I Love the 80s... Toys

We interrupt this blog to bring you a flashback to the 1980s.

We recently had the pleasure to spend some time with Dollface of the Rotten Little Girls (a.k.a. "The Jr. ESC"). She's a full 10 years younger than I am (you can guess the math on that one if you like, but I'm not saying). It got me thinking a bit about age. I have many friends younger than me (and well, I also know plenty of children) and many friends 10, 20, 30 years older than me... and even higher. And of course, it's no secret that I've, ahem, dated men of various ages as well.

Now, in most cases age isn't even noticeable in a friendship. At the recent IWWG conference we were a little worried about how some of the older women would accept a blog called "Evil Slutopia"... but almost all of them loved it. There is a little something special about hearing an 80-year-old woman say "evil slut". At times though, an age difference between friends become more obvious - particularly when it comes to common memories. There are always going to be points where you just don't have the same frame of reference as a friend who is older or younger than you.

Not to sound like an episode of I Love the 80s, but I feel totally ancient when I mention any of the classic toys or retro cartoons that I loved as a child. I noticed this with Dollface, who wasn't even alive for most of the 80s and especially with my daughter and her friends, who think I am crazy when I go on one of my nostalgia kicks about the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or reminisce about Twister before it went electronic! (I mean, really, come on!)

I still know all the words to the Jem theme song and I'm pretty sure I have an old Jem doll somewhere in the basement, as well as a complete set of She-Ra action figures. I slept with my Glo-Worm every night. Sometimes the jingle from Lite+Brite sneaks its way into my brain when I least expect it. I still have nightmares about My Buddy (who looked disturbingly similar to Chucky from Child's Play, but for some reason was more terrifying to me than actual Chucky). I had over 30 Viewmaster "stories". I kicked ass on a Pogo Ball and with a Skip-It, but even back then I wondered how more kids didn't end up getting killed with toys like the Roller Racer. (Actual rollerblading, however, was the height of cool, as anyone who has seen the film Airborne can tell you.) I owned more than one hypercolor t-shirt. When I think of dolls, I think of Barbie and Cabbage Patch dolls... not Bratz. I remember when Polly Pocket really fit in your pocket. I tell my daughter stories that begin "When I was your age, we had to blow on the video games to make them work..."

Sorry, I have to go. I hear a beeping sound coming from one of my dresser drawers and I think it's the Tamagotchi that I've been trying to kill since 1996.