Top Ten Toylines of the 1980's

[Newton]

Does GI Joe make the grade?

 

Check it out at: http://infinitehollywood.blogspot.com/2009...s-of-1980s.html

[wolverine2281]

I would have to agree with that list. Maybe not completely in that order but very close. Go Joe!

[Kyver]

No love for Go-Bots? @smilepunch@

 

I agree with that list too.

[Kyver]

#9: M.A.S.K - A lot of people will tell you that MASK was essentially GI Joe meets Transformers and it's a logic that's hard to argue with. However the show and toylines were much more than that. Backed by one of the most adult cartoons of the era, MASK offered up a wide variety of pocket sized heroes and villains with cool vehicles that could transform into other vehicles. The major advantage that MASK had over Transformers was that the little figures fit inside the vehicles quite nicely and the figures themselves were quite articulated. MASK had a fair amount of crossover potential although the property has had no real revival in recent years making it one of the few toylines that lived and died entirely in the 1980's

Bring back M.A.S.K.!!!

 

Who's with me?

[RockthePlank]

Interesting, as a kid the only ones I had from these lines were MOTU, TMNT, Thundercats, and Ghostbusters. I can appricate all the other ones. GI Joe always seemed cool to me, but I never got any as a kid, so I have no real connection. I have thought about buying some now, but I already buy too much.

[CLAM]

as a kid, I collected almost all of those top 10, even the honorable mention Battle Beasts.

 

the only one I didn't get were the Ghost Busters. I think somebody gave me one or two for my birthday, but I didn't like them much.

 

 

some other things I did collect that they didn't mention were Silverhawks, COPS, and Visionairies.

[DarthJoe]

Ya, this is a really good list, and not just because GI Joe is at the top.

 

I always forget about MUSCLE, but almost everyone I knew had them.

 

The only one I question is DC Super Powers. I had a few of them, and a few of my friends had 1 or 2, but they never seemed like they were much of a dominating force in the 80's toy world.

[Laeternidadduraunmomento]

And Macross very bad namely Robotech?

[CLAM]

Ya, this is a really good list, and not just because GI Joe is at the top.

 

I always forget about MUSCLE, but almost everyone I knew had them.

 

The only one I question is DC Super Powers. I had a few of them, and a few of my friends had 1 or 2, but they never seemed like they were much of a dominating force in the 80's toy world.

 

 

I had a lot of them and Secret Wars too

[jjlecaros]

as a kid I played with these the most:

 

-gi joe

-star wars

-MOTU

-Transformers

 

I had a few:

-silverhawks

-thundercats

[hamsterboy]

They should have at least given Voltron an honorable mention.

[RecklessEndangerment]

The transfans aren't going to like what he said about transformers @loll@ .

 

#3: Transformers - To some fans this WAS the line of the 1980's with it's many robots in disguise. Transformers is perhaps the strongest of any of the 1980's lines because of it's ability to stay on the shelves off and on for many years. In recent years with the release of the movies and various new cartoons, Transformers has become one of if not the most popular toyline of today. It was incredibly popular in the 1980's as well, but nowhere near #1. For starters Transformers were terribly expensive, deemed too complex for many children and ultimately not very good toys. The major issue with most Transformers was they either offered two crappy modes or one good mode. That is to say either you had a cool toy car or a cool toy robot, or a mediocre both. With the high price and relatively confusing nature of some of the figures as well as their chances of being broken off of wrong transformations, Transformers never quite made it to the top. However there is something about the toys and subsequent cartoons that has allowed Transformers to stay on shelves way past the 1980's and even become a bigger powerhouse than it was in it's prime.

[wolverine2281]

#9: M.A.S.K - A lot of people will tell you that MASK was essentially GI Joe meets Transformers and it's a logic that's hard to argue with. However the show and toylines were much more than that. Backed by one of the most adult cartoons of the era, MASK offered up a wide variety of pocket sized heroes and villains with cool vehicles that could transform into other vehicles. The major advantage that MASK had over Transformers was that the little figures fit inside the vehicles quite nicely and the figures themselves were quite articulated. MASK had a fair amount of crossover potential although the property has had no real revival in recent years making it one of the few toylines that lived and died entirely in the 1980's

Bring back M.A.S.K.!!!

 

Who's with me?

I am

[GPM in ICT]

I would have to say that the list was pretty accurate. When it comes to the top spot during the eighties it's always going to come down to Joe, TF's, MOTU and SW. I love how so many people get upset that some lines didn't get put on list like this and I will admit there are some lines that I thought should have gotten honorable mentions (Spiral Zone, Centurions, Secret Wars, the first Batman movie, Crystar and Starriors).

[DarthJoe]

Ya, this is a really good list, and not just because GI Joe is at the top.

 

I always forget about MUSCLE, but almost everyone I knew had them.

 

The only one I question is DC Super Powers. I had a few of them, and a few of my friends had 1 or 2, but they never seemed like they were much of a dominating force in the 80's toy world.

 

 

I had a lot of them and Secret Wars too

 

Ya, I just don't think they should've been as high up on the list as they were. I don't think they were any more popular than lines like COPS, Silverhawks, Centurions, BraveStarr, Dino Riders, Inhumanoids, etc. I don't even remember seeing them in any stores, and I'm not really sure where I got the ones that I did have.

[Toiletmonkey1]

There were "other" toylines in the 80's?

[MemberX]

#9: M.A.S.K - A lot of people will tell you that MASK was essentially GI Joe meets Transformers and it's a logic that's hard to argue with. However the show and toylines were much more than that. Backed by one of the most adult cartoons of the era, MASK offered up a wide variety of pocket sized heroes and villains with cool vehicles that could transform into other vehicles. The major advantage that MASK had over Transformers was that the little figures fit inside the vehicles quite nicely and the figures themselves were quite articulated. MASK had a fair amount of crossover potential although the property has had no real revival in recent years making it one of the few toylines that lived and died entirely in the 1980's

Bring back M.A.S.K.!!!

 

Who's with me?

 

MAtt trakker needs a 25th villain!

[CaptainTriumph]

I like the list but I would have put Super Powers down to nine. I love the line but it wasn't that long lived or had enough toys to be rated that high in my opinion.

 

Bring on the new M.A.S.K. toys !!!

[Newton]

You're right Captain. I think SP ended up a little higher to me on the list because of the impact it made. People forget about MUSCLE and MASK and a Centurions, but there has been a lot of love for Super Powers.

 

I don't think my Transformers comments were too off base. Transformers were pretty expensive and let's face it a lot of them ony had one good mode. I'm not saying that it makes Transformers any less cool, it's just some of the factors that ultimately prevented them from overtaking the market. You could get two or three GI Joes for the price of one Transformer often times and a lot of kids had troubles with Transformers whereas Joes, He-Man, etc you could play with right out of the box.

 

I think price and durability factor had a lot to do with what was successful and what wasn't back then.