inspired a spin-off line for girls, She-Ra: Princess of
Power, featuring He-Man’s sister. An ill-fated live-
action movie released in 1987 signaled the decline
of the brand, and an attempted revival and reposi-
tioning in 1989 failed. However, Masters of the Uni-
verse would continue to enjoy international popu-
larity and a strong fan base.
Similarly, in 1982, Hasbro reinvented its G.I. Joe
brand, which had been out of production for several
years as a direct competitor toStar Wars. Reducing
the 12-inch action figures to the same size as the
3.75-inchStar Warsfigures, Hasbro introduced a sim-
ilar line of vehicles and play sets, an “evil empire” en-
emy, and personalities (previously, the G.I. Joe toys
had been anonymous soldiers). The line was de-
signed in conjunction with Marvel Comics and with
an animated advertising campaign by Sunbow Pro-
ductions. The toy line and the comic book were is-
sued on the same day in September, 1982. Both sold
out within a few days, and the comic became one of
the most successful titles of the 1980’s. An animated
series, produced by Sunbow, premiered in 1983, set-
ting G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero as a perennial
brand for Hasbro.
A major trend in American toys was imported
from Japan. Several Japanese toy companies had
produced toy lines featuring robots that changed
into other forms. These toy lines coincided with the
popularity of anime in Japan and were imported to
the United States in the mid-1980’s. Many of the
lines introduced in the United States were pastiches
of Japanese toys and cartoons licensed and then
rebranded by American companies. Lines included
such brands as Voltron, Gobots, and Robotech, but
by far the most successful of the “transforming ro-
bots” brands, in fact the brand that gave the category
its name, was Hasbro’s Transformers, introduced in
1984.
Hasbro licensed the designs for various robot-
themed toys from Takara, a Japanese company that
had originally licensed the G.I. Joe brand from
Hasbro in the 1960’s. Using the same formula that
had succeeded with the new G.I. Joe toys, Hasbro
cross-promoted its Transformers line with Marvel
Comics comic books and a Sunbow cartoon. Eager
for new products, Hasbro also licensed robot toys
from other Japanese manufacturers, but those de-
signs led to copyright issues when those companies’
brands came to the United States. The Transformers
line was so successful that Takara canceled its origi-
nal lines and bought the Transformers concept from
Hasbro. The line was an international hit, and, even
when one of the companies put the line on hiatus,
Transformers was continually produced by either
Takara or Hasbro for more than two decades. The
line would see a renewal in 2007 with a major motion
picture that become one of the highest-grossing
films of all time.
As theStar Warsline faded with the release ofRe-
turn of the Jedi(1983) and as the new brands from
Hasbro and Mattel featured various action gimmicks,
Kenner needed a new brand to regain its market
share. In 1984, Kenner licensed the rights to make
action figures based on DC Comics’s superheroes
and had great success with the Super Powers Team
line. Another success for Kenner was M.A.S.K., a se-
ries about a team of heroes, similar to G. I. Joe, that
drove shape-changing vehicles and battled an evil
organization. However, neither line quite captured
the market the way Hasbro and Mattel had done.
TheGhostbusters(1984) movie was spun off into
both a successful toy line and cartoon namedThe
Real Ghostbusters(to distinguish from the similarly
named television seriesGhost Busters, a Filmation
copyright that predated the film and was made into a
competing toy line by Mattel). Other movies and
television series turned into action figures included
The A-Team,Knight Rider, and the World Wrestling
Federation.
In 1987, Playmates issued a line of toys based on
theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlescomic book and car-
toon series. The franchise would be hugely success-
ful, sparking various movies, cartoon series, and re-
vival toy lines. The final big toy line of the decade was
Galoob’s Micro Machines, a line of toy cars intro-
duced in 1989. The toy cars were smaller than the
traditional Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars and fea-
tured elaborate play sets.Dolls Perhaps the biggest toy craze of the 1980’s
was none of the various action figure lines but rather
a line of dolls marketed to girls. The Cabbage Patch
Kids were a line of unusual dolls designed by Xavier
Roberts and first mass-marketed by Coleco in 1982.
The gimmick was that each particular doll was not
just a toy; rather, it was an adopted child, complete
with an imaginary adoption certificate and the con-
ceit that it was as unique as a child. The Cabbage
Patch Kids became the first “must have” Christmas
toy. Parents waited in long lines to try to obtain theThe Eighties in America Toys and games 981