Kids of the 2000s are used to all of their toys being electronic and ready to connect to the World Wide Web. Us kids of the 80s were happy with simpler items that to this day I consider totally awesome. Let’s take a look back at some of the tubular (yes, I said tubular) 80s toys.
Popples
Popples were one of my personal favorite 80s toys. Popples were wonderful and cuddly little creatures. To this day, I am not totally sure what Popples were supposed to be. Were they bears? These cute little friends had pom-pom tails. The best part of all is that they had their own pouches so that they could curl into a ball. You could play with the ball and then pop it back into a pet. I had the blue Popple, what about you?
Teddy Ruxpin
Thinking back, Teddy Ruxpin was a little ahead of his time. Teddy Ruxpin was a talking bear. He had a cassette in his back and would read stories to you. I am not sure if Teddy Ruxpin was supposed to encourage youngster to love learning to read or if he was an excuse for parents not to read bed times stories to their kids, but nonetheless he was considered really cool at the time.
The Pogo Ball
The Pogo Ball was an inflated ball with a plastic disc around it. There was no handle or anything. Kids had to balance on it and hop around. It was challenging and fun. Some kids were able to do really cool tricks and spins on it. Personally, all I remember was falling down a lot, but it was good times.
My Buddy
My Buddy was a popular doll for boys. I believe it was intended to show boys how to make friends. Thinking about it as an adult, the motto of My Buddy was “Wherever I go, he goes”, making the doll kind of seem like a stalker. But little boys of the 80s did not consider him a stalker at all; he was a top selling toy. Personally, I was always scared of My Buddy. My brother had one and I used to hide from it because it reminded me of the doll from the doll Chucky from the horror movies.