I miss the 70's and 80's (the Golden Age of figure

[acroyear]

All the best toys were released in this period: Micronauts, Star Wars, Shogun Warriors, GI Joe, Transformers, He Man and everything in between. Do you think we'll ever see the day where we can walk down an aisle at Toys R Us and get such a variety of figures and vehicles and playsets?

[dom]

Unfortunately I think the best days have gone. There are still a few really good shows back by good lines, but the best days are behind us

[drbo]

Also keep in my kind that's probably the time when you played with them, so naturally with the nostalgia factor they'll be the best toys ever; they're were ours, the ones made for us!
Sure they were great, but I'm sure kids from the 1990's, 2000's and on will have very fond memories of the toys of their youth, just as a 1960's kid will stand that the original G.I.Joe and Johnny West were the best around.

All this consideration aside, they're indeed a tons of great concept that arose from that period, and the whole marketing machine allowed kids to live their toys fantaisies 24/7 playing with Transformers, watching He-Man on TV, sleeping in a Empire Strike Back sleeping bag after brushing his teeth with a G.I.Joe toothbrush...

[shaxper]

There were still some great action figure lines going well into the early 1990s, but at around that time, I think action figures started becoming less of a mainstay in kids' lives.

It's weird. I collect both toys and comic books, and I can tell you that both started this weird transition of first targeting teens instead of kids in the early 1990s and ultimately targeting adults by the late 1990s. It's like kids lost interest in everything that defined my childhood. Was this because of the game console revolution, the emergence of the internet, or something else entirely? I have no idea. I teach 12 and 13 year olds, and all I can clearly observe is that they're trying to grow up a lot faster than my generation did. I think some of that may have to do with the media, and some may have to do with the fact that most of my students come from "broken" homes where they are forced to mature much faster.

I have no idea, but the point is that the reason we don't see all that many great toy lines these days is that kids don't play with toys as much. Childhood just doesn't seem to exist for them in the same way that it did for us.

EDIT: And there were definitely some great toys prior to 1977. Lets not forget all of that 1970s Mego goodness, nor Micronauts, Shogun Warriors, and Pocket Heroes.

[acroyear]

I think the period from about 1976-86 (give or take a year) was a great time to collect toys. Oh, I miss the days when Kay-bee, TRU, Children's Palace were stocked shelf to shelf with Micronauts, Star Wars, GI Joe, Shogun Warriors, Transformers, HE MAN and everything in-between.
Even now, most toy stores are gone. The only "real" places to buy toys (other then collector shops) is TRU, Kmart, Walmart, and Target. Even with that, there's only one aisle of figures. I remember when there was several aisles of figures.

I don't know if we'll ever see the day where there will be aisles stocked with a variety of playsets, vehicles, and figures.

[shaxper]

I sometimes wonder if the concept of childhood that really came about during that time period, in which the baby-boomers' kids were overly indulged by commercial outlets, is now outdated. Today's kids seem in a much bigger hurry to grow up, much as generations before the baby boomers' kids were. Even the TV shows that are directed at them are more "mature" and teen oriented. I can't get past seeing 8 year olds walking down the street with cell phones, ipods, and portable game systems. They go right from kindergarten to immature teen hood.

I miss those days of excessively spoiling kids' childhoods too, but, on the bright side, maybe these new generations will do a better job of growing up, not clinging to their excessive childhoods by living in their parents' basements or, worse yet, devoting their adulthoods to collecting toys

[victoryleo19]

i agree things are different now, its just not the same. there arent even cartoons on saturday mornings anymore. i guess we all lived through something that is now fading away. if you really think about it, theres only maybe 6 or 7 cartoons AT ALL on tv at any one time.

toys seem to be on the out. mostly collectors markets now thats one of the reasons i really like the brave and the bold toyline, because it reminds me of the 80's and even the early 90's when ideas and toys were still meant for kids.....

[bowspearer]

May 13, 2010 12:28:28 GMT -6 acroyear said:

I think the period from about 1976-86 (give or take a year) was a great time to collect toys. Oh, I miss the days when Kay-bee, TRU, Children's Palace were stocked shelf to shelf with Micronauts, Star Wars, GI Joe, Shogun Warriors, Transformers, HE MAN and everything in-between.
Even now, most toy stores are gone. The only "real" places to buy toys (other then collector shops) is TRU, Kmart, Walmart, and Target. Even with that, there's only one aisle of figures. I remember when there was several aisles of figures.

I don't know if we'll ever see the day where there will be aisles stocked with a variety of playsets, vehicles, and figures.

I'd put it at early 1978 (late 77 if you count the "empty box campaign") and lasting until about 1992. After that Toy companies began being devoured by Hasbro shrinking the ammount of competition in the marketplace until by the end of the 90s, the only 2 major players left standing were Hasbro and Mattel (Playmates too if you class them as a major player).

On top of that, the market is now driven by retailers as opposed to toy companies, which has completely destroyed the innovation of the toy industry. Unless there was some incredibly dramatic turn of events, I can't see this changing sadly.

May 13, 2010 18:06:05 GMT -6 shaxper said:

I sometimes wonder if the concept of childhood that really came about during that time period, in which the baby-boomers' kids were overly indulged by commercial outlets, is now outdated. Today's kids seem in a much bigger hurry to grow up, much as generations before the baby boomers' kids were. Even the TV shows that are directed at them are more "mature" and teen oriented. I can't get past seeing 8 year olds walking down the street with cell phones, ipods, and portable game systems. They go right from kindergarten to immature teen hood.

It's the hypocrisy of the modern era- we go ape over grown men trying to groom a 6 year old yet don't even batt an eyelid at fashion companies, to give just one example, selling g-strings to 7 year olds. Kids want to grow up quicker these days because society brainwashes them into it by blurring the lines all for a quick buck.

It's not about changing tastes, but a serious issue with what has become acceptable behaviour from business, parents and the media and is one very dark and depraved issue indeed but one society desperately needs to deal with. The brutal truth is that if things keep going the way they are it will be impossible for a pedophile to groom a child because the media and business will have already done it for them.

Heck at the rate we're going we'll have to worry soon as much about other kids scarring kids through sexual activity too early as we will about pedophiles scarring them- especially with the likes of Planned Parenthood trying to sexualise kids as young as 5 (the Girl Guides Association was recently caught up in this in a UN meeting).

I realise this is crossing over into politics, but it's impossible to discuss this without crossing that line.

May 13, 2010 18:06:05 GMT -6 shaxper said:

I miss those days of excessively spoiling kids' childhoods too, but, on the bright side, maybe these new generations will do a better job of growing up, not clinging to their excessive childhoods by living in their parents' basements or, worse yet, devoting their adulthoods to collecting toys

Which again is the wrong idea. If we want to change the current culture of sexualising our kids, we need to go the other way. The problem was before the whole "'tween" phenomenon, society had this screwy idea that when you hit 18, you put away toys and replaced them with booze, drugs and 1 night stands, as if to suppress the child within us all and completely missing the difference between being childish and child-like.

Then the "'tween" phenomenon comes along and society winds up blurring the line, but the line they blur is the line of adulthood, not childhood.

If anything what people need to start doing is living by the following motto "adulthood starts from when you become an adult, but childhood lasts a lifetime". If anything we need to teach kids that there's absolutely nothing wrong with watching cartoons, reading comics or collecting action figures as an adult (provided it's all in balance with your responsibilities as a parent). Right now we don't do that- we treat childhood as something negative in an adult and then wonder why kids see it as something negative they need to move past. If we want kids to be kids, we have to be child-like role models for them

Is it any wonder our world is so messed up when we can't even get something that basic and fundamental right....

[acroyear]

I think the early 90's was a real low point for action figures. Look what was happening to GI Joe. The designs were terrible and colors were lame (neon orange, green, mixed with brown and purple, etc). The Jurassic Park toys, and Power Rangers, and even TMNT were a real step backwards, in my opinion. I think it maybe had to do with the fact that during this time, I was losing interest in action figures and TMNT and Power Rangers seemed really juvenile to me.

Sometimes if I go to TRU or Target, I do see little kids looking at Star Wars figures.

[bowspearer]

Except that in amongst that period, Exo-Squad came out, as well as the Euro-G1 and G2 lines of Transformers, so I don't think you can say it was a low point right across the board.

[victoryleo19]

exo squad was epic too, honestly one of the best toy lines of all time, that just didnt make the cut in the long run I agree with a lot thats said here, i hate that kids today care more about ipods and cellphones than climbing trees or running around playing in the woods. the world has just changed a lot, and i feel like action figures will become a unique nich collectors market in the years to come, and kids will be marginallized if not completely cut out of the equation,..

[BoogDoc7]

May 14, 2010 1:05:03 GMT -6 bowspearer said:

May 13, 2010 12:28:28 GMT -6 acroyear said:

I think the period from about 1976-86 (give or take a year) was a great time to collect toys. Oh, I miss the days when Kay-bee, TRU, Children's Palace were stocked shelf to shelf with Micronauts, Star Wars, GI Joe, Shogun Warriors, Transformers, HE MAN and everything in-between.
Even now, most toy stores are gone. The only "real" places to buy toys (other then collector shops) is TRU, Kmart, Walmart, and Target. Even with that, there's only one aisle of figures. I remember when there was several aisles of figures.

I don't know if we'll ever see the day where there will be aisles stocked with a variety of playsets, vehicles, and figures.

I'd put it at early 1978 (late 77 if you count the "empty box campaign") and lasting until about 1992. After that Toy companies began being devoured by Hasbro shrinking the ammount of competition in the marketplace until by the end of the 90s, the only 2 major players left standing were Hasbro and Mattel (Playmates too if you class them as a major player).

On top of that, the market is now driven by retailers as opposed to toy companies, which has completely destroyed the innovation of the toy industry. Unless there was some incredibly dramatic turn of events, I can't see this changing sadly.



It's the hypocrisy of the modern era- we go ape over grown men trying to groom a 6 year old yet don't even batt an eyelid at fashion companies, to give just one example, selling g-strings to 7 year olds. Kids want to grow up quicker these days because society brainwashes them into it by blurring the lines all for a quick buck.

It's not about changing tastes, but a serious issue with what has become acceptable behaviour from business, parents and the media and is one very dark and depraved issue indeed but one society desperately needs to deal with. The brutal truth is that if things keep going the way they are it will be impossible for a pedophile to groom a child because the media and business will have already done it for them.

Heck at the rate we're going we'll have to worry soon as much about other kids scarring kids through sexual activity too early as we will about pedophiles scarring them- especially with the likes of Planned Parenthood trying to sexualise kids as young as 5 (the Girl Guides Association was recently caught up in this in a UN meeting).

I realise this is crossing over into politics, but it's impossible to discuss this without crossing that line.

May 13, 2010 18:06:05 GMT -6 shaxper said:

I miss those days of excessively spoiling kids' childhoods too, but, on the bright side, maybe these new generations will do a better job of growing up, not clinging to their excessive childhoods by living in their parents' basements or, worse yet, devoting their adulthoods to collecting toys

Which again is the wrong idea. If we want to change the current culture of sexualising our kids, we need to go the other way. The problem was before the whole "'tween" phenomenon, society had this screwy idea that when you hit 18, you put away toys and replaced them with booze, drugs and 1 night stands, as if to suppress the child within us all and completely missing the difference between being childish and child-like.

Then the "'tween" phenomenon comes along and society winds up blurring the line, but the line they blur is the line of adulthood, not childhood.

If anything what people need to start doing is living by the following motto "adulthood starts from when you become an adult, but childhood lasts a lifetime". If anything we need to teach kids that there's absolutely nothing wrong with watching cartoons, reading comics or collecting action figures as an adult (provided it's all in balance with your responsibilities as a parent). Right now we don't do that- we treat childhood as something negative in an adult and then wonder why kids see it as something negative they need to move past. If we want kids to be kids, we have to be child-like role models for them

Is it any wonder our world is so messed up when we can't even get something that basic and fundamental right....

I think that you're partially right.

On one hand, there's the stigma of childhood in adults; on the other, there's the issue that we extend the irresponsibility of childhood into the early 20s. Before the 1950s, there wasn't much of a thing as adolescence. College was a maybe - if you couldn't go, you moved out and got a job. You grew up.

Now, with the moderate ability to afford it, fully-grown men and women - and their parents - can afford to stay home for longer - thus resulting in the problems you're talking about.

Here's my take - physically, a boy is a man somewhere between 16-18. Girls somewhat earlier. There should be a certain expectation of being able to take care of yourself and have responsibility at that point. There should be consequences for actions and responsibilities accepted. Mom and Dad shouldn't be footing the bill for everything.

I'm not saying don't watch cartoons or collect - I'm 30, for instance, but my wife and I were a little more grown up (married at 20 for her, 22 for me).

[acroyear]

Yeah, Exo Squad was cool. I wasn't following Transformers during the 90's. Transformers, for me, were cool during the mid-80's or so. I should still follow them now, since apparently there's some cool stuff now.

[BoogDoc7]

May 15, 2010 9:47:38 GMT -6 acroyear said:

Yeah, Exo Squad was cool. I wasn't following Transformers during the 90's. Transformers, for me, were cool during the mid-80's or so. I should still follow them now, since apparently there's some cool stuff now.

Exo Squad came out 3-5 years too late. GREAT line. Easy to pick up relatively cheap as well, other than some really rare pieces.

[angelo]

I think childhood in general suffers from the popularity of video games. sure, even in our youth we may have had atari or the 1st nintendo system, but now, a home video game system is in practically every home and is way more pervasive. even though the action figures of our day often came with their own storyline - ie star wars - we as kids could imagine any story we wanted. I had an entire mythology that included every random toy I collected that was of my own creation. that's the real shame of video games - without sounding super sappy, even the most boring kid's imagination is typically way crazier than any adult, and video games don't allow for kids to invent their own characters and storylines - and in that way totally rob kids of the chances we had to make up our own fantasy worlds and be imaginative.

[bowspearer]

May 15, 2010 8:27:56 GMT -6 BoogDoc7 said:

I'm not saying don't watch cartoons or collect - I'm 30, for instance, but my wife and I were a little more grown up (married at 20 for her, 22 for me).

Yes but a big part of the problem is that is you left out the bit about being married (and with kids I'm presuming), the average person on the street would just automatically assume you were living in your parents' basement based on the fact that you collect toys and watch cartoons.

The big problems stem from "'tween" marketers constantly trying to push that line further and further forwards, to the point where if it keeps going this way, you'll have 3 year old girls wanting training bras for Christmas.

May 21, 2010 19:19:27 GMT -6 angelo said:

I think childhood in general suffers from the popularity of video games. sure, even in our youth we may have had atari or the 1st nintendo system, but now, a home video game system is in practically every home and is way more pervasive.

Actually I'd blame it more on "'tween" mags and MTV personally, as they expose kids to far too much, far too soon.

[3 3/4"collector]

im always telling people i sort of feel bad for kids today. kids today seem obsessed with not being kids. childhood is such a great time and they are missing it. i remember epic summer vacation days of playing with all my figures using my bed and blankets as mountains. then a few hours later a few friends would show up with their figures and we would head out to the back yard. all of us had sections of our backyards that were set up for action figure play. i had a bunch of old tree stumps and rocks that were arranged to be used as everything from hidden gijoe base to an elf village fore my dungeons and dragons figures.
later in the afternoon when it got really hot we might walk to the mall and hang out at the arcade. then back home later to play with the figures again.

[Ebessan]

Today's toys are just bland. Marketers have no idea what to do and are lazy, and they're dealing with being politically correct so the selections are getting narrower and narrower. Even when they rehash lines they're just horribly inferior to the originals (TMNT, MOTU). And I don't mean quality-wise, just the nature of it.

But that's also partly nostalgia. Definitely not what it was anymore. All I have in my town really is a TRU that just has built-up crap nobody's buying. Comparing the way stores must've looked in the early and late '80s with today would be depressing.

[bowspearer]

May 23, 2010 17:05:12 GMT -6 Ebessan said:

Today's toys are just bland. Marketers have no idea what to do and are lazy, and they're dealing with being politically correct so the selections are getting narrower and narrower. Even when they rehash lines they're just horribly inferior to the originals (TMNT, MOTU). And I don't mean quality-wise, just the nature of it.

But that's also partly nostalgia. Definitely not what it was anymore. All I have in my town really is a TRU that just has built-up crap nobody's buying. Comparing the way stores must've looked in the early and late '80s with today would be depressing.

It's not partly nostalgia at all, you were entirely correct with your initial assessmwnt in this post.

Take Transformers for example. Back when G1 and even G2 reigned supreme, you'd have multi[ple gimmicks in each line and i mean major gimmicks. In fact when you look at 1987, you see fire breathing monsters, clones, a guy that can become a good guy and a bad guy, a guy that can become 6 different things, 2 vehicles forming 1 robot, groups of smaller guys becoming one big guy, people for heads and people for guns- that's 8 of the major types of gimmicks which would constitute an entire Transformers toyline these days.

1988 was quite similar with there being pretenders, powermasters, targetmasters, double targetmasters, headmasters, sixchangers, and combiners- 6 different major gimmicks there.

That's just one toyline we're talking about here, not a dozen of them all trying to compete with each other and all going out on creative limbs like they were back in the 80s.

These days toy makers are just lazy and marketting executives only care about following trends rather than creating them. Kids gravitate more to video games, because they can recognise where the innovation is and it just simply isn't in toys these days anywhere near as much as it used to be.

Between that and tween marketting, is it any wonder that kids these days don't have it anywhere near as good in terms of childhoods as those of us who experienced an 80s childhood did.