Ian Grogan does the 80s

This week's guide to the majestic 80s toys we all know and love, or don't

By: Ian Grogan

Posted: 5/23/08

I was a kid of the 1980s, as I assume most of you were, and I loved my toys.
When I look back on it now the toys seem to be quite simple compared to the technologically advanced toys we have today. They may be more advanced today, but toys of the '80s were in many ways more exciting.
Stuffed animals were a big part of the '80s, many of which were either based off cartoon shows or made into cartoon shows. The Care Bears were a prime example. Based off of a greeting card line, the Care Bears were turned into plush bears in 1983. Each bear had a symbol on its stomach to demonstrate which attitude it had and the power it held.
There were also the ever-popular Cabbage Patch Kids, a must-have Christmas gift for much of the decade. Given to the world in 1983, after being known as the "little people dolls," the Cabbage Patch Kids' popularity quickly took off. The popularity kept growing, and the Cabbage Patch Kids even became the official mascot of the Olympics in 1992.
One other doll I'd like to go over is the Monchichi. The Monchichis were monkey-like dolls who lived in the forest land of Monchia at the very top of tall trees well above the clouds. In 1980, America was introduced to the creatures in a TV show that ran for 130 episodes.
But stuffed animals are just the tip of the iceberg; there were also fun and challenging games to play with while keep ing your mind occupied.
Lite-Brite was a huge toy of the '80s and still is a small part of pop culture today. In the '80s Lite-Brite was a series of pegs punched into a piece of blank paper atop a special board that made the pegs light up. They often came with pre-made stencils of clowns and wizards. A bomb scare in 2007 used several Lite-Brite look-a-likes to make figures of the great Mooninites to promote the new "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" movie.
Another mind-bending puzzle toy of the era was of course the Rubik's Cube. I don't think I have to go into detail about this - I think everyone should know how impossible these things are.
Yet another great one was the "Speak and Spell," a fancy toy that had five different games all revolving around word play. What was so fun about this toy was it would actually speak to you - a mind-blowing concept in the '80s!
One of my favorites as a kid were the Garbage Pail Kids. They were trading cards you could collect and share with your friends, and they were a pretty extreme parody of the Cabbage Patch Kids. There were characters like Creepy Carol, Mauled Paul and the famous Adam Bomb. The cards were a fun contrast to the mainstream toys of the '80s.
All in all, games and toys of the '80s had personality, had a story to tell, and they kept you busy for hours. You were cool if you showed up to your class with a Cabbage Patch Kid or showed your parents your latest Lite-Brite creation. Why don't they make toys like that these days?

TOP 5 ACTION FIGURES OF THE 80s:
5. Got to hand it to the Japanese for bringing the US some really crazy robot action figures like Gundam and Voltron, crazy toys, yet really radical looking.
4. Hasbro brought us the world of the Tranformers. Entertained kids for hours because you couldn't actually figure out how to correctly transform them.
3. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Anyone who owned the set had...THE POWER!
2. The Thundercats. Come on, you know you loved the show, and you have to admit you thought Cheetra was hot.
1. G.I. Joe. Although he wasn't a spawn of the 80's he was still the coolest around, with his comics, tv shows, and video games. Best action figure, ever!

Ian Grogan
diversions@dailybarometer.com