Fantabulous Toys of the 80s

Even though I was born in the late 70s, I do have some definite clear memories of the 80s. I remember MTV when they actually played music videos (even though I wasn't really allowed to watch it), I remember when Fantasia was released for the second time in theaters, and, as I've mentioned in a previous post, I had a ColecoVision.

There were very few girls my age in the neighborhood where I grew up in Oxnard, but there were a lot of boys in the same age range as me. So naturally, early to mid-80s, all the neighborhood boys were super-into Transformers, GI Joes (the small all-plastic ones), He-Man, and Star Wars action figures. Since I wasn't always interested in hosting tea parties for my Cabbage Patch Dolls and my mother wouldn't spend 50 dollars a week on those stupid plastic charms for my charm necklace, I often found myself playing at the neighbor boys' homes after school.

I got myself a crash-course in Transformer nomenclature, the character dynamics between He-Man and Teela, and the world view of Destro the arms dealer. Now granted, as a possessor of the XX chromosomes, I felt myself a bit out of my league, but quickly learned and adapted, and I must say, I found the slime pools on some of the He-Man playsets to be pretty nifty. Not particularly girly-girly, I admit, but there were more varieties of 3 3/4-inch "action figures" than Barbies at that point in time.

These toys changed my television habits. I started watching the He-Man and GI Joe cartoons, paying particular attention to the actions between characters of the various series, in order to increase the accuracy of play with whatever character I got to play with the next time I went over to the neighbor's house. I found myself cheering the Decepticons while watching Transformers, instead of bemoaning the fact that there were no female characters (until ArCee in the movie, of course). I learned how to transform and retransform various Autobots, Decepticons, Insecticons, and Constructacons, as well as the Dinobots.

My Cabbage Patch Dolls sat sadly, slowly collecting dust.

Years later, my husband bought the He-Man cartoon series on DVD, and was gifted with the 25th Anniversary Edition of Transformers: The Movie. This rekindled my love of those fun little plastic playthings and reminded me of the time that I used to play with them almost daily. I often wonder what happened to the few toys I had from that era. Scattered to the winds, I suppose. Oh well.

I never had any Star Wars action figures. I never even saw the movies until they were released onto VHS about ten years ago, much to my chagrin. The only thing I ever knew about those toys were how much money they fetched in the late 90s at Trueblood's thrift store when my friend Daryl sold them for cash.

Nostalgia makes money on Ebay.