• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Generation X Discussion (Born 1965–1979) - We actually played with toys!

B

Brandson

Member
Born in 1980, I had a lot of the toys in this thread, including a lot that I had totally forgotten about. Peak toy nirvana for me was MASK and Starcom:

IMG_9661.JPG
Click to expand...

My parents kept most of my old toys, and I've been slowly giving them to my kids. We have the large white spaceship in this pic on our kitchen table right now. My kids are obsessed with it.

My older brother used to have a Starcom mini-pinball game but sold it at a garage sale years ago. Wish we still had that too.

il_570xN.680315806_pg4w.jpg
Click to expand...
 
I

Ignatz Mouse

Banned
Henchmen21 said:
I don't think I've ever seen the Baksi LoTR but I saw The Hobbit and from what I've heard, Hobbit fairs better in presentation.

Speaking of, I'm still waiting on Netflix to put up Flight of Dragons. They've had Last Unicorn on for a long while but no FoD
Click to expand...

The Bakshi movie is trippy and too much Bakshi and not enough Tolkien.

Wizards, which is similar, is better since it is an original work and doesn't feel like two things forced together.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Moving on to non-merch or media related stuff, I think if you can recall using the yellow pages and white pages regularly for the majority of your teenager/young adult years to get various errands or projects done, there's a good chance you're in the Gen X or older crowd.

Either that or in a place with very very little internet access.
 
W

Warm Machine

Member
shawnbuddy said:
I'm sorry, but the original Jetfire was the ultimate toy.

ku-xlarge.jpg


What's this about Millennials not playing with toys? They didn't do butt stuff with them, did they? Seems like everything with Millennials is butt stuff.
Click to expand...

I had this. My mom bought it at Toys R Us in West Edmonton Mall in 85? A few years later I finally saw Robotech and realized that Transformers licensed the design. I now own an actual Japanese Macross version from the era but no longer have the Transformers one.

Many of the toys here I owned or my friends did. No one had the G.I. Joe aircraft carrier.

I remember playing Rush'n Attack at the arcade then using my GI Joe figs to play it at home.

I was born in 74.
 
M

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
This thread is vaguely depressing in how... gendered it is. As a female Gen Xer I remember very well most of those toys, but never really played with them -- my brothers did. Transformers, GI Joe, Ninja Turtles, Star Wars legos, etc. were all my brothers' stuff. I did watch 80's action movies "for boys" though, because I was a tomboy. I was gifted dolls and shit, but hated them, so that didn't last. I got a lot of plush toys though, those I did like.

My childhood-defining media were:

> mainstream European comics (Smurfs, Yakari, Astérix, Tintin)
> 80's action and/or comedy movies (most of which I saw dubbed in French): Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Aliens, Conan, Willow, Beverly Hills Cop, Golden Child, Coming to America, etc.
> Sega Master System and Sega Genesis games (we never had an NES though a neighbour did, I played Mario there when I was 5 lol)
> Carebear and similar plushies

Pre-teen and teenage years:

> Guns N Roses and Metallica were my gateway rock/metal bands, followed by Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and King Diamond
> Early 90's movies: Silence of the Lambs (I remember my parents forbidding me from watching it since they thought it'd be too dark and disturbing for my age -- they were right, lol, I saw it a bit later), Dances With Wolves, Waterworld, Home Alone, Terminator 2, Groundhog Day, Jurassic Park, Braveheart,
> Late SNES/Genesis games, early Saturn and PS1 games
> Gamebooks like Fighting Fantasy, Lonewolf:
_77075565_fighting-fantasy.jpg


By the time Pokémon got super popular, I was already too old and didn't care for it. My slightly younger millennial friends rave about it all the time and I'm like "meh whatever" haha.

Media said:
I am neither a gen xer or millennial. Us 82's are a forgotten generation
😢
Click to expand...
Right? Though I'm pretty sure I'm closer to Gen X than millennial myself, probably due to having 2 older Gen X siblings. I remember very well:

> Dissolution of the USSR
> Kurt Cobain's suicide, grunge music
> Simpsons since season 1
> MTV (and MusiquePlus here in Québec)
> Pre-internet era
> VHS and cassette tapes
> Clinton years (even as a Canadian)
> 80's cartoons and toys (see above)
> 80's and early 90's movies (see above)
> "Safari" animal cards (had them in French), these things:
ob_dd083f_d5daa9e42328f29eeb0cc7d374af0089ac4d4d.jpg


Can't relate to:
> Avocado toasts (seriously, what the fuck is this?)
> Pokémon, Digimon, DBZ and other popular kids' anime
> Disney animated movies (never even seen Lion King, don't care)
> Troll dolls (hated them, so ugly -- might be more gen X than millennial though?)
> Furbys
> Whatever the fuck it is Millennials grew up with, for most of that shit I was already too old to enjoy it
 
Pejo

Pejo

Member
XiaNaphryz said:
Moving on to non-merch or media related stuff, I think if you can recall using the yellow pages and white pages regularly for the majority of your teenager/young adult years to get various errands or projects done, there's a good chance you're in the Gen X or older crowd.

Either that or in a place with very very little internet access.
Click to expand...

Good point.

Also, how about using an atlas for road trips out of your immediate area. That whole process is gone now. My friends and I always had one of those big ass things under the seat just in case.
 
T

Travo

Member
Warm Machine, I had the GI Joe Aircraft Carrier. At over seven feet long, it took up a big part of my little room.
 
N

Nista

Member
Morrigan Stark said:
This thread is vaguely depressing in how... gendered it is. As a female Gen Xer I remember very well most of those toys, but never really played with them -- my brothers did. Transformers, GI Joe, Ninja Turtles, Star Wars legos, etc. were all my brothers' stuff. I did watch 80's action movies "for boys" though, because I was a tomboy. I was gifted dolls and shit, but hated them, so that didn't last. I got a lot of plush toys though, those I did like.
Click to expand...

To be fair, there's not quite as many of us women in this age group around here. I kind of fall in between these groups as toys go, since I was an only child, and my male cousins were closest to my age range. I loved Transformers and MASK vehicle toys, but I had 0 interest in GI Joe or other military themed toys. I also had tons of stuffed animals and other fantasy animal toys too, which is why I liked Battle Beasts and early Pokemon.

Unlike some other people in here, I used my Construx, Capsela and Legos to build all sorts of crazy buildings and fortresses for my smaller pets. Never anything violent really.

There's a real difference between what I remember from childhood and what my slightly older SO does, because of the US vs Europe divide. He has almost no console gaming memories, especially of the NES/Genesis era. Much more of a computer gaming focus over there in Germany in the 80s I suppose. Nor does he understand why I like watching old US game shows, cause I doubt those made it over back then.


Does anyone remember using AAA TripTiks for family roadtrips? It was totally google maps directions for the olden days, but prepared by an actual human being and assembled for you. My Mom swore by those things when we'd go down to Florida or Texas.
 
T

teruterubozu

Member
Nista said:
Does anyone remember using AAA TripTiks for family roadtrips? It was totally google maps directions for the olden days, but prepared by an actual human being and assembled for you. My Mom swore by those things when we'd go down to Florida or Texas.
Click to expand...

On the West Coast it was all about the Thomas Guide.

8opCN4Q.jpg
 
Guileless

Guileless

Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
Walter White Walker said:
And then of course:

Super_Friends.jpg
Click to expand...

Superfriends came on really early in my area. I got up before everyone in the house and went downstairs to watch it. If you didn't wake up by 7 am one Saturday, you were fucked. No Superfriends for you until next week. That's the way it was, and we liked it.
 
G

GDGF

Soothsayer
DarkJediKnight said:
Dinoriders_Brontosaurus.gif


Anyone remember these? They were super expensive but man they were detailed and was really cool to play with.
Click to expand...

Dino Riders? Never had any of the toys but I had the cartoon on VHS.

Since we're on the subject, anybody remember the name of the toy line with futuristic guys that used cables to climb mountains and fight other futuristic guys?
 
A

Aske

Member
XiaNaphryz said:
Moving on to non-merch or media related stuff, I think if you can recall using the yellow pages and white pages regularly for the majority of your teenager/young adult years to get various errands or projects done, there's a good chance you're in the Gen X or older crowd.

Either that or in a place with very very little internet access.
Click to expand...

I'm trying to remember when I made the transition. Definitely used the yellow pages (and rotary phones) when I was very young, and there was a significant period when the info was online, but it was easier to grab the book because online was in the computer room upstairs, and we didn't have the internet in our pockets.


Nista said:
Does anyone remember using AAA TripTiks for family roadtrips? It was totally google maps directions for the olden days, but prepared by an actual human being and assembled for you. My Mom swore by those things when we'd go down to Florida or Texas.
Click to expand...

I did this on a road trip less than ten years ago due to lack of cellphone data, and I think GPS used to be a subscription service when you had to buy the devices to mount in your car. In fairness the CAA TripTiks weren't my idea (I'd have just used a map), but having directions printed out for free were pretty useful, and I'd never have bothered wasting expensive printer ink doing it myself back then.
 
K

KernelPanic

Member
I'm from '77 so kind of the tail end

Non-merchandise/media memories:

- have to use TV Guide to see what's on. No OSG or internet
- Using a VCR. This meant manually tuning the JVC VCR to channels. Had to check TV Guide and then turn the dial until I saw that show come on, then I could tape something on that channel later(more challenging if multiple channels showing same program)
- dialup modem for internet. Not fun when someone picks up phone at 99%
- real computer upgrades, these days people go apeshit for 5FPS increase. Try going from monochrome to EGA to VGA Lol. Adding an AdLib or Soundblaster was the bomb of all upgrades.
- acid/stone washed jeans
- 80s music. Still the best!
- home phone with a cord.
- 80s cars. K-car!!! Leaded gasoline was once an option(ever almost fill your unleaded car with it?).

Probably a lot more if I try harder.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
KernelPanic said:
- 80s cars. K-car!!! Leaded gasoline was once an option(ever almost fill your unleaded car with it?).
Click to expand...

I remember gas stations in California offering various octane options for leaded and unleaded, some offering diesel, and on top of that a choice of full-service or self-service.

Also wandering around in the backseat of the car while it's in motion, or parents holding babies in the front seat, because seat belts and car seats weren't required yet.
 
F

FuriousOne

Member
Great thread fam! I had tons of the cool toys in the thread, primarily GI Joe. Also had tons of Transformers, HeMan, Mask, Micro Machines and the like. What about some of the more obscure lines? Visionaries, Flying Fighters, Sectaurs, Mega Force, I could go on and on....
 
B

Brandson

Member
Morrigan Stark said:
My childhood-defining media were:

> mainstream European comics (Smurfs, Yakari, Astérix, Tintin)
Click to expand...

Also from Canada here, I've kept a box of Usagi Yojimbo, Tintin, Asterix, and Spirou et Fantasio books ready for my kids to read whenever they're ready, some in English, some French. We used to always pickup a French book when visiting grandparents in Montreal every summer growing up.
 
G

Goofalo

Member
I rather enjoyed that 3'5" figures became a standard.

How else was Snake Eyes supposed to jump in an X-Wing to defeat (evil) Rambo in a Fisher Price Alpha Probe with Sound Effects?

The youngs, they have no idea what they were missing.
 
S

shawnbuddy

Member
Morrigan Stark said:
> Gamebooks like Fighting Fantasy, Lonewolf:
_77075565_fighting-fantasy.jpg
Click to expand...

I used to really enjoy game books. Just the thing if you're a wannabe D&D nerd but don't have any nerdy friends.

I was all over Choose Your Own Adventure and Find Your Fate, too. I was all over any book, really, but as a gamer I was fascinated by the interactive element.

Someone also mentioned the TV Guide. I used to sit and read it. I've never been more informed about TV than I was then, even if it was about stuff I'd never watch.
 
G

GDGF

Soothsayer
shawnbuddy said:
I used to really enjoy game books. Just the thing if you're a wannabe D&D nerd but don't have any nerdy friends.
Click to expand...

Came across a D&D rulebook for the first time in 1986. No one wanted to play so I wrote my own single player adventures and came up with a simplified ruleset that used a D6 for encounters and mixed it up with a choose your own adventure style.

And then I found Lone wolf and got lazy lol

And thanks! That's the one!
 
E

Earthbound64

Banned
heavy liquid said:
I grew up watching the original Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films on VHS countless times.

Hobbit+77+Bilbo+finds+the+Ring.jpg


gollum_1980.jpg
Click to expand...

Those movies are amazing. I watched them so many times.


XiaNaphryz said:
Moving on to non-merch or media related stuff, I think if you can recall using the yellow pages and white pages regularly for the majority of your teenager/young adult years to get various errands or projects done, there's a good chance you're in the Gen X or older crowd.
Click to expand...

All the time. I still keep the phonebook when it comes around just out of habit.

Pejo said:
Also, how about using an atlas for road trips out of your immediate area. That whole process is gone now. My friends and I always had one of those big ass things under the seat just in case.
Click to expand...

F*** road atlases. I hated those things.
My ex still liked using them up into the early 2000s. I finally had enough of it and got her a GPS. Road atlases are one thing that I definitely don't miss.
 
R

Realyst

Member
KernelPanic said:
I'm from '77 so kind of the tail end

Non-merchandise/media memories:

- have to use TV Guide to see what's on. No OSG or internet
- Using a VCR. This meant manually tuning the JVC VCR to channels. Had to check TV Guide and then turn the dial until I saw that show come on, then I could tape something on that channel later(more challenging if multiple channels showing same program)
- dialup modem for internet. Not fun when someone picks up phone at 99%
- real computer upgrades, these days people go apeshit for 5FPS increase. Try going from monochrome to EGA to VGA Lol. Adding an AdLib or Soundblaster was the bomb of all upgrades.
- acid/stone washed jeans
- 80s music. Still the best!
- home phone with a cord.
- 80s cars. K-car!!! Leaded gasoline was once an option(ever almost fill your unleaded car with it?).

Probably a lot more if I try harder.
Click to expand...

For some reason, this reminded me of having to use the Prevue Channel (later TV Guide channel) in the US to figure out what's coming on.

Imagine trying to figure out what's coming on Nickelodeon channel 22 in the next 90 minutes, so you turn to this channel. The top of the scroller reads 23, so you have to wait like 5 minutes on the next scroll cycle to make it back to 22. Then, you goof off longer than you intended, and miss the channel again! Sheer torture.
 
E

Earthbound64

Banned
Realyst said:
For some reason, this reminded me of having to use the Prevue Channel (later TV Guide channel) in the US to figure out what's coming on.

Imagine trying to figure out what's coming on Nickelodeon channel 22 in the next 90 minutes, so you turn to this channel. The top of the scroller reads 23, so you have to wait like 5 minutes on the next scroll cycle to make it back to 22. Then, you goof off longer than you intended, and miss the channel again! Sheer torture.
Click to expand...

That was the worst.

Also, when we got cable (after we moved past the UHF/VHF days), there were only 36 channels (well, 35, 2-36), and I still remember some of them.
4: CNN
15: Local Access
17: NESN (regional sports network - was a pay station)
18-19: HBO or other pay stations
20-21: Religious stations (EWTN and something else)
22: Cartoon Network (when that finally came out)
25: Nickelodeon
28: ESPN
29: ESPN2
36: TLC

I could probably guess at a few others of them too.
And then CourtTV and the Food Network and such came along and it seemed like the total channel number just exploded after that.
 
B

bionic77

Member
MTV was actually a big fucking deal and we all watched it pretty much everyday.

Rock bands were ridiculously famous and popular. To the point where we would buy magazines to read stupid shit about their lives. Music was incredibly important back then in a way it is not anymore, where these days it feels disposable and cheap (not speaking to the quality of music, more so to the importance of music culturally). That may be why music was IMO better in those days.

Random titties in any comedy. People were thirsty as fuck pre-internet so to assuage the intense thirst they would just throw in random titties in a ton of movies. Other than the titties being fine it rarely made sense or had anything to do with the movie.
 
E

Earthbound64

Banned
GreenMonkey said:
DarkJediKnight said:
tiger---handheld-game----ninja-gaiden-p-image-291238-grande.jpg


I had this one. Took it to school and played during recess.
Click to expand...
I was a poor kid who didn't have money for anything. Those Milton LCD games were as close to portable gaming as I ever got.

Fuck every one of those damn LCD games. They were so bad, but I played a lot of hours of them.
Click to expand...

Their main issue was the fact that they pale in comparison with the games they were "based on."
Taken on their own, they weren't that bad.

I remember I had a racing game (don't think it was a Tiger one, think it was another brand - and it was a vertical orientation) which was actually really fun for score challenges.
 
G

GreenMonkey

Member
Morrigan Stark said:
This thread is vaguely depressing in how... gendered it is. As a female Gen Xer I remember very well most of those toys, but never really played with them -- my brothers did. Transformers, GI Joe, Ninja Turtles, Star Wars legos, etc. were all my brothers' stuff. I did watch 80's action movies "for boys" though, because I was a tomboy. I was gifted dolls and shit, but hated them, so that didn't last. I got a lot of plush toys though, those I did like.

My childhood-defining media were:
...
> Late SNES/Genesis games, early Saturn and PS1 games
> Gamebooks like Fighting Fantasy, Lonewolf:
_77075565_fighting-fantasy.jpg
Click to expand...

This is a gaming site, and gaming was more likely to be seen as a boys-type activity in the 80s/90s. My wife is a gamer of sorts, a rarity I find for folks our age (both born in '79). But even then, she is a very casual gamer, having only ever beaten one game (Jak & Daxter). She grew up playing C64 games and NES (and a Genesis).

She has played hundreds of hours of Animal Crossing and the Sims and Stardew Valley though.

Gaming definitely brought in more girls in the past decade or two.

You mention Lone Wolf, they have been ported really well to Android (look for Lone Wolf Saga on the play store). Pretty fun.
 
T

Teggy

Member
One of my absolute favorite memories from the 80s was watching the Saturday morning cartoon preview shows they would put on in prime time. All the networks had them and they would reveal all the new shows. It was sort of like E3, but for kids cartoons.


By the way, if you feel like you don't fit in, that's ok, you have your own generation, xennials
 
C

CosmicQueso

Member
Late 80's, me and my buddy were teenagers, working the line at a pizza place, working every Friday and Saturday night from 5pm to 1am. We'd blare appetite for destruction while we cleaned and closed the shop, walk back to one of our houses with a pizza, then watch Wally George and after that stare at the scrambled spice channel until 4 or 5 am.
 
H

Henchmen21

Banned
bionic77 said:
MTV was actually a big fucking deal and we all watched it pretty much everyday.

Rock bands were ridiculously famous and popular. To the point where we would buy magazines to read stupid shit about their lives. Music was incredibly important back then in a way it is not anymore, where these days it feels disposable and cheap (not speaking to the quality of music, more so to the importance of music culturally). That may be why music was IMO better in those days.

Random titties in any comedy. People were thirsty as fuck pre-internet so to assuage the intense thirst they would just throw in random titties in a ton of movies. Other than the titties being fine it rarely made sense or had anything to do with the movie.
Click to expand...

We actually know what the "M" in "MTV" stood for too.
 
G

Gen X

Trust no one. Eat steaks.
Looking through this thread it's interesting to see the toys that played a massive part in your childhood. I missed the Transformers and He Man times, those cartoons were never accessible for me, I grew up with things like Inspector Gadget, Astroboy, Battle of the Planets, Starblazers, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Lucky Luke.... and even then there was no merchandise available associated with those. Also Saturday Morning Cartoons didn't exist. I only experienced it once passing g through Australia in 1981. A vast majority of my toys were Lego, I was into it big time which my parents encouraged especially as I was an only child too.

Mihos said:
I had a lot of AFX slot race track stuff. I think my mom would get them by the bagfull from yard sales. Half of them would be broken, but I mixed and matched my way through it
Click to expand...

I got one one year that had a massive cardboard bridge, some plastic barrels, a truck and trailer and a police car with flashing lights, I think it was called Police, Stop!
 
M

Mascot

Member
Late 60's child here so Gen X to my core. Random memories from growing up that could be alien to Millennials:

  • Rain coats with fabric that didn't keep you dry, just slightly delayed you getting wet.
  • Teachers hitting and choking kids at will; getting caned for trivial things.
  • Disappearing all day with friends on random adventures.
  • Carrying knives everywhere.
  • Teachers smoking in class. Doctors smoking in their surgery.
  • Paedophiles were just 'dirty old men' to be wary of, almost treated like figures of fun.
  • Dogs running wild and fucking in the streets; white dog shit on the pavements.
  • Uncomfortable badly-fitting generic-label clothes made from horrible synthetic fabrics.
  • Not having a TV or means of playing music in my bedroom until I was 14.
  • The amazement at seeing my first Walkman.
  • Shoplifting Playpeople and Britain's military figurines.
  • The thrill and anticipation of cycling down to the newsagents on a Saturday morning to pick up Monster Fun or 2000AD.
  • Getting 20p a week pocket money.
  • Mowing the grass with a push mower.
  • Single-glazed windows with condensation on the inside, and ice forming around internal seals in the winter.
  • The smell of chip fat permeating the whole house.
  • Houses, furniture, curtains, everything smelling of cigarette smoke because everyone's parents just smoked indoors.
  • Mass street battles with dustbin-lid shields and wooden swords.
  • Stealing supermarket trolleys and chopping then down to make deathtrap street luges.
  • Knocking on people's doors and running away.
  • Walking to school in all weathers, and the smell of damp kids in winter classrooms.
  • The amazement at playing Space Invaders for the first time.
  • Using encyclopedias for school projects. Actual books.
  • The rock-hard peas in Vesta freeze-dried curries.
  • Three television channels with no recording facilities.
  • Swapping copied Spectum games on audiocassette with school friends, and that one kid who had proper tape-to-tape dubbing on his dad's Amstrad tower stereo.
  • Having to wait and hope that your favourite song came on the radio.

I could go on.
 
T

TheSecondSpitter

Member
Mascot said:
Late 60's child here so Gen X to my core. Random memories from growing up that could be alien to Millennials:

  • Paedophiles were just 'dirty old men' to be wary of, almost treated like figures of fun.

I could go on.
Click to expand...

No offense, man, but this is total horseshit and you don't want to go there. E.g a bunch of Generation X British Footballers were sexually abused and it was only revealed now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_football_sexual_abuse_scandal
 
S

saturnine

Member
A question for you gen xers :
I'm looking for the name of an animated movie. SF, something about a space crew being stranded on a planet (I think) and them separating into two sides and turning/getting turned into vehicles/mechs?

Had it on a VHS, half recorded over, and I have glimpses of it in my mind but I can't remember what it actually was. Been bothering me for years.
 
M

Mascot

Member
TheSecondSpitter said:
No offense, man, but this is total horseshit and you don't want to go there. E.g a bunch of Generation X British Footballers were sexually abused and it was only revealed now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_football_sexual_abuse_scandal
Click to expand...

What are you on about? This is how paedophiles were seen in the 1970s in the UK, as 'dirty old men'. It wasn't treated seriously at the time. That's why so many of them got away with it for so long. Your example actually reinforces my point.

Don't try and twist what I said into something it isn't. I think you've got the wrong end of the stick here, man.

And saying what I wrote is 'horseshit' after saying 'no offence' is still bloody offensive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Why are younger generations embracing the retro game revival? [Guardian]
2 3
120
4K
Guilty_AI replied
Gen Z, Generation Alpha, & 10th Gen Gaming - What is a "video game" to them?
Social Opinion
31
2K
CLW replied
  • Poll
Why Xbox Abandoning The Traditional Console Business Model, Makes Business Sense
Business Analysis Platform 2
72
5K
WitchHunter replied
Phil Spencer interview - Says that their intent is for all Xbox games, including Call of Duty, to be available on Xbox Game Pass Day One
2 3
102
6K
Kenneth Haight replied
  • Poll
SONY/SIE: The Balance Of Chasing Margins, Multiplat Expansion, And Maximizing The Console
Opinion Business Analysis 2 3
101
6K
vaibhavpisal replied
Top Bottom