You're certainly right about the merchandise thing there, though the availability of all those neat 80's horror mags, models etc without the net was very much dependent on which neck of the world you were living in.
I caught me that exclusive Fango magazine dedicated to the "Elm Street" series (coming out around the time of "The Dream Child's" release), but digging out all those fan treassures in my present day's family household from the cellar etc is a completely different task from finding them back in the day...
