Action figures were the most fun and diverse toys in the 80s. They came in all shapes and sizes and were the first to completely deviate from the more grounded “Action Man” type figures of previous years.
Put your nostalgia hats on because, in this piece, we'll take you through what we believe are the 12 best action figure toylines from that great decade.
This franchise was a hybrid of stereotypical medieval sorcery and sci-fi technology, which made for a very varied array of characters. There were humans, monsters, aliens, robots, mythical beasts, and more.
The first Star Wars movie hit theaters in 1977, but Kenner made the original toys between 1978 and 1985. As the epic space opera, Star Wars is one of the most popular media franchises in pop culture history, so it's no surprise the toys were a big hit.
The toys were released in 1985, as was the cartoon. They featured a group of catlike humanoid aliens fighting against the evil Mumm-Ra and his beastly minions on Third-Earth.
The franchise is about the Autobots and the Decepticons – warring alien robot factions that can transform into other forms, such as vehicles and animals.
The Real Ghostbusters was an animated spin-off of the 1984 live-action Ghostbusters movie. The franchise spawned a cartoon and a line of Kenner toys – both of which lasted from 1986 until 1991. The toys were a truly color-filled joy.
The cartoon aired briefly in 1988, but the Tyco toys lasted from 1987 until 1990. They were fantastic and featured various breeds of dinosaurs, characters to ride them, and the weaponry with which to equip them.