Toys are an important part in the development of an individual, and can say much about a person, community, or even a generation. Indeed, if you want to know about a particular group of people or a generation, check out their toys. I wonder what toys from the 80’s say about that generation? Let’s check out our top 10 list from the 80’s. We have some great toys for you to look at, and I am sure you can relate to this list in one way or another. So sit back, and enjoy!
Keith – He-Man (and the Masters of the Universe)
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel’s toy line Masters of the Universe. The show, often referred to as simply He-Man, was one of the most popular animated children’s shows of the 1980s, and has retained a heavy cult following to this day.
It made its television debut in 1983 and ran until 1985, consisting of two seasons of 65 episodes each. Reruns continued to air in syndication until 1988, at which point USA Network bought the rights to the series. USA aired He-Man until September 1990. Reruns of the show are no longer being broadcast on the Qubo Night Owl in the U.S. Currently the show is viewed on Retro Television Network, and in Canada on Teletoon Retro.
David – Wacky WallWalker
The Wacky WallWalker was a toy molded out of a sticky elastomer. It was shaped similar to an octopus, and when thrown against a wall would “walk” its way down. It was a hugely popular toy in the early 1980s.
Before its introduction in the United States, Ken Hakuta received in the mail several sticky octopus-like toys from his mother, who lived in Japan. They were intended for his children, but Hakuta found himself fascinated with the toy, which was called Tako in Japan. He realized their marketing potential, and after purchasing rights to the product in 1983 for $5,000, he began to market them locally in Washington, D.C., dubbing them “Wacky WallWalkers”. Their popularity was mediocre, until Nina Hyde of The Washington Post wrote a feature story on them.
The popular toy was featured in the 1983 animated Christmas special Deck the Halls with Wacky Walls, starring the voices of Daws Butler, Tress MacNeille, and Marvin Kaplan. The show featured seven Wallwalkers from the planet Kling-Kling: Big Blue, Springette, Bouncing Baby Boo, Crazylegs, Stickum, Wacko, and their leader, Kling-Kling. One character in the special was modeled after Hakuta’s son, Kenzo.
The Wacky WallWalker was referenced in The Simpsons??’ “Treehouse of Horror XXII”‘s Avatar parody when the female alien hit a tree and “walked” down it in the manner of the Wacky WallWalker.
Keith – Pictionary
Pictionary is a guessing word game invented by Robert Angel with graphic design by Gary Everson and first published in 1985 by Angel Games Inc. Hasbro has been the publisher since 1994 after acquiring the games business of Western Publishing. The game is played with teams with players trying to identify specific words from their teammates’ drawings.
David – Snoopy snow cone maker
Freeze up some fun with the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine. Designed to look just like the popular pup’s doghouse, it transforms ice cubes into colorful cold treats. The Snoopy Sno-Cone maker is just like the original from 1979 and features all of his friends from the Peanuts. To make these tasty snacks, all you need to do is add ice cubes, sugar and water. Once the ingredients are in, turn the handle to start the fun and make a colorful snack. The kit comes with Flavor-aid flavoring to pump up the color and the taste. You can also add even more flavor when you pour in orange juice, lemon juice or apple juice. Everyone in the family is sure to enjoy a cold treat on a hot summer day with the Snoopy ice machine. When the kids come in from playing and need to cool off, just take out this handy kitchen tool and make some icy cold treats for everyone.
Keith – Thundercats
The original ThunderCats show was animated in Japan while being produced, written and voice-acted in the United States. The series was originally distributed by Rankin-Bass Productions’ then-parent company Telepictures Corporation, which would later merge with Lorimar Productions in 1986. In 1989, Lorimar-Telepictures was purchased by and folded into Warner Bros., whose television syndication arm would eventually assume distribution of the show; Warner Bros. has had the rights to the series (and all Lorimar-Telepictures programming) from that point on.
David – Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International. It is listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest-selling single computer model of all time, with independent estimates placing the number sold between 10 and 17 million units.
Volume production started in early 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595 (roughly equivalent to $1,500 in 2015). Preceded by the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore PET, the C64 takes its name from its 64 kilobytes (65,536 bytes) of RAM, and has technologically superior sound and graphical specifications when compared to some earlier systems such as the Apple II and Atari 800, with multi-color sprites and a more advanced sound processor.
The C64 dominated the low-end computer market for most of the 1980s.For a substantial period (1983–1986), the C64 had between 30% and 40% share of the US market and two million units sold per year, outselling the IBM PC compatibles, Apple Inc. computers, and the Atari 8-bit family of computers. Sam Tramiel, a later Atari president and the son of Commodore’s founder, said in a 1989 interview, “When I was at Commodore we were building 400,000 C64s a month for a couple of years.”In the UK market, the 64 faced competition from the BBC Micro and the Sinclair Spectrum[13] but the 64 was still one of the two most-popular computers in the UK.
Part of the Commodore 64’s success is because it was sold in retail stores instead of just electronics and/or computer stores. Commodore produced many of its parts in-house to control costs, including custom IC chips from MOS Technology. It has been compared to the Ford Model T automobile for its role in bringing a new technology to middle-class households via creative mass-production.
Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles have been made for the Commodore 64 including development tools, office productivity applications, and games.C64 emulators allow anyone with a modern computer, or a compatible video game console, to run these programs today. The C64 is also credited with popularizing the computer demoscene and is still used today by some computer hobbyists.In 2008, 17 years after it was taken off the market, research showed that brand recognition for the model was still at 87%.
Keith – M.A.S.K.
M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) is an animated television series produced by the French-American DIC Enterprises, Inc and Kenner. The series was based on the M.A.S.K. action figures. It was animated in Asia by studios; KK DIC Asia (later known as KK C&D Asia), Studio Juno, Studio World, and Ashi Production.
David – G.I. Joe
The year 1982 saw the highly successful relaunch of the G.I. Joe product line in a smaller, 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) scale. The scale was the same scale used by the Kenner’s Star Wars figures, but with many more points of articulation much like the 1970s Mego’s Micronauts toy line which itself was licensed directly from Takara’s Microman toy line.
This relaunch pioneered several tactics in toy marketing, combining traditional advertising with an animated television mini-series and an ongoing comic book. The decision to use a smaller 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) scale for the figures also made it possible for Hasbro to produce a variety of matching vehicles and playsets that further expanded the appeal and commercial potential of the line.
G.I. Joe’s increasing popularity supported an array of spin-off merchandising that included posters, t-shirts, video games, board games, and kites. In 1985, both Toy & Lamp and Hobby World magazines ranked G.I. Joe as the top-selling American toy.
The 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) line was canceled at the end of 1994. This was also the 30th Anniversary of G.I. Joe and accordingly, Hasbro released a series of 12-inch (30 cm) and 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) figures based on the Original Action Team figures from 1964.
Keith – Smurfs
The Smurfs is a Belgian comic and television franchise centered on a fictional colony of small blue creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. The Smurfs was first created and introduced as a series of comic characters by the Belgian comics artist Peyo (pen name of Pierre Culliford) in 1958, where they were known as Les Schtroumpfs. There are more than one hundred Smurf characters, and their names are based on adjectives that emphasize their characteristics, such as “Jokey Smurf”, who likes to play practical jokes on his fellow smurfs. “Smurfette” was the first female Smurf to be introduced in the series. The Smurfs wear Phrygian caps, which came to represent freedom during the modern era.
The word “Smurf” is the original Dutch translation of the French “Schtroumpf”, which, according to Peyo, is a word invented during a meal with fellow cartoonist André Franquin, when he could not remember the word salt.
David – Transformers
The Transformers is a line of toys produced by the Japanese company Takara (now known as Takara Tomy) and American toy company Hasbro. The Transformers toyline was created from toy molds mostly produced by Japanese company Takara in the toylines Diaclone and Microman. Other toy molds from other companies such as Bandai were used as well. In 1984, Hasbro bought the distribution rights to the molds and rebranded them as the Transformers for distribution in North America. Hasbro would go on to buy the entire toy line from Takara, giving them sole ownership of the Transformers toy-line, branding rights, and copyrights, while in exchange, Takara was given the rights to produce the toys and the rights to distribute them in the Japanese market. The premise behind the Transformers toyline is that an individual toy’s parts can be shifted about to change it from a vehicle, a device, or an animal, to a robot action figure and back again. The taglines “More Than Meets The Eye” and “Robots In Disguise” reflect this ability.
The Transformers toyline is typically divided into two main factions: the heroic Autobots and their opponents, the evil Decepticons (traditionally known in Japan as the Cybertrons and Destrons, respectively, although more recent releases often use the English terms). Transformers toys are sold at a number of price points, and various Transformers series utilize unique play features.
Keith – Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a home video game console released on September 11, 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and ROM cartridges containing game code, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F game console. This format contrasts with the older model of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware, which could only play the games which were physically built into the unit.
The console was originally sold as the Atari VCS, which stood for Video Computer System. Following the release of the Atari 5200 in 1982, the VCS was renamed to the “Atari 2600”, after the unit’s Atari part number, CX2600. The 2600 was typically bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridge, initially Combat, and later Pac-Man.
David – the smurfs
The Smurfs is a Belgian comic and television franchise centered on a fictional colony of small blue creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. The Smurfs was first created and introduced as a series of comic characters by the Belgian comics artist Peyo (pen name of Pierre Culliford) in 1958, where they were known as Les Schtroumpfs. There are more than one hundred Smurf characters, and their names are based on adjectives that emphasize their characteristics, such as “Jokey Smurf”, who likes to play practical jokes on his fellow smurfs. “Smurfette” was the first female Smurf to be introduced in the series. The Smurfs wear Phrygian caps, which came to represent freedom during the modern era.
The word “Smurf” is the original Dutch translation of the French “Schtroumpf”, which, according to Peyo, is a word invented during a meal with fellow cartoonist André Franquin, when he could not remember the word salt.
Keith – Gameboy
The Game Boy is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America on July 31, 1989, and in Europe on September 28, 1990. It is the first handheld console in the Game Boy line, and was created by Gunpei Yokoi and Nintendo Research & Development 1—the same staff who had designed the Game & Watch series as well as several popular games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Redesigned versions were released in 1996 and 1998, in the form of Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Light (Japan only), respectively.
The Game Boy is Nintendo’s second handheld system following the Game & Watch series introduced in 1980, and it combined features from both the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game & Watch. It was originally bundled with the puzzle game Tetris.
As part of the fourth generation of gaming, the Game Boy competed with the Sega Game Gear, Atari Lynx, and the TurboExpress. Despite these other handheld consoles, the Game Boy was a tremendous success. The Game Boy and its successor, the Game Boy Color, have both combined sold 118.69 million units worldwide. Upon its release in the United States, it sold its entire shipment of one million units within a few weeks.
David – Rubik’s Cube
Rubik’s Cube is a 3-D combination puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ern? Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube,[3] the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toy Corp. in 1980via businessman Tibor Laczi and Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer, and won the German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle that year. As of January 2009, 350 million cubes had been sold worldwide making it the world’s top-selling puzzle game. It is widely considered to be the world’s best-selling toy.
In a classic Rubik’s Cube, each of the six faces is covered by nine stickers, each of one of six solid colours: white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow. In currently sold models, white is opposite yellow, blue is opposite green, and orange is opposite red, and the red, white and blue are arranged in that order in a clockwise arrangement. On early cubes, the position of the colours varied from cube to cube. An internal pivot mechanism enables each face to turn independently, thus mixing up the colours. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be returned to have only one colour. Similar puzzles have now been produced with various numbers of sides, dimensions, and stickers, not all of them by Rubik.
Although the Rubik’s Cube reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1980s, it is still widely known and used. Many speedcubers continue to practice it and other twisty puzzles and compete for the fastest times in various categories. Since 2003, The World Cube Association, the Rubik’s Cube’s international governing body, has organized competitions and kept the official world records.
Keith – Transformers
The Transformers is a line of toys produced by the Japanese company Takara (now known as Takara Tomy) and American toy company Hasbro. The Transformers toyline was created from toy molds mostly produced by Japanese company Takara in the toylines Diaclone and Microman. Other toy molds from other companies such as Bandai were used as well. In 1984, Hasbro bought the distribution rights to the molds and rebranded them as the Transformers for distribution in North America. Hasbro would go on to buy the entire toy line from Takara, giving them sole ownership of the Transformers toy-line, branding rights, and copyrights, while in exchange, Takara was given the rights to produce the toys and the rights to distribute them in the Japanese market. The premise behind the Transformers toyline is that an individual toy’s parts can be shifted about to change it from a vehicle, a device, or an animal, to a robot action figure and back again. The taglines “More Than Meets The Eye” and “Robots In Disguise” reflect this ability.
The Transformers toyline is typically divided into two main factions: the heroic Autobots and their opponents, the evil Decepticons (traditionally known in Japan as the Cybertrons and Destrons, respectively, although more recent releases often use the English terms). Transformers toys are sold at a number of price points, and various Transformers series utilize unique play features.
David – Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit home video game console that was developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was initially released in Japan as the Family Computeron July 15, 1983, and was later released in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986, and Australia in 1987. In South Korea, it was known as the Hyundai Comboy and was distributed by SK Hynix which then was known as Hyundai Electronics. It was succeeded by the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
The best-selling gaming console of its time, the NES helped revitalize the US video game industry following the video game crash of 1983. With the NES, Nintendo introduced a now-standard business model of licensing third-party developers, authorizing them to produce and distribute titles for Nintendo’s platform.
In 2009, the Nintendo Entertainment System was named the single greatest video game console in history by IGN, in a list of 25. It is the second greatest console behind only the
Sega Dreamcast in PC Magazine??’ s “Top 10 Video Game Consoles of all Time”.
Keith – G.I. Joe
The year 1982 saw the highly successful relaunch of the G.I. Joe product line in a smaller, 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) scale. The scale was the same scale used by the Kenner’s Star Wars figures, but with many more points of articulation much like the 1970s Mego’s Micronauts toy line which itself was licensed directly from Takara’s Microman toy line.
This relaunch pioneered several tactics in toy marketing, combining traditional advertising with an animated television mini-series and an ongoing comic book. The decision to use a smaller 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) scale for the figures also made it possible for Hasbro to produce a variety of matching vehicles and playsets that further expanded the appeal and commercial potential of the line.
G.I. Joe’s increasing popularity supported an array of spin-off merchandising that included posters, t-shirts, video games, board games, and kites. In 1985, both Toy & Lamp and Hobby World magazines ranked G.I. Joe as the top-selling American toy.
The 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) line was canceled at the end of 1994. This was also the 30th Anniversary of G.I. Joe and accordingly, Hasbro released a series of 12-inch (30 cm) and 3.75-inch (9.5 cm) figures based on the Original Action Team figures from 1964.
David – Cabbage Patch Kids
Cabbage Patch Kids is a line of copyrighted soft sculpture dolls created by 21-year-old American art student Xavier Roberts in 1978. They were originally called “Little People” and were “adopted” rather than “sold”. Each came with its own adoption paper and birth certificate. Xavier’s Little People were inspired by the work of Martha Nelson Thomas, an artist from Kentucky who was creating her own dolls since the early 1970s. Roberts saw Thomas’ dolls sold in a consignment store and bought them up, selling them afterwards in his own store with a substantial markup.
Eventually, he decided to make his own copies of them, selling them as Cabbage Patch Dolls. He used his own needle molding and the sculpting techniques he learned in art classes to make the copies. These “hand stitched to birth” fabric dolls were designed as fabric sculptures and were first offered at arts and crafts shows, then later at Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia. The doll brand went on to become one of the most popular toy fads of the 1980s and one of the longest-running doll franchises in America.
Keith – Star Wars
The license for Star Wars action figures was offered in 1976 to the Mego Corporation, which was the leading company in action figures in the 1970s. Mego refused the offer and the license was subsequently picked up by Kenner, a subsidiary of General Mills.
Although the original Star Wars film had been released in May 1977, Kenner was unprepared for the unprecedented response to the film and the high demand for toys. Unable to build sufficient stock in time for the lucrative Christmas market, they instead sold an “Early Bird Certificate Package” which included a certificate which could be mailed to Kenner and redeemed for four Star Wars action figures.The box also contained a diorama display stand, some stickers, and a Star Wars fan club membership card.
By the time the action figures were offered for direct sale in shops, the range had been augmented with a further eight figures, bringing the total number of figures in the initial release to twelve. These were supplemented later in 1978 with a number of vehicle and playset accessories, as well as the J.C. Penney exclusive Sonic controlled landspeeder and the Sears exclusive Cantina adventure playset which introduced four new figures.
The four figures that were first brought out in the Sears Cantina set were released for individual sale with a further four figures later in 1978, bringing the total number of figures to 20. Demand for the action figures and accessories was such that Kenner continued to have difficulty fulfilling demand. Shortages of the toys in the lead up to Christmas 1978 led some to claim that Kenner were deliberately manipulating the market. Sales of Kenner’s Star Wars range in 1978 reached 40 million units, accounting for a turnover of $100 million.
In the anticipation of the release of the sequel The Empire Strikes Back, Kenner offered their first mail-in promotion, in which four proof of purchases could be redeemed for a new action figure, Boba Fett. This figure was originally intended to feature a backpack with a firing missile, but this was abandoned due to safety fears.[10] Similar mail in promotions were periodically offered through to 1984.
Sales in 1979 again topped $100 million.[9] Kenner continued to introduce waves of action figures from the sequels and in 1984, the year following the release of Return of the Jedi, the range totalled 79 unique character designs.
David – Crossbows and Catapults
Crossbows and Catapults, also known as Battlegrounds, is a game of physical skill first released in 1983. It has since been published by several different game publishers including Lakeside, Alga (Brio), Base Toys, Tomy and currently Moose Toys (under the name Battlegrounds Crossbows and Catapults). In the game two sides, originally Vikings and Barbarians but later other names were used, build fortifications from plastic bricks then opposing players attempt to destroy each other’s castle with rubber-band powered crossbows (similar to ballistae) and catapults firing plastic disks. In the most recent version launched in 2007, the two sides were Orcs and Knights.
In the Tomy version, the two armies are called the Impalers of the Clannic Shelf and the Doomlords of Gulch. The Impalers inhabit the Clannic Shelf, a large floating rock island 500 metres above the surface of Otherworld. The shelf has a gravitational effect on the Doomlords, causing them to have a shorter, squatter frame than the Impalers.
And that’s our top 10 list for this week! What do you think of our list? Would you agree with one of us? Or do you have your own list? We want to know what’s on your mind. Comment below or send us mail!
To check out our list of Honorable Mentions, you can check out our sister blog, here.