There was nothing more satisfying than turning your Popple into a ball, right? From Barbie to My Little Pony, check out these 30 1980s toys that will instantly bring back memories. Did you have any of these?
1. Cabbage Patch Kids Dolls
In the 1980s, Cabbage Patch Kids were the most popular toy, and it’s likely that you had one. The very sight of them likely transports you back to the 1980s, whether or not you were thrilled by them.
2. View-Master
Although gathering the various reels, which you often just glance at once or twice before forgetting about them, was enjoyable, this toy may not be the most thrilling one on the list. But we cannot deny it was fun.
3. McDonald’s Fraggle Rock Happy Meal Toys
If you were a kid in the 80s, chances are, you had at least one of these, which, like McNugget Buddies, were unbreakable and portable, fitting neatly in your pocket.
4. Monchhichis
The commercial’s enticing song made you want one of them even if they were more frightening than cute. Anyway, did you have one of these?
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Action Figures
As with all fantastic toy lines from the 1980s, these miniatures also had a really cool and well-liked cartoon tie-in that made you want to buy them all. Turtle-mania was real in 1988, though, and there wasn’t a more fantastic toy line than TMNT.
6. Jem And The Holograms Dolls
You wanted to collect them all because these toys, like every good ’80s toy line, had a popular cartoon tie-in. The main character was the holographic masquerade of the entrepreneur Jerrica, played by the pink-haired singer Jem.
7. Transformers
One of the most enduring toy brands from the 1980s is Transformers. They were unique among toys at the time, and part of the fun was simply sitting there and repeatedly changing them from cars to robots and back again.
8. Popples
Turning these guys into their ball shape had a certain allure in addition to being quite adorable. Every toy featured an invertible pouch on the back, which allowed the character to roll into it and take on the appearance of a vibrantly colored ball.
9. Rainbow Brite Dolls
It’s simple to understand why almost every child in the 1980s owned a Rainbow Brite doll: they were essentially indestructible due to their soft bodies, yarn hair, and vibrant, iridescent clothes. Additionally, these were among the toys that, for whatever reason, invariably ended up with crayon marks all over their faces.
10. Gumby and Pokey Bendable Figures
You never knew why the Gumby and Pokey pliable figures suddenly showed up in your toy box. They were made of aluminum wire coated in rubber, which gives them its poseability.
11. Fisher-Price Little People
You probably played with this toy line well past the recommended age range. How could you not, though? Playing with the Little People was a lot of fun because they came with so many different play sets. The Tudor home, the barn, the parking garage, and FTR were definitely the best play sets.
12. Care Bears
Each of these stuffed creatures had a distinct identity that made us believe they were just like us. They were all so adorable and it’s possible that your grandmother gave you one when she bought your birthday card at Hallmark.
13. California Raisins PVC Figures
Similar to the Smurfs, you most likely don’t recall ever requesting these toys, yet you managed to acquire a few of them somehow. Sadly, The Raisins were discontinued on July 31, 2002.
14. Smurf PVC Figures
Normal Smurf, Gold Smurf, and Convict Smurf (complete with a black-and-white striped prisoner’s uniform) were the first three PVC Smurf collectible figurines to be mass-produced in 1965 by the German manufacturer Schleich.
15. Simon
Milton Bradley released the game ‘Simon’ in 1978. The battery-powered, saucer-shaped plastic toy, which retailed for $25 USD (about $120 USD today), became popular right once. And Simon is still being made in a number of versions forty-five years later. Because of its loud noises, Simon was most likely the one game your parents hated purchasing for you.
16. ThunderCats Action Figures
The ThunderCats line was just as legendary as the He-Man line, and it included a tie-in cartoon that made you want to collect them a lot.
17. Rose Petal Place Dolls
Like Strawberry Shortcake dolls, these adorable dolls had an incredibly pleasant scent that you probably sniffed 60% of the time you were playing with them.
18. Strawberry Shortcake Dolls
These figures smelled like delicious fruits and chances are you just sniffed them instead of playing with them.
19. Nintendo
You could play with one of these for hours if you were lucky enough to obtain one as a child. And, if you had siblings, you most likely recall it being the source of numerous arguments.
20. My Little Pony
They were enchanted ponies with endless hours of combing through their hair! Moreover, they had a faintly delicious scent that was a combination of sweetness and slight plastic.
21. McDonald’s McNugget Buddies Happy Meal Toys
We can sill remember the French fries smell of these toys. They were so unbreakable that you could play with them wherever, from the park playground to the bathtub. What is more, these toys were they the ideal size to fit in your pocket and carry with you wherever you went.
22. McDonald’s Berenstain Bears Happy Meal Toys
The Berenstain Bears Happy Meal toys from McDonald’s were fantastic, but because of the fuzz on their skin, they also became dirty easily.
23. Speak & Spell
Although it was intended for educational purposes, you undoubtedly simply played with it to test out its talking robot voice feature. Texas Instruments Speak & Spell range of electronic handheld child computers included a keyboard, a receptor slot to accept one of a number of ROM game library modules, and a TMC0280 linear predictive coding speech synthesizer.
24. She-Ra: Princess Of Power Action Figures
The best part about He-Man’s twin sister’s toy line was that it was scaled to the same size as the Masters of the Universe toy line, so you could play with both of them.
25. He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe Action Figures
Perhaps the most iconic toy line of the 1980s is He-Man and the Masters of the Universe action figures. Naturally, they also created some incredible play sets in addition to the awesome action figures.
26. Playskool Sesame Street Poppin’ Pals
If you recall this game, you know how much fun it was to watch them repeatedly appear, even though you most likely quit playing it by the time you were five.
27. E.T. Toys
Whether you requested one or not, you most likely had some sort of E.T. toy. The Spielberg’s creation is adorable in any form or toy.
28. Rubik’s Cube
Erno Rubik, a Hungarian inventor, created the well-known toy known as the Rubik’s Cube in the 1980s. The 26 tiny cubes that make up Rubik’s Cube rotate on a central axis, and each side of the cube is formed by nine colored cube faces arranged in three rows of three.
29. Barbie From The Barbie And The Rockers Line
Although Barbies in general were incredibly popular in the 1980s, this particular Barbie was a must-have because of her 1980s pop star/MTV appearance (particularly since she was a direct competitor to the Jem and the Holograms brand).
30. Teddy Ruxpin
The fact that Teddy could actually speak was mind-blowing! Did you know that you could put a Queen cassette and watch it sing the songs?
