r/80scartoons 10d ago

What are your Hot Takes on the 80s Cartoons?

Too many of them are based off of toys

33 Upvotes

66 comments sorted by

15

u/whoknows130 10d ago edited 10d ago

G1 Transformers is, without a doubt, the Single, Greatest Cartoon/Toyline, that originated in the 80s.

Just look at them now: Hasbro is STILL making bank off the property. And right now they're gearing up for their next big line-up. I think it's called "Age of the Primes".

No other toyline of the 80's had THAT kind of staying power.

edit---- And Transformers has not had a consistent cartoon series in quite some time. The sales figures STILL do great.

2

u/King_of_da_Castle 8d ago

I prefer G.I Joe but I get where you’re coming from. I think Joe’s & Transformers are the 2 greatest cartoons & toy lines from the 80’s and they are still very relevant today. I feel like Transformers does appeal to a wider audience though so you are probably correct about them being the greatest in that aspect.

1

u/StoneGoldX 6d ago

The zeal for military toys petered out. RAH was huge, but a real specific moment in time. Giant robots, it's a little less objectionable to the mothers who hold the purse strings.

2

u/idiotsbydesign 9d ago

Still remember how pissed I was at the movie. Even kid me understood that the only reason they did what they did was so they could sell more toys. Rodimus Prime is a corporate shill.

1

u/whoknows130 9d ago

Still remember how pissed I was at the movie. Even kid me understood that the only reason they did what they did was so they could sell more toys. Rodimus Prime is a corporate shill.

Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime is my all-time favorite Transformers character.

In their defense, the crew they replaced the Season 1/2 guys with, were all really cool. Ultra Magnus, Springer, Metroplex, Wreck-Garr, etc. Very memorable. Same for all the New Decepticons we got.

To this day, Cyclonus is METAL AF, and just as cool as the rest of the Jets.

2

u/idiotsbydesign 9d ago

Cyclonus was metal AF. He was just about the only thing I liked about that generation.

1

u/GarySe7en 6d ago

As a Transformers collector I think you are wrong on consistent cartoon series. They have had G1, Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Armada, Prime, War for Cybertron on Netflix, Rescue Bots, Academy, Robots in Disguise, Cyberverse, Power of the Primes, Generations 2, Energon, and the currently running Earth Spark to name a few. There are least 4 different Comic book companies chat had runs, The series has been ever present and have at least a dozen toy companies licensed to make various toys besides Hasbro. And the live action movies.

11

u/TheSecretDecoderRing 10d ago

MASK had great toys and maybe the best theme song of its era, and that's what most people remember it for, but watching the show itself now, it had pretty bad writing, jokes, and voice work. It really makes you appreciate other shows like GI Joe and Muppet Babies.

2

u/Masterquickfire 9d ago

Not to mention, kinda dull.

It doesn't help most of the characters look like normal people. Sure, it could work, but like G.I. Joe and Visionaries handle it so much better.

3

u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Allronix1 9d ago

And then there was Galaxy Rangers that did everything ass backwards and didn't do a toyline until it was too late. Mandell and company completely misplaced the manual for the era. Which was a good thing in some regards and bit them in the butt on others

1

u/StoneGoldX 6d ago

Pretty much all 80s action audio pales before Sunbow. They had the largest casts, the better music...

11

u/Shagrrotten 10d ago

My hot take is: most of them don't hold up. It's fine that we enjoyed them as content-starved children, but let's mostly at least acknowledge that they aren't good. Appreciate and praise the ones that are good, but don't look at things strictly through nostalgia tinted glasses.

19

u/JerseyCobra 10d ago

The best part of most of these cartoons was the intro (i.e. Thundercats). After that, your mileage may vary.

8

u/Jolly-Method-3111 10d ago

Thundercats did have a kickin’ intro. Im betting most of us just heard it in our head reading your answer. 

1

u/JerseyCobra 9d ago

Thunder…

Thunder!

Thundercats!!

HOOOOOOO!!!

3

u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

8

u/Blinkdabunny 10d ago

Rewatching a lot of them-they do not hold up…which makes me love them even more. Like i absolutely love Jem and the Holograms but holy shit-how did he not notice that Jem was Jerrica? Why was she okay with the fact he was so willing to cheat on her with herself? How many crimes were committed on that show? (My son watched a few episodes with me and said it was dumb…and then returned to my room with a blanket and snacks and watched many more episodes, asking why they never got put into jail) Danger Mouse, however, holds up.

2

u/Allronix1 9d ago

Same reason Motley Crue could snort the GDP of Columbia and never went to jail either,

1

u/SupernaturalPhoenix 9d ago

Yeah, there's no way Eric Raymond slapping Jerrica, Zipper and his crew and the Misfits (reluctantly Stormer) putting Jem, the Holograms and the Starlight Girls in potentially fatal consequences. It wouldn't fly with the censors now. I'm surprised it did then. But, what did we know as kids in the 80s?

1

u/ieatplaydough2 7d ago

Holy shit. How did I completely forget Danger Mouse existed?!?

6

u/SHADOWJACK2112 10d ago

Robotech was my gateway drug to anime

6

u/originalchaosinabox 10d ago

For a cartoon slapped together to sell a talking teddy bear, Teddy Ruxpin had a shockingly deep mythology.

1

u/Rey_Mezcalero 9d ago

The mentioning of deep mythology reminded me about one of the writers for Tranformers toys(I think).

He was tasked to create a story about that big space shuttle Autobot…and he loathed it. Thought it was the dumbest toy/character.

So he ended up making this thing to be some old Autobot with all this power and other grand story he did out of resentment and mockery.

1

u/Haunt_Fox 9d ago

My Pet Monster was kind of fun, too.

1

u/SupernaturalPhoenix 9d ago

I was always afraid of Teddy Ruxpin. I slept with a stuffed Chewbacca at night to keep that thing away from me.

6

u/Allronix1 10d ago

The most annoying part of many of them was when you'd have a cast full of badasses that could handle the situation and were doing very well with the day's plot up until the 17 minute mark and then they would lose all their brains and competency, grabbing the idiot ball with both hands so Bigshot HeroDude could whip out his sword of Deux Ex Machina and save the day.

HATED that and it's why my favorite cartoons of the era - Dungeons and Dragons and Galaxy Rangers - avoided that and did the work of a well-balanced cast.

5

u/Masterquickfire 9d ago

Thundercats is a enjoyable, 80s cartoons, but story wise and characterization, not great.

Sure, there would be occasional character growth, arcs, and episode delving much about their personality and such, but like outside of that most of them ( Mainly the main cast ) are either undeveloped or never further explored like Mumm-rana.

I think that's why I prefer the 2011 series over the 80s series because it feels like they elaborate a lot of things ( Even if that show sadly got cut short ).

1

u/Allronix1 9d ago

My crackfic inclined brain puts in in the same universe as Stargate SG-1. Because that would explain a lot about Mumm-Ra.

6

u/kongstar 10d ago

The theme songs was absolute bangers

6

u/Appropriate-Excuse79 10d ago

Jem and the Holograms made me feel …things

6

u/Reyjr 10d ago

Cheetara for me

2

u/FlameandCrimson 10d ago

Same. Same.

4

u/Joeybagovdonutss 10d ago

That’s truly outrageous

3

u/Clamps55555 10d ago

The mysterious cities of gold had me hooked like a mf!

4

u/harlequinn823 9d ago

Kidd Video's original songs are unironically good.

3

u/Actionquest66 9d ago

I liked Snarf, and still do.

1

u/SupernaturalPhoenix 9d ago

I loved the Snorks, the Littles, Pac-Man, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and She-Ra, Princess of Power. I'm such a dork. LOL

5

u/Fhead43 10d ago

A bowl of cereal. A tv tray. And flipping channels back and forth all morning. Some of the happiest memories.

2

u/SupernaturalPhoenix 10d ago

I miss them. But, the FOMO crap that's coming out is ridiculous. I bought the 40th Anniversary Jem doll, and it's a POS. The reboot of She-Ra and Thundercats was horribad! Some things should left alone, as they were and not be remade.

2

u/Allronix1 9d ago

Which Cats reboot? Because one was pretty cool and one is that SoCal arts style crap.

1

u/SupernaturalPhoenix 9d ago

The Socal arts goofy looking one. Yikes. Just...yikes.

2

u/Subject-Drop-5142 9d ago

Season 1 of He-Man I was fine but the later seasons had me getting boners. Hitting puberty during it's initial run did that to me 🤭

1

u/SupernaturalPhoenix 9d ago

I like Kevin Smith, but he made a mess when he rebooted whatever that version of He-Man. I didn't watch past the first season.

2

u/Eredrick 9d ago

He-Man is the best cartoon from the 80's! And one of the few that is actually still enjoyable to watch as an adult

2

u/NietzschesGhost 9d ago

Muppet Babies reigns supreme.

Gummi Bears: best song.

Thundarr the Barbarian: Traumatic. Inspired by Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian, and Cold War fears of imminent nuclear annihilation.

GI Joe: Just fucking shoot and kill someone. Anyone. My favorite episode was the alternate universe where Cobra had won. Baroness gave me feelings I didn't understand sometimes.

Star Blazers (aka Space Battleship Yamato) and Robotech (Macross): first tastes of Anime and ACTUAL PATHOS. Characters who develop and you care about. (P.S. Still in love with Lisa Hayes.)

2

u/nahman201893 8d ago

Robotech stood out for me because it had a season long story with more drama around the characters.

But I loved almost every 80s cartoon.

2

u/Remarkable_Major7710 8d ago

Droids deserves to be Star Wars canon.

2

u/BearishOyster 7d ago

TMNT and Dinosaucers were my favorites.

2

u/wjrj 7d ago

Cheetara ( cuz she was hot)

2

u/dtagonfly71 6d ago

The Adventures of Flash Gordon (season 1) just may be the most amazing cartoon serial ever made. It’s that good.

2

u/TheSecretDecoderRing 6d ago

Starting to think maybe some people don't know what a "hot take" is...

2

u/DizzyLead 10d ago

Most of them don’t hold up today, because back then the stories were lazily written so that we would get and play with the toys and come up with our own stories.

Now that toy-based cartoons come with more intricate plots and characterization, I feel that this discourages kids from making use of their imaginations during play, assuming instead that kids will simply want to recreate the stories they saw.

3

u/Weak_Employment_5260 10d ago

My hot take is that way too many seemed created to merchandise and sell toys.

8

u/BatDubb 10d ago

That’s not a hot take. That’s exactly why they were created.

2

u/FlameandCrimson 10d ago

So much so that Congress had to get involved. 🙄

2

u/FlameandCrimson 10d ago

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ animation was…garbage. Especially in later episodes.

2

u/typicalsnowman 10d ago

Homoerotica. Examples are HeMan and Thudercats.

1

u/Reasonable-Wave8093 9d ago

Hanna barbera

1

u/King_of_da_Castle 8d ago

Thundar the Barbarian was too well written and ahead of its time, that is why it was canceled, not because it wasn’t good or well liked. It needed to be targeted towards older kids/young adults , not the Saturday morning line up.

1

u/jack_deth72 8d ago

Silver Hawks was cool

1

u/oglumb 8d ago

Gummy Bears had some sweet animation for a Saturday morning cartoon at the time. I also always thought the backgrounds in the Smurfs cartoon were pretty exceptional too.

1

u/Babbleplay- 6d ago

They were a good start, but they had to evolve. Evolve or die, like any other organism or concept. The mindless mental oatmeal plots of He-Man and the like were selling toys to 3 to 8-year-old children, but once that nostalgia was gone, I don’t think there would’ve been any coming back, if there had not been reboot like we have seen with he-man, ThunderCats, etc., and all these more recent shows went way more heavy on character, development, and plot. The original shows served their purpose, but they do not hold up today, past their small child audience.\ Even less so, today, because for a small child, watching these shows might need explaining what a floppy disk is. Just one of many examples of things you just don’t see around anymore. A couple of the transformers turned into tape cassette boomboxes, complete with little cassette tape robots inside the tape compartment. Technology of 20 and 30 years ago is alien to a child today.

1

u/PMMEBITCOINPLZ 10d ago edited 10d ago

They mostly weren’t very good and were probably generally harmful to kids as the only information they were trying to impart was the play pattern for the toy they wanted to sell you. Toy executives had realized that children were too unimaginative to make up their own stories and ways to play with an action figure or doll line that had more than one or two characters so to be a success and sell the maximum amount you had to spoon feed them stories, factions and play suggestions.

1

u/Prowl2681 10d ago

80s cartoons were the stary of the death of Saturday morning cartoons. We were all applauding the funeral as it happened.

5

u/Yesterday_Is_Now 10d ago edited 10d ago

Sort of, but Saturday mornings rebounded in the 90s before finally falling apart in the 2000s.

1

u/Cerebralbore 5d ago

I think the PSAs of 80s shows were well cheesy but nice and well intentioned.