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–>> Trivial observation: while it may have been a basic design choice, most K•B ads from back in the day..say 1980s and 1990s that Tokka recalls were illustrated like what we see here in this complete ad set. That may have been a cost saving measure as well. Or maybe it was just a printing choice of many retailers at the time. Countless stores had illustrated newspaper print ads for decades. You’ll still find them on occasion in newspapers and the like today. Most newspaper ads it seems are mostly photographic nowadays however.

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I recall black & white print ads in newspapers say like in a classified page that were also illustrated for the toy store. I don’t think i have any photographic ads in my archives for K•B ( formerly ‘KAY•BEE’ ), unless they are from the late 1990s or early 2000s.

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Not 100% sure, but this may be my only complete circular set for K•B nay for some random and loose pages. I don’t always get to post these COMPLETE ads as there is very time consuming process that takes a bite into my personal work. However, in the long run they are important pieces of TMNT advertising and toy history, if not just Toy history in general. A glimpse into the past of retail toy shopping in a per-internet shopping era.

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Guessing things like this just really didn’t survive many recycling bins or rubbish collections just short of microfiche or someone saving them or what have you. It’s prolly beneficial to all when i do make the time to post ’em digitally.

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Sometimes i am asked of the fate of K•B after the final bankruptcy and demise of the once iconic Mall TOY retailer in 2008.

TOYS ‘R’ US came in a year later to purchase all intellectual properties, names, iconography, logos, licenses, et al. like they had with the operations of the FAO Schwarz brand the same year.

Last seen K•B was used in SOME labeling within some TRU stores to possibly a lesser degree than the FAO Schwarz branded boutique set-ups in the retail stores right now. I’m not sure what products received that labeling or if that continues currently or into the future. Time will tell.

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The stores became a staple for shopping centers and malls in North America for decades and has burned into countless childhood memories including mine.
I’m sure a portion of the value of that iconography is what lead to the TRU purchase in ’09. That value may resonate into a major return of the K• B brand in some form or fashion some day.

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Related notes ::

• THESE Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3D Wall Art Nightlights are poppin’ up and out n’ lighting up  Target Stores right now!!

•  [ ‘LONDON’ ] Toy Fair Yields Just A Few More Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Movie Details – A Big Rig, Karai And More..

• The ‘TMNT COLLECTIONARY’
• MANCHESTER HEROES CHANGE THEIR NAMES to TMNT for Charity !!
• Looks more and more the likes of Minae Noji is our KARAI in PARAMOUNT’s TMNT as some suspected.. 

• Somewhat TMNT related ; MTV :: 8 ‘LEGO Movie’ Easter Eggs You Probably Missed

 

Comics ::

• CBR :: Lone Gunmen Take Center Stage in Crilley’s “X-Files: Conspiracy”
• CBR ::TMNT, Transformers Invade IDW’s “The X-Files: Conspiracy”

~ t