What toy's capture the 80's

[MegoNinja]

Yeah we had that thread "What toy's capture the 70's" so I thought it was time for an 80's one.
The following lines of toys I believe capture the soul of the 80's:

-He-man and the Masters of the Universe (real lame now but at the time were the greatest toys ever!)
-GI Joe (3 3/4" )
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (late eighties but still eighties right?)
-Voltron (hated the cartoon but the giant robot made from lions was very lovable)
-Thundercats
-Transformers (g1 [g2?])
-Kenner Super Powers
-She-ra
-A-team (6 1/2" and 3 3/4")
-Real Ghostbusters.

For now that's all I can think of, feel free to add to that list. Let's get some childhood memories thrown around.

[RussG]

-He-man and the Masters of the Universe (real lame now but at the time were the greatest toys ever!)

He-Man is not lame lol :grin: Well after the 3rd series it was ... but the first two years and part of the 3rd are some cool stuff.

He-Man is a true 80's icon, but they over did him, it seemed Mattel wouldn't let the line die and I remember finding figures from '85/86 still on the pegs into the early 90's So the burnout kids had to go through with He-Man, hurts the overall line in the icon of the 80's or I would put it in the top spot since every kid loved He-Man even little girls liked him so much they made She-Ra

For the one true iconic 80's line I'd have to with GI Joe. and Storm Shadow V1 really had the true 80's feel ... since Ninjas were so huge in the 80's.

Transformers would be right up there also.

[MegoNinja]

yeah when I said lame I was really referring to the absolute milking of the line, I still love my skeletor and trap-jaw figures but mattel totally ruined the line by adding what like, 600 characters.
crazy.

[Bionic Joe]

Kinda asking the wrong person here as i grew up in the 70's and was chasing girls in the 80's but the toys my nephews had all over my sisters house were HE-MAN/ TMNT/ STAR WARS

[toys2cool]

you forgot Jem and the holograms :grin: and I guess the LJN WWF collection was big

[Bo8a_Fett]

As I was moving out of the toys and into the ladies and music in the 80's the only iconic toy I remember was the Rubic's cube...I mean everyone had one over here..or knew someone that had one.

[jwyblejr]

I would put G.I. Joe way at the top of any list. It seems they were the ones driving the patriotic band wagon back in the 80s.

[RussG]

you forgot Jem and the holograms :grin: and I guess the LJN WWF collection was big

I never had any Jem items so I forget about her line in topics like this, but I remember she was a big deal back in the day.

would you stop bringing up those hard rubber LJN guys ... Oh the pain lol :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

[MegoNinja]

yes, wrestling figures would be on the list indeed, I remember having my LJN hulk hogan for years until one day I sold it to a friend for $2, I still regret that to this day. :muh:

As for the Rubic's Cube Bo8a, they would be on the list but I think they are an icon of the 80's more than they are a iconic toy of the 80's you know what I mean? Still though, they are great, I have never managed to finish one of those damn things, I just end up ripping the plastic pieces off and reassembling it so it looks like I solved it and can show off to every one. :grin:

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

I'd hafta go with "GI Joe: A Real American Hero" too; since the military and terrorist themes were pretty topical back in the day.

I think you've got to consider "Cabbage Patch Kids" as well. Ugly, bloated.... sounds like the 80's. Plus; they were the ORIGINAL "Tickle Me Elmo-Gotta have it-Step on you to GET it" toy. ALSO very 80's....

Don C.

[MegoNinja]

My Little Pony, I think that was pretty eighties, my sister had tubs of those things that I used to mount my action figures on.

[Donkey Hoatie]

Smurfs, baby. Smurfs. Plus, I think you have to throw Atari out there. The 80s were when home video games really became popular and mainstream (Pong in the 70s aside, of course). Then again, I don't know if you'd classify video games as "toys" per se.

[MegoNinja]

Smurfs, baby. Smurfs. Plus, I think you have to throw Atari out there. The 80s were when home video games really became popular and mainstream (Pong in the 70s aside, of course). Then again, I don't know if you'd classify video games as "toys" per se.
We brought up the Atari in the 70's thread and decided it was more of a 70's thing, but I have to agree that 80's was a time full of technogeeks, especially when it came to things like the Commodore 64. I would say Atari is both 80's and 70's.

[Adam West]

I'm in the same genre that I was done for the most part with toys by the time the 80's came around.

My mom used to be a daycare provider and I distinctly remember He-Man, TMNT, Transformers, the Smaller G.I. Joes but I didn't really pay much attention to them.

Around the early 80's we received our first Mattel Intellivision set and I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. I can still remember going to Sears and trying out a display model and thinking "These are the best graphics I have ever seen! Nothing will ever get better than this."

My parents broke down and bought us one. I don't know if people realize how expensive these consoles were but I'm pretty sure even in the '80's an Intellivision was probably close to $300 when it first came out and games were in the $40-$50 range which was a lot of money. I have a hard time choking down the same prices for today's consoles but I think we treated our gaming system with much more care than my kids treat our systems. It was a major ordeal to purchase a new game so we had to choose wisely.

My younger brother was a major video game fanatic (he still is) and always figured out little computer glitches in games so that you could never beat him in Football or any other sports games because he always figured out some little bug that made it impossible to defend plays in Football for example that he could run over and over again.

[megomaniac]

Toy line that captures the nostalgia of the 80's for me: He-Man. My cousins and I played with those guys for hours.
Toy line that captures the FEEL of the 80's: Jem and the Holograms. Hands down. That's all I recall of the 80's: Hair, clothes, and music and Jem and the gang capture every bit of that beautifully.

[4NDR01D]

The only carded gi joes I've bought since I started collecting toys are "Zap"
(my first gi joe in 1982) and "Storm Shadow" (yes,it was pricey and worth it).
Those two characters will always remind me of the 80's.

[jwyblejr]

Hmmmm....



I think you've got to consider "Cabbage Patch Kids" as well. Ugly, bloated.... sounds like the 80's. Plus; they were the ORIGINAL "Tickle Me Elmo-Gotta have it-Step on you to GET it" toy. ALSO very 80's....

Don C.

Sounds like the way it was with Starting Line-Up figures. Granted people didn't go nuts with them until 1990 but they got their start in 1988.

[wayne foundation 07]

Stomper trucks!!! They were a recess favorite,Only the best trucks could make it up the sliding board.And who couldn't help putting the battery in backwards to make the run in reverse.I gotta ask "were you Stomper tough"!!!

[grayhank]

Star Wars
Strawberry Shortcake
Kenner Super Powers
Dukes of Hazzard
Smurfs (BTW season 1 DVD is now out)
E.T.

[MegoNinja]

I'm in the same genre that I was done for the most part with toys by the time the 80's came around.

My mom used to be a daycare provider and I distinctly remember He-Man, TMNT, Transformers, the Smaller G.I. Joes but I didn't really pay much attention to them.

Around the early 80's we received our first Mattel Intellivision set and I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. I can still remember going to Sears and trying out a display model and thinking "These are the best graphics I have ever seen! Nothing will ever get better than this."

My parents broke down and bought us one. I don't know if people realize how expensive these consoles were but I'm pretty sure even in the '80's an Intellivision was probably close to $300 when it first came out and games were in the $40-$50 range which was a lot of money. I have a hard time choking down the same prices for today's consoles but I think we treated our gaming system with much more care than my kids treat our systems. It was a major ordeal to purchase a new game so we had to choose wisely.

My younger brother was a major video game fanatic (he still is) and always figured out little computer glitches in games so that you could never beat him in Football or any other sports games because he always figured out some little bug that made it impossible to defend plays in Football for example that he could run over and over again.
if you bring video games into it, I would say Sega and Nintendo played a massive role in my childhood. I remember thinking similar to what you said, I had the game California Games on the Sega Master System and thought "wow, those graphics look like real life", I think I have used that line on every console in succession of the master system to date.

[nvmbrsdoom5]

Ok, both my wife and I grew up in the '80s, though she's considerably younger than me. We have different views on what toys really capture the '80s, so I'm gonna post her list and my list separately!

Her list:

Cabbage Patch Kids
Punky Brewster doll
My Little Pony
Rainbow Brite
Masters Of The Universe/ She-Ra (she played with both!)
Fashion Plates
Glo-Worm
Care Bears
Popples
Hug-a-bunch
My Buddy/Kid Sister

My list-

G.I. Joe-A Real American Hero 3 3/4" line
Masters Of the Universe
Atari 2600
Ghostbusters
Rubik's Cube
Transformers (though I preferred Go-Bots.....seriously, lol.)
Voltron

[MegoNinja]

Ok, both my wife and I grew up in the '80s, though she's considerably younger than me. We have different views on what toys really capture the '80s, so I'm gonna post her list and my list separately!

Her list:

Cabbage Patch Kids
Punky Brewster doll
My Little Pony
Rainbow Brite
Masters Of The Universe/ She-Ra (she played with both!)
Fashion Plates
Glo-Worm
Care Bears
Popples
Hug-a-bunch
My Buddy/Kid Sister

My list-

G.I. Joe-A Real American Hero 3 3/4" line
Masters Of the Universe
Atari 2600
Ghostbusters
Rubik's Cube
Transformers (though I preferred Go-Bots.....seriously, lol.)
Voltron
lol!

Tell your wife so just brought back some awesome memories of my sister and I playing with Glo-worms, I had a blue one and my sister had the pink one. That really probes my brain for some of my earliest memories, thanks :cool_y:

Also did any one grow up with Troll Doll's in the eighties? With the amount my sister and I had we could have filled up a child's swimming pool with them.

[Omegasupreme]

Nothing says 80's more than the Transformers they absolutly dominated the toy market form about 1984 to 1989 then they went into a rapid decline... But for a while about 1/2 of the toys R Us was nothing but Transformers in the action figure department.

Next would be the NES and Genisis for non action figures these systems set the world on fire and revived Video game history from the Atari crash.

But would also say very early 80s would be atari....

done babbleing

[jemboy2004]

Jem she's all 80s.

The toys that really lasted the longest in the 80s, from my teenage mind memory that is.

TMNT

GI joes (small figures)

My Little pony

He-Man

Smurfs

Transformers

Those WWF figures seemed to be around for a long time too or it might be I hated them so much that I can't get them out my mind! lol

[Omegasupreme]

Transformers and GI JOE would be the 80s toys early 80s atari then NES finally Genesis....

[MegoNinja]

I think remco Karate Kid action figures were great too. I know they weren't very popular (then or now) but you have to admit they were pretty darn eighties, they even had Ninja's in the line which were obviously very popular back then.

[The Sentry]

Man toy of the 80's. May I mention I have an Autobot tat on my chest? So that says it all. Superpowers, Secret Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, MANTECH, The Centurions, The crappy Search for Spock Star Trek figures, I had some wrestlers, Piper was the one I loved most, (DUH!) I LOVED stompers, but they were so delicate, I loved mine and rung them out, sad to say NONE of my Stompers work but I STILL have the bridge and the cars, I just don't have the heart to throw them away.

I had lots of toys in the 80's honestly, I loved Megos the best, but in West Virginia in 1984 being someone who wanted new Mego figures would be like looking for a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Only at fleamarkets did you secure getting anything new, and then there was always the "busted joint" thing. So sadly, I had to move on. I kept what survived and swore I would repair them someday, no matter how much it costs. Thanks guys. But I do have a great number in GI Joe ARAH stuff, Spirit and Zaratan were my boyos!

The Real Ghostbusters I enjoyed with my nephew Adam. He LOVED Ghostbusters, plus his first toy was a Glow Worm. It was awesome, sadly it didn't survive the house. It was stored poorly and was destroyed, that broke my heart. Anyways, he liked Ghostbusters, COPS and "The Supernaturals" Holographic figures that I guess were around about the time "The Visionaries" were. Then Freddy took his little breath and that was that. Also, I was a HUGE fan of He Man, I named my Nephew after him. No kidding. His first toy was the glow worm, but his first collectible figure was Prince Adam. He still has it too.

Yeah as is stated, there was alot of "Ninja talk" going on in the 1980's, specially 1984. Rambo came out with his "Forces of Freedom" by Coleco, CHUCK NORRIS AND THE KARATE COMMANDOS? (Yes, I have these but they are in storage, when I get to them I'll post pics, I swear to God.) a Kenner product. It was chock-full of ninjas! Really effin cool. They were giant Superpowers figures with action feature. Brave Starr another awesome line, only till I was an adult did I get to see the playset. WOW man, grrrrroooooovy. As you can see, toys were a big part for me in the 80's Voltron was rather big. Rather big for me. I still have all of that stuff cept for the castle. Geez, I could go on all night.........


YES REMCO ALSO DID SOME GREAT WRESTLING, CONAN, DC., ROCKY, PIRATES OF THE GALAXSEAS, figures as well as the Karate Kid ones which I was fortunate to save as well but also in storage, I kept all of that together.

[dogman67]

I would have to say He Man, and also TMNT of course....