Could 1986 Be The Greatest Year Of Our Childhood?

Growing up in the 1980’s and 1990’s, kids like myself had a lot of great ground floor franchises and hobbies to sink plenty of our after school and weekend hours into. Be it playing in the backward “jungle” with our G.I. Joe and Transformers figures, watching DuckTales and TMNT cartoons everyday after school, or playing our Nintendo’s and Sega Genesis consoles to the early morning sunrise on a Friday night. Life was good. Looking back now some 30 plus years later, one year still sticks out to me as perhaps my favorite year growing up as a kid. 1986. Specifically, Sunbow’s season 2 and season 3 premier of both the Transformers and G.I. Joe cartoon series that coincided with Hasbro’s retail line. If you were enjoying your childhood that year (or wasn’t and are just curious) then hop in and ride shot gun in my DeLorean and let’s punch the gas to 88 mph to the year of 1986 and dive into just why this just might be the greatest year for many kids like myself growing up back in the day.

To truly grasp what made 1986 so special, we truly need to rewind the clock to the previous two years. In both 1984 and 1985, Both Hasbro’s G.I. Joe and Transformers toy lines as well as the Sunbow animated cartoon series for both franchises were on fire. One could easily use the word “dominating” in fact. Everyday after school, we raced home from the bus stop and did a barrel roll with our bowls of cereal in hand and watched our weekday cartoons. We spent countless hours playing with our Autobots and Joe’s as they fought the good fight against the Decepticons and Cobra. We even made transformers sounds out of our mouths as we transformed them mid battle. I even had Transformers bed sheets that I would stare at after bedtime dreaming of which character I wanted to get next. To put simply, Duke and Optimus Prime were our heroes, and no villain could replace Cobra Commander or Megatron.

Or so we thought.

In 1986, trailers started to hit for Transformers The Movie on the big screen. I must of watched that trailer so many times during the cartoon commercials that by the time my mom picked me up that epic day from school to finally go see my Optimus Prime on the big screen , I think I would of literally died at the dinner table as I ate my vegetables that night had I had to wait just one more day to see the blockbuster. This was my first time going to a movie that was MY movie from MY world. The word excitement doesn’t do justice to the emotions I had sitting in that theatre. Little did I know that in the next 30 minutes, my entire world would come crashing down. Wheeljack, Prowl, Brawn, all brutally massacred right before my eyes. Not to mention, Ironhide having his head blown off! All leading up to my crying like a infant as I witnessed my childhood hero, Optimus Prime, pass right before my eyes. By the time the credits rolled, names like Rodimus Prime and Galvatron would be forever cemented in Transformers lore.

Across the Sunbow street, we had the season 2 premier of G.I. Joe for the epic “Arise Serpentor, Arise” 5 part mini series. Similar to the injection of new characters in season 3 of Transformers that picked up right after the film, G.I. Joe gave us new characters across the board. Move over Doc, Major Blood, and Stalker. Classic regulars that we had grown to love as extended family, were pushed aside for newcomers such as Low Light, Wet-Suit, Leatherneck, Zarana, Zandar, and Dr. Mindbender just to name a few. Sure, these would soon become classic characters in their own right, but not in 1986. In 1986, these were completely new characters that were catapulted into our G.I. Joe universe. None more so that Sgt. Slaughter and Serpentor. These two characters unofficially replaced Cobra Commander and Duke. Very similar to Rodimus Prime and Galvatron stepping into their respective leadership roles in the Transformers series. Looking back, Hasbro really rolled the dice here . This could of been a huge blow to both franchises had that plan not worked out. Thankfully, Sgt. Slaughter ,Serpentor, Rodimus Prime and Galvatron grew into their roles and continued to make a name for themselves. Granted, Rodimus Prime had a much tougher road ahead than any of the others. He was almost hated for years. Which I get. After all, Optimus Prime had some mighty big metal shoes to fill. That said, Rodimus Prime has actually grown to be my favorite all time Autobot.

I remember playing with my friends back in the 1980’s, and everyone had their own classic battle with Sgt. Slaughter vs Serpentor, and Rodimus going up against Galvatron. Looking back almost 30 years later, and I can’t think of any franchise, let alone two franchises, that would completely overhaul their main cast of characters, heroes, and villains in the same year. Pretty bold. Which is one reason I believe that 1986 is my favorite year growing up as a kid. I don’t think we will ever see something of this magnitude ever again. Thankfully, we all have our own time machine DeLorean’s to hop into every time we pop in our Sunbow DVD’s or glance at our collectables on display and re-live 1986 all over again. What is your favorite toy or show from 1986? Sound off AFTER THE JUMP!