Friday, December 12, 2008

Kid Stuff....Twenty-Plus Years Ago

As Husband and I prepare to brave the malls and toy stores in an admittedly-procrastinated effort to complete our holiday shopping, I can't help but to remember some of the better childhood toys I received way back when, as well as some of the other "kid stuff" that helped to shape my generation...I only wish some of these toys were still around today, because they were totally kick-butt! From the obvious to the more obscure, here are some do you remember 's for kids of the 80's....

*The original Transformer toys...Yeah, the live-action movie totally rocked, but you can't beat the original toys...definitely More than Meets the Eye! And do you remember the "original" Optimus Prime????

*G. I. Joe's...Can you still make the rapid-fire machine gun noise with your tongue? (Warning: Author assumes no responsibility for cleaning bills incurred or embarrassment received resulting from attempting rapid-fire machine gun noise in public. Attempt at your own risk).

*Banana-Seat Bikes...Whatever happened to them??...They were stylish and comfortable! Enough said.

*Atari and Colleco Game Systems...Because sometimes realistic graphics and complex soundtracks are of no help when you are trying to get your frog across the road.

*Fraggle Rock...wait for it....wait for it...ok...Cast your cares away - Worries for another day - Let the music play - Down in Fraggle Rock".

*Film Strips in school...Don't forget to press "Play" on the cassette player!

*Happy Meals...I'm talking the kind that came in a box...Eat, then play...Genius!

*Read-Along Books...Sure, the ones that came with records were good...and cassettes were great...but I had a Disney "Lonsome Ghost" book that had a device that, when slid across the page, would read the book to you, complete with sound effects....Way cool!

*He-Man and Masters of the Universe....waking up Christmas morning to Castle GreySkull set up under the tree, complete with the vehicle that had real boulder-pounding action...now that was a Christmas.

*The Garfield Christmas Special...who knew John's grandma was a biker chick? I didn't see that coming!

*Sesame Street...you know, when it was good! No Elmo...Mr. Hooper was alive...can you tell me how to get BACK to Sesame Street?

*Reading Rainbow...But you don't have to take my word for it! ;)

*Christmas Trees that were NOT pre-lit...what Christmas would be complete without dad muttering strings of expletives under his breath as he diligently worked to get all of the light strands working on the tree? (Ok, so I am glad I get to reap the benefits of 20 years worth of technological advancements, but I can still enjoy the memories, right????).

Clearly, I could go on and on. But I won't. Feel free to add your own in a comment - I'd love to hear it!

Happy Friday!

2 comments:

BusyDad said...

You're back! How did the covert anti-terrorist ops go? Now that you have helped to restore freedom to the world, I look forward to reading about your adventures in parenting, which are honestly a lot more unpredictable. Great list there. I rock the GI Joe Machine Gun sound effect, BTW. So does my boy. He recognizes the old school.

Uncle Paul said...

Are you still bloggin'?