6. AT-AT Walker

Source: Rebelscum Released: 1981

5. Castle Grayskull Playset

Source: Toyworth Released: 1982

3. Thundercats Cats Lair

Source: thundercatslair.org Released: 1986

2. The Technodrome Playset





Source: Turtlepedia.wikia.com Released: 1990

1. U.S.S. Flagg Playset

In the eighties, we had a lot of amazing toys, but there were a handful of toys everyone wanted, but couldn't have. Some of them cost so much, we could never afford them. Others were so hard to find they made you cry when you saw the empty shelves at the store. Now we're not talking about Cabbage Patch Kids or other toys parentswe wanted. We're talking the really awesome toys. Here's a rundown of our dream collection.Original Price: $47.99 ($125.83 adjusted for inflation*)When we first saw, there were a lot of amazing visuals, but the AT-AT walker stuck in our minds. At the time, we thought it was the coolest thing we'd ever seen. Then to discover you could actually buy one was almost more than our little minds could take. Kenner’s toy AT-AT had everything you could want: a head you could turn to survey the battlefield, poseable legs to stomp rebel figures, little toy guns that lit up and fired when you pulled the trigger, and a body you could stuff full of action figures to carry onto the battlefield. It’s become the Holy Grail of Star Wars action figures, and we'd still love to have one.Original Price: $26.99 ($59.79 adjusted for inflation)He-Man was one of the most popular action figure lines of the eighties. We had our own collection of figures to be proud of, including an original He-Man and Skeletor, thank you very much. Of course, if you're gonna have action figures, you have to have some place to fight. He-Man had his own castle, and he didn't have one of those wimpy Lord of the Rings castles: his castle was in the shape of a gigantic skull. The toy version could have just stopped there, but no. Mattel took the castle and crammed it full of cool gimmicks like a working elevator and drawbridge, a rack of exclusive weapons, and a laser cannon. And what if Skeletor managed to get inside? Well, he'd probably head for the throne to sit his bony butt down. That's when you turned the throne and dropped him through a trapdoor. Yeah, that’s how we roll. While they were relatively cheap, they were hard to find, so you'd snap one up if you saw it.Original Price: $34.99 ($76 adjusted for inflation)The Transformers toy line was epic. It had trucks, planes, dinosaurs, and a fleet of construction vehicles that could combine into one big robot. How do you top that? With a transforming city. Sort of. I mean, it wasn't so much a city or even a small town as it was a base camp. But it was the shizzle. It was essentially a playset that could change into a vehicle or a robot. So it was three toys in one. In base mode, it had a helipad and repair bays you could park four other vehicles into. On top of that, it came with an arsenal of cannons and guns that could have armed Afghanistan. It was even composed of three smaller Transformers that turned into a tank, a sports car, and a gun wielding robot, giving you four Transformers in total. Now that’s value.Original Price: $??? ($??? adjusted for inflation)The Thundercats wanted to hang out when they weren't fighting mutants. That’s why they built the Cat’s Lair. It was sort of like a Sphinx, only way cooler, functional, and not full of mummies (unless Mumm-Ra attacked). The toy was an epic version. Its head turned, its paws would flip up to expose “Ion Beam cannons.” But what really took it up a notch was its combat element. If the enemy Attack Sled flashed its lights at the head, it would register as a hit. If the Lair flashed its lights at the Sled, it registered as a hit. Three hits on the Lair would make it blow open the door, and three hits on the sled would drop its shield. You could have your own little battle, right in your bedroom.Original Price: $50 ($91 adjusted for inflation)The evil Shredder joined forces with Krang to make the weirdest base ever. They made a giant ball on tractor treads with a huge eye mounted on the top. The toy version was even crazier. This thing had interactive elements up the ying yang. The eyeball on top could pop off and roll down as a weapon. It had a prison to store those pesky shell-heads. It had a “mutation chamber” where you could put in a figure and drench them in “ooze” (green slime). It had a throne room with a secret trapdoor to the weapons chamber below. You could strap a turtle to a spinning “brain scrambler” torture device. It connected to the Sewer Playset, so the Turtles could escape out of the jail into the sewer pipes. And more. Really, you could spend hours running around in this playset alone. It almost made up for the lack of the Internet.Released: 1985Original Price: $109.99 ($243.64)To us, G.I. Joe was quite simply the greatest action figure line of the eighties. They were like superheroes and soldiers, wrapped into one. They had an insane number of awesome vehicles, but there was one towering over them all: the USS. We remember the moment we walked into the store and saw this. It was the most amazing toy we had ever seen, and remains so. I mean, look at it.Seriously. It was modeled after a real aircraft carrier, the USS. At over seven feet long, you could put multiple planes and cars on it like a real battleship. It had a working public address system. To this day, it’s the biggest playset ever produced. This thing is so awesome, they should have used them in the Gulf War.* Inflation calculations for 2014 from The US Department of Labor UPDATE: Corrected battleship errorIf you enjoyed this, then please use the buttons below to tell your friends about this post! Follow us! Email