If you're a child of the 80's, chances are high you spent a fair amount of time thumbing through the annual Christmas catalog from major retail chains like JC Penny, Sears and Montgomery Ward. I know I did. These tomes seemed to have it all. A virtual shopping excursion without the aid of the internet. In fact, what was the internet? It was part torture, part dream list, and come Christmas morning, hopefully a reality.
Of course, as a child, I didn't have a job or weekly allowance. As such, my source of income was, as you could say, nonexistent. If I wanted something, it either had to materialize out of thin air, which never happened, or I had to receive it for my birthday, Christmas or the off chance mom was feeling like buying toys on a random day.
To help my parents identify the toys I was interested in, I had an annual tradition. Naturally, at a young age, I wouldn't have called it that, but in my adult years, I can easily identify it as a reoccurring custom I partook in. With pen in hand, I would fold open the pages of these massive five to six hundred page shopping sprees and begin to circle. If my young mind rationalized that I needed it, I circled it.
Being a young child,
my mind was set on toys. It blew my mind seeing them all sprawled out on page after page. Action figures, video games, vehicles and the highly coveted playsets. You know the ones. They stood almost as tall as you, took up half, or more, of one page, sometimes two, and sent your imagination into orbit just staring at the photograph. It was always the largest wrapped box under the tree, and with so many to choose from, the greatest mystery of the holiday season. Did you get Castle Grayskull? The Ewok Village? Or was this year the one where you would be the luckiest kid on your school bus and get the U.S.S. Flagg?
Today, I thought I would comb through a decade worth of catalogs and put together a compilation of playsets from the 80's. No specific line. Just a mass assortment from ten years worth of toys. Sound exciting? I hope so, because here we go.
1980
It was interesting to see just how limited the toy lines were in 1980. Most of the playsets to be found seemed to revolve around Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. However, if you dug deep enough, it wasn't the only option.
Honestly, I'm not sure if these three Mego playsets came out in 1980, or if they were actually released in 1979. All I can say off the top of my head is that they were in the 1980's JC Penny winter catalog.
The Real West was actually an extension of the short live Butch And Sundance: The Early Days toy line from Kenner. It was launched in 1979, and was intended to be a tie in to the movie of the same name. Unfortunately, when the film tanked, Kenner repositioned the line to become The Real West. Despite several figures being planned, it was essentially decided that the idea would be scrapped. However, before it was, the Western Cafe was released. If its design looks familiar, that's because it's a retooled Creature Cantina from the companies original Star Wars line.
1981
More Empire Strikes Back playsets were available in 1981. However, what really intrigued me about this year was how many different large toys were available for young girls.
Now, as I'm sure you know, Barbie had a plethora of playsets every year for decades. Unfortunately, I ran into a problem with these. Why? Because they're incredibly hard to find in their boxes. It's because of this, I wasn't able to include staples from that line like Barbie's Dream House. There are a few Barbie toys within this post. But on the same hand, I didn't want to overrun this post with them. Let's face it, Barbie's playsets could fill up numerous posts on their own. There's so many of them!
The Ocean Queen from Glamour Gals was a playset my sister wanted as a kid, but our parents never got it for her. Despite my lack of personal interest in it, I have to admit, it's pretty impressive. Three feet long and riddled with various theme based compartments to play in. It's pretty awesome.
Did little girls watch The Love Boat? I'm asking seriously. I thought this was a show for adults.
1982
It's interesting how G.I. Joe's first playset was nothing more than a cardboard cutout with no figures included. I suppose for 1982 it was on par with a lot of cheaper playsets out there, but considering they would soon raise the bar to inconceivable levels, it's just kind of funny to see this flimsy cheap thing.
One of the few playsets I had as a kid was Castle Grayskull. It's interesting how as a kid your imagination runs wild with adventures. However, as an adult you look at it and say, "That's a really simplistic design." Don't get me wrong, it's a great toy, it's just different from the perspective of a grown up.
There were actually three Magic Talk Smurf playsets released in 1982. Unfortunately, Smurfette's House and Papa Smurf's Lab are difficult to find. As such, I've only opted to include the Smurf Village.
M*A*S*H was not a show I was watching as a kid. In fact, I didn't know any kids who did. Ultimately, this would have been a great playset to incorporate with mini green and / or tan army men.
Annie may have been a classic film, but I had no clue this toy line existed until creating my post on the line several years ago. With the exception of Barbie, it's one of the few girl lines from the year.
1983
1983 feels like the year the bubble was beginning to grow. There were so many different toy lines and playsets available this year, both for boys and girls. If nothing else, it has a ton of variety. Being the year of the final film in the Star Wars Trilogy, it was also heavily padded with Return of the Jedi toys.
While lines such as Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, A-Team, The Saga of Crystar and Rainbow Brite are iconic to the 80's, it's fascinating just how short lived their lifespans were. Here today, gone tomorrow.
My Little Pony didn't fool around when it came to their playsets. These boxes, or large cubes, were massive! They'd easily stand toe to toe in volume next to any boy's toy of the day.
For how big the Strawberry Shortcake line evolved into, it's interesting that this is one of the very few actual playsets. Kenner mainly focused on figures and accessories / furniture to fill the Berry Happy Home. Of course, you had to have it first to do so.
1984
Yeah, I know, The Jabba The Hutt Dungeon was also above in 1983. However, look closely. It's different. Not only is it a different color, but it also includes figures from the Power of the Force line.
It's interesting how Star Wars never had a line of toys intended for kids until the 1984 Wicket The Ewok line from Kenner Preschool. I remember my parent's giving this to me for Christmas, which in hindsight is kind of insulting. I was way too old for preschool toys in 1984.
As much as I wanted Snake Mountain as a kid, my mom was having no parts of it. As I sit here and think about it, I can't help but wonder if part of the turn off for my mom was that she is deathly afraid of snakes. I'm talking so scared she doesn't even mess with plastic ones like you'd find at the zoo gift shop.
For as much as I eventually grew to enjoy comic books, it's interesting to look back and see how I had zero interest in the Super Powers or Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars lines.
Another massive playset from My Little Pony ensured girls toys weren't counted out for the holiday season.
1984 wraps up with some of the more difficult playsets to find mint in the box these days.
1985
With one single toy, Hasbro announced in 1985 that it had officially won Christmas. Granted, not many of us actually owned the U.S.S. Flagg as kids. Based on its sheer size, not many of us own one as an adult either. I know offloading mine has proved to be challenging. People want it, they just don't feasibly have the real estate to display it.
Does Omega Supreme really qualify as a playset? I'm on the fence, but I really wanted to include something from the Transformers line in this post.
I've tried watching MASK on DVD in my latter years. It's pretty bad. Still, I appreciate this toy line. Mainly because it was one my brother actively collected and played with. He actually had Boulder Hill for a long time, among other toys from the line, before randomly throwing them all out.
The first official Barbie toy posted in this thread, and for good reason. Barbie and the Rockers was only produced when Mattel caught wind that Hasbro was producing a line of dolls based on a fictional rock band. Mattel pushed their persona of Barbie out as quickly as possible, and when Jem and the Holograms came out shortly after, they were deemed a knock off of Barbie and the Rockers. Shrewd play, Mattel.
You won't find Blanch and Rose hanging out at the Palace of Gems. Instead, Golden Girl was a short lived toy line from Galoob which felt like part She-Ra knock off, but part dress up and fashion play.
1986
1986 was the center of the bubble of playsets. It's the year that appears to have seen the most variety and volume of them since the growth began in 1984. Unfortunately, toys in general were starting to lose ground fast to the Ninendo Entertainment System.
Eternia was Mattel's answer to Hasbro's U.S.S. Flagg. What the Flagg had in real estate horizontally, Eternia made up for vertically. Okay, so it wasn't eight feet tall, but it was massive. It remains one of the most expensive playsets on the secondary market these days.
LJN didn't release many playsets for its Thundercats line. However, the ones they did weren't to be shunned. Cat's Lair not only was hearty in size, but also featured laser light shooting action.
Bravestarr may have been a short lived toy line. However, there's no denying the extra price the figures cost, which probably contributed greatly to their downfall, equated to really high quality toys. It's a shame this line seems forgotten by a lot of collectors.
Real or Filmation? What's your Ghostbusters pleasure? Regardless, 1986 had you covered in both departments. Unfortunately, it also meant a lot of kids who wanted the Real Ghost Busters Fire Station in 1986 unexpectedly ended up with Filmation's Ghost Command, due to parents who didn't know any better to tell the difference. Well, can't fault them for trying.
While I don't make it a habit to collect girl's toys. I will admit, if I did, Jem and the Holograms would be one I could get into. Between the dolls, their rock gear accessories and playsets like the Star Stage, it's a pretty solid looking line.
One of my favorite "random" toy lines from the 80's. Remco's Karate Kids is a fantastic series of toys. Despite this, I never actually owned any of the playsets. Just the figures.
And if I did own any of the playsets, I would have been ticked off about this one. The Competition Center is nothing more than a cardboard box with an orange cloth wrapped around it. Okay, so it has the logo of the tournament on it, but still. Do you believe people are paying upwards of $100.00 for this today?
1987
1987 seems like it was the last big push by toy companies to release massive playsets in abundance. G.I. Joe finished strong with the Space Shuttle Defiant and Mobile Command Center. While Transformers struck hard with Fortress Maximus.
The relatively short lived Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future delivered fun and laser features with its Power Base. The line had a really awesome premise behind it. However, even though it incorporated shooting laser lights at the television, Duck Hunt was just more fun - Even in 1987.
The Karate Kid line flung out not one, not two, but three new playsets in its second and final series.
1988
Then 1988 hit and playsets seemed to disappear overnight. It felt like pre 1984 all over again. Pickings were slim, with Barbie being the only major toy line to have anything.
Sure, you could find one-off playsets, such as Pee-Wee's Playhouse, or the Sears Exclusive, Disney Magic. However, beyond that, vehicles really seemed to take center stage. Probably because they were cheaper to make, more friendly on the wallet and available in numerous sizes, only equating more to the numerous price points.
1989
Despite continued limited options, in terms of volume, there were some good playsets to be found in the final year of the decade. Most notable were the Sewer Playset from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Batcave from the 1989 Batman film toy line tie in.
A diamond in the rough was the forgotten Police Academy, The Precinct, which was released to coincide with the animated series of toys. At a glance, it could easily be mistaken as a repaint of The Real Ghostbusters Fire House, but it's not. While I'm sure some parts are recycled, for the most part it seems all new. It also features an extended partition, making it slightly larger in length. Design wise, it would easily fit in with the firehouse.
The year was wrapped up with a few more playsets from lines which came and went in the blink of an eye. The easily forgotten Computer Warriors, and "cult classic" Dixie's Diner. I call it a cult classic because, while not many people seem to remember it, it has a strong following of collectors.
And there you have it. My decade long look at some of the playsets from the 80's. Did I miss any that were your all time favorites? Are there some glaring omissions? Please let me know int he comment section.
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Seriously, if you want to see how idiotic salaries of celebrities have gotten, just look at Marvel's Endgame. Of the three hundred sixty-five million dollar budget, I've calculated approximately one hundred twenty million went to salaries of the forty-nine actors listed as the cast. That's roughly thirty-three percent of the budget. Why does Robert Downey Jr. need fifty million dollars to play Iron Man? Or the other high end actors need fifteen million each? That's ridiculous, and mind you, it's before their profit sharing portions get slapped on top.
