Do you fondly remember a certain toy character from the 80s? Perhaps they made your Saturday morning cartoon lineup - or you just got a kick out of collecting stickers, cards, figurines or many other great little trinkets. If you are a collector like myself, you probably know as well as I do that these authentic character toys are hard to find now unless you pay a visit to Ebay or another venue that specializes in vintage collectibles, because let's face it these characters are over 30 now so they qualify as vintage. If you are a Gen-Xer like me or an older Millennial this list below will definitely make you wax nostalgic:
What girl could resist a troupe of characters all named after desserts or fruits? I had all the accessories graced with their presence...bedding, jewelry, dolls, you name it - but the creme de la creme was the miniatures...there were so many of them and I was always looking out for new additions! I kind of regret selling some of them on eBay - They were so cute and even after 30 years they still kept their sweet scents intact!
The California Raisins
Remember these guys? Maybe I first saw them in some lets-get-kids-away-from-junk-food public service TV commercial, IDK....but these characters were some cool cats. I remember one time entering a contest to come up with the best names for the three of them...I have no idea what the grand prize was - but I thought "Shady Vine" was a great choice for one of them.
ALF
If you were a grade schooler with a bedtime you probably loved watching ALF on primetime TV....He was this wisecracking alien with a real attitude! For those of you not yet old enough to remember, here's the backstory: ALF is an alien from the planet Melmac who crash lands into the roof of a suburban middle-class family that then takes him into their home as a permanent member of the family.
I was so crazy about ALF back in the day...I thought he was the funniest creature ever; what kid isn't bowled over by a smart alecky alien with killer catchphrases? (I don't think I liked the fact that he thought cats were a delicacy, though!)
Care Bears
Everybody remembers these lovable guys....All of them were different colors and had a little symbol on their tummy that represented a feel-good emotion (well, except for "Grumpy") as well as being named after the emotion. I had a few posable figurines that I can't remember what I did with at the moment, but I'm sure they didn't get too far.
Cabbage Patch Kids
Saving the best for last...who can forget these loveable cherubs? all of them unique, some of them had little teeth sprouting, some of them had little eyeglasses, and as for me, I have a collection too, unfortunately what I don't seem to have is the boxes they came in and their adoption papers :( I had to rename one of mine because I accidentally lost her certificate...They'd be worth some major bucks right now if I had the boxes and papers, being vintage collectibles.
But the eponymous dolls were just the tip of the iceberg....there was SO much cool stuff with the characters on them, like stickers, books, and miniatures. I remember vividly getting to go to visit their headquarter tourist locale Babyland General in Cleveland, Georgia (Don't quote me on that for sure...but I think it's still open to the public)
Well that's my lineup of my favorite five.....What other characters do you remember that you loved, watched on TV, or collected little versions of?
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