a quick ramble about 80s toys and childhood dreams
There’s something magical about 80s toys, isn’t there? Everything was chunky, neon, and covered in chrome or holograms. Half the time you didn’t even know what the toy did, but if it lit up, made a sound, or had some completely made-up “technology” like a light disc or a battle visor, you were in.
I grew up absolutely obsessed with space toys. StarZone Holoblasters was the one I loved the most. It had this ridiculous projector gun that spun plastic discs and flashed coloured lights on your bedroom wall. Total nonsense, but when you were eight, it made you feel like a galactic warrior. I had the standard set, bright red blaster, green visor, the usual setup. I wore that thing round the house like it was part of my actual uniform.
But what I really wanted, what I pined after every Christmas and birthday, was the Starzone Holoblaster Shadowstalker Limited Edition.
It was the holy grail. Black and silver everything. A sleeker visor. A “stealth mode” setting (which I think just meant the blaster was quieter). The box had darker artwork and came with a special mission card you couldn’t get anywhere else. I remember a kid at school had one and I honestly thought he was the luckiest person alive.
I never got it. Not once. My parents said it was “the same toy but in a different colour”, which is technically true and also completely heartbreaking when you’re that age.
These days I find myself scrolling through old catalogues and eBay listings, spotting battered boxes and yellowed plastic, and I still get that pang. Not just for the toys themselves, but for the feeling they gave you, that buzz of possibility, the sense you were part of something cosmic. You weren’t just playing, you were on a mission.
Maybe I’ll get the Shadowstalker now, just for the principle of it. Pop it on the shelf, give it the honour it deserved. Childhood me would be thrilled.
And I’d definitely read the mission card first.