Toys in the 80's...

Man, I'm so glad I grew up when I did. I just came across a toy line I totally had forgotten about from my childhood. Does anyone else remember Dino Riders?



I don't know what it was about toys back then....GI Joe, MASK, Go-Bots and Transformers...but they were made well and held up to intense make-believe play well.

Today? Just throw your kid an iPad to play Angry Bird. No imagination, nothing...

I miss my old toys...

a reply to: MystikMushroom
That's the first I've heard of those. I agree though. There really isn't much imagination needed these days.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
Man, I'm so glad I grew up when I did. I just came across a toy line I totally had forgotten about from my childhood. Does anyone else remember Dino Riders?

I don't know what it was about toys back then....GI Joe, MASK, Go-Bots and Transformers...but they were made well and held up to intense make-believe play well.

Today? Just throw your kid an iPad to play Angry Bird. No imagination, nothing...

I miss my old toys...

The days when you could enjoy Legos and Erector set building kits to build cars or robots .


I miss my Matchbox battery powered Hot rod

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Maybe it has to do with fact that toys are dangerous now,

Considering all the warning and chocking hazard labels.

There are still tons of old fashion toys, my son got plenty of TMNT and lego sets have never been better

a reply to: MystikMushroom

For me it was MicroMachines, MASK, Starcom, Visionaries, Thunder Cats and Transformers.

And not forgetting Green/Grey army soldiers

We had to use a thing called imagination back then, most kids have lost that concept these days

I had a Johnny seven

Anyone else old enough to have owned one of these?

Johnny Seven O.M.A. (One Man Army) is a multi-function toy weapon produced by Deluxe Reading under their Topper Toys toyline, and released in 1964.[1] Johnny Seven O.M.A. was the best selling boys' toy of 1964,[2][3] and was marketed heavily on children's television. It has a unique number of features, including seven different actions (thus the "Seven" in the name). The toy is no longer made, and has become a collector's item.

Any kid with one of these would likely be blown away by a trigger happy cop these days!

a reply to: MystikMushroom

That was 30 years ago. Back up another 30 years and you could have had one of these!!

Legos and army men!
I had the green army guys when the tanks where full scale.

Toys and cartoons went to crap in the 80s

a reply to: MystikMushroom

In Sweden we started with an app, that regulates the hours by an admin account, so doing the dishes is rewarded by one hour of gaming connected to a cloud based system.. Many are extremely positive to this, social media has a 16 year old limit and needs to be verified by a "social security number" so we force our kids back to the past.. And grown ups are allowed online..

i remember garbage pale kids i think it was called.

-He-Man figures w Castle Gray Skull
-Star Wars figures w millennium falcon
-X-wing fighter and obi wan's hovercraft
-Bigfoot. The Battery powered monster truck
-Stompers. Tiny battery powered 4x4s

These are the toys that stand out the most in my memory. Most of my stuff was second hand, as my folks were young and semi poor. Luckily, my next door neighbors on both sides were spoiled turds and I always ended up inheriting their toys once they got bored with em. My grandma sent us my dad's old erector set and Lincoln logs. That was lots of fun. I'm glad I grew up when I did. We were no more than 5 or 6 years old, running around building forts and warring with our rivals a few blocks over.growing up in Mayberry USA in the early 80s was truly magical.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Legos and army men!
I had the green army guys when the tanks where full scale.

Toys and cartoons went to crap in the 80s

It all started with Scrappy Doo.


But Some of the toys were cool. Like Slot Cars, Transformers, All of the Empire Strikes Back an Jedi stuff, Mad Scientist Lab, Radio Shack Robotic Arm, all those Rubiks Cube puzzles, Coleco Vision.


Oh Thundarr the Barbarian was cool as hell as far as cartoons went. It was pretty hardcore for saturday mornings. Voltron was dope as hell too.

But yeah, on the other hand the cartoons and most toys were way better in the 70's for me. I was lucky to have Evel Knevel in the 70s and all that cool 80s stuff i mentioned above.

a reply to: galaga

My biggest gripe was how bad the cartoons got as the 80's went along.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Legos and army men!
I had the green army guys when the tanks where full scale.

Toys and cartoons went to crap in the 80s

Starbird









This was the good stuff! Fort Apache

Oh I loved my dino riders, and ninja turtles, had more Batman figures than you could imagine, various Keaton ones because the damn belt kept coming off. Those 12 inch power rangers too, and the mega zords, god I loved my mega zords!

One Christmas, me Mam had gotten me the whole collection, including space ships of Bucky O'hare figures, even got me extra toad warriors to make a little army, those were the days!!!



hmm that chasing willy dialogue sounds different now am grown up

a reply to: Kantjil I remember garbage pale kids! The cards that made fun of the very popular Cabbage Patch Dolls... every girl I know had a Cabbage Patch doll!

a reply to: peppycat

you guys made me remember them and trying to see if they got collector value i discovered they never stop making them

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Nope. Too old. Don't remember Dino Riders, but they look like fun, even now. I could get behind a toy like that which combined dinosaurs (my fave!) with robots (my fave!)

My favorite toy was a Secret Sam spy case. I loved it. It could shoot plastic bullets from inside the Secret Same briefcase. It could take spy photos from inside the briefcase. It could shoot plastic bullets (that really hurt!) and also a Secret Sam 'rocket' that could send super secret messages. We were little espionage weenies, and imagined ourselves to be spooks employed by the alphabets. Such was the socialization of my era. Imagine that. The alphabets were the good guys. Whoof.

I remember Dino-Riders though I never had any. My top three toys were Legos, Hot Wheels and MASK. Also anything with wheels. Pretty much anything that Tyco or Hasbro made was my jam. Tyco racetracks, RC cars, Stompers, Micro Machines, some GI Joe and Star Wars.

This of course was when me and the neighborhood kids weren't riding our BMX's or re-enacting action movies with out toy gun arsenals. I remember at night, wrapping are various weapons with black electrical tape and attaching flashlights. It was our version of laser tag. Great times.

I was a little different than most.

I had a whole herd of Breyer Horses, about 30 to 40 of them. I still have them moth-balled in storage. My 8th grade wood shop project was a custom set of shelving for them made out of solid hard wood.

I used to spend hours playing with them.

Other girls had dolls. I had horses.

I also had an enormous library of books.