 Mmm, we are a lot a little bit of a just in here See me when he shows up pops up here before I start to really get into things. Okay, that wasn't such a great idea All right, we got one person so Also jumping in here Okay, so it's been speculated for a long time That Toys R Us Is in danger of closing this was something that we kind of had an idea about back before the holidays and Well, then we found out that Toys R Us had Filed for bankruptcy Which then we knew we was real trouble and danger Over the last week Almost a full week. It had been speculated whether or not Toys R Us was gonna be closing We had heard so many different tales towards us is closing towards us. Let me call only gonna close so many more stores Toys R Us close all the stores towards us just gonna close in Canada. It was just gonna close its online store So many different rumors so many different stories of various different news sources But it has been confirmed as of today That unfortunately Toys R Us Will be closing all of its doors There is no set time frame yet. There's no date. They filed to have all their stores liquidated and We're assuming that that's gonna go through There is a Company called MGA that has put a bid trying and just want to do I guess buy all of the Canada stores and like 200 of the most Profitable stores in the US So whether or not that's gonna happen It's still up in the air, but it probably won't happen till after the liquidation happens So all the Toys R Us is still gonna get liquidated Which is really really? really really sad Knowing this I guess Wednesday the 14th March 14th Wednesday yesterday All the employees were told that all the Toys R Uses are closing Yesterday I was in normal Illinois Which is just north of Bloomington to pick up my weekly supply of comics And I have went ahead and I stopped off at Toys R Us Just in case I wasn't sure we're doing a liquidation if I was gonna be be able to go and shop and so just in case I Wanted to go and I wanted to pick something up that I Would be able to put on my shelf and say you know that came from Toys R Us And so I did pick aside. It's nothing big. It's nothing spectacular It's like this huge statue or you know, I collect Funko Pops And so I have picked up this masters of the universe Orco Funko Pop I have He battle armor he man Skeletor I have both regular and chase version of Murman So picking up Orco just made sense. So now I need three more But now whenever he's on my shelf I can look at him and say This is the last item I bought at Toys R Us so Just one kind of one final good memory before the liquidation starts and I've been seeing a lot of people's posts on Facebook mostly that you know them sharing all of their memories if of Their their experiences towards the rest growing up their experience of now that they're growing up they had kids taking their kids to Toys R Us and Having experience all the fun and enjoyment that they had when they went to Toys R Us So what did I join in and share some of my fond memories? now I'm gonna get a lot of comments who people who are gonna say well Toys R Us deserve to close they were overpriced and There are stores were dirty and this and that first of all I've never been to a dirty Toys R Us So I don't know where that comes from As far as being overpriced yes, they were overpriced But you know, I'm not okay. I'm actually I'm not a big shopper online. I am a big shopper online Unfortunately, I live in a town Decatur, Illinois Where our stores suck For example the Walmart exclusive Thanos figure None of our Walmart's have got them Never got them in To my knowledge none of the surrounding Walmart's such as that Springfield Bloomington Champagne Never got them And this goes with a lot of the exclusive Funko pops as well so If there's no stores around my area that have these cool toys Then yes, I will order off of like Amazon or eBay if I have to Unfortunately, I do it a lot because our stores like Target Walmart. They never have anything. They're supposed to have however If I go to Toys R Us Which unfortunately Decatur does not have a Toys R Us So I have to go to Bloomington or I have to go to Champagne or I have to go to Springfield If I go to Toys R Us and I see the action figure I'm looking for yes normal price at Walmart Target would be like 20 bucks and and and and Like the Marvel legend figures would be like 20 bucks So you go to Toys R Us and they're not 20 bucks. They're like 22 23 dollars something like that I I'm willing to pay a few dollars extra To to get that figure that I want because it's right there in hand immediately as soon as I buy it I don't have to buy it Wait a week or two and then go oh now I have it. It's right there. So was it they were were they more expensive? Yes, they were more expensive, but And this this goes specifically for when they first opened and I think all the way up to like the early mid 90s Especially you also went for the experience because You weren't you weren't in trouble if you decided. Oh, I want to ride a bike in the store There's toys that were able to be played with you didn't get in trouble from the employee for playing with the toys That's what toys are us was all about And Sadly future generations of children will not be able to experience this enjoyment so Hopefully you can get the toys rush to get some of these memories before the liquidation starts because once the liquidation starts Shit's gonna hit the fan people are gonna get angry because they're not gonna want to refund They can't take checks if it's too crowded. You can't find anything because everything's all over the place so go now Before there's that liquidation date if your toys rest is not already closed I know there's there's already like 170 stores that were already closing one of which is max in Illinois Which I'm actually gonna get into that one here is one of my memories one of my shared memories here All right, so I'm gonna head start Toys are us the reason why I Bothers me so much that they're closing reason why it depresses me. Yes. I has depressed me It has upset me And it is a huge nostalgia factor really is but I remember one of my earliest earliest times at Twice or us Was max in Illinois toys or us as to why I went to the most there and Oral and Park Park area But I'd go to that one mostly and I remember that it besides came are that is why I bought most of my He-man figures most of my masters of the universe figures That came aren't ventures were the other two big ones But toys or us was you know, it was special because they always had a massive wall full of these figures When I was about probably five or so My mom and dad took me to the toys are Then to meet him and a skeletor they had I didn't know then but I know now that they had Grown-ups in big bulky Muscle suits that were he man a skeletor with the big hard mask helmet thing And he had a sword and it was really really cool. It was such a joy and such an experience Loved every minute of it. I'm not sure why we never got a picture. I think that would have been cool So we never got a picture, but I did meet he man and skeletor add toys or us besides masters of the universe we move forward a little bit I Would eventually end up getting into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles about the same time. I was into Game Boy. I Had an agreement with my dad that when I did chores once a month. I would get a new Ninja Turtles figure or a Game Boy game So I would go and of course when Ninja Turtles came out. It was huge and Almost I don't know how every toys were supposed to be out. I assumed they were fairly the same but when you walked in You went straight and off to the very right back wall That's where all the Ninja Turtle figures were I mean a massive wall full of Ninja Turtle figures from top to bottom It seemed like all the vehicles and places they were always fully stocked and You were almost always guaranteed to find a figure that you wanted and you don't get that experience at places like Walmart or Target I mean nowadays you get you wanted an action figure good luck finding the damn thing Unless you go to Amazon or eBay where somebody probably bought all 10 that were on the shelf and decided to jack up the fricking price Even higher than toys or us mind you So I don't want to hear the toys or I says higher try going on eBay or Amazon and try looking for that Thanos figure I bet you're gonna be spending 30 to 40 bucks on the damn thing Unlike you know Toys or Us where if you wanted the Raphael Ninja Turtle figure guess what you got that Raphael Ninja Turtle figure and you only paid retail for So Ninja Turtles was a huge thing I remember One night going I couldn't decide what turtle figure I want. I decided I want to go look at the Game Boy games And I was looking at the games now This was back when The Isle still had they had the case you could see the case or picture of the case But then you had the price underneath it Which was actually a little slip and a little clear envelope that you would take out and we take up front to the counter They had the games back in the back room They would take the game out after you in the slip and they'd hand you your game I Was probably cool was a nice little safety thing nobody was able to open up the games and steal it or anything So I was pretty cool and they did the same thing with all of the Systems to that pictures or boxes of the systems you take a little slip you take it up front and same thing They'd give you the system. I Wasn't really seeing a game. I wanted so no Ninja Turtle no game What am I gonna do the agreement was for a Ninja Turtle or a game? Maybe I can get a different figure roughly about the same price as an Ninja Turtle figure Or at least in between impressive the Ninja Turtle figure in a game which was a huge difference So I had a pretty good deal going with my dad So I went to the action figure Isle and these Isles of course were the big long big Isles before they had the shorter shorter Isles and Like there was like, you know now you had one I only have like pretty much all Power Rangers The other one is in Voltron the other one is led all Transformers and the other one would be like Marvel and the other side be star. There was none of that. I was one long Isle and It would be you could what did you walk down and you see Star Wars and see he man You would see turtle, you know that that kind of thing. So it was really cool. I really prefer the old way a lot better, honestly But this time I went down this Isle and The first thing that hits me the first thing that catches my eye now, this is a 1993 So let's see if you could figure out one. Let me go on with this before I actually mention it 1993 I'm looking at these big giant action figures very colorful action figures. I had never heard of them before But they were pretty cool looking and they even had giant monster figures about the same size they had cool big robots also very colorful and seem to match these superhero-esque looking characters One of which caught my eye was this like silver black and gold Let's touch a green Dragon looking thing which I'm a huge Godzilla fan. So this thing was really freaking cool and it had a green version of one of these other giant Action figures and on the package it said Mighty Morphin Power Rangers And I tell you folks they had every single figure every single sword available every single Accessory play everything because this was before the show came about a week or two before the show came out Maybe maybe a month. I don't remember the exact time for it. I know it before the show came out and And So I thought I was like this is awesome I go the price point is just in between the turtle figure and the game. So this is great. I want this I've hooked up the dragon sword That's what I wanted So I went up to my dad going this is what I want. This is the price, you know And he actually fought me over it. He had me stand and said we're in the store for like that I was arguing with trying to convince him for like 30 minutes to buy this for me So I have a turtle or game and his argument was because it was the agreement was for a turtle or game It wasn't for this big monster dragon thing. I eventually won out Got the dragon sword and this green ranger. It know what they were. I had no clue I Took him home opened up and I just thought I just fell in love with this this toy this Beautiful toy, which I still own to I I and I just I I display it whenever I can And you open the instructions and there's the Megazord I'm just like oh that thing is awesome. I saw that and they can connect all that is an awesome idea How do they connect? So These are you know really good memories to me these bring joy to me just thinking about him. You can see my smile and everything I'm happy Bring up the whole a minute one in the Megazord because This is 94 now. I'm getting ready to graduate I'm getting ready to graduate eighth grade And in between the time the show finally came out The show came out and time I graduated I would call I think good I want to say at least three or four different toys or us is almost every day Asking if they had a Megazord except this point you couldn't find a single Power is your any figure you couldn't find gum Anything with power Rangers on it you couldn't find it But I wanted that Megazord so bad because I wanted to connect the two Zords together And I would have opened up those instructions that let's show you how to do it And I had that thing memorized. I mean I knew what everything went So I would call toys or us up to the point to where I am they knew About what time I was gonna call then it who it was And the moment I said hi They knew who I was and it was a no Megazord today nice about Fast word of my graduation My mom I didn't apply in a Megazord nada towards the rest of his adventures And they ended buying it for me and gave it to me for my graduation. So that was my graduation present was the Megazord Toys or us over the years It has It's brought the kid out and everybody else I I'll see it in the adults with their kids when they walk around the store they You could see you know, they had experiences there They're playing with the little dinosaur figurines with them. They're playing with the Thomas the tank engine a train set They're bringing out the bowels and showing the little girls and going look push the button and you know, it's They're memories that you're gonna carry over for the rest of your life And it's really sad that we're not gonna be able to have these anymore. I Don't know the exact year one toys or I started. I know I should probably did research and all that but honestly when it started isn't as important as What went on while it was going on while it was open while it's still open Another probably one of my fondest memories probably one of my biggest memories was 96 I think went to 96 at 97 That had been 97 I was seeing a girl And I was in high school. I was a freshman in high school and I had set up this big dinner for two This is my first girlfriend was the first time I was gonna have anybody for Valentine's Day And long story short, we ended up breaking up She had a me the day before Valentine's Day I ended up Devastated I ended up going Up north through Chicago to see my mom And She had it was around tax season obviously was February. She just got her taxes So she took me my friend Alan and my friend Chris to torture us in Oran Park and She She spoiled the hell out of me To try to cheer me up over this bad breakup and this was Essentially pick Any Star Wars items Figure items that you want I Went nuts. I took it seriously. I think I grabbed a couple of stormtroopers. I grabbed some Then I grabbed some return the Jedi Figures and these were from the recently released 90s. It was 90s. I just released all the figures for the Re-release so I'm coming all these figures and I decided to really push my lock and Grab the Millennium Falcon because I really want the Millennium Falcon And I had to put I think a figure or two back and get all these fit I think I had like I think I walked out with Good God. I want to say 10 12 action figures and the Millennium Falcon out of Toys R Us. I Know my mom had spent well over Actually, I think I said this is crazy I think I still had the blast of receipt somewhere for that because it's tucked away in my drawer providing It's not too faded. That was a 97 so very well could but I know I held on to that receipt for a damn long time and So I know she spent It was about $200 on everything that was a Millennium Falcon as a 10 or 12 figures Needless to say that cheered me up And these are just the kind of memories not only I have with so many other people just small memories to most important memories to yourself and You know, I have a similar similar event with my dad was my birthday And this is when Decatur actually had a Toys R Us and he took me to Toys R Us and I was able to pick out So many figures and whatever for Star Wars for my birthday was a limit of $100 or something like that and I end up getting Like the Gamorian Guard and the Rancor and the Rancor Keeper. I think I got The God awful special edition job of the hut with Han Solo figure and the do back with the stormtrooper figure I think I got the little whatever the hell the jaw is writing a flips over at that But the thing I want to be most and I had one left it was the at-at the AT-AT And I was like, oh, I've always wanted one of these things This is gonna be freaking awesome So I grabbed that I opened it up only to find out that the two action figures that were supposed to accompany The toy was gone. Somebody I already I guess had opened it took them out and brought it back and there were no action figures And instead of saying how with it keep it and then buy the two figures separate later. I Decided no I must have it complete if I'm going to take it out and play with it and I took it back to the store. They still didn't have any in they never got any more in and I Got the money back and I think that's how I actually ended up getting in the job of the hot Han Solo Stormtrooper do back Java creature. They did hide. I think I spent the money on those three horrible Things. Oh, well, the two aren't so horrible, but the job of the hot Han Solo pretty bad So to this day, I still never got an AT-AT. I did get the Rogue one version of the AT-AT which is really freaking cool control it with the Through Bluetooth on your phone. We need to review on it actually I'll come again. So look at that review up so I'm trying to think if there are any more really solid memories for for this Like oh plenty actually my girlfriend fiancee and I We loved going towards her office. We loved the Lego isle. Yes to the high there are Probably 10 to $20 overpriced, but they have more Lego selection than anybody except the Lego store and We love the Lego isle and so we would go and we found out about Pokemon tournament. Well, my girlfriend plays the Pokemon games on the DS And she thought it'd be fun to go to one of these Pokemon events And get a free Pokemon play Card that you can use for the game card game And they're okay. Sure. Yeah, so we go and we end up in line when first people mind we got our cards and She's like, oh, this is very happy. I'm cool You know I got wrapped up toys or us Pikachu cards, which I still have wrapped up says toys or us at the bottom so that's never getting opened and And I looked at her and she looks me like what I'm like, we have these cards What are we gonna do it? We don't play the card game So we went over to the car section the card game Pokemon card game section and we ended up buying our first Pokemon sets for the card game and This was only a couple of years ago. So we've been playing for a couple years on and off and This happened at toys or us and any time there was a Pokemon event going on we would go and Now we're not gonna be able to go anymore. It's There's not gonna be any more Pokemon events Something that we both really love and really share and have a passion for we're not gonna be able to do anymore and I know we're not the only ones a lot of people actually looked forward to the Pokemon events so Also, let's go over and you know, this is gonna hurt the toy companies Hasbro and Mattel and Fungi I'm probably not gonna hurt Funko so much You got their own store now and all the independent toy companies Who actually relied on toys or us for their products Because like I said Walmart and Target, which are essentially really unless you have a Myers in your town Or are it there's came ours pretty much done. It's over There are more ventures ventures have been gone since 97. I believe was gone Sears some of those sears actually sold toys gone. Oh good lord. What else? Yeah, so we have target we have Walmart and unfortunately a lot of these stores don't carry a lot of you know Other really cool toys. I mean NECA NECA toys for instance huge huge and toys are us for those of you who like to collect the Friday 13th figures and and the Alien and Predator figures and the video game version of like the Contra figures and Batman Figures and things like that Those really cool highly detailed realistic figures No more of those mini mates you could find a few with like Walgreens, but I mean Toys R Us was huge huge support of the mini mates line and no more mini mates You weren't gonna find any of the like the DC direct type figures Or Marvel Diamond select figures unless you go to your local comic book store I'm fortunately hate to say because I'm a big support of comic book stores. They're not gonna sell them at retail They're gonna up the price about five or ten dollars minimum So I mean Gone you're gonna spend more at the comic book store on these figures and you would at toys are us And then this the truth Power Rangers legacy The they were expensive, but I don't really think that was toys are us this fault I think they pretty much retailed for anywhere from the 80 to a hundred dollar mark on the Zords I think I spent $80 on the Dragon Zord which didn't come with an extra with a green ranger figure Which if they really wanted to go retro like they were like they were Trying to do it what it came with a green ranger figure Just saying The dragon dagger was like $80. I Know they were their titanus was like $200. I think the the Thunder Zords were $100 The make the original the Megazord the regular Megazord, I think that was about $80 So they were priced, but I don't think that was a toys or anything. I think that was more or less a Man, I think that was a who were they banned by there's a band I think so online. I saw them going for similar prices But again Those were toys are us thing Transformers also had exclusive versions of transformers figures. I think there was a Cybertron figure Transformer that was Walmart exclusive or toys are toys are us exclusive Of course, we're not gonna have any more toys as exclusive fuck up ops Like I said, I don't think Funko is gonna be hurting in all of this. Honestly, we've got The wrestling figures. Oh Lord, I feel I almost feel bad for I don't who's the manufacturer of the right the wrestling figures Right now the WWE wrestling figures. I don't know. I think they're not playmates I'm not sure who has the rights to him, but Walmart has a selection has a selection Target has a selection, but Originally Kmart had exclusive figures, which of course they're gone Same with toys or us of course where this was the only place you were able to get that giant replica belt Again, a hundred bucks, but you know there the Ric Flair road the macho man road that they had various different cosplay outfits and There were action figures a wrestling action figure you could only get at toys or us The holiday season was a huge thing Used to be a huge thing. I guess it wasn't for the last year or two. I guess one or that they're closing but holidays was always fun, especially The closer it got to Christmas because Toys was was open till midnight most places till midnight So you actually got to go in Actually, they're open They open till midnight or they open 24 hours They do open till midnight. So you would go in 9 10 o'clock at night and nobody in the store. They're trying to stock things and you're looking at all the new stuff That actually happened this past year My girlfriend was some reason we were in Springfield late We went to Toys R Us. They had that like 10 o'clock and The vault the newer Voltron figures. Yeah, maybe this wasn't last year's year before whatever But the new Voltron figures had just been released and they were still fresh in the box so I got first peek at them and They unfortunately want the Luxe versions. They were the non the Luxe versions once it didn't get put together So I thought they kind of sucked because they didn't get put together But then I find out they would later have deluxe versions that you could make Voltron so, yeah, I mean It really sucks that we're losing such a prominent store such a store has been around for good lawyers, but I think I Want to say it came out. It started in the 60s folks. I really do so Six generations the stores been open for about five or six generations That's a pretty good long time We've lost this and this is the last toy store folks. This is the last solid toy store There's no more KB. There's no more circus world child's children's world children's world Toys R Us was it so and I really hope this MGA they're able to purchase the 200 stores Out of those 200, I hope one of them stays around the century Illinois area. So we can still shop The online store I guess will be open for a little while longer, but they're gonna close it down So no one like I'm gonna keep the online store open folks. There's not you're not gonna be able to shop with Toys R Us, period They're I Guess you have Till March 30, which I 30 days on March 30. I'm pretty sure it's March 30 to use your gift cards So if we got them use them now But this is it really is sad. I'm very upset It's depressed me a lot it really has I've been searching Facebook I do this because my phone I've been searching for news and Anything I could find in hopes that maybe Toys R Us would have been saved but when Toys R Us says we're done We're done. They're done. So this holiday season I'm assuming by the holidays they're gonna be closed You could probably expect places like Walmart Target if you have a Myers Myers I expect these A lot pretty packed Then a lot more than usual We're gonna be in the twilight hours are just gonna be Bear and I'm really interested to find out what's gonna happen to these other these toy companies This is it's kind of heartbreak. It's heart wrenching. Well, I think that's gonna pretty much do it so I wouldn't get anybody really so Sharing open your watch a later, but please by all means Tell me please share some of your memories with me share some of your memories and Nothing nothing negative. All right, I would like for this video to be in a warium if you will I know good. They're closing because There were high-priced or the dirty store. I Will probably plead those I Don't normally comments, but Nothing negative place Let's let's do what my parents have taught us and if you can't say anything nice, please don't say anything at all So memories Now that they're bad memories by all means go ahead and share But try to try to be nice Please comment like Video please share it by all means and if you haven't already please subscribe This has been retro John with comma getting TV and I didn't introduce myself before So I am now retro John the Toys R Us But I'll be in Springfield Saturday. So hopefully I'll get a chance to stop off over there one more time at least Check it out And I highly suggest you do the same Before the liquidation because once those liquidation sign goes up you really want that kind of a memory. I Wouldn't All right folks, thanks for tuning in. I know I stopped the video