The 1980s were loud and proud and wild, and all of that extended from our music to our clothes to our hair … and ALL the way to our toys. And, while that made for some big hits on the playgrounds, it also left us scratching our heads more than once. How many of these weird 80s toys do YOU remember?
Food Fighters
It may seem like a harmless enough game, but the whole point of Food Fighters was to get all your pieces on your opponents board before he does. And that’s not easy when there are forks and knives getting in the way!
The Care Bear Stare Down Game
What could be more fun than wrestling with an opposing Care Bear? A lot of kids thought this was a riot!
Brainstorm Board Game
You can’t get much more 80s than the old school board game, “Brainstorm.” I think there’s an episode about it on Netflix. The goal is to make your way across the maze and solve all four puzzles without being caught by the guard.
Computer Warriors
The Computer Warriors were these two robots who would duel, with the goal being to either capture your opponent’s castle or kill them.
Mad Scientist Lab Game
This was a game where you pretend to be Dr. Frankenstein and create your own monster from different body parts, but it didn’t take much imagination really because they were all labeled with their corresponding location on an anatomical chart! The creepiest part is that some of those pieces are REAL human organs like a lung or heart.
Creepy Crawlers
This toy was so gross that you could actually use the “edible goo” like glue and stick in onto pretend food items like toast, spaghetti or even ice cream sundaes. You then add one of the creepy crawlers like a cockroach, ant or even scorpion to your food and watch it crawl.
Inhumanoids
Created by Mattel in 1988, this line of toys was based on a Saturday morning cartoon series. The show featured androids that were created to fight the evil Mutants but they turn out to be more like your run-of-the-mill (read: lame) robots that looked too much like Transformers knockoffs.
Rock Lords
Originally released in 1985, this line of toys was a spinoff from the original GoBots toyline. The Rock Lords were made out of rocks and crystals so they could “transform” themselves into vehicles like cars, jets or boats just by changing their shape.
Army Ants Toy
Sold by Tomy in 1986, this toyline was based on the movie with the same name. The idea behind it is that you could buy an ant and then use other materials like dirt or sand to create a battlefield for them to fight.
Super Naturals
The Super Naturals line of toys was released in 1987, and at first you’d think the show would be about vampires but it’s actually more like a spinoff from He-Man.
He-Man and Skeletor were replaced by good (but green) natures which came alive when they drank water with special “juice” inside.
Boglins
The Boglins were a line of strange-looking dolls that came out in 1986, and they appear to be hand puppets with weird faces. They had their own village called Boglinville, where the children could play games (including “Boggy” for soccer).
Think plastic, rubbery Shrek.
Blackstar
Released in 1986, Blackstar’s job was to “protect the galaxy” and they came with a sticker book so that kids could help them.
Bug Off!
The toy line called Bug off! debuted in 1988 and allowed children to play an insect version of capture the flag. It also included bug cards which acted as something like baseball
Wuzzles
Released in 1986, the Wuzzles were different types of animals that could switch between two forms.
Stretch Serpent
Released in 1983, Stretch Serpent was a long green arm that could pull objects to it like a snake. If you thought Stretch Armstrong was odd, well, then the Stretch Serpent is a whole new level.
(If you like weird 80s toys, then you might like our article on weird 70s toys right here.)
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