Coolest Toys of the '80s

Ahh, the 1980s. A decade of tape players, brightly colored sneakers and wrestling stars. But what I really remember from the '80s are the toys. It seemed that many toy makers really had a good decade making toys. This decade had original toys, creative toys and creative toys as well. When you compare all the other decades to the '80s in terms of quantity and quality- this decade is in the top of the list.

Board Games
Candy Land was an easy to play game with a theme on candy. The goal of the game was to search for the lost king of Candy Land. Players would try to win the game by taking a card form the top of the deck of Candy Land cards and moving the players marker to where the card indicated. It was a great game for kids because the board was brightly colored, and it had everything in Candy Land drawn to look like it was made of candy.

Classic Toys
A teddy bear is a classic toy, and so is Teddy Ruxpin. This bear was made in 1985 by Worlds of Wonder in the U.S. It was able to talk and move its eyes by playing a special Teddy Ruxpin cassette tape. A book came along with the bear so that you can read along with Teddy as he talked. As a kid growing up in the 80's, I remember this toy quite well. My Teddy sat right beside me when I read other books and close by when I went to sleep. Even though he was heavy, I still lugged it around. I don't recall it lasting very long though.

Another classic bear from the '80s is the Care Bear by Parker Brothers. These were plush bears in different colors and different graphics on each of their bellies. Although I doubt that I had one of these in this decade, they were everywhere and I recall that a lot of girls had them.

Action figures
Who can forget G.I. Joe's? In the '80s they were very popular. Hasbro practically invented the action figure with these guys. These action figures came in the size of 3 3/4" inches, but had details like clothing and accessories like guns, knives, swords and bazookas. The real appeal was the articulated joints, in the head, arms, elbows, waist, knees and thighs. Instead of putting them in poses such as standing up, or on the knees, in a sniper position, or even hanging on rope- I use to straighten their arms out in the shape of wings and pretend that they were airplanes.

When Transformers were introduced to the U.S. in 1984 by Hasbro, it was an instant hit for kids everywhere. What is there not to like about robots that can transform into something else? It was like having two toys in one. Megatron was a giant tape player, Optimus Prime was a 18 wheeled truck, and the rest of the robots turned into cars, jet planes and construction vehicles. These were all the vehicles that kids loved to play with. Some Transformers could even link together and make a bigger robot!

Voltron action figures were robot lions that can be posed in many ways. There was the black lion, red lion, yellow lion, green lion, and blue lion. If you had all five, you could put them together and make Voltron, and he could hold a sword! I think the sword came with the black lion. In the 80's my brother had the yellow lion and i had the green lion. We took great care with them as we knew that they were fragile. Plus, they did not look like the other toys. I remember playing with my green lion so much that the feet turned white. The lions feet were painted silver, but through the constant contact with the feet and posing of them endlessly wore the paint right off. I wish I still had them.....

Vehicles
A popular car toy is the Hot Wheels brand from Mattel. Although they have been around since 1968, they really started to get popular in the 1980's. There were a few competing toy car makers, like Matchbox and Maisto. But Hot Wheels introduced color changing cars, and specially made cars with panels that rotated to simulate damage! On top of that, Hot Wheels cars have bright color paint jobs on some cars. With many of these options to choose from, a kid would never get bored. As a kid, I use to race the cars along smooth wooden floors all day long and never get bored.

Tonka Trucks and construction vehicles had a reputation for lasting a long time. They were made of steel and painted a bright yellow. I had a Tonka dump truck and took great care not to bend it up like the rest of the kids in the neighborhood. I filled it with sand and would transport it allover the sandlot. I would even pile up my action figures in the back of it and have adventures!

Puzzles
Although the Rubik's Cube was invented in 1974 by Erno Rubik in Hungary, in 1980 Rubik's Cubes came to New York. The basic Rubik's Cube measures 2'' 1/4 by each side. Each side of the cube has its own color, with 9 small squares. The goal of this puzzle is to get each side of the squares all the same colors. This was no easy task though, as it gained a reputation as being addictive and frustrating at the same time.

There are many more toys out there from the '80s that are memorable, but the ones in this list are the ones that I fondly remember and owned. It's no wonder that many of these toys are still around. Some of them are making new toys, or are collectible items from the people who grew up in this decade.