7 More Forgotten 80s Toys

The 1980s were truly the decade of the action figure.  From G.I. Joe to M.A.S.K., Transformers to Masters of the Universe, on to Thundercats, Silverhawks and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; just about every great line of action figures began in or reached their peak in the 80s.

In March, we examined ten (non-action figure) 80s toys you may have forgotten. Since that was one of our more popular posts, here are 7 more often-forgotten 80s toys!

GUTS 

GUTS came to the toy market riding the popularity of M.U.S.C.L.E. and GI Joe.  They were basically fancier army men, broken down into six units of ten soldiers each.

There were Green Berets, Frogmen, Jungle Fighters, Ground Troops, Lazer Troopers, and the obligatory ninjas with Aikido force.

Robotix

Robotix were building toys that were originally sold in 1984 by Milton Bradley.  They could be built into a variety of robots and vehicles that could either walk or roll.  The coolest feature was that they included motors and a control that could be used to turn the wheels, move the legs, operate claws, or rotate parts of whatever the builder constructed.  Milton Bradley stopped manufacturing Robotix in 1994 and it passed to The Learning Curve until the line was discontinued in 2001.  You might also recall the short lived Robotix cartoon.

Hit Stix

Hit Stix were basically electronic drum sticks that came with an amplifier that you would attach to your belt.  They had a variety of drum styles that you could select on the amplifier and then just play by air-drumming.

Flipsiders

(Dare ya to watch this one and NOT have the jingle in your head the rest of the day)

Flipsiders were tiny board games that were made by Milton Bradley from 1987-1992.  The board folded up and made the entire toy look like an audio cassette (what could be more 80s than that?)  You would move a little slide that turned build in wheels with numbers on them in place of rolling a die to move.  The pawns and board were magnetic which made it a good toy for long car rides.

The Animal

The Animal was a motorized truck that had claws in the wheels that would come out to help the truck traverse rough terrain.  The wheels could be set to be always in, always out, or could come out whenever the truck came across terrain that required them.  The other cool feature was that if you just wanted to push the truck around you could switch it to freewheeling mode so you wouldn’t destroy the gears.

Domino Rally

Domino Rally was manufactured by Pressman Toys and sold until the early 90s.  It was based on a toy called Domino Track that was invented by a 16-year-old boy and his father.  Basically, it took what we all did when we had dominos, which was build tracks to knock over rather than actually play the game, and took it to the extreme by setting up courses that could go down stairs, over bridges, and around corners.  One common complaint about the toy was that the dominos had poor molds that often made it very difficult and frustrating to get them to stand.

Hot Wheels Crack Ups

Every kid had at least a few Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars.  These were extra cool because you could crash them together and create damage.  There were four basic types of the cars; cars that cracked up in the front, on the side, on the top, and in the back.  It worked in a way similar to the Battle Armor He-Man from the MOTU line, one of the great play features of that line.

To reminisce about other fogotten 80s toys such as My Pet Monster, Mad Balls, and Boglins click here!

Brian Morin is a fan of anything related to the 80s.  His love of playing with G.I. Joe developed into an obsession that continues to this day.  He hosted an 80s themed radio show while in college which justified the building of a library of over 250 80s CDs.  When he isn’t collecting and obsessing he is spending time with his wife and kids in Myerstown, PA.

Hit Stix image credit: retrothing.com