Favorite 1980s Toys!?

[HighProtein]

M.A.S.K. were cool!
TMNT! radical!
Super Soaker!
Skateboards were quite hip then.

[number six]

I remember loving the living crap out of my Rom - the Space Knight. By all accounts it was a piece of crap toy.. it had like 4 points of articulation but dammit it lit up and was space-y which given the star wars craze at the time made it totally bad ass.



I also remember loving the hell out of the star rider. You would sit on this and spin around, it made sounds and had a 'viewscreen' where you could blow up cylon looking ships



My first video game anything. I still have this somewhere but i don't think it still works. The gameboy of 1981.



Before super soakers there were ultra realistic looking water guns. Screw you safety laws you could hijack a radio station with one of these. They also came with several clips which held water so you could reload on the fly.

[RussG]

I forgot about ROM.  Awesome toy.  I always wanted one.

That Space Rider was/is badass too.
I had that Galaxian 2 handheld and it was great.  Held me over until I get back into the arcade and play the real thing!
The Uzi gun I had too among a lot of other real looking guns.  Funny no problems ever with this and no school shootings and no cops came around looking to shoot me either because I had a real looking gun.  Times were just different and in my opinion better then.

[VanManDan]

I too have the Galaxian 2 in a box somewhere. Still works. Figured I sell it on eaby someday for BIG money! or trade for a pinball machine! 

[number six]

I forgot about ROM.  Awesome toy.  I always wanted one.

That Space Rider was/is badass too.
I had that Galaxian 2 handheld and it was great.  Held me over until I get back into the arcade and play the real thing!
The Uzi gun I had too among a lot of other real looking guns.  Funny no problems ever with this and no school shootings and no cops came around looking to shoot me either because I had a real looking gun.  Times were just different and in my opinion better then.

They were, but it was the kid getting shot with a Lasertag gun in the late 80s that started the whole orange gun thing so its not like that didn't start in the 80s. It was just interesting to be able to go buy super realistic toy guns back then given how skiddish everyone is about that sort of thing now.

[number six]

I too have the Galaxian 2 in a box somewhere. Still works. Figured I sell it on eaby someday for BIG money! or trade for a pinball machine! 

You might be adding a lot of green to that galaxian 2 lol

I wonder how much those are worth actually..

I loved the old color LED/VFD/Whatever games they had a really neat look to them

[k7]

the kids in the neighborhood and I all had a small arsenal of larami and Edison guns you could buy at kaybee toy&hobby. I never had issues running the streets with 1 of these:



they were sooo realistic, especially the hand guns (which I can find no pictures of). no orange end (which you could pull off or paint anyways...I put those orange caps on my real guns now and walk around walmart)

[brewmeister_us]

I've been eyeing Stomper 4x4's on Ebay.  Kinda forgot about them until stumbled upon a blog...

Good, cool ass fun.  I also had the mountain kit. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbn-XMxXlXw

[Niloc]

I had a lot of Star Wars toys as a kid, mostly the smaller ones (damn those bastard kids who had the AT-AT!) - and while I liked Star Wars I can't remember if I actually asked for those and wanted them, or if I just got them because that is what was popular at the time.

I remember seeing Return of the Jedi in the theater, and I know I had a bunch of the toys before that, but I don't think I saw Empire in the theater (I would have been 5 years old) so I think I actually had the toys before seeing any of the movies. I know we had them on VHS later, but that had to be post-Jedi.

It's kind of like my parent's buying me a pet when I was in first grade - a turtle. I don't remember asking for a turtle. I might have asked for dog or something, so maybe the plan was for this to be a starter pet to see if I could handle it, take care of it, etc. Or maybe it was just a plan to teach me about death, since this was one of those pet store red-ear turtles the size of a quarter.

Either way it didn't work - that turtle grew to the size of a large dinner plate and many years later we released it in a park pond where a lot of other turtles of the same breed lived. Every damn time I asked for a dog it was "you've already got that turtle".


The first toy I remember wanting of my own volition (sort-of) was Transformers. Definitely obsessed with those. That was just some damn fine marketing. A half-hour toy commercial interspersed with commercials for cereal and other toys. I even talked like one of the Insecticons for a while - the one who would repeat the last thing he said under his breath - it got to where I couldn't control it, I even annoyed myself with that crap.

Then they screwed it all up with Transformers the Movie - killing off all the old characters to introduce a bunch of lame new ones. The biggest sin was that the toys sucked. "Hot Rod" and "Rodimus Prime" were garbage. And "Arcee" the pink "female" Transformer? Really half-assed attempt to appeal to girls.

That came right around the time of my last childhood toy obsession though - Robotech. In this case the show was mostly better than the toys - unlike Transformers.
I was totally obsessed with the show, except for Robotech: Masters in the middle - that one sucked.

The show - made up of 3 unrelated Japanese anime series they edited together - had a ton of stuff American kid's cartoons never had. Actual death. Really boring romance (OK could have done without that), more realistic violence. Even some pseudo-philosophical ideas. That was the last show/toy obsession before girls became way more interesting.


 

[VanManDan]

When Star Wars came out I was about 16 as I remember, the local fast food place (Hardee's) was giving away posters of the characters and drink glasses as I recall? Anyway the buzz at the time was how great the movie was and the local news was interviewing people waiting in line to see the movie. Many people at the time were seeing the movie over and over agian. It wasnt uncommon for folks to say they had seen it 10 or more times. I think I seen it at least 3-4 times myself. Movies for kids (under 18) was $2.50, and adults were $3.50 . Seemed like alot of money back then. Me and the wife went and saw Jurassic World last month and it cost $20 just to get a coke and popcorn, and a box of M&M's which turned out to be a small bag inside the large box. talk about a bait n switch.!!! I still enjoy watching the first movie! 

[TimothyC]

Favorite 80's toys as a kid growing up in the middle of it (who also kept playing with or started collecting long after my friends were done with toys):

1) Star Wars  -- ESB was the first movie I ever saw in the theater and it had quite an impact on me.  I was a rabid SW fan for years and went on to collect and deal vintage SW toys for quite a few years.  I still have friends I made in the hobby and look forward to seeing the new movies with my son in hopes that it pulls him in the same way it pulled me in. 

2) M.A.S.K. -- Obviously a Transformer inspired cartoon, but probably my favorite cartoon as a kid.  Sadly the episodes don't hold up nearly as well as other 80's cartoons, but I still like the toys and I'm grateful I have a few of my childhood examples. 

3) Transformers -- Arguably the best toy line of the 80's and one of my favorite cartoons.  I can still remember running with my brand new Dirge figure to my friend's house when I lost one of his fist in the yard on day one .  Sadly I traded away nearly ALL of the G1 Transformers to a "friend" in school back in '89 for $200 worth of baseball cards.  LOL the joke is on me as those toys are worth serious $$$ these days (and have been for years) and the cards I received in return crashed in value in the early 90's and are worth peanuts now. 

I'll stop at three as honestly I could fill out a top 20 80's toy list as I've always loved toys and cartoons (I still have the original first wave of Turtles mint on card that I purchased and have stored since 1988 ).  I used to moderate a couple toy forums years ago and have been to Toy Fair in New York with a press pass so I think it's safe to say I like 80's toys. 

I guess my favorite 80's toy would be the most expensive SW toy my parents could afford to buy me for Christmas in '81.  Sure I wanted a Falcon or At-At, but I received a Snowspeeder and was d@man thrilled to have it !

[MilitiaMan]

My brother had all the toys!

He Man, Star Wars, Transformers, GI Joe - I think he still has most of them.

I was only interested in one toy, though ... Hot Wheels!

Couldn't get enough Hot Wheels!



Steve
MM

[k7]

I love it when a big heavy azz chevy impala has the edge in a drag race

i'll put money on car #4. #3 looks top heavy...could pull the upset.

[MRK]

We used to lay out about 100+ feet of track going down my friends hill in the back yard to race hot wheels. So far you would need someone at the end to tell who won.