Toys

M.A.S.K. was a superb Saturday morning cartoon, shown just after The Racoons, which featured a bunch of middle-aged men who put on masks (no surprises there then) and suddenly became kind-of super heroes.They were most often involved in saving their ...

MUSCLE men (or "Millions of Unusually Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere") was first produced in Japan. Some of the characters were based on a zany Japanese comic (in fact, there is a cartoon show about it on television nowadays featuring some ...

Mad Scientist was a series of "mad science" toys released by Mattel. The original set with the Monster Lab and featured a vat with two plastic monster skeletons and an array of small parts like fangs, eyes, et cetera. ...

"Catch Them If You Dare!" went the slogan. And very apt it was too, for these bouncy little balls where the most grotesque ones you would ever clamp eyes on. Disgusting they were! And because of this, they were, of ...

Magic Balloons used to be a kit with a tube of coloured goo (like squishy plastic) which you moulded around the end of a drinking straw, and then blew really, really hard (so your cheeks hurt). Then it made a ...

Magic Diaper Babies were small dolls made of hard plastic. They were about 2 inches tall and wore little white diapers. You would put ice onto the diaper and it would go blue or pink to let you know if ...

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When I was very young, I saw this commercial for a Magic Nursery Baby. It showed this little girl taking the doll's dress off, putting it in a bowl of water, swirling it around and then she said, "Love is ...

Back in the 70s, while adults were marvelling at the scientific breakthrough that was VHS tapes, kids were concerned with an entirely different breakthrough - though just as scientific, some would say.We're talking about Magic Sand (also known as Mars ...

The Magic Shot Shooting Gallery made by Marx Games was one of the most exciting games a child could own in the 70s and 80s.The game comprised a plastic gun with a magnetic tip and a shooting gallery like the ...

I remember at the end of the 70's there was this toy called a Magic Stick. It was a long yellow plastic pole with a red plastic ball-shaped knob stuck to each end. The stick was attached to a clear ...

I still have my Magical Musical Thing! It was a long blue stick the size of your whole arm with multi coloured numbered 'buttons' in two rows. It took a 9 volt battery and was really high pitched. I still ...

Ah, the Etch-a-Sketch. Now, while I admit it can (I say ‘it can’ – I personally am only ever able to draw wonky-looking houses on it) produce some extremely clever pictures, for those who aren’t able to get on with ...

Major Matt Mason (and buddies) were astronauts and explorers. They were wire-framed / rubber action figures and were known for their wires breaking and not being able to pose any more!There were lots of extra gadgets available if you had ...

Major Morgan’s strapline was ‘Let’s Make Music’. I, personally, would argue that whether that held water or not would very much depend on your definition of ‘music’…It was never going to become an instrument favoured by pop bands or orchestras ...

I used to have 10’s of these tiny cars. I loved the fact that you could open the doors, and sometimes the boot of them! And they could scoot so fast over our linoleum floors, smashing into washing machines and ...

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Manta Force and Red Venom were 2 large space ships which, when opened up, had roughly 20 smaller space vehicles inside and loads of little purple spacemen! Manta Force was the "good" ship and Red Venom was the "evil" ship. ...

Maple Town "dolls" were all animal families. I remember having a lot of these, they had litle houses and buildings that you could get to go with them, and I played with these all of the time. They were like ...

Marbles, not to be confused with Squarbles, have existed forever. Okay, maybe not forever, but no one can really pinpoint their creation. But that's by the by, because as soon as you have your first marble, all you become interested ...

Marbleworks were plastic pieces that you fitted together to create tracks for your marbles to roll down. There were a number of different sets that you could buy and combine, and most often they were used for making the marbles ...

Similar to Action Man but with the added bonus of a hidden button on his back, Mark Strong would spring into action when the button was pressed, activating his right arm with an almighty Karate chop. The best thing about ...

I never had a Marvel the Mustang, but my baby sister got one for Christmas back in the 60's and boy was she happy, I can still see her bouncing around on that horse like she was the the steed ...

The name Mary Quant is synonymous with the swinging 60s. When the fashion designer opened the doors to her fashion Bazaar in London, she instantly redefined street fashion, No longer did we have to wear the same clothes as our ...

Lots of different cars to collect.The Die Cast toy brand was introduced to the market around 1953 and are still available to buy now. They are now owned by Mattel Inc. Many of the earlier models are now ...

Matchbox Motorway was a little like Scalextric but you were able to use your own Matchbox sized toy cars. You slotted the track together, but before putting the final piece in, you had to push two really long springs through ...

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Ha! I’ve just seen the old 1980’s advert for this game. The advert features the man from the Police Academy movies who can do all the voices - Michael Winslow.It’s fitting that he’s advertising the Max BackTalk, because you could ...

The actual name for this series was "Robo Force" and the leader of the good side was Max Steele. The leader of the bad side was Hun-Dred. The toyline was made by Ideal.The toys were robots that had large ...

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Meccano is to toys, what clay modelling is to adults. A building pursuit that doesn’t always lead to something you expected, or even something useful. But it does lead to a a glow of of achievement and you enjoy the ...

Stompers were first created in 1980 by Schaper Toys. These toys were battery-powered vehicles that ran on a single AA battery and featured four-wheel drive. They were driven by a single motor that turned both axles. In the UK they ...

The toy kitchen set was made in 1984 by Meritus Industries. Meritus was merged with DSI Toys in the early 90s. The unique thing about this set is that all the plates have faces on them - not the ...

This is the very first toy that I can remember playing with.I had this and used to play with it all the time. It had a few almost mechanical mechanisms that you could mind and then the toy would move. ...

Thought Micro Machines had left you for dust? Then think again. Not only are these nifty little toys still very much available to buy, but if you delve deep down the back of the sofa, you may just find one, ...

Does anyone remember the Micronaut collection?It was back in the days when they trusted us not to choke on small parts. The whole collection included motorized parts, weapons (that shot out tiny missiles) and action figures that sat in the ...

Mighty Max was like a Polly Pocket toy for boys. I don't really remember them ever being in the shops but I do remember that my brother had a couple. A cereal company was doing a promotion thing on them ...

Mighty Max was a toy line released by Mattel (I think they were based on a UK toy line) that was based after a cartoon series of the same name.Max, the protagonist, receives a cap and is transported to another ...

Mighty Moes and Tiny Mighty Moes were like Tonkas on steroids! One big push and they went forever. Up hills, through water, over rocks and off tables without ever slowing down. Oh, the memories... :-( I miss you Tiny Mighty ...

My Mike Hazard Special Agent figurine had a blue plastic moulded suit. It came with masks for disguise, trenchcoat, holsters and guns. He was fully movable to enable you to make him carry out special agent tasks, plus his hands ...

These toys were tiny plastic dolls that were made by blue bird. The Tiny plastic dolls came in little things, such as a genie lamp, ice cream cone, sea shell, sunflower etc....The would come in sets such as a fun ...

These die cast model cars first came to my attention though my nephew. I never had any of these cars, but he really really wanted one so I bought him one for his 9th birthday (he’s 25 now! Crikey!).The car ...

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Mobo's Bronco was a tin rocking horse that you sat on. You could move Mobo forward susing both its front and rear legs via wheels that you had to press down on using foot rests at either side of the ...

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It's something of a dark secret that, during the 80s, children were given toys that sucked their (gasp!) thumbs! Yes, monchicis and their predecessors, the chickaboos, were renowned for their thumb-sucking prowess when, today, in an era when parents are ...

Monkgomery was a talking monkey. He was on sale in the late 80's around the same time as Bingo Bear. If I remember correctly - he was made by the same manufacturers. He had velcro on his hands so you ...

I loved Monster in my Pocket! They were little plastic monsters that were either famous film monsters or from legends. I seem to remember they had a Jack the Ripper one!The adverts made them look even better because they looked ...

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MoonDreamers were around 6 inches tall, and made by Hasbro in 1986. They had glow-in the dark hair (often mullets!) and shiny, sparkly, glittery space-suits.There was also a MoonDreamers cartoon series with the usual cute goodies and ugly badies storylines. ...