Support NeoGAF

[djcatskratch]

I always was a fan of electronic games, like the Mattel Football and so on. But this one was my absolute favorite, Milton:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_(game)

The way it trash talked and had such a great personality.

"Hey Hey Hey, you turn me on! I'm Milton!"

Then came along the NES and I have been gaming since haha.

I did have lots of the same toys as others on here, but didn't see anyone post this yet.
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors! I loved all the designs you could make!

 

[Savitar]

I always look back fondly upon my time growing up in the 80's, was born in Summer 79 so I was able to enjoy so much back then. Was a rather innocent and naive kid at the time, who got to play with things from He-Man, G.I.Joe, Centurions, MASK, Transformers, Gobots, Bravestar and hell pretty much everything else that came out. There were so many toy lines and cartoons to enjoy! I always felt that instead of progressing animation took a nose dive in the 90's from what the 80's had and was enjoying, things got cheaper and crummier. Not to mention more sterilized.

Nudity, violence and sex? None of us batted an eye about that growing up in the 80's, it existed, that was the way things were. It was hardly anything unusual for "kids movies" to have guns, swearing, nudity or some kids trying to get laid. I don't think many parents I knew of at the time viewed such things badly either, it was more of the same for their kids too.

Growing up the original version of the skystriker for G.I.Joe was one of my prized possessions:

The heater melted the canopy leaving a huge hole in it.

Also loved this:

It's so damn cool. Lots of parts were fragile and being kids who played with toys everywhere inevitably meant smaller things got lost.

Biggest thing I owned? Was this:

My father spent many a hours putting stickers on my stuff Christmas Night so they'd be ready for me Christmas Day.

Mask really had some great toys, I loved this one:

So damn cool. Even my friend who seemed to get all sorts of cool stuff was jealous and envious I had that one.

One of the thing you don't realize merely looking at the pictures is how big these things really were. Especially the Joe ones. They were massive.

By the time 90's hit things had taken such a sharp turn from everything I knew I rather loathed a lot of the stuff that was done. Felt like so much watered down safe stuff in everything possible.

 

[ryutaro's mama]

This right here was my crown jewel.

I was so thirsty for that toy that I memorized the commercial jingle. I can still sing it on cue.

Also, D.A.R.Y.L. was one of my fave movies as a kid so...this kinda lined up.

You will lose, because I have a fucking six foot carrier.

Not fight you over your choice but over the toy. I still have feelings of unrequited love when I see that toy.

Spoiler

As a poor kid, I never got either toy for birthday/Christmas no matter how hard I begged "Santa".

 

[acheron_xl]

This right here was my crown jewel.

I got this thing about when my interest was transitioning to video games. It was pretty rad.

 

[Sammo_1987]

GAF this thread gives me a psychological dilemma.

I was born in 87 so not gen X, but my brother is one of you guys, and I was basically raised in the same way. All of the toys you are showing are the sort that did (and still kind of do) excite me. I feel like I'm stuck between Gen X and the rest of my birth generation.

Send help!!

 

[lastplayed]

Born in 79 and growing up in small town NZ in the 80s was really like living through the 50s now that I look back at it.

But then again we still had all the cool stuff that made its way over, first the ancient computers that plugged into the TV with remote controls and then the Amiga for the late 80s/early 90s, I can't ever remember a time we didn't have some form of electronic entertainment.

Star Trek, Doctor Who (I still remember when the concept of six Doctors seemed crazy), the A-Team and Knight Rider were TV staples, and then by the late 80s we had three television channels! Amazing.

I remember once going up to the city to see a KITT car on display, that was awesome. It even talked!

School was fun, I could be a bit of a shit stirrer when I wanted to be. Got smacked by the teachers a couple of times.

 

[mrklaw]

I love you all my fellow GenXers.

Remember having to change channels? Remember it not being worth it because there were only three big ones (four for your later Xers) and a bunch of crazy UHF shit?

Also, the Big Trak. And G.I. Joes. The real ones, not those tiny Star Wars figure motherfuckers. Ones with hair and kung-fu grip.

And Marvel card packs, with cheesy stickers of Luke Cage and Doctor Doom. And that gum that tasted like card board.

Stretch Armstrong. You could break him open and smoke his gelatinous insides, until you had visions of Baron Karza fighting Jim and the Wolfpack under Lite Brite skies.

Those were the good old days.

How did I forget Big Trak? Along with the Armatron that was the future right there. A bloody robot you could program to drive around the living room and shoot your dog in the face with a massive laser cannon (tiny red LED). We even had the stupid-ass trailer attachment so you could deliver things to people - you could program it to tip up

The armatron love in this thread is making me all warm inside. A little like I imagine Global Thermonuclear War would - one of the defining elements to my early teenage years was a concrete and real thread of nuclear war. Just thought I’d cheer everyone up

 

[Muppet of a Man]

These were my portable game consoles when I was a wee lad:

 

[Muppet of a Man]

Probably made by Boomers who want to lump us in with Milennials. They've always hated us Gen Xer's.

I'm an early 80s Xennial or whatever (a cusper). Definitely have some traits of both, but really a late gen Xer at heart.

The boomers hate us all. They'd kill their own kids or sell them down the river if they could stay in control and live forever, the entitled pricks...the lot of them!

 

[TheSecondSpitter]

The elephant thing was always my favourite

Rocky hand puppet anyone?

This shit avatar worthy.

 

[redcrayon]

I lived and breathed Transformers gen. 1.

 

[katsubento]

Actually, THIS was my favorite possession as a kid, bar none:

I've that exact same one!!

Gen Xer checking in.

 

[sandy1297]

As a gen-x in Asia we exposed mostly to japanese show like Voltus V, Goggle V, etc

Used to have this one when I was kid

And also this one

US shows like Mask, Jayce and the Wheeled Warrior, GI Joe, Transformer came later in the late 80s

 

[acheron_xl]

I remember, during a particularly poor time, this was a great toy of mine:

I think I spent half my childhood pretending things were computers. Having a cereal box who's rear folded down so the thing would resemble a computer was a lot better than a piece of cardboard with screens and keypads drawn on with crayon.

 

[Ernest]

I always look back fondly upon my time growing up in the 80's, was born in Summer 79 so I was able to enjoy so much back then. Was a rather innocent and naive kid at the time, who got to play with things from He-Man, G.I.Joe, Centurions, MASK, Transformers, Gobots, Bravestar and hell pretty much everything else that came out. There were so many toy lines and cartoons to enjoy! I always felt that instead of progressing animation took a nose dive in the 90's from what the 80's had and was enjoying, things got cheaper and crummier. Not to mention more sterilized.

Growing up the original version of the skystriker for G.I.Joe was one of my prized possessions:

Aw, how adorable!
This is what my G.I. Joe looked like:

 

[bengraven]

My uncle went to Korea in the military and sent me a scorpion toy that you had to assemble. I was a bit young for it and my mom banned me from having it until I was older but of course I found it and broke it.

It had to be mid 80s. Want to say it was a popular Japanese show or toyline at the time?

Edit: holy shit I never thought I'd find it and so fast.

Pretty sure it was Guysack from Zoids. 1983ish version. Maybe a Korean KO? Maybe not - memories of it are surging in.

I remember, during a particularly poor time, this was a great toy of mine:

I think I spent half my childhood pretending things were computers. Having a cereal box who's rear folded down so the thing would resemble a computer was a lot better than a piece of cardboard with screens and keypads drawn on with crayon.

OH god the memories. Just seeing the box makes me smell and taste the cereal in milk.

 

[Stalactite]

Contrux. You could build some massive things out of this stuff.

I typically liked to build spaceships, and wearable power armor.

Wow, Construx, that really takes me back. My brother and I used to make armor too, as well as swords, and other things. Then we had them taken away because we'd get into sword-fights with them. lol

I did have lots of the same toys as others on here, but didn't see anyone post this yet.
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors! I loved all the designs you could make!

Loved Wheeled Warriors! I still have a few of the Monster Mind vehicles, but they are in storage.

 

[Kevyt]

Born in 1994, and I did play with toys.

I still do.... wink wink nudge nudge.

 

[Jaguar Victory]

Gen X here. 1980.

And yeah it was awesome. I remember riding my bike EVERYWHERE. Going to the woods and coming back home by the streetlights. As a kid you grew up witb Saturday morning cartoons then went outside to play till dinner.

And if you were lucky got a hot babysitter as your parents went out that night.

Preach. 1980 here too. I can't fathom giving my child the same freedom I had even though I had a stay at home mom. We know too much about how fucked up people are now.

We lived in a world without cell phones where people had to call your house and ask your parents if of you could talk.

 

[Wag]

I also played with the old standbys. And yes, they were wood!

 

[outsida]

All of the toys posted in this thread just let me know how spoiled I was as a child. I had pretty much everything listed in here

.

 

[Teggy]

I had a really cool toy but I have no idea what it actually was. It was a round UFO-like spaceship about a foot in diameter and it had a Robbie the robot looking robot in the middle. And there was a button you pressed and the outer portion would rotate and the robot would come out of the opening.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

I also played with the old standbys. And yes, they were wood!

Tinker Toys are the GOAT. Lincoln logs were almost always useless, as all my sets seemingly never had enough pieces to make anything complex.

 

[JackBauer24]

GI Joe wasn't the holy grail of toys for me, it was the Millennial Falcon

Course my family was way too poor to ever get one but my best friend got one and man we played with that thing every day, carting it with us everywhere around in the woods and around town setting up new planets for Han and Chewie and Luke and R2 to visit.

The other huge difference I'd say is how much we were unsupervised and outside, like 80% of my free time was with friends outside and unstructured. I noticed that changed a lot with my kids and my grandkids now basically are never left alone

and yeah saturday morning cartoons were the fucking shit, I was always a Bugs and funny cartoons kinda guy over GI Joe and stuff. I don't understand how most of us didn't end up with diabetes with how much sugary cereal we ate.

A friend who moved away after a few years in the neighborhood had this and NEVER wanted to play with it. I was so disappointed.

 

[redcrayon]

Perhaps more for us European heads

Ulysees 31

Mysterious Cities of Gold

I loved these but having such long-running stories combined with haphazard UK scheduling meant that I never saw the endings.

 

[Clod83]

Born in 72. I played packers season schedules and playoffs on my electronic football game. Christmas morning with intellivision was awesome and my sister posts my pic with it on fb every year.

Born 73, my first console <3

 

[Clod83]

Micronauti, a very popular toys in Italy during '80

 

[Walter White Walker]

These are the electronic sports I had.

For either a birthday or Christmas I got:

I also remember saving up my money to buy:

and:

The football one got the most use, though.

 

[shawnbuddy]

Born in 79 and growing up in small town NZ in the 80s was really like living through the 50s now that I look back at it.

But then again we still had all the cool stuff that made its way over, first the ancient computers that plugged into the TV with remote controls and then the Amiga for the late 80s/early 90s, I can't ever remember a time we didn't have some form of electronic entertainment.

Star Trek, Doctor Who (I still remember when the concept of six Doctors seemed crazy), the A-Team and Knight Rider were TV staples, and then by the late 80s we had three television channels! Amazing.

I remember once going up to the city to see a KITT car on display, that was awesome. It even talked!

School was fun, I could be a bit of a shit stirrer when I wanted to be. Got smacked by the teachers a couple of times.

Oh yeah, that's another thing that millenials didn't experience. Teachers that would beat you, usually with a wooden paddle. In third grade I had one named Janice Thacker that would beat me every day. I liked to read and would read books other than the textbook during class. She erroneously thought I was ignoring the lesson so she asked me a question about the lesson and I answered it without looking up from my book, because I was always a smart ass. She flew into a rage and beat me every day for a while until another kid told my mom. My mom and some other mothers of kids the teacher had been beating went to the school to give her back a little bit of what she'd been giving. She suddenly took an unscheduled two week vacation.

 

[shawnbuddy]

My uncle went to Korea in the military and sent me a scorpion toy that you had to assemble. I was a bit young for it and my mom banned me from having it until I was older but of course I found it and broke it.

It had to be mid 80s. Want to say it was a popular Japanese show or toyline at the time?

Edit: holy shit I never thought I'd find it and so fast.

Pretty sure it was Guysack from Zoids. 1983ish version. Maybe a Korean KO? Maybe not - memories of it are surging in.

OH god the memories. Just seeing the box makes me smell and taste the cereal in milk.

I had a Zoid. I don't remember the toy, but I do remember taking the little pilot out, putting him in a small bottle filled with red-tinted shampoo, and pretending he was in suspended animation like a Luke Skywalker in the healing tank in Empire Strikes back.

 

[nachum00]

If you're on the later end of Gen X, you know this was the holy grail of toys.

I was born in 89 but my brother was born in 79. He passed all his toys and interest on to me. So I was crazy about GI Joe as a kid.

My favorite bands also come from the gen x era.

 

[Walter White Walker]

Oh yeah, that's another thing that millenials didn't experience. Teachers that would beat you, usually with a wooden paddle. In third grade I had one named Janice Thacker that would beat me every day. I liked to read and would read books other than the textbook during class. She erroneously thought I was ignoring the lesson so she asked me a question about the lesson and I answered it without looking up from my book, because I was always a smart ass. She flew into a rage and beat me every day for a while until another kid told my mom. My mom and some other mothers of kids the teacher had been beating went to the school to give her back a little bit of what she'd been giving. She suddenly took an unscheduled two week vacation.

Yep. I remember in 9th grade my shop teacher hacked people for being late to class. I was late one day and he said I needed to get hacked. I told him hit me and I hit you back (keeping in mind I likely wouldn't have backed that threat up well at all lol). Anyway, it became a big deal and my mom had to come to the school to clear it up. Never did get hit, though, so mission accomplished.
Also in 2nd grade my teacher recommended I was held back because I was left-handed. Really. My parents raised hell and that became a non-thing. I heard she pulled that again a few years later and was "retired" after that.

 

[Korigama]

Oh yeah, that's another thing that millenials didn't experience. Teachers that would beat you, usually with a wooden paddle. In third grade I had one named Janice Thacker that would beat me every day. I liked to read and would read books other than the textbook during class. She erroneously thought I was ignoring the lesson so she asked me a question about the lesson and I answered it without looking up from my book, because I was always a smart ass. She flew into a rage and beat me every day for a while until another kid told my mom. My mom and some other mothers of kids the teacher had been beating went to the school to give her back a little bit of what she'd been giving. She suddenly took an unscheduled two week vacation.

Yep. I remember in 9th grade my shop teacher hacked people for being late to class. I was late one day and he said I needed to get hacked. I told him hit me and I hit you back (keeping in mind I likely wouldn't have backed that threat up well at all lol). Anyway, it became a big deal and my mom had to come to the school to clear it up. Never did get hit, though, so mission accomplished.
Also in 2nd grade my teacher recommended I was held back because I was left-handed. Really. My parents raised hell and that became a non-thing. I heard she pulled that again a few years later and was "retired" after that.

Yeah, I definitely can't relate to any of this as a millennial. Teachers weren't allowed to hit us, and no one ever gave me crap for being left-handed (and I went to a Catholic school until finishing junior high).

 

[lordxar]

I got paddled in like first grade cuz some asshats flooded the sink over in the bathroom. We went in groups but I didn't tattle so I still got a swat...

 

[Weevilone]

Oh yeah, that's another thing that millenials didn't experience. Teachers that would beat you, usually with a wooden paddle. In third grade I had one named Janice Thacker that would beat me every day. I liked to read and would read books other than the textbook during class. She erroneously thought I was ignoring the lesson so she asked me a question about the lesson and I answered it without looking up from my book, because I was always a smart ass. She flew into a rage and beat me every day for a while until another kid told my mom. My mom and some other mothers of kids the teacher had been beating went to the school to give her back a little bit of what she'd been giving. She suddenly took an unscheduled two week vacation.

I had a 5th grade teacher that loved to drag kids around by the ear when they didn't do what she wanted. She'd get a good hold with on finger inside pretty good and pull you along.

I remember once she got pissed because I asked to use the restroom at a time she didn't consider acceptable, so she dragged me there herself.... by the ear of course. I could hear stuff in my ear popping and cracking, probably cartilage in hindsight. Apparently this was ok then.

 

[fester]

I love how Gen X has come full circle from being ostracized when the phrase was first coined, to now people asking to stretch the cut-off point so that they can be included.

Millennials - don't fuck things up and you can crash our party
Boomers - take your shitty politics and get out

Edit: This thread is awesome

This was the ALF lunchbox I had.

This was mine and I still remember the "warm apple juice" smell that permeated it:

Or just a digital watch of your own was incredible.

Holy shit, I had completely forgotten about that. Loved it.

The really old GenXers will remember that the first VCR's had a freaking remote that wasn't wireless.

Spoiler

and it was still cool

I'll never forget our first VCR rental experiences - had to rent the actual VCR with the movie because we hadn't purchased one yet.

 

[I Stalk Alone]

Yeah being born in 78 although i identify with the strengths of some gen x ideals i lean more towards millennial traits of today. In a sense i cannot feel like i belong to any of the cohorts and am somewhere in between. I have close friends in their early 20's and i have ckose friends nearing their 50's they would never get along together as group but i get along with them seoarately.

I loved growing up in the 80's but when the late 90's came and became digital i went through what o can only describe as a second childhood which was equally awesome. I am only now coming out of that second phase and am a different maturity that encompasses both generations.

University when i was 18 was so different to what it is now more than 18 years later, coming back to study again.


However looking at this thread a lot of the toys that came out in the late 80's early 90's these are millennial cohort toys.

Late gen x is so different from early gen x.

Early boomers are in their 70's
Early gen x is entering their 50's
Early gen y or millennials is now entering their late 30's
And early gen z is now coming of age and some are having babies.

The cohort after gen z has already arrived and they have been born knowing how to use smartphones from birth.

 

[Weevilone]

I remember having some damn cool Battlestar Galactica toys too. They were easily up there with Star Wars and Micronauts for me, but there weren't tons of them. I remember really wanting some gold Cylon but it might have been from a contest or something.

It also seems that there was a special version of the Jawa Kenner figure that was only available by going to see it at the drive in theater. I don't remember if it was actually a special version, or just an early release.

Spoiler

Or I'm just getting really old and don't remember what I'm talking about.

Oh, also the Jaws game, where you fished stuff out of his mouth!

 

[googleplex]

Owned both of these and they were awesome

But Robotix was my favorite. I just loved to see how crazy my build could get
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJmW4VUcqEA

 

[dab0ne]

I remember trading these and Garbage Pail Kids in the same sitting.

Ooh man! My brothers and me would play with those all the time. We would also nail them to trees &#128514;&#128514;

 

[Henchmen21]

I love how Gen X has come full circle from being ostracized when the phrase was first coined, to now people asking to stretch the cut-off point so that they can be included.

Millennials - don't fuck things up and you can crash our party
Boomers - take your shitty politics and get out

Edit: This thread is awesome.

Boomers hate us because of all the cool toys we had
Millennials love us because of all the cool toys we had

 

[Weevilone]

Boomers hate us because of all the cool toys we had
Millennials love us because of all the cool toys we had

Reading about our toys plays to their strengths. Wouldn't they rather watch someone play with a toy on Youtube than actually play with it themselves?

 

[sagat2036]

My Robotech/Macross contribution. I had skull1 and it was awesome.

 

[Armoured Priest]

Perhaps more for us European heads


Mysterious Cities of Gold

Mysterious Cities of Gold played on Nickelodeon in the mid 80s in the US.

Between that and Robotech, it was the first time I'd seen a serialized animated show, and I loved them.

I am going to mention, that screen cap looks like it's from the {relatively} recently released Season 2, and not the original animation from the 80s.

It was a little tough getting used to the new character voices for the child leads. Zia's VA is kind of close. Esteban and Tao? Not so much.

I wish I could easily get a copy of Season 2 on disc in NA.

 

[lordxar]

How could I have forgotten this

The whole lizard birth was definitely the talk of school that next day.

 

[Trouble]

How could I have forgotten this

The whole lizard birth was definitely the talk of school that next day.

 

[TheSecondSpitter]

These are the electronic sports I had.

The football one got the most use, though.

I'm surprised not has made the football game into an app.

 

[Antiwhippy]

I love how Gen X has come full circle from being ostracized when the phrase was first coined, to now people asking to stretch the cut-off point so that they can be included.

Millennials - don't fuck things up and you can crash our party
Boomers - take your shitty politics and get out

Aren't you guys and the boomers who crashed the economy and fucked things up for everyone?

 

[sf2fanatic]

Did anyone own a Tiger handheld game? Had Mortal Kombat and Double Dragon

 

[DarkJediKnight]

Did anyone own a Tiger handheld game? Had Mortal Kombat and Double Dragon

I had this one. Took it to school and played during recess.