Thread 11563859

Was the 80s the best era to grow up toys wise? Anyway, if you were american of course.

>>11563859 (OP)
When considering how many brands over the past decade are regurgitated 80s brands, the answer is probably yes.

>>11563859 (OP)
No, action figures were barely articulated and lacked lots of detail
We are in the golden age of toys right now

>>11563868
It's like video games: Sure graphics are better now, but that doesn't stop the late 90s/early 00s from being the golden age of gaming. The toys are the same way. Sure there's lots more articulation and detail now, but that doesn't change the fact that in the 80s is when it was all new and still exciting.

>>11563871
>It's like video games
Excuse me, faggot?

>>11563859 (OP)
>5poa
I collect toys now for a reason

>>11563868
Microman and Seint Seiya in Japan in the 70’s and 80’s says hold my beer.

>>11563859 (OP)
what the fuck is this Instagram shit doing here

>>11563893
It's just an opinion, but I personally feel like Microman didn't get good until the 1999 "Magne Powers" line, and then it got really good around 2004 when they came out with the ultra-articulated body that Hasbro would soon copy for GI Joe.

>>11563859 (OP)
>Biker Mice, Star Wars, Street Sharks, Hot Wheels, Toxic Crusaders, MiMP, Trash Bag Bunch, Power Rangers, Bad Eggz Bunch, Zbots
>80s

>>11563924
It's fair to put Star Wars on there since it was in production from 1978 through 1985.

>>11563924
Eh, early 90s may as well be 80s. Ish.

>>11564067
>the 80's decade now spans from 1978 to 1994

>>11564079
The 80s never ended, it truly was peak human society

America anyway

>>11564080
cue Rammstein's Amerika

>>11563924
>>11564067
Monster in my Pocket was 1990 too.

>>11563859 (OP)
Super naturals?

>>11563859 (OP)
80s was speak lego so yes

>>11564080
You and your precious 80s!
You know it would have continued to be the 70s if not for you!

>>11564100
Action figures with spooky holograms, kinda like visionaries.

>>11564079
This is correct, though.

>>11563859 (OP)
This. Anyone who thinks otherwise is stuck in the past.

>>11563859 (OP)
80s wasn't peak as far as figure engineering, but it was peak in original IPs, toy gimmicks, and vehicles/playsets.

TMNT is a good example of the figures still being great designs despite lack of articulation. Each of the four turtles was sculpted with dynamic posing that gave them a martial arts stance that newer turtles can't pull off even with their modern engineered articulation.

Or MOTU origins that despite having vastly superior articulation to the vintage, the leg articulation in Origins is basically useless and has, in some ways, inferior range of motion. When attempting a sitting pose, for example.

>>11563893
Microman has had 4 failed reboots & no one cares. Whites do not even know what saint seiya is

>>11563924
Star Wars started in 78, but the bulk of the line was released in the 80s. That would be like not counting Lego Classic Space or Classic Castle as 80s themes because a handful of sets were released in 78 and 79.

>>11563859 (OP)
IP wise? Yeah. Toy wise? Probably not.

>>11564323
>>11564388
80s was peak for volume alone. Engineering may be better now, but there were so many things not even in the OP that blow every other decade put of the water.

>>11564403
>there were so many things not even in the OP that blow every other decade put of the water.
Such as?

>>11564408
Well you gotta weigh in your options when settling down what HAD the most volume after stacking them up left and right, in and around. On pure volume alone transformers outsold everything given it was a mishmatch of things here and there, as the saying goes. On pure distribution alone? None can even come close to He-man and how much of a bigger effect that had among the generations especially in LATAM and LATINX places even in Europe. Quite a number of chunky little bootlegs got thrown around with official stock too we cannot forget that.

>>11564408
I was a fan of Army Ants. Also My Pet Monster. Madballs and M.U.S.C.L.E(western release of Kinnikuman) were pretty popular. Tiny Horse show that will not be named. Glow Worms. Smurfs and California raisins figurines were also kind of big back then. Rainbow Bright, Strawberry Shortcake and Popples were popular with girls. Oh, the Mad Scientist sets. Alf dolls. Monchichis. There was a lot of good stuff in the 80s.

>>11564459
Funny how stranger things never mentions them. Guess they weren't as popular as you're making them up to be.

>>11563859 (OP)
>80s/90s when transformer toys were infecting all brands.
>TMNT mutations
>Micromachines Zbots
>hotwheels that changed from monster truck to monster.

>>11564463
Do stranger things mention 80s hits such as transformers, gijoe or motu?

>>11564468
Yes, because theyre still relevant unlike the boomer crap do many soys boys on YouTube make videos about

>>11564463
That might be because Stranger Things is written by hacks that weren't even born until halfway through the decade.

>>11564463
Are you seriously using the ST bait?

>>11564481
Are you seriously denying the simple fact that the majority of 80s crap isn't a good as you make it out to be? Boomer

>>11564463
What's stranger things? Some youtube channel? Never heard of them, I don't follow "influencers".

>>11563868
the average 1/12 fan right here
imagine being this retarded

>>11564463
kek best bait i've seen on this board in years

if you're gonna do it at least be original like this faggot

>>11563859 (OP)
I think every era had its stuff. The 70s got better because of better production. 80s and 90s got more creative because of getting consumer attention, trends and cartoons as advertisment.
2000s till 2015 increase in production technic and articulation consumer expect.
After 2015 you see a company consolidation.

>>11564590
I had forgotten glitter poop unicorn dolls were a thing and then I looked through your image. Thanks I hate it.

>>11564591
The last 10 years got really gimmicky and blind box. Yeah, the slime and pooping really became famous.

>>11563859 (OP)
The 80's ended in 1992. Many of the Rock bands broke up by then (strangely), cgi was just starting to ruin movies (Jurassic Park), and Western developed 3D shooters (Wolfenstein 3D, Doom) were just starting to destroy the video game industry. Cartoons turned to shit thanks to the Children's Television Act of 1990. Rap music and Grunge were being promoted. Will Smith and Denzel Washington were being portrayed as the ultimate in cool. The perfect storm of faggotry.

Now here we are 33 years later wondering what went wrong.

>>11563859 (OP)
Only good stuff, rest is trash

>>11563859 (OP)
street sharks is the 90's... power rangers is the 90's. what retarded zoomer made that picrel?

>>11564659
>doesnt like robocop
way to out yourself as a giant flaming homo anon

>>11564659
>Food Fighter bad
No taste

>>11564647
>Western developed 3D shooters (Wolfenstein 3D, Doom) were just starting to destroy the video game industry.
????

>>11564691
Cope

>>11564659
>Monster in My Pocket
>trash
You hate fun?

>>11564782
The popularity of the FPS genre is in large part to blame for the downfall of the superior Japanese game industry.

Japanese game design is far more complex than the typical Western FPS of turn left, turn right, push the shoot button. This simplistic game play has been easily replicated on the Atari 2600 in games like Battlezone (1983).

Western gamers are willing to ignore 40 years of progress just so they can play the equivalent of Battlezone online with their friends, and Western game designers are catering to their lack of intelligence.

>>11564788
Mmp suck though

>>11564891
Complex =/= good. The superior aspects of Japanese games are mostly down to presentation and story (and in recent years not being intentionally ugly slop made by dangerhaired hormone-addicts who hate beauty). Though frankly most pre-90s games from either side of the Pacific are pretty unplayable, being as they were often deliberately too difficult to force players to rent them over and over again to be able to beat them, and thus artificially pad out the pathetically sparse amount of content in the games themselves.

>>11563859 (OP)
I just want to go back to actual ACTION figures. Fucking articulation is not an action feature. If that's all you have, you are making poseable statuettes not action figures. I hate how people have been buckbroken into letting that distinction slide over the years. If your toy doesn't shoot water or a projectile, change color, transform, or stink it's just pic related with paint and tits.

>>11564892
>Mmp
Ok, but we talk about Mimp.

>>11564378
LEGO aren't in the image.

>>11563859 (OP)
No, the late 50s to late 1960s were much better.

>Peak for toy trains in America. Beginning of golden age for toy trains in UK and silver age in Germany/Austria.
>Peak for model kits
>Corgi, Dinky, Matchbox, Majorette and Hot Wheels were at all time popularity in sales of toy cars
>Meccano and Erector sets were in their silver age and some sets were even motorized
>BB guns were still commonplace
>GI Joe and Action Man came out in this era
>Actual miniature ICEs could be bought (manufactured by a number of companies, but most notably the Cox corporation), which were used on control line airplanes and tether cars
>model rocketry was starting to take-off
>plastic dolls started appearing
>wooden and tinplate toys were still relevant, but more modern techniques were becoming more commonplace
Do I need to continue?

Figgers are such braindead fucking retards, I swear to Jesus Motherfucking Christ.

>>11564894
Japanese are now playing by Western rules of graphics, story and media hype is what sells games, not the actual game play, and no surprise, they're losing. Western developers have decades more experience at this game than the Japanese, who have, since the beginning, relied mostly on addictive game design to sell their games. The few Japanese developers that have survived to this point are the ones who have adapted the best to the retard Western design philosophy.

>Though frankly most pre-90s games from either side of the Pacific are pretty unplayable

Sounds like I'm wasting my time because you don't even like real video games, and probably never will. You're content with pushing the X button when prompted to advance the story.

>>11564918
Oh god, you're that "If you want anything other than frustrating tests of "skill" in your videogames you just want interactive movies" retard I've heard about. There is a happy medium between NES crap and Sonygger walking simulators, believe it or not.

>>11564919
Sounds like you've been down this road before and have heard it all before, and yet nothing has changed your opinion that old games are trash. Not going to waste my time going back and forth then.

>>11564937
I accept your concession. Also
>Old games are trash
No, lots of old games are good. Just not pre-1990 for the most part.

>>11564919
Enjoy playing Battlezone till the end of time.

>>11564940
Gameplay is probably the least interesting part of vidya. It's like being obsessed with how the pages turn on a book.

>>11563859 (OP)
You missed a line.

>>11564323
true both MOTU and TMNT* understood that for figures with relatively limited articulation you needed to have just the right blend of dynamic posing that would make the figures interesting by themselves, while still being done in a way that allowed for most figures to be broadly compatible with most vehicles and other accessories

*not surprising really considering a lot of MOTU alumni were involved in the early days of the TMNT line, TMNT is in many ways basically MOTU 2 in terms of design philosophy

>>11564590
agreed, even today I'll see new toy lines in the toy aisles that I know if they had been around when I was a kid I would have loved

>>11564592
to be fair there were plenty of blind box toylines back in the 80's and 90's too(MUSCLE, Battle Beasts, and Monster In My Pocket all come to mind just off the top of my head), and slime has been a toy industry gimmick since the 70's, there's a reason Nickelodeon had slime as a big part of its image back in the 90's after all

>>11565045
I feel the opposite. I can't stand another minute of storytelling in video games. It's a complete waste of my time. I don't care why the princess has been kidnapped. I don't need to know why the ghosts are chasing Pac-Man. I just want some action and excitement. Let's get on with it!

>>11564905
The more I think about it, the more I agree...

>Figgers are such braindead fucking retards, I swear to Jesus Motherfucking Christ
Fuck you, though.

>>11565058
It's not often you get a playset that can hold the main vehicle in it. That was always the best feeling in the world with the Firehouse set.

>>11565219
I always contemplated asking my dad to cut a hole above the door so the swivel-chair could go through

>>11565058
Sorry for my OCD but the packs are out of order, everyone knows
Peter has the green,
Winston, yellow
Ray, orange
Egon, red

>>11564659
>She-Ra
>Good
Now I know a troon made this post.

>>11564647
Time to take your meds, grandpa.

>>11564590
>kenner aliens before the 90s

Okay, this made me laugh

>>11564590
1983-1989 is missing Zoids.

>>11565045
If you don't care about the gameplay you should be reading books. Or playing with plastic toys I guess.
Like why even engage with a medium if you don't care about the only thing that's unique about it. Insanity.

>>11565350
The interactivity element of games allows for unique stories to be told.

>>11564647
You consider Jurassic Park "ruined?" The CGI is pretty scant in that movie, and that does a disservice to the puppets, animatronics, and practical effects.

It didn't feel like CGI went full ham until George Lucas was using it for literally every possible thing he could in The Phantom Menace.

>>11565064
>blind box toylines back in the 80's and 90's too
You are right. They were never gone.
My Little Petshop, Trash Pack figures, Lego Minifigures were all around 2010 in the shops.

>>11565272
You are right.

>>11565349
Thats a good one!

>>11565352
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzkCmidjeHc

>>11565363
He's not wrong.

>>11565064
You would probably like Ninjombie. I saw it in the halloween toy thread and it uses the aesthetic of limited articulation and dynamic posing with the detailed and exaggerated sculpts of the 90s and includes a part swapping gimmick as well as a slime oozing feature when the limbs are removed. They look really cool and are an original IP by an independant company.

>>11565357
>You consider Jurassic Park "ruined?"
No, Jurassic Park is a good movie, but they always introduce something bad with something good, otherwise no one would adopt it. CGI had Jurassic Park, first-person shooters had Doom, Grunge had Pearl Jam.

Jurassic Park didn't need cgi to be a good movie. In fact, the best parts of the movie were done with practical effects, but cgi got all the attention and was credited as the reason the movie was so amazing. People bought into the hype, which opened the door for more cgi in movies.

>>11563893
Not that anon but we had the very same Saint Seiya figures in Europe back then and even if they were better articulated than most toys of that era still can't hold a candle to modern toys.
And the faces were horrible.

>>11565413
Mostly because the cgi was the most groundbreaking aspect of the movie. While the practical animatronics were impressive, a lot of them had issues during production (like the T-Rex breaking down during the first scenes they were filming with rain). The cgi scenes were originally going to be stop motion, which would have aged poorly and would have looked inferior even by the standards of the time. The cgi enhanced everything and it wouldn't have happened if one employee hadn't worked on it behind the studio's back, but once they saw the final product, they knew it was going to be huge.

I do hate, however, that it led to the Special Editions of various movies and that a lot of modern movies now rely heavily on cgi visual effects over actual substance and storytelling.

>>11565581
NTA and I haven't watched Jurassic Park but I have read the book, and from what I've seen my main gripe is that the film isn't the "Alien with dinosaurs instead of a xenomorph" story the book was. I dunno, I really enjoyed the book, and the transformation of the franchise into a cash cow seems kind of the antithesis of the point of the original story (that is "messing about with things that should have stayed dead to entertain the public and make money from it will lead to disaster").
I think effects-wise my two favourite monster movies are Aliens (the first one is probably a better film but the Queen vs Power Loader fight is one of my favourite scenes in cinema from a spectacle point of view, period) and Dragonslayer (possibly the best stop-motion ever put to film). Also honourable mention to the OG Godzilla from 1954; considering the film was made 9 years after the end of WW2 and the filmmakers were inventing techniques as they went along, it's aged phenomenally well. Godzilla himself is fucking sinister, and outside of a few scenes (notably the stop-motion fire engine and Godzilla's oddly adorable debut "peek-a-boo!" bit) it's genuinely a superb looking film.

>>11565581
CGI should never have been used as a replacement for practical effects. Maybe once capitalism dies, cgi will be used only to enhance scenes instead of being used to cut costs.

I prefer that CGI never be used again in movie making, even if it means stop-motion returns, but I also prefer women to not wear makeup. I like it all natural.

>"messing about with things that should have stayed dead"
Or that, just because we have the technology, doesn't mean we should use it.

>>11565597
>I haven't watched Jurassic Park
Literally how?

>>11565058
Kino

>>11565058
The soft rubber ghosts had a very distinct smell to them.

I still have my original vinyl Stay Puft with my kaiju figures. Also the spring trap ghosts were pretty fun.

>>11565597
>NTA and I haven't watched Jurassic Park but I have read the book

The movie is definitely worth watching. Don't know how people still haven't seen it today. I've read both the book and the movie, and the book definitely had twinges of horror mixed in with the Sci-Fi. Movie also changes some things so different characters live and die. The irony is, the series as a whole basically becomes exactly what the series warns against; A franchise that just becomes a money-making cash cow with zero regard toward anything.

I thought The Lost World was ok, but I was probably like 14 or 15 when it came out, and at that point I just thought it was cool seeing another JP movie. Jurassic World had the intriguing concept of "What if the park actually got up and running for years before everything came crashing down?"

But then the movies go absolutely pants-on-head retarded after that with literal mutant dinosaurs, cross bred dinos, shady business men wanting to sell the dinos to the military, literal fucking black market scenes where evil henchmen are bidding on dinosaurs in an actual Resident Evil mansion, a human clone who has some dino DNA, a 'member berries movie where we mash the cast from the first three movies with the cast from the Jurassic World movies.

And that's not even bothering with whatever the most recent one was doing...

>>11566397
>A franchise that just becomes a money-making cash cow with zero regard toward anything.
I was legitimately excited for the JW movie that was supposed to take place when Dinosaurs now roam free across the world, only to be sent back to the park to investigate Prehistoric bugs. Because of that disappointment, I didn't watch the newest film.

On topic, my favorite franchise that's stood the test of time over the years is TMNT. Though I did skip the Rise and Mutant Mayhem toylines, I recently picked up a few at ROSS. The design of the new Metalhead is super cute, and while I don't love the new turtle designs, the figures do pose much better than the 2012 figures. Look at this little psychopath.

>>11565352
no it doesn't

>>11566663
Yes it does.

>>11566663
>>11566687
I agree that that unique stories point is wrong. There are toys much better. Videogames are more flashy and give you something that simulates play partners.

>>11563894
this whole board is filthy with instashills, sister

I'd say the 90's were better for kids toys. A lot of the main 80's lines are cool, but easily eclipsed by Like Dino Riders is cool, conceptually, but as much as I love Charles Knight dinos Jurassic Park was a much better line for dino sculpts.
The best 80's stuff is the stuff that didn't sell that well and got neglected by actual 80's kids. Stuff like Godaikin or Spiral Zone that was impressive and ahead of it's time.

>>11564896
>Fucking articulation is not an action feature

Hey man, I need articulation for the 80 $130 anime figures im going to stand side by side on a $50 walmart shelf made from particle board. I need to know if can bend those ankles. I just do. And I will shit up every thread and every conversation to complain when walmart toys that cost below $30 are lacking any and all articulation

>>11567062
You miss out

>>11564463
But they do mention them. MOTU in particular was a plot point in season 2.

>>11563859 (OP)
Yes it was.
I’m really glad I was born in 1978.
Early 90s were kino too.

>>11564659
Haha he missed Blackstar. What an idiot.