My 80s Dream Toy Chest

Posted by Toni | on June 30, 2008

A collection of my favorite long lost childhood toys.

You won’t find Cabbage Patch Dolls, My Little Ponies, or Barbies in this list. The following are some of my favorite toys from my childhood…

Etch-a-sketch Animator

Etch-A-Sketch Animator
The Etch A Sketch Animator debuted in 1986 - Possibly the coolest toy ever invented up until that point, and I’ve always been surprised by its lack notoriety among my generation.

The Animator featured a low-rez dot matrix screen and used two knobs for drawing along with several buttons to manipulate drawings. Animation - pixel by pixel…up to 96 frames of it.

I still check ebay for these sometimes, they don’t run too expensive:
Etch-a-sketch Animator - Etch-a-Sketch Animator on Ebay

Tomy Air Jammers

Tomy Air Jammer
These were vehicles that came where powered via little hand-pump. I had one that resembled a VW Bug. I remember sticking the pump hose up my nose. I want to stick one up my nose again. Damn it.

Tomy Air Jammers on Ebay

Lego Space Set

Lego 80s Space Set
I always loved Legos, but became a complete addict after receiving my first set from the Lego Space collection. I spent hours inventing alien dramas and dreaming about actually owning the parts to make the space monorail.

Years later I visited a cousin’s house and he had the full Lego SpaceLand set complete with monorails and more. My cousin explained he built only built it as a model and never played with it. I remember I wanted to punch him.
Lego Space Set (with monorail) - Lego Space Monorail Set on Ebay

Rubik’s Snakes

Rubik’s Snakes - I never owned these but would grab this over a friends house, hide in a corner, and play until it was time to leave. The mechanics of the 24 pivoting wedges completely fascinated me.
Rubik’s Snakes on Ebay

Article about Rubik’s Cubes, Snakes and other Puzzle Toys from Blifaloo.com

WikiPedia entry about Rubik’s Snake - Includes more photos.

MadBalls

Madballs 80s Toy
These were just balls with grotesque or silly faces. I didn’t have any, and didn’t really want any as a child. But now, I think it would be great to have a collection of these…maybe for decorating purposes.

I had a quick look for these on ebay, and it seems that they are being re-released.
MadBalls - Madballs on Ebay

Speak and Spell

My Speak and Spell became possessed at one point when I was about 8 years old. It wouldn’t turn off and kept saying “echo, echo, echo” - I pulled out the batteries and it continued to speak…so I chucked it under a pile of clothes in my room and left for a couple of hours.

Speak and Spell - Speak and Spells on Ebay

Omnibot 2000

Omnibot 2000 by Tomy
The Omnibot 2000 was the most advanced model in Tomy’s toy robot collection. Personal butler, friend, and cassette player all in one. Oh, how I longed for one of these.
Check out these 1984 TV Commercials for Omnibot: 1 & 2
Omnibots on Ebay