We Had It So Good. So, So Good. – Part 1

By Destro Designs – Viper Den Studios

This last week I saw so much ’80s toy content in my timeline that I couldn’t help but think we had it so, so good.

People have been saying it for years, and to a certain extent that’s exactly why Stranger Things became such a phenomenon. The show absolutely nailed what it felt like to grow up in the 1980s.

Honestly, the early ’90s were just an extension of the ’80s—with worse clothes and, largely, worse music.

The thing that really got me thinking was seeing an advertisement for Mattel’s replica M16 Marauder. It made me realize just how different things are today. Now, a livestream can get shut down because someone is holding a plastic, full-scale sci-fi blaster, or because they casually mention loving an old military collectible.

Society has to grow and change—that’s just the natural order of things. But somewhere along the way, there’s a line where genuine concern turns into worrying simply because there isn’t much else to worry about.

When people were trying not to get eaten by bears or figuring out where the next meal was coming from, there wasn’t much time left over to make sure the cave had been completely childproofed.

Hopefully one day we find that balance again.

This whole train of thought started because one of the younger guys who works with me was helping out over the weekend. He had just turned 30, so I asked him a simple question.

“What toys did you have growing up?”

He had to stop and think.

Finally he said, “Oh yeah… I had a few Power Rangers.”

That completely caught me off guard.

Now, I know not everyone has an encyclopedic memory of childhood, but the fact that it took him that long to answer—and that his memories mostly revolved around a handful of Power Rangers and video games—was wild to me.

This wasn’t a socioeconomic issue, either. He grew up in a comfortable middle-to-upper-class family in New Orleans. His sister earned a scholarship to a well-known engineering school in my hometown, and he eventually stayed here.

So I kept asking questions.

“What did your friends collect? Did somebody have a huge collection of something? What did you guys do after school?”

The answer was basically sports, after-school programs, getting driven everywhere, then heading home for some console time.

He was perfectly happy with his childhood. It’s all he had ever known.

He did say he loved his Power Rangers and watched the show religiously. Transformers were around too, but by the time the 2007 Michael Bay movie launched that entire toy line, he had already aged out.

To put things into perspective, I started showing him pictures of classic G.I. Joe figures from the ’80s.

Almost immediately he said,

“Those are way cooler than anything I ever had.”

Then I showed him Laser Tag.

Transformers.

Megatron turning into a Walther P38.

I buried him in stories about walking home from school by yourself in third grade, riding your bike until the streetlights came on, disappearing with your friends for an entire Saturday, and living life without a screen permanently attached to your hand.

He was genuinely blown away.

After only about ten minutes he looked at me and laughed.

“So… Stranger Things was pretty accurate, huh?”

Yes, Harry.

Yes, it was.

The funny part is I felt like I’d barely scratched the surface.

This article is really just a prequel to several more I’ll be writing about what made growing up in the 1980s so incredibly special.

We’ll talk about teenage babysitters who somehow kept everyone alive.

M-80s.

Neighborhood adventures.

Arcades.

Saturday morning cartoons.

Toy aisles that looked like magical kingdoms.

And all the little things that today’s generation simply never got to experience.

I’m not saying everything about the ’80s was perfect.

Some of us grew up with alcoholic parents before society openly talked about it. Some kids got lost in messy divorces. Others were exposed to things no child should ever have to experience.

No decade is perfect.

But we had freedom.

That freedom made us independent.

We didn’t have endless entertainment, so we became creative.

Our parents drove us less, so we rode bikes everywhere and stayed active.

We didn’t have smartphones, so we actually lived in the moment.

Maybe that’s why so many of us remember those years so vividly.

We really did have it so good.

And this is only Part 1.

I’ll see you soon when we dive into another unforgettable piece of what made growing up in the ’80s absolutely kick-ass.