How sweet is it when we remember back with fondness the toys that brought us such joy in our childhood. I am always searching on ebay for old 80's toys to put in my collection. I was born in the 80's so I am officially an 80's child. The recent search for a Glo Worm brought back memories of my own Glo Worm and my mother calling my brother, sister, and I into the house to get ready for bed. We used to play out in the street of the neighborhood until dusk, getting dirty from playing tag with the other children. After the normal routine of getting ready for bed, bathing and brushing my teeth, I would curl up into the bedclothes with my Glo Worm.Remember these?
Rainbow Brite
Pound Puppies and Pound Purries
Poppies
Glo Worm & Friends
Cabbage Patch Kids
Care Bears
My Little Pony
She-Ra
Strawberry Shortcake
Teddy Ruxpin
The Smurf's
Fluppy Dogs
Pogo Balls
Madballs
The Koosh Ball
Popples
Sweet Secrets
Upon being pressed on its stomach, the worm lights up from within, illuminating its soft green, pajama worm body and soft, smiling face. The Glo Worm wore a pajama hat and played a soothing lullaby that would lull you to sleep peacefully. I was obsessed with it, I could not go to sleep without it. I think one time it was misplaced and they had to tear the whole place apart just to look for it because I could not fall asleep without it.
Glo-Friends Musical Glo-Worm
Aww, isn't he cute?
Cabbage Patch Kids started a craze in 1983 that was not unlike the premise that Arnold Schwarzenegger's character had to endure in the movie 'Jingle All The Way.' Violent crowds biting and shoving each other just so they could have a chance to get one of these dolls for their children or for themselves.
Maybe it was the fact that they came with adoption certificates? Or perhaps people were able to relate to them because they were so homely? Cabbage Patch Kids Craze!
The Care Bears were created by greeting card company American Greetings in 1981 for use in their cards. What launched all of our Caring Meters was the launch of the Care Bears Movie and television series. Each bear is a different color and has a different symbol on its belly that symbolizes its personality and responsibility.
My Little Pony was launched in 1983 and has never died down, well at least in my head it hasn't. What little girl didn't dream of owning her own pony and riding it into the sunset? Brushing its mane and decorating it with all sorts of crazy crap? Well since most little girls couldn't actually own a real pony, and because I think putting a bunch of crazy crap in a horse's mane would be animal cruelty, let's get the next best thing; a toy pony !YAY!
Care Bears just kickin' back...
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| I remember they also used to have velvet covered ones as well. The ponies have a group of symbols on their rump that represents their name. Some ponies had flat feet, others had concave followed by Pegasi and Unicorns. |
My Little Pony - Japanese Commercial-Cool they walk!
Pound Puppies made you feel like you were doing your part when you gave your child one of these stuffed animals instead of the real thing. What parent wanted all of the bathroom accidents, mess, aggravation, bills and noise that came with adopting a real pound puppy? In any case Pound Puppies came out in the 80's by Tonka and their tagline was:
Lovable. Huggable.
It later launched a television series and a line of cats called Pound Purries.
1980s Pound Puppies Commercial
The exciting thing about it was that you had to send for a certificate of adoption and tags like it was real and it came with a cool box! I remember I would use my doctor set to play vet on these pups!
Rainbow Brite was yet another character introduced by a greeting card company, this time by Hallmark Cards in 1983. After that the animated series started the following year. An orphan girl named Wisp is taken to a world without color by an unknown force. To find the Sphere of Light she must use her friends Twink, a sprite and Starlite, a white horse. For each 7 colors of the rainbow there are 7 color kids, and it is Rainbow Brite's job to rescue all of them and find the Color Belt so she can bring color back to the land.
After succeeding and defeating the King of Shadows, the unknown force re-names Wisp as Rainbow Brite. She and her helpers all live in Rainbow Land and are in charge of all of the colors on Earth.
Strawberry Shortcake again introduced by American Greetings in the late 70's for use in their greeting cards, became a huge fad in the 80's with the dessert scented and themed characters. Strawberry Shortcake being the main character with her red hair and freckles. She wears a dress and bonnet decorated with strawberries. I recall a time when I was a little girl at Halloween when I dressed up as Strawberry Shortcake. Of course it was only a vinyl smock with her image on it, and a plastic mask of her face but I was excited all the same.
Blueberry Muffin, Raspberry Tart, Orange Blossom, Plum Puddin' and Lemon Meringue are all of Strawberry Shortcake's best friends. The Peculiar Purple Pieman is Strawberry's nemesis because he likes to steal berries. Wow he is so hardcore.
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| Easy there..don't come bursting outta that box like Chucky |
VINTAGE 80'S STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE DOLL COMMERCIAL
She-Ra Princess of Power was aimed at young girls much like He-Man was aimed at young boys. She-Ra was as you might have guessed, He-Man's twin sister who leads a group of freedom fighters known as the Great Rebellion.
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| You go girl |
She-Ra Opening Theme
The Smurfs exploded onto the scene in 1981 when the animated show became a fixture for Saturday morning television. The show was on until 1989 and was nominated for multiple Daytime Emmy's. It was based off of the series of comic strips introduced by Peyo the cartoonist in 1958. The Smurfs are probably one of the most easily recognizable cartoon characters: blue skin, white pants, white cone-like cap, but some may have accessories that define their personality.
The Smurfs live in the Smurf village that operates like a cooperative in mushroom-like homes. All of this and there is only one female, Smurfette. Well, at least until the creation of Sassette if you want to get all technical on me.
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| Coming to a mushroom near you... |
Smurfs Theme Song
Teddy Ruxpin; Love him or hate him, I actually had a Teddy Ruxpin doll and I remember the popularity surrounding him. Teddy Ruxpin was a talking bear that would move his mouth and eyes and 'read' story books to you by a tape cassette deck that was built into his back. Instead of kids bothering their parents for a bedtime story, they could have their stuffed bear read them a book encouraging readership among youth.
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| Teddy and his books, now on Amazon |
Frankenstein Teddy Ruxpin Commercial He's Alive!
Popples were adorable, colorful teddy bear-like animals with long tails that have a fuzzy pom pom on the end of their tail. They have pouches on their backs that they can go into, and they then resemble balls. The toys were manufactured by Mattel.
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| Popples! No matter how hard I tried sometimes, I could not get my Popple to go back into its pouch. They were cursed I tell you! |
Pop goes the Popple!
While you may recognize Fluppy Dogs, very few might realize it was intended to become a Disney television show but never reached that point due to low ratings for the pilot episode. Fluppy Dogs were cute, cuddly dogs made of colorful, shaggy yarn and pom pom noses produced by Hasbro.
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| They came with tags |
Fluppy Dogs Part 1 of 6 Full Movie
Sweet Secrets combined all of my favorite things as a child; jewelry, makeup, and toys. They were essentially different play-sets that looked like a doll figure that could transform into a compact, jewelry box, dollhouse, play phone, nursery, comb, bed, photo frame, and pool by unfolding the arms, legs and head. Kind of like Transformers for girls. The icing on the cake was that there was a big jewel on the doll that made it that more special. Trust me, when you're 8 years old, you get it. You could wear them as a watch, necklace, the possibilities were endless.
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| I could only dream of collecting them all... |
Sweet Secrets from the 80s
Pogo Balls not only were the craze in the 80's but they will give you a good workout as well. Have you ever worked out with one of these things before? It was the most fun you ever had getting tired, and it worked both ways for you and your parents. You got a fun toy to play with and they got you to sleep soundly at night thanks to the Pogo Ball.
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| Yeaah...try balancing on that bad boy |
80's Pogo Ball Commercial
Koosh Balls were invented because the inventor wanted his kids to play with a ball without getting hurt. It was designed in 1986 and was made out of rubber strings that was named after the noise it made when it landed.
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| The middle is filled with a jelly-like substance soft to the touch |
Lastly, Madballs are on my list as the odd, gross-out humor series of toy rubber balls. They were created by AmToy in the mid-80s. They were in the same category as Garbage Pail Kids, the parody gross-out Cabbage Patch Kids sticker and card series. It was also later turned into an animated series that had only two episodes. A comic book and video game were later released.
There were 8 original Madballs:
- Screamin Meemie: a baseball
- Slobulus: a creature with one eye hanging out
- Aargh: blue, Frankenstein's monster
- Hornhead: horned Cyclops
- Dustbrain: a Mummy
- Oculus Orbus: an eyeball
- Skull Face: a skull
- Crack Head: a cracked head. Named changed later to "Bash Brain' due to obvious negative connotations to 'crack head.'
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| These grotesque orbs need their own movie...now |
Madballs!
Well I hope I have you running for your closet to relive those memories!
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