature-Double-Feature. Awesome!!

[zillis]

I remember it differently.

Channel 25 {I forget the call letters) during Force Five!

[Boojkill]

It's WFXT, Channel 25. I remember watching Force Five and Starblazers on that channel too!!!

[ForceFiveFan]

ch 25 started out as WXNE-TV (stood for Christ (X) in New England) in October 1977. It was owned by CBN and ran family-friendly stuff as well as the 700 Club. During the 1980's they became more of an indie like fellow WSBK-TV 38 and WLVI-TV 56. They changed call letters when Fox finalised purchase in January 1987.

[tomjkoz]

"..WLVI is part of living, Livin' fifty-six.." [now that jingle is stuck in my head.] It's crazy what makes you remember things from the good-ol days.... now that I'm thinkin' of jingles... "We're the one for you New Englaaand.. New Englaaand Teeeleeephoooone. [Part of the NYNEX family]"

[dbonanno]

That store was awesome! My dad bought me a Yamato model there.

[Colt9033]

Wow, that was a flash back.

My family had good relationship with him.

Its darn shame that his son didn't keep the place going. I think it would have been still here today!

[knucklehead66]

I rember this place. They always followed us around, we were like 5 and 9. They even accused my sister of stealing once-but God we loved that place....they had these 50 cent mystery boxes we would always get....

[xeokym]

P.S. thanks for posting this, lectricworker. I always appreciate people who take the time to post old, obscure stuff from their video tape collections

[xeokym]

oh dear god that place looks so cool. There used to be a shop in Manhattan like that, too, in the 70s and 80s. Everything was so super expensive, it was beyond my means at the time! (at least I can get 'em now)

[patrickyee]

This place was nirvana for me when I was a kid. What a piece of my childhood.

[Solarwaves]

I remember that place. My dad used to take us there a couple times a month when I was a kid. I also used to stare at the cabinet full of expensive diecast toys and wish I could own at least one of them. I did end up getting one, which I lost a long time ago. At least Outer Limits is still around, I used to go there a lot as a kid too.

[batmansbuick]

I used to come all the way from Florida to visit relatives and a highlight of the vacation was a trip to Mr Bigs to buy GIJoes. I remember Arthur going down to the toy basement to get merchandise for us. He was a great person.

[Oldgoat93]

Same goes for me with the GI Joe stuff, hot rod and monster models as a kid. My first job was as a stockboy there. Arthur had a huge area downstairs where all the mishandled and broken toys ended up. There was tons of stuff just laying around. It's true that the owners trailed the customers from aisle to aisle.

[dadward]

Wow! Talk about going down memory lane. Sadly that place is gone. Loved seeing that add in between the 'Force Five' shows.

[aardtheogre]

PT4 Arthur thanked me for the stories and left the store. A short time later he returned and gave me (for free) a Raydeen storybook that he still had. He said that he wanted to give it to someone who would enjoy and appreciate it. That was a great experience! I don't know if he's still around, but I hope that he knows that he made a lot of kids happy! Myself included!

[aardtheogre]

PT3 I told him how my brother and I fantasized about visiting his store during its' heyday and how my parents made the pilgrimage all the way from Cape Cod to get some of those incredible toys that he sold! (Little bit of trivia: the metal band Mr Big named themselves after the toy store. It turns out that they had the same feelings about the store that we did. Arthur informed me that they had visited him.)

[aardtheogre]

PT2 I'm proud to say that I still have every one of them with the boxes! About eleven years ago when I was the manager of the Kay Bee Toys in Waltham; I had the sincere pleasure of meeting Arthur (Mr Big, himself) the old owner of Mr Bigs Toyland. We had a great conversation, he was incredibly friendly. I felt as though I had just met a celebrity from my childhood.

[aardtheogre]

Man oh man, do I remember this from when I was a kid! Pure unadulterated nostalia! My brother and I begged our parents to take us there numerous times. They never did. However, they did drive all the way up from the Cape on two occasions to purchase a bunch of import toys from Mr Big Toyland. I remember, at least two Christmas mornings receiving a bunch of Shogun warriors and Bandai toys.

[cierra96]

haha omg i used to race home from school to watch force 5 and starblazers i had a bunch of those shogun warriors. i grew up in waltham and went to mr big every weekend. the place was kinda shady and a weird handicapped woman would follow u around if u werent with a parent it was scary when u were young and didnt understand..but during the late 80's and early 90's moody street had been run down when Mr bigs finally shut down i miss the place dearly it was my childhood toy store.

[lectricworker]

I'm SO happy that all of you found this and remember it!  Mr. Big Toyland was the best. I'm sorry it's such low quality, but it's all I have! Party on dudes!

[getterposeidon]

OMG!!! The ad that made me drool at age 5! So awesome! I now have a toy shelf of expensive Die cast robots because of that ad!!

[mattingaz]

we need a time machine Delorean to get back there at that time... :)

[fronio88]

I bet he had every Space Cruiser Yamato kit ever made..

[geezerbill]

Heh heh. I clearly remember this ad being drilled into my head on TV-56 in between episodes of "Force Five". Sadly, I never got to go there. Though my friends said the store was disappointly small. Thanks for the memories! By the way, voice-over Dana Hersey (host of "The Movie Loft") was once parodied by David Cross on the HBO sketch comedy series "Mr. Show".

[gjelpd001]

there was only 1 aisle of japanese anime stuff, but still the only game in town.

[lashutterbug]

I remember shopping at Mr. Big many, many times. I myself went mostly for the great collection of plastic WWII models they had--they regularly got imports that no-one else had access to. I remember the anime robots being way too expensive for my meager budget (I was only about 11 years old at the time!), but I certainly drooled over the mountains of ultra-cool stuff they had. This place made Toys-R-Us look laughable by comparison. BTW, that's Dana Hersey from WSBK-38 doing the narration.

[dirt031]

OH MY GOD!!! I remember that commercial. I was waaay too young to drive there, everytime I saw the commercial all I could do was agonize over the fact I couldn't get there.

Now I work 15 minutes away from where the store use to be located!!!!

[SkywayTA]

I guess it would help if I posted under my account and not his.

I also remember this commercial, I used to watch star blazers and force five with my brother back in the early 80's. kinggeorgescastle just happens to be my brother. I remember when we would fight he used to hum the theme to starblazers or force five while throwing haymakers . You cant make up a story like that. ; )

[kinggeorgescastle]

I also remember this commercial, I used to watch star blazers and force five with my brother back in the early 80's. kinggeorgescastle just happens to be my brother. I remember when we would fight he used to hum the theme to starblazers or force five while throwing haymakers . You cant make up a story like that. ; )

[mediacritic]

@kinggeorgescastle

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

[kinggeorgescastle]

on a side note i have both force five and starblazers on dvd if anyone is looking for a copy feel free to shoot me and email and maybe we can work something out ;-) my email addy is kinggeorgescastle@yahoo.com. i even have some dr. who ^^

[kinggeorgescastle]

lol that's awesome that you have that commercial. i too remember it from growing up here in massachusetts back in the early to mid 80's. i too also used to watch force five and starblazers those shows were the shit back in the day! i unfortunately never made it out to mr big toyland but i remember the commercial very well :-) good memories thank you for posting

[dreadedsilence]

I grew up a block from Mr. Bigs. Fun times.

[EaglesMan36]

Wow. Never went to Mr Big Toyland but use to see the commercials all the time on Channel 25. I remember asking my parents to take me there but I was six and had no idea how far Waltham was from where I lived.

[venkman71]

dude,....

seriously,....I have a lump in my throat right now. I grew up in Boston and was raised on Starblazers,Force Five and Robotech. Channels 56,25 and 38 and I thought this Mr. Big Toyland commercial was only a memory. My best friend and I made monthly pilgramages to Mr. Bigsto talk to Leon.

You just made my thirties. Thank you SO much. GOD I miss home and my childhood. Rock on, man. Thank you SO much.

[helenforsdale]

holy crap. i remember this so well from growing up in boston! they would show this after force five. i would beg my mom to take me there. this was like in 81 or something. geez.

[Toledo1837]

If Toledo had a giant Asian population, we probably could've had a store like this too!

[nitepeople]

man, this is the best! thanks for puttin this up.I remember this commercial well.

[nitepeople]

man, this is the best! thanks for puttin this up.I remember this commercial well.

[wallspacemurals]

Thank you for this! I grew up in Waltham, I remember how the owner would follow you around the store if you weren't with a parent, literally two feet behind you.

My mom bought me a three foot tall Gaiking who shot missiles from his chest, and shot off his fist from Mr. Big's.

I was in High School when the finally closed. It was soon after a car drove through the front window. Everything went on sale, and I picked up a couple of space ships and strange robots that I still have.

[penelopoo]

Dude I had the same Gaiking. This was the greatest toy store ever. Does anyone know where to get force five on dvd?

[sixpackgenius]

My god I remember this! I use to go to my grandparents place in Middletown R.I.- watch Star Blazers, Force Five and I do remember this commercial!

[em23]

here in los angeles we would go to little tokyo in a store called pony toy go round.  memoriiiieeeessss!!!

[uplandmod]

Pony Toy Go Round was the Best...The Only place I could purchase the Bandai Spiral Zone Line in US in the 80's....The best Toy line ever! If I could only go back in time....

[em23]

remember the monoseed bike? i SO regret not getting it.

[uplandmod]

My mom thought Bull Solid was too much money for a toy $25.00 was a lot of money in the 80's so i bought it again at a later date When I Went back I had a choice between Monoseed and Sentinal Bear I bought Monoseed but almost 20 years later I wish I would of went back and bought Sentinal Bear as well as Saint Senya's Spiral Zone figure of Gemini I have Pegasus and Kamen Rider Black which are just as rare. Pony Toy Go Round was a fun place back when "Japanimation" a small movement in the USA

[mediacritic]

@em23

I'm on the East Coast, but I used to mail order cool anime stuff from there.