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:
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.
I am neither a gen xer or millennial. Us 82's are a forgotten generation
😢
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:
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