1990 Consumers Distributing Catalog Spread
Now we’re getting into the catalog years that I surreptitiously followed as a burgeoning adult collector. First off, I’ll admit it–I bought 1989 Batman toys. Okay, maybe just Batman and Bob the Goon, but can you blame a kid collector turned teen comic geek? Getting into comics after dumping the toys of my youth actually led me right back into toys. I blame Toy Biz’s movie Batman line and its Marvel Super Heroes offerings. Seeing the characters I had been reading in toy form again (after somehow missing out on getting any Megos in the 70s) was like the clouds opening up and sunshine bursting through into a grey world. Alright, that’s a little overdramatic, but you get the idea. Who would have known that all this stuff would seem quaint in this modern age of ubiquitous superhero merchandise? Oh yeah, there’s some GI Joe stuff on this page too. Cool.
Not that much a fan of G.I.Joe vehicles after, 1988. The 1990 Cobra Hammerhead looks pretty nice though.”
No Batman line is complete without a dozen or so, needless repaints of the caped crusader
Big year for Guy Cassaday. He designed the General and the Hammerhead.
I’m a big fan of the Avalanche and the Hammer. One of the last great years for vehicles.
The Avalanche is my favorite of the arctic Joe vehicles. I had so many great adventures teaming-up Cold Front with Sub-Zero.
Avalanche was the last Joe vehicle I got as a child. I remember being embarrassed to tell my friends that I received a GI Joe toy only a few short months later being in 7th grade.
It’s kind of strange to see the Toy Biz and Kenner Batman lines displayed together.
I find it interesting that the new figures released that year were $4.69. But, you could check the store for “Classic assorted G.I. Joe action figures” for $1.99. The 1990 figures were cool. But, I’d have taken two of most of the ’89’s over one 1990 any day. I wonder how they differentiated them in the stores? (Or, if they did….)
I’m wondering if this is some mail order catalog where that’s their only business because the mark-up here is extremely high for everything.
I believe that Consumers was a Canadian catalog. Explains the difference, especially when the dollar was stronger in the 80s. I remember comics being .$75 Canadian vs. $.60 US back in the day.
It is Canadian. They were the ones who carried the exclusive all black MOBAT for the Canadian market.
Ah, no wonder. I can’t recall offhand when the all-time low of the Canadian Dollar was but it trended downward in value over the ’80s and ’90s and was low during the 2000s, which led to Canada losing a few pro sports teams and all Canadian hockey teams not named Toronto or Montreal being in a world of hurt. The CAD started rebounding before the 2008 crash and achieved parity several years ago but has started drifting back down in value again that it’s starting to become a concern up north.