The Big Picture: The Other Guys - Lesser Known Toys from the 80's

[Valagetti]

You really have to question when watching all of this, what am I doing with my life?

 

[Ohlookit'sMatty]

The fun thing about these ads/shows is that they all have the same feel and look and the popular shows from the 80s // Same art style, same animation style, Hell they even have the same voice over actors

-M

 

[Pipotchi]

The guy doing the voiceover or the Robotix toys was the guy that did all the voice overs for the Transformers Trailers... Ahh memories

 

[nyarLOLhotep]

I didn't have tons and tons of toys growing up, but my absolute favorites were the Spiral Zone toys. I remember looking forward to garage sales so I could sell the stuff people got me for money to buy Spiral Zone figures. I think that show, Inhumanoids, Robotech, The Hobbit and Wizards ended up informing my tastes most out of everything else from my childhood. My ma kept me pretty sheltered, but Spiral Zone and Wizards, thankfully, snuck through. I still have a lot of weird-ass dreams that in which the Spiral Zone universe is implied.

 

[LadyRhian]

I grew up in the 80's (was born in '67, so I was 13 in 1980) and I watched the crap out of all of those old shows. I actually bought and still own M.A.S.K, Spiral Zone, Visionaries, Blackstar, Centurions, and Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers. And yes, I also bought all the episodes of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future on DVD as well (although I had them on VHS tape at one time). I was never very into the female-centered characters like She-Ra or Jem (I watched Jem, but it was never as interesting as some other shows to me).

I made a list of other shows MovieBob should cover (Geekier than Thou, yes I am. )

Centurions: M.A.S.K. Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future: (incidentally, it was SOARON, not Sauron)
Spiral Zone: Thunderbirds 2086: SilverHawks: Bionic Six: Defenders of the Earth:
The next two are 90's rather than 80's
Mighty Max: (wow. Such voice-acting! Very famous actors.)
Mummies Alive: (Loved that their car was called the Hot-Ra. Yeah, groan-worthy pun, but amusing)

I also liked the computer-generated Action Man, and Vehicle Voltron (the forgotten series, or so it seems- and I loved it so much better than Lion Voltron!), Photon (horrible in retrospect, but hey, it was the bomb back then!), Jason of Star Command (It had James "Scotty" Doohan in it!) and the really bad old series Isis, Captain Marvel and Electra-Woman and Dyna-Girl

 

[maximara]

You know, the 80's and 90's knew how to make fun commercials. I don't want to be that "Everything was better back in the day" guy, but toys these days just... aren't the same. Even in actual stores, not only do the toys somehow look cheaper than they were fifteen years ago, but it's just impossible to find a good toy store anymore. Maybe that's just because of the state I live in, though. I always like to point out how we don't even have a Target.

I grew up in the 1970s and early 1980s and the selection for toys was a lot larger then then it is now. I lived in Columbus, Ohio and in addition to Children's Palace (Child World) for the majority of the year the three main stores (Sears, JC Penny's, and Lazarus) in our nearest mall, Eastland would turn their entire top floors (they had three full floors in each store) into nothing but one big toy store.

By the mid 1980s things changed drastically as all three stores had closed off one of their floors and stopped doing the toy bonanza every Christmas and the local Children's Palace had been bought by Toy "R" Us who seemed to have less of a selection. By the late 1980s when we moved the three anchor stores were only one floor and Toy "R" Us was a shell compared to what Children's Palace had been.

 

[demalo]

I thought there was a Legions of Power movie or show that had a pilot but never took off. Those were the best!

 

[maddog015]

I grew up in the 80's (was born in '67, so I was 13 in 1980) and I watched the crap out of all of those old shows. I actually bought and still own M.A.S.K, Spiral Zone, Visionaries, Blackstar, Centurions, and Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers. And yes, I also bought all the episodes of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future on DVD as well (although I had them on VHS tape at one time). I was never very into the female-centered characters like She-Ra or Jem (I watched Jem, but it was never as interesting as some other shows to me).

I made a list of other shows MovieBob should cover (Geekier than Thou, yes I am. )

SNIPPED

More to add to the list:
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors: Turbo Teen: Dragon Warrior: Mysterious Cities of Gold:
And funny thing with Mysterious Cities of Gold...the second season came out 30 years later, just this past year. How about that.

 

[SeeDarkly_Xero]

I completely forgot that I used to own an Overlord action figure! (Though not the one with the light up chest.)
I also carved my own Star Sword out of a 2X4.... TWICE! ...because I lost one. :/

I also collected the Sectaurs comic book that Marvel put out. Never got the toys, but I wasn't put off by how they looked at all.

 

[LadyRhian]

I grew up in the 80's (was born in '67, so I was 13 in 1980) and I watched the crap out of all of those old shows. I actually bought and still own M.A.S.K, Spiral Zone, Visionaries, Blackstar, Centurions, and Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers. And yes, I also bought all the episodes of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future on DVD as well (although I had them on VHS tape at one time). I was never very into the female-centered characters like She-Ra or Jem (I watched Jem, but it was never as interesting as some other shows to me).

I made a list of other shows MovieBob should cover (Geekier than Thou, yes I am. )

SNIPPED

And funny thing with Mysterious Cities of Gold...the second season came out 30 years later, just this past year. How about that.

Boy , that Dragon Warrior looks an awful lot like Dragonball. Let's not forget Thundarr the Barbarian (sort of like a mix of Conan and Star Wars, if Conan had a Lion Wookie for a friend):
Pirates of Dark Water:
How about the original Godzilla Cartoon (with Godzukey!):
And if we are going to Anime, how can you forget the many variations on Gatchman (Battle of the Planets, G-Force and etc.) {youtube=acOnskcyrtA]
And this one, just because I can: [youtube=4YPQsg-67IQ}

And I watched this a ton during the 70's. I think either this series or Speed Racer was my first Anime I ever saw: [MEDIA=youtube]ItKC89IVEJc[/MEDIA]

 

[agentorange98]

Bob should've talked about Dino-Riders, they were late 80s sure but the toys were awesome and the show was actually pretty smart and meaningful, full review here: http://lidoshuffle1.blogspot.com/2015/06/static-thoughts-dino-riders.html