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Obscure toys, shows, movies from your childhood

Xero

Member
Being born in the early 80's I grew up right around when the home video market exploded. There were a ton of movies released directly on video. Some of these were actually pretty good, and the special effects at times could be really well done as well. Not all of these will fall under this catagory, point being there were a lot of lesser known movies released. So I started thinking about some of the stuff I grew up with that I never hear anyone talk about and wanted to see what others can contribute as well.

Witch's night out

DUZRexU.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1m6nGGNgBk
full movie only 20 so minutes long.

An old late 70's cartoon with garbage animation, about a witch who's wand gets stolen and people start turning themselves into monsters. For some reason I owned the vhs of this, so i would watch it often as you generally did as a kid.

Mio in the land of Faraway


Costaring a young christian bale
T07OEb6.jpg


Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ1jtGWdIuA

I honestly don't remember much about this one aside from the main kid (not bale) gets whisked away from his modern life by being transported to the land of faraway by grabbing on to the beard of a large floating head of an old man.

The wizard of speed and time

N5oaCQx.jpg


trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSB6ZRC-dyQ

despite the name its actually about an amature film maker trying to get his movie made about the wizard of speed and time. It has some pretty good special effects with a lot of stop motion, and apparently over 1000 subliminal messages throughout the movie.

Tommy Tricker and the stamp traveler

GJ4EW3A.jpg


only trailer i can find https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLXB8t3fTuo

This movie I had taped off of the tv and watch all the time. Its about a kid named tommy and his friend ralph (though tommy is a little shit that tricks him out of one of his rare stamps)Ralph figures out how to put himself on stamps by i think reading some other guy who was a stamp traveler sand accidentally ends up going around the world meeting people from different countries, trying to get back home and to find the previous stamp traveler who has been lost I think?
 

Hilbert

Deep into his 30th decade
Anyone remember a cartoon movie called "Flight of Dragons"? It showed on TV when I was a kid. I remember my mom calling out the window that the dragon movie was showing, and we ran in to watch it.

I found it online recently and watched it. It's not bad.
 

Javaman

Member
This kit was pretty dope,

Revell+11.JPG


Revell kit where you could make the blimp say whatever you wanted. Loud as hell though.

Plus the regular crap everyone had like He-man and metal Transformers. Oh yeah, Capsella and Robotix!

41QPJHEP7SL._SY300_.jpg

jwhtf7cd6mlv9vdxyle3.jpg
 

neoemonk

Member
I had Robotix. I don’t know how obscure it is but I used to watch Go Bots, and there was even a movie. When Transformers came I dropped the Go Bots real quick.
 
I had a transforming Mecha that was a police car, jet, and robot that was so obscure I can not found what it was once, and have subsequently forgotten.
 

This one was one of my favorites but I think I vaguely remember another toy line that was kind of similar with a sci-fi military theme and magnets, but on a smaller scale. I can't tell if I'm just misremembering Starcom though.

Edit: oh yeah it was definitely Megaforce and I think I looked it up the last time a thread like this came around

vintage_kenner_mega_force_triax_xt_enforcer_2.jpg
 

Oozer3993

Member
As a small child, I had a space shuttle toy that I absolutely adored. It had a launch pad and tower, a mechanical crawler, and separable solid rocket boosters and external tank. The shuttle itself even had a button that could jettison the external tank and boosters. To perpetually space-obsessed me, it was incredible. It was far more accurate than you'd expect from a toddler's toy. When I was 8 or 9, I decided to donate it to charity. I didn't really play with it much anymore and thought it was too awesome to sit unused in my room. I've never seen one since. Every once in awhile I search for it on eBay and Google but have yet to find it. The closest I've come is finding a picture of just the shuttle:

GQwZ7SY.jpg


What I wouldn't give to have one again.
 
I had Robotix. I don’t know how obscure it is but I used to watch Go Bots, and there was even a movie. When Transformers came I dropped the Go Bots real quick.

I had a recorded copy of the Robotix movie on VHS. Watched it at least a dozen times when I was younger. Fun stuff.
 

Apt101

Member
banner_231.jpg


The Visionaries. I loved these things coming up. Technically they were my older brother's toys, as the cartoon was off the air by the time I was old enough to understand it and play with his toys - but he recorded a bunch of episodes. I loved it. They each had an animal or something in their armor that they could summon, or sort of draw upon their abilities. The toys had little holograms on their chests.
 

ozhenson

Member
There's a cartoon movie called "John the Fearless" that I absolutely loved, but have never seen mention of since my childhood.
 

gordy

Neo Member
Does anyone remember a Saturday morning cartoon where cats recreated famous literary works? It was in the late 80s / early 90s on ABC I think. I vaguely remember it.
 

louiedog

Member
For a very, very long time I would try to talk to people my age about Eerie, Indiana and no one knew what I was talking about.

Fortunately in the last few years it feels like people have remembered and found each other online because I see it come up a lot. I guess it doesn't count as much for this thread for that reason, but it feels like it was wiped from the public memory for a long time before returning.

 

Hilbert

Deep into his 30th decade
For a very, very long time I would try to talk to people my age about Eerie, Indiana and no one knew what I was talking about.

Fortunately in the last few years it feels like people have remembered and found each other online because I see it come up a lot. I guess it doesn't count as much for this thread for that reason, but it feels like it was wiped from the public memory for a long time before returning.

I remember reading articles in the newspaper about how parents were worried about this show and it would be too scary for kids.

Then when it was on, I found it incredibly boring.

Amazing Stories scared the shit out of me though. I was pretty young.
 

neoemonk

Member
banner_231.jpg


The Visionaries. I loved these things coming up. Technically they were my older brother's toys, as the cartoon was off the air by the time I was old enough to understand it and play with his toys - but he recorded a bunch of episodes. I loved it. They each had an animal or something in their armor that they could summon, or sort of draw upon their abilities. The toys had little holograms on their chests.

I used to have a big collection of Visionaries comics, along with Air Raiders. What a blast from the past.
 

louiedog

Member
I remember reading articles in the newspaper about how parents were worried about this show and it would be too scary for kids.

Then when it was on, I found it incredibly boring.

It was amazing when I was a kid, but I did dig it up a few years ago online and adult me found it pretty boring.
 

a916

Member
For a very, very long time I would try to talk to people my age about Eerie, Indiana and no one knew what I was talking about.

Fortunately in the last few years it feels like people have remembered and found each other online because I see it come up a lot. I guess it doesn't count as much for this thread for that reason, but it feels like it was wiped from the public memory for a long time before returning.

This is one of those shows, the tupperware episode especially, that I couldn't for the life of me remember from my childhood... is there any way to watch this again?
 

robochimp

Member
I remember the hype around Pirates of Dark Water as a kid. It seemed like everyone was looking forward to it. A bunch of us neighborhood kids gathered at one place to watch it when it premiered, lol. Man we were dorks.

And then poof it was gone, they only found eight of the treasures.
 

bengraven

Member
This one was one of my favorites but I think I vaguely remember another toy line that was kind of similar with a sci-fi military theme and magnets, but on a smaller scale. I can't tell if I'm just misremembering Starcom though.

Edit: oh yeah it was definitely Megaforce and I think I looked it up the last time a thread like this came around

vintage_kenner_mega_force_triax_xt_enforcer_2.jpg

Fuuuuuck I had a couple of these. I remember their weight and design. Loved it.

And I have the small black and purple fighter “jet” from StarCom. Loved that toy.
 

louiedog

Member
This is one of those shows, the tupperware episode especially, that I couldn't for the life of me remember from my childhood... is there any way to watch this again?

You can buy it on YouTube which is probably why at a quick glance I don't see any freely uploaded episodes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTNxmnnJLcg&list=ELgsP0fPh5BJfpbCoL71nz3A

I'm pretty sure when I watched it a few years ago it was on some lesser streaming service, like a Yahoo or AOL. It might still be available somewhere like that from Lionsgate who YouTube says is the provider.
 
For a very, very long time I would try to talk to people my age about Eerie, Indiana and no one knew what I was talking about.

Fortunately in the last few years it feels like people have remembered and found each other online because I see it come up a lot. I guess it doesn't count as much for this thread for that reason, but it feels like it was wiped from the public memory for a long time before returning.

Recently got a region free player so I ordered the full series for $18 from England. US version is like 80. First Season can be purchased on Amazon but not the second.
I wanna say that the comic con tv channel has it off of amazon.
 

gfxtwin

Member
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This show on MTV. I was swept away by the striking visual style, creativity and blend of drama and humor. I remember it was just me and one other kid in school who watched it. We would talk about it all the time and I was obsessed with drawing the characters. I kinda understood the dark themes the show was exploring at the time, but how dark the subject matter really was didn't sink in until I rewatched it as an adult. Still great, and holds up well. Remarkably true to the comics. I'd like to see more comic adaptations done this way.
 

kendrid

Banned

Robotix were amazing but damn those motors were slow.

My favorite toy as a kid was Big Trak
BigTrak.jpg

With the optional transport:
Transport.jpg


It was a programmable toy where you could say 'forward 2 feet, turn 90 degrees right, go forward 3 feet, shoot 5 times', etc. I used to make courses and program it to drive through them.

I have this in my basement but it is no longer fully functional. They actually sell a new version of it that is the same as the old except white.

30 years later I am still programming.
 
f_snailienssem_1953bee.jpg


I thought these were fucking awesome when I was a kid. They are buff snail dudes that come with a suit of robotic armor and rubber shells that can be used to shoot projectiles and stuff. They looked so badass.
 

hobozero

Member
Robotix were amazing but damn those motors were slow.

My favorite toy as a kid was Big Trak
BigTrak.jpg

With the optional transport:
Transport.jpg


It was a programmable toy where you could say 'forward 2 feet, turn 90 degrees right, go forward 3 feet, shoot 5 times', etc. I used to make courses and program it to drive through them.

I have this in my basement but it is no longer fully functional. They actually sell a new version of it that is the same as the old except white.

30 years later I am still programming.

For a nice nostalgia rush, I like to check out the Big Trak Calculator app :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZXQJAPQKj4
 
Robotix were amazing but damn those motors were slow.

My favorite toy as a kid was Big Trak
BigTrak.jpg

With the optional transport:
Transport.jpg


It was a programmable toy where you could say 'forward 2 feet, turn 90 degrees right, go forward 3 feet, shoot 5 times', etc. I used to make courses and program it to drive through them.

I have this in my basement but it is no longer fully functional. They actually sell a new version of it that is the same as the old except white.

30 years later I am still programming.

I had one! I can still remember the sound it made when done with it's task and the laser sound.
 

BJK

Member
Sky Commanders were one of my favorite toys to set up....but I think I ended up spending more time untangling the cables than I actually did playing with them.

I also got one of the Wheeled Warrior villain characters for going to a friend's birthday party.
 

Xero

Member
YES CAPTAIN POWER.

I came into this thread just to talk about that. It was my jam when I was a kid, and then it went away, and no one ever talked about it again. For a long time I thought I had just made it all up.

I had the light gun (aka giant space ship)and vhs tape that my mom had found at the good will. Loved messing around with it
 
I remember some weird movie I saw on TV where a kid found a high tech gun attached to a backpack that fired some crazy energy for miles. All I remember is that thing blowing holes through many objects (including maybe a person), and a dude hitting a dog with a baseball bat :( that scene traumatized me as a kid, but I think the dude with the bat is the dude that got a hole blown through him.

I think it was on TV (Fox, or Star64) around when Flight of the Navigator was on a bunch. Early 90s maybe. I've always wondered about that damn movie...
 
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