• 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!

H

Henchmen21

Banned
That's the weird thing too. I thought generations were supposed to span 18yrs at least. So baby boomers would start at '46 and end at '64 which would mean Gen X would start at '65 and end at '83 making millennial's start at '84
 
I

itwasTuesday

He wasn't alone.
Stop playing with your toys. It's time to go to bed.
9pSiNZq.png

signing off
 
K

kswiston

Member
opticalmace said:
Gen X is 1979? Interesting.

What would I be? Born 1984.
Click to expand...

Millenial.

Generations are not some sort of hard social boundary though. I was born in 1982, which is a pretty common start to the millennial generation. I share more in common to late gen Xers than I do to late Millennials (who were getting potty trained when I started college). Just like late Gen Xers don't share as much in common with someone born in 1965.
 
E

Earthbound64

Banned
kswiston said:
I was born in 1982, which is a pretty common start to the millennial generation. I share more in common to late gen Xers than I do to late Millennials (who were getting potty trained when I started college).
Click to expand...

Seriously, I'm old enough to be a bunch of their parents.
 
L

lightskintwin

Banned
We actually played outside as kids... all the time, went and adventured in the woods, riding all bikes all through the area. Parents didn't worry, and just told us to be home before dark.

Walking to the convenient store as a kid and buying my Mom's cigarettes because the store clerk would accept a handwritten note by her. LOL
 
U

UraMallas

Member
I was born in 82 and I remember most of the toys in this thread as things I got as hand-me-downs from older cousins and from thrift stores. My world was TMNT pizza throwing vans and Power Rangers. My Legos were pirates and imperials and islanders, not horses and swords and castles. I remember thinking most of the toys in this thread were old and busted. For videogames, I remember thinking the same thing about NES games and knowing that SNES weren't my older relatives' games.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
I guess I am a GeneXennial because I was born in 1981 and there is no real clear definition when Gen-X ends and millennials begin. So I am stuck in that limbo between generations. Though to be honest, being called a millennial is still kinda weird to me, as it was a title that started to be in use in my late 20's.
 
K

kswiston

Member
MrCunningham said:
I guess I am a GeneXennial because I was born in 1981 and there is no real clear definition when Gen-X ends and millennials begin. So I am stuck in that limbo between generations. Though to be honest, being called a millennial is still kinda weird to me, as it was a title that started to be in use in my late 20's.
Click to expand...

We were Gen Y for a long time.
 
L

lordxar

Member
deadbeef said:
I remember going to play in the woods with my friends with toy machine guns and uzis that were all black and looked like the real thing at a glance minus the orange tip that we of course immediately removed.
Click to expand...

My dad and I used to play guns by the local school. Launched model rockets in their yard too. Lol...cant do any of that today.

This thread man....M.A.S.K, He-man, GI Joe and Transformers. So much of my childhood right there. Loved the Black Hole movie. Had a model of the Cygnus and one of the robots. Had the Rattler, that was a bad ass plane. Had Megatron too, the good one.
 
A

Aske

Member
I'm not sure why people find this so difficult to grasp: it's about shared experiences leading to similar mindsets. All those '82 kids who have more in common with Gen Xers? You're Gen X. The border is necessarily fuzzy, and in the early 80s, it's more about who you are than when you were born. I'm a Millennial who was born in 1981. An ancient Millennial Elder. Heed my wisdom.

After the transitional years, however, it's impossible for cut-and-dry Millennials to qualify as Gen Xers (no matter how snarky they are or how much grunge they listen to), because the necessary period of history that shaped the Gen X cultural experience no longer exists for them. They're just aberrant Millennials.

And on the other side of the coin, you have comedian Howard Kremer: a proud transmillennial; a silky Millennial boy trapped in the body of a leathery Gen X man.
 
L

Leynos

Member
fluffydelusions said:
How many gen x'rs found porn stashs in the woods lol
Click to expand...

I was in junior high, and one of the volley balls went over the fence into a wooded area behind the school. I retrieved the ball, but also found a nudey mag! Young me was so excited. Clear pictures, no more having to squint at the scrambled pictures on the TV.
 
M

Mammoth Jones

Member
Born in 80. Not a millennial.

I remember the remote with the damn wire. The big broken zenith tv with the little tv on top.

I remember them asswhoopings. Teachers would laugh then if I said I got a spanking. Shit, I remember a teacher encouraging my mom to spank me. And I remember my C64. Goat.
 
W

Weevilone

Member
Mammoth Jones said:
Born in 80. Not a millennial.

I remember the remote with the damn wire. The big broken zenith tv with the little tv on top.

I remember them asswhoopings. Teachers would laugh then if I said I got a spanking. Shit, I remember a teacher encouraging my mom to spank me. And I remember my C64. Goat.
Click to expand...

Heck, they spanked kids with paddles at school in the hall.
 
W

water_wendi

Water is not wet!
Born in the late seventies.

In regards to tv i always loved when i got access to Nickelodeon. Those that had it were so lucky. You Cant Do That On Television was amazing to someone who only had rabbit ears and UHF.

0jwVrMx.jpg



bionic77 said:
Born in 77.

I was trying to tell the young ones on gaming side just how fucking amazing Super Mario was when it came out in 1985. I had been playing Atari games for a few years before it came out. I was pretty satisfied with Atari. I loved arcade games but being only 6 years old I thought that was as good as it got at home.

Then my friends dad got him an NES sometime in 85. Never even saw a commercial for it. I came over and I was not ready for what I saw.

The controller? Holy shit!
The graphics? That looks like an arcade game! You can tell what everyone is!
The game? Holy fucking shit. The screen moves with the character! There are different enemies! Castles! Dragons! WTF!

It came close to melting my 7/8 year old brain.

Thinking back I think the other moment that sticks out like the NES was Transformers the movie. Seeing Megatron ruthlessly murder so many of my toys. And that was just the introduction!
Click to expand...

Yeah the NES was amazing! Once i saw it i knew i had to have one. Went hungry to save up for it faster. Game rentals becoming more prominent as the VHS market took off. Going from saving up an ridiculous amount of money to buy a game at Toys R Us or hoping a friend/someone at school was up for a trade to access to pretty much every game for 2-3 days.. felt like the amount of games were never ending.

The first game i purchased for the NES was Athena (pack in SMB kept me busy for a while). The game isnt good but could you blame me when the box art is this..

4cZZkqP.jpg
Click to expand...

i recall throwing away the styrofoam at the bottom of the box and regretting it the next day.

i also want to apologize to the person that i traded Athena to for Megaman. i didnt take it on purpose.. i just didnt know we were going to be moving. Now that i think about it i still have that Megaman cartridge.
 
K

kswiston

Member
Mammoth Jones said:
Born in 80. Not a millennial.

I remember the remote with the damn wire. The big broken zenith tv with the little tv on top.
Click to expand...

Growing up, we had a TV that was made before RF inputs existed. It just had the screws in the back that you could attach an antenna to. I remember having to go to radioshack to get an RF adaptor so that I could play my NES.

I didn't have something with AV jacks until the late 90s. S-video and component cables seemed like rich person tech.
 
H

Henchmen21

Banned
kswiston said:
Growing up, we had a TV that was made before RF inputs existed. It just had the screws in the back that you could attach an antenna to. I remember having to go to radioshack to get an RF adaptor so that I could play my NES.

I didn't have something with AV jacks until the late 90s. S-video and component cables seemed like rich person tech.
Click to expand...

Same. Worse still, when my parents got a new tv (it had picture in picture!) they gave me the old one so I still had to use it till I got my own new one in the mid 90s.
 
K

kswiston

Member
Henchmen21 said:
Same. Worse still, when my parents got a new tv (it had picture in picture!) they gave me the old one so I still had to use it till I got my own new one in the mid 90s.
Click to expand...

Having 1-2 screens total in your entire house, even if 4-6 people live there, is going to seem like an alien concept to younger generations.

My daughter has had her own tablet since she was 2. We'll get her a laptop at 7 or 8. I got my first laptop at 24.
 
L

lordxar

Member
Ooh the b&w tv I had was only one step down from the color tv I got later. Clunky tuners and all. What's funny is the Beta vcr I had was wireless but the VHS had a wired remote. I think anyway...getting old
 
F

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
fluffydelusions said:
How many gen x'rs found porn stashs in the woods lol
Click to expand...
I posted about it previously on GAF. My friends and I found a box full of mags and VHS tapes. Thinking back I can't believe we all touched it. None of us thought about what the previous owner was doing while touching those things. :(
 
Captain Zyrain

Captain Zyrain

Member
Born in mid-80 here. Definitely X I guess, or Y like they used to say.

Had the classical 80's upbringing with toys and tv shows selling me toys, and wanting more and better toys and being jealous of my friends toys, and bringing toys to school and getting in trouble.. Yeah!

My dad had a black box at his house so we got HBO and the other movie channels.. It was amazing. I remember staying up super late and watching "Blue Lagoon" for the firs time.. My pants felt funny that night.

Movie stores, NES games (StarTropics!), Dr Pepper and junk food. I got to enjoy the Nirvana 90s and Blink182 90s.
 
E

Earthbound64

Banned
kswiston said:
Growing up, we had a TV that was made before RF inputs existed. It just had the screws in the back that you could attach an antenna to. I remember having to go to radioshack to get an RF adaptor so that I could play my NES.
Click to expand...

Same. RF to Twinlead was a lifesaver.
 
F

Fast Forward

Member
MagnaderAlpha said:
So "late 70s to early 80s"? Then what the fuck am I (born 1980), cause I've been called a Millennial too. I grew up with a lot of that shit, was raised on early MTV (back when music videos were EVERYTHING).
Click to expand...
In my mind, cutoff year is 1981, so you are Gen X. 1982, and following years are Millennials, or Gen. Y

In my case, I was born in 84, so I definitely consider myself a Millennial.

Not said:
Why is the window for Gen X way smaller than for Millennials?
Click to expand...
Depends on who is doing the math. There's no one defined or agree upon definition start/end year for any generation, let alone Gen. X.

If you ask me, Gen X. goes from the mid 60s to the early 80s.

Edit: And even in terms of Millennials, speaking as a Millennial myself, the math on that generation has especially grown more fuzzy over the years. Some younger folks who call themselves "Millennials" are really Gen. Z.
 
H

Henchmen21

Banned
Okay 2 things. My memory's pretty fuzzy on this but someone chime in if they remember too.

1. Does anyone remember during saturday morning cartoons how in-between cartoons they would have casts of certain sitcoms introduce/outro some of them? I seem to recall like the cast of 227 doing it. This was all done in character talking to each other like there was no camera there. Usually they would do sitcoms that had kid characters on them, I guess to make it feel more natural to the kids watching.

2. Those little catalogues that advertise for the next seasons toylines? I seem to recall Kenner putting out one (had to be Kenner since I distinctly remember Silverhawks being advertised and they were the company that sold them) around 86-87ish
 
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
7K
vaibhavpisal replied
Top Bottom