Toys from the '80s back in style

MSNBC ^ | September 24, 2003 | Lisa Urquhart

[Damocles]

Sept. 24 ? The return of batwing sleeves, pedal pushers and ra-ra skirts, while quintessentially 80s, are not the only high street items that are dipping into the past to help push sales.
IN A REVERSAL of the ever increasing push for the new this year’s top toys for Christmas have a distinct 80s flavor.        According to research from the British Association of Toy Retailers, favorites from almost 20 years ago are making a comeback, among them are the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles, back from the sewers of New York and riding on the wave of their re-aired cartoon series.

[Damocles]

Yeehah! Bring back Optimus Prime!

[mewzilla]

Everything old is new again.

[Coop]

Care Bears are all over the place again.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Bring back: "Mess with the Best, Die like the Rest" T shirts!

I used to love mine!

[strela]

They're not from the 80s (they're actually from the 60s), but ...

I WANT CLACKERS!

They were two hard plastic spheres on a piece of string. You knocked them together and they made a cool sound. There were urban legends about the things exploding after being left out in the hot sun, so Mom never let me have a set. But every cool kid in my class had some, SO I WANT SOME NOW THAT I AM OLD AND FOOLISH ENOUGH TO AFFORD THEM!

[At _War_With_Liberals]

80's video games are hot. The absolute golden age which led to the billion $$ market of today.

[wku man]

As far as music goes, the 80s were a rehash of the 60s, the 90s a rehash of the 70s, so I guess in this decade we'll be rehashing the 60s again. There is little to no creativity left in this nation...thank you, MTV.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[strela]

(note to self - check EBay before posting stuff like this ...)

[ShadowDancer]

Both of my daughters love the Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake, which is just fine by me. It sure beats those skanky Bratz Dolls.

[mewzilla]

Clackers were cool! But the sound drove my mom nuts.

[USAF_TSgt]

I downloaded Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man off the Internet, and they are dead on exactly like the original, except of course I'm using a PC rather than an Atari joy-stick. But my three-year-old loves it.

[Preech1]

Star Blazers would be good too...

[JoeSixPack1]

After naked twister, lawn darts, foosball, and antomicaly correct Ken Dolls & Gi Joes, Mr Potatohead became a transvestite liberal commie.

[netmilsmom]

I could never work them right. I do remember my sister bopping her head with them. To this moment it makes me laugh! (she was the mean sister - God works in mysterious ways!)

[LanPB01]

The 20th anniversary special edition of Optimus Prime was featured on the cover of this months Toyfare. Toys R'Us is currenlty re-releasing a few of the original Transformers, but they've long sold out of the Prime. Still available on Ebay, though.

[strela]

Hey, at least you were able to get a pair of the darned things. I begged, pleaded, mowed yards, even raided my precious piggy bank to get enough to purchase a pair. But Mom banned 'em from the house and they were banned at school after the nosy neighbor lady told her about the "explosion" stories.

[ShadowDancer]

Clack Away

[LanPB01]

If you visit Xboxaddict.com and look at the games section under "Interact", you can find excellent versions of 80's games such as Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Tetris.

[PhiKapMom]

Just been going through boxes from the last move that I had in storage -- emptied the storage unit into my garage to repack to store here at the house.

This article is perfect timing -- just unpacked a box full of everything Turtles they sold including the truck that shoots out pizzas -- Everything is in great condition.

Maybe Transformers are next -- have two boxes of those.

He Man and She-Ra, GI Joe, and the most important one -- Star Wars -- all the figures and action toys are in pretty good shape considering my kids used to send the planes flying through the air. All the parts are at least there.

Might have a gold mine in my garage -- only problem is that with my three kids -- they will never part with any of them! At least someday their kids will have the real deal!

[LanPB01]

Visit xboxaddict.com for an internet version of Pac-Man. They even keep a high score list. I'm waiting for competition.