What 80's toys did your Parents bring home?

[JoeToyFan]

Stuck in traffic today and started thinking about when I was younger my best friends Mom would go to Hill's department store and would always ask him "which WWF wrestler toy do you want?" This was right after the WWF LJN ended and WWF had Hasbro make figures. I remember he would always ask for this guy and that guy (common peg warming wrestling figure) and she would come home with a Rare and HTF Hasbro figure.

So just wondering what kinds of 1980's figures would your parents ask you that you wanted while they were at a grocery store/department store or they would come home and surprise you with?

[Currahee_Chris]

The only Joe figure I can ever recall my parents getting me was an 83 Cobra Officer- I picked him up at Montgomery Wards and it was $2.99. I just walked around with him and Dad eventually said ok.

I remember one friday night my mom came home with two Choose Your Own Adventure books for me- that was a Friday night in 5th or 6th grade- it was a great night!! One was Survival at Sea and I think the other title was Escape.

[JoeToyFan]

Good times. I am not familar with Montgomery Wards. Was it similar to a Gold Circle and or Hills Department Store?

[Alchemist]

This thread reminds me of how much of a surprise things like toys were back then, especially GI Joe. It's like now with the Internet, people know months and sometimes over a year in advanced as to what's coming out.

Anyway, most memorable would have to be:

When my mother brought me home a v1.5 Cobra Trooper. It was my first GI Joe figure. I remember taking the figure out of the package and playing with it on the living room floor near the heater. The figure was amazing to me because of the articulation. The few action figures I had before it didn't do all of the things that it did like bend at the knees and elbows, etc.

Another one was when she brought me home Airborne. I have a clear memory of the packaging and taking him out of it on the couch in the living room. I remember thinking the figure was a little odd to be a GI Joe figure because all of my Joes up until that point were green shirts.

Then there was the time that she brought me home a Crimson Guard. I remember taking him and my Cobra Trooper along with the CLAW into school the next day and playing with them with one of my friends.

I, also, remember when I asked my grandmother to look for GI Joe figures at Hills. I think I might have been home sick from school that day. She brought me home two of the coolest figures from 1988: Shockwave and Iron Grenadiers.

Lastly from the 80's, I remember my mother bringing me home Storm Shadow v2. I remember being surprised that he was packaged as a Joe and not a Cobra.

[rea1180]

I can only think of a couple times my mom would bring something home with her. Usually if we weren't at the store begging for it, we didn't get it.
1) One day my mom came home with the orignal Optimus Prime. Now since it was for my brother and I to share he let me put the stickers on the trailer which I thought at the time was so great of him. Of couse now I realize it was to keep me busy so he could play with the figure. Still have that figure today, although it has only one arm and when you open th trailer it looks like a blind man put the decals on. Apparently I didn't know there was a sheet that told you where they go, nor did I manage to get a single one straight.
2)On time apparently sears had a sale on joe figs so my mom got my brother and I each three figs. I got Dr. Mindbender, Dial tone and sci-fi. My brother got Leatherneck, Beachhead and a viper all from 86.
3) Once when I was sick my mom brought me home the Cobra -La three pack. For some reason I was quite happy with it at the time. My brother played a guilt trip on me so I ended up giving him Nemesis Enforcer.

[Sniper Viper]

Only received toys for Christmas & birthdays (or what we could afford off our own earnings), but there was one time where my sister surprised my brother & I with a garage sale score of a ton of figures & a custom Cobra cave.

[JoeToyFan]

Alchemist, thanks so much for sharing those cool memories . I always enjoy hearing collectors like yourself look back on good toy memories. The one about you opening up the Cobra Soldier next to the heater. That's a cool story. Not a care in the world, no bills, no car payment, only fear was the possibility of losing the Joe/Cobra weapon.

[JoeToyFan]

Only received toys for Christmas & birthdays (or what we could afford off our own earnings), but there was one time where my sister surprised my brother & I with a garage sale score of a ton of figures & a custom Cobra cave.

That's cool that your sister was kind enough to hook you and your brother up.

[Blizzard]

My parents never offered to buy me stuff like that...I either had to ask, use my allowance, or wait for Birthday or Christmas and draw them a freakin picture or else get stuck with something lame. Needless to say I got real familiar with the service desk at K-Mart.

[Exz]

Guess I was lucky. I usually found the new joes that came out assembled on my joe shelves when I got home from school. Sometimes they would just be set up on stands other times he would put them in vehicles to make it harder to see.

I think the best one I remeber is he came home one Sat and told me to go unload his truck so I could wash it. (About a 4 hour job once reloaded) I complain as any kid does, go out and find a USS Flagg in the back of his truck. Needless to say I was flipping out , then he told me I couldn't touch it till I was done. I think I did it in record time. We spent Sunday setting it up on the back porch as it was too big to go inside. He told me later he got it half off from the manager of a Toys R Us that he was working on.

My dad worked construction so was all over the city. He would get off early and hit the stores before he came home. I had to "pay" for them but doing extra chores around the house for a week or two depending on what he found. The only ones I got to open for the most part where from birthdays and Christmas.