Top 100 Toys

[JELEINEN]

http://tv.cream.org/extras/toys/index.html

Probably one of the best lists I've seen. It's nice to see description for the items (some being pretty funny), and lots of nostalgia here. I found myself going 'holy crap, I forgot about that!' a lot. The site is Brittish, so not everything quite matches up for us in the US, but for the most part there wasn't a lot of differences.

[Kin]

lol nr 72 is funny... with that "col. Sanders like" geek on the box

[Armor]

Oh my goodness. I had so many of those toys. Wow! Did that take me back. That was cool.

[EXO]

They totally dissed the best toy of all!!!

And the hell with Action Man! Everyone knows that this is the best action figure!

Edited December 23, 2004 by >EXO<

[Jolly Rogers]

WTH is this, looks like a Y-wing with the wings chopped off.

No Valks on the list, therefore it blows.

[JELEINEN]

WTH is this, looks like a Y-wing with the wings chopped off.

No Valks on the list, therefore it blows.

The Starbird was one of my favorite toys when I was a kid. It was a starship that made cool sounds and could come apart and be reconfigured in different modes (such as a shuttle). The litttle gray things on the end of its wings are fighters. I really wish I still had it. It got played with quite a bit and eventually ended up getting thrown away after a few years of abuse from me.

[Opus]

You guys remember those guns that shot litle plastic disks? Those have to be my favorite toy ever. My bro and I literally had dozens of them. We'd stuff them all into our pockets and have double-fisted runnig shootouts that put John Woo to shame all over the house. Ahhh... happy memories.

[Max Jenius]

Most of those toys are utter crap.

I could think of about 80 more deserving entries.

[lord_breetai]

They had board games on there but not Omega Virus? Ripp-off.

Honestly did not think much of this list at all.

[valk1j]

WTH is this, looks like a Y-wing with the wings chopped off.

No Valks on the list, therefore it blows. 

The Starbird was one of my favorite toys when I was a kid. It was a starship that made cool sounds and could come apart and be reconfigured in different modes (such as a shuttle). The litttle gray things on the end of its wings are fighters. I really wish I still had it. It got played with quite a bit and eventually ended up getting thrown away after a few years of abuse from me.

I still have my Starbird, buried deep in the closet. I even have ROM hidden away. These toys really bring me back. ROM had so many cool attachments and awesome sounds. The Starbird was something that only I had on the local block and all my friends were jealous of this thing. The sound effect gimic was pure gold.

[Graham]

WTH is this, looks like a Y-wing with the wings chopped off.

No Valks on the list, therefore it blows. 

The Starbird was one of my favorite toys when I was a kid. It was a starship that made cool sounds and could come apart and be reconfigured in different modes (such as a shuttle). The litttle gray things on the end of its wings are fighters. I really wish I still had it. It got played with quite a bit and eventually ended up getting thrown away after a few years of abuse from me.

Oh wow, I used to have one of those as a kid as well. I've been trying to remember what it was called recently.

Graham

[Die, Alien Scum!]

Check it out! Castle Wolfenstein, the early years! Beta testing, maybe? That last line of the description cracks me up!

"Frankly, we think it was foolish of the Krauts to allow us free run of their so-called top security prison in the first place but we imagine, like so many German waiters, zey ver only taking orders."

[Graham]

That list really brings back memories. I had so many of those toys growing up as a kid in UK in the 70s.

Graham

[Valk009]

The page sure brings back some sweet memories Knowing that it is a British site and survey, it surely cannot speak for all of us but I wonder why some of the toys did not make it, I mean LEGO is a worldwide product and surely most of us had at least one set at some point of time

Andy

[Zentrandude]

nothing like a toy to teach young children on how to commit suicide

[Graham]

The page sure brings back some sweet memories Knowing that it is a British site and survey, it surely cannot speak for all of us but I wonder why some of the toys did not make it, I mean LEGO is a worldwide product and surely most of us had at least one set at some point of time

Andy

Yeah, I was surprised that Lego didn't make it along with Corgi and Dinky diecast toy cars and Micronoughts, which were pretty popular in UK in the 70s.

Graham

[GRAND CANNON]

Damn.....BIG TRAK , MERLIN , and...

I'm searching eBay right now to get what I had.

<enters "Guy with chops" into eBay Search>

[Opus]

Damn.....BIG TRAK , MERLIN , and...

I'm searching eBay right now to get what I had.

<enters "Guy with chops" into eBay Search>

Those kids better watch out it looks like Lupin is about to steal thier game and feel up thier mommy.

[GRAND CANNON]

Someone photoshop some 'chops onto Agent ONE's pic.......IT'S HIM I TELL YA!!!!

[CF18]

Any top toy list that don't have Lego is just crap.

[Yang_Neumann]

I was starting to get a little worried about the list until I got to number 8:

SEA MONKEYS! YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG WITH SEA MONKEYS!

Do you have any idea how many batches of Sea Monkeys I went through when I was a kid? I remember my last colony was hit by a massive hurricane. On a related note, my mother had to buy a new blender immediately after the disater.

I also noticed Sorry! made the list. Believe it or not, I just played my very first game of Sorry! with my wife and three kids earlier this evening-got my a$$ kicked, but not as bad as I did in the Shrek 2 edition of Monopoly before that.

[EXO]

They probably didn't have it because it's a british list but that soccer/football field reminded me of my bothers toy. It was this huge American football field that had little plastic players that used vibration to make them move across. It was pretty crappy but we played with it for hours. Maybe it's on the list, I don't want to check back just to find it though.

[Prowlus]

I really hate the way they lumped Zoids and transformers in together . They were completely different toylines !

[Max Jenius]

I really hate the way they lumped Zoids and transformers in together . They were completely different toylines !

Yeah, that was a strike against the list. They could have easily displaced one of the shittier toys... I know there's many...

[Bloodcat]

I had or knew of most of the items on that list.

Its funny how they seem to treat Commodore computers like a British thing.

Commodore's biggest successes were in the UK, but they were a US company. Just one who had no clue how to promote or sell their stuff.

I mean in 1985 they released the Amiga, which for all intents and purposes was roughly the Sega Genesis but more adaptable, cept it was a computer. It outperformed and was vastly cheaper than the Apple Macintosh, its only true competitor at the time for next generation computing technology.

Most people have never even HEARD of the things!

A fun list, though not listing Legos is pretty criminal. However Legos have always been overpriced and British entertainment writing does tend to have some UK centric snottiness to it, so it could be just a national pride thing.

(Loved the old Amiga magazines. Nothing like reading the Adventure/RPG sections and having this be their statement on a good French game: Its surprising that it is a French game, but if enough French monkeys bang on a keyboard something good was bound to get made eventually..)

[Amped]

Wow, I'm surprised by how many of those things I recall from my childhood, even tho its a Brit list!

Btw, one thing was buggin me... so anyone know exactly how old are the Zoids and Transformers lines, anyhow?!? I thought early eighties... but that list has a whole buncha stuff from the early/mid 70's as well... just curious...

[phoenix01]

WTH is this, looks like a Y-wing with the wings chopped off.

No Valks on the list, therefore it blows. 

The Starbird was one of my favorite toys when I was a kid. It was a starship that made cool sounds and could come apart and be reconfigured in different modes (such as a shuttle). The litttle gray things on the end of its wings are fighters. I really wish I still had it. It got played with quite a bit and eventually ended up getting thrown away after a few years of abuse from me.

I still got mine, minus the interceptors and the little gun on the escape pod. I also have the Starbird Starbase.

[F-ZeroOne]

I had or knew of most of the items on that list.

Its funny how they seem to treat Commodore computers like a British thing.

Commodore's biggest successes were in the UK, but they were a US company. Just one who had no clue how to promote or sell their stuff.

I mean in 1985 they released the Amiga, which for all intents and purposes was roughly the Sega Genesis but more adaptable, cept it was a computer. It outperformed and was vastly cheaper than the Apple Macintosh, its only true competitor at the time for next generation computing technology.

Most people have never even HEARD of the things!

A fun list, though not listing Legos is pretty criminal. However Legos have always been overpriced and British entertainment writing does tend to have some UK centric snottiness to it, so it could be just a national pride thing.

Anyone who grew up in a school playground in 80s or early 90s Britain would, at some point, have taken part in the "Speccy" vs "Commodore" wars... (the 48K ZX Spectrum - marketed under the Timex brand in the US - against the Commodore 64. Everything in Britain - I'm reliably told by outside observers - is about class; the Spectrum was the working class underdog, while the C64 was the "posh" persons computer).

The impression I've always had is that in the US, PC vs Mac and later, Nintendo vs Sega, were the battlegrounds of choice whereas in the UK, console games didn't really take off until the MegaDrive (US Genesis) appeared,

Overlooking Lego is certainly a very huge oversight on this list. As for "snottish" - well, I guess it can work both ways. 1-up.com is currently running a list of the essential 50 video and computer games. They're currently up to 47. Whilst they've covered such things as Tetris and Zelda, and its not quite complete yet, from a UK - and possibly European - viewpoint, a list that doesn't include Sensible Soccer or Elite (arguably the most influential space combat game of all time) looks rather strange...

[Max Jenius]

I remember many of those toys...but they were lame whenever we tried them. They're definitely many cuts below Transformers and Lego.

[Opus]

I think the left Lego out becase it's a no brainer. There are two things that everyone under the age of 40 loves. Ice cream and Legos and I don't trust anyone who doesn't.

[Bloodcat]

I had or knew of most of the items on that list.

Its funny how they seem to treat Commodore computers like a British thing.

Commodore's biggest successes were in the UK, but they were a US company.  Just one who had no clue how to promote or sell their stuff.

I mean in 1985 they released the Amiga, which for all intents and purposes was roughly the Sega Genesis but more adaptable, cept it was a computer.  It outperformed and was vastly cheaper than the Apple Macintosh, its only true competitor at the time for next generation computing technology. 

Most people have never even HEARD of the things!

A fun list, though not listing Legos is pretty criminal.  However Legos have always been overpriced and British entertainment writing does tend to have some UK centric snottiness to it, so it could be just a national pride thing.

Anyone who grew up in a school playground in 80s or early 90s Britain would, at some point, have taken part in the "Speccy" vs "Commodore" wars... (the 48K ZX Spectrum - marketed under the Timex brand in the US - against the Commodore 64. Everything in Britain - I'm reliably told by outside observers - is about class; the Spectrum was the working class underdog, while the C64 was the "posh" persons computer).

The impression I've always had is that in the US, PC vs Mac and later, Nintendo vs Sega, were the battlegrounds of choice whereas in the UK, console games didn't really take off until the MegaDrive (US Genesis) appeared,

Overlooking Lego is certainly a very huge oversight on this list. As for "snottish" - well, I guess it can work both ways. 1-up.com is currently running a list of the essential 50 video and computer games. They're currently up to 47. Whilst they've covered such things as Tetris and Zelda, and its not quite complete yet, from a UK - and possibly European - viewpoint, a list that doesn't include Sensible Soccer or Elite (arguably the most influential space combat game of all time) looks rather strange...

Yeah. Retro Gamer, a UK magazine one can now find on US bookstore magazine racks had their reader driven best of list top 100.

Elite came in number one, with Sensible Soccer and of course Manic Miner/Jet Set Willy being high up there.

I personally think the Spectrum was crap compared to the C64, and its not even quite as good as an Apple 2 really. (Single color sprites folks!)

But at least for the UK folk its as important if not more so than the NES was in the US.

Nintendo still shows it has NO clue on how to treat Europe for gaming. They had their chance, but they treated Europe poorly and lost a continent's worth of gamers really. But if you were a kid/teen in 1990, what would you rather upgrade from your Speccy or C 64 to? The NES which was slightly better, or the Amiga computer which blew everything away and you could con your parents into it being to help you with your homework? (Every classic computer gamer's ultimate scam. That mofo was for the REAL games consoles couldn't or wouldn't do!)

[do not disturb]

no lego?

no crossbows and catapults?

no "V" toys? did they actually ever exist?

somethings not right about this list.

[F-ZeroOne]

I personally think the Spectrum was crap compared to the C64, and its not even quite as good as an Apple 2 really. (Single color sprites folks!)

But at least for the UK folk its as important if not more so than the NES was in the US.

Actually, the Amiga did have a rival - at least in Europe; the Atari ST. Slightly less powerful but much beloved by musicians for technical reasons I'm not qualified to understand.

As for the Spectrum being crap... yes, it did have graphics issues, but while arguments like this can basically go on for ever - and have done - have you ever played a Spectrum game called Driller? Its been pointed out that it had a more advanced 3D engine than Doom several years later. You could look up and down, and crouch, and even fly.

Mind you, it did run at about 1 frame per second though...