Are you a child of the 80s, or just one who grew up loving all of the 80s cartoons? They just don’t make cartoons like that anymore, and I’d argue they probably won’t ever again — heck, they’ve tried! While networks (and movie studios) have tried in recent years to revive some of the old 80s cartoons, nothing new really compares.
While there’s no “best 80s cartoons” list that everyone will agree on, I’m going to break down my five top picks for 80s girls’ cartoons and 80s boys’ cartoons, and then follow it up with a list of other cartoons from the 80s. See if they spark any memories, and then share your favorite 80s cartoons with us in the comments!
The Best 80s Cartoons for Girls
I grew up as a girl in 80s, so I’m a bit biased towards the female-oriented cartoons. To be completely honest with you, I still watch some of these when I need brain candy (and others I’d love to be able to get my hands on (namely the old Charmkins special and Rose Petal Place cartoons). Looking back at what my friends and I most often watched (and which shows sucked us into making our parents buy the most toys — the real purpose of many 80s cartoons), here are my top five picks for the best 80s cartoons for girls:
5. Lady Lovely Locks
I don’t remember a lot about the Lady Lovely Locks cartoon, but I remember that I just had to have the toys and for some reason the dolls’ hair always seemed insanely long (then again, the hair was kind of a focal point). But they were cute. They had pretty dresses. And they had those cute little Pixietails. For a little girl in the 80s, what wasn’t to love?
4. My Little Pony
While I can’t say My Little Pony was necessarily one of my favorite 80s cartoon to watch, you have to admit they sure knew how to get little girls (and their parents) to buy toys. They could have created an infinite line of pony toys — change a color here, alter a size there — and we would have kept buying. Heck, we did! The cartoons themselves were cute, although I always found Megan to be a bit on the obnoxious side.
The My Little Pony movies were always better than the cartoons, but the quality was generally pretty similar. To this day I still love the characters of Catrina (one of the villans) and the bushwillies. I mean, come on, they were even cuter than the ponies!
My Little Pony is one of those 80 cartoons for girls that got a resurgence recently. While I haven’t seen new cartoons, I have seen the toys. This is one case where they didn’t mess with an 80s classic too much either — the new pony toys reminded me quite a bit of the originals.
3. Rainbow Brite
I loved this show. To this day though, I’m really not sure why. Maybe it was the contrast of the bright colors of the heroes combined with the more dismal settings in some of the stories. Maybe it was that I liked strong female lead characters (not that she was the strongest). Or maybe I just really, really wanted a horse like Starlite who could gallup through the sky on a rainbow. You tell me.
As much as I loved Rainbow Brite, I’m thrilled that it never got a full-scale update. I don’t recall a new cartoon version, but a few years ago they did try to bring back the show’s toys. They even kept them somewhat true to the originals. But Rainbow Brite is one 80s cartoon better left in the 80s.
2. Strawberry Shortcake
I wanted to make Strawberry Shortcake my number one pick for the top 80s cartoons for girls. I really did. But they killed it for me when they brought it back a few years ago. The updated animation was atrocious compared to the original (of course I’m biased). The only updated show they made a bigger disgrace of recently was The Care Bears (have you seen the awful 3D animation on some of those things?).
I remember having the old records with the music, and just loving all of the characters of this one. I had the sheet set, a nightgown (I want to say a night cap too), and of course the dolls. I even made my mom make me a Strawberry Shortcake pillow for the bed. I was obsessed (but I’ll take being obsessed with an 80s cartoon over a modern one any day).
1. She-Ra: Princess of Power
Okay. If He-Man was the “master of the universe,” then his sister She-Ra was the master (or mistress) of marketing. I don’t even know how we managed to store all of the She-Ra toys they released, but we bought them, played with them until they were falling apart, and bought some more!
Sure, She-Ra was a bit on the corny side — okay, very. But we loved it. We had our fill of cute, soft, and fluffy and She-Ra gave us a more empowered female superhero-style character to idolize. And for that, she gets my top pick of the 80s cartoons for girls.
I know my top picks may not be yours, so here are some other great 80s cartoons for girls. Let us know why (or if) you loved them!
The Best 80s Cartoons for Boys
While I may not have grown up as a boy in the 80s, I did grow up with two brothers and two male cousins around the same age, so I’ve seen more 80s cartoons for boys (and their toys!) than I care to remember. Just like with the 80s cartoons for girls, I know readers are going to have their own favorites so if you don’t see them here feel free to share them in the comments!
5. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
I won’t pretend to remember this cartoon well, but I remember the boys being obsessed with it, and constantly playing with their little G.I. Joe dolls (I mean “action figures”). It’s the new found interest and the upcoming G.I. Joe film that edged this boys’ 80s cartoon onto our top five list.
4. Thundercats
I do remember watching this show with the boys growing up. For the most part I found the characters a bit disturbing (maybe it was just a girl thing), but I did love annoying little Snarf. This was one of those cartoons that really came to represent the animated style of the 80s to me (not to mention that I love most cartoons put together by Rankin-Bass). With that in mind, I’ll probably avoid the pending resurgence — said to be a CGI movie due out in 2010.
3.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but okay, I really did like this show! This was one my brothers and I could agree on, although I can’t tell you why. Being a late 80s cartoon, the animation style was a bit different than some of the older ones. Maybe that’s what captivated me. Or maybe the idea of martial arts-loving reptiles was just cute to me… at the time. While I haven’t seen the most recent TMNT film, this is yet another 80s cartoon for boys that made it to the limelight a second time (or do we want to consider that a third, given the older films?). What can I say? This is one of those 80s cartoons I have a warm spot for.
As for the intro video above, I apologize for the fact that it’s shaky and literally someone filming their television screen. But it was the only true original version I could find for you (others were all European edits making them the “Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles” because they censored out “Ninja”).
2. He-Man: Masters of the Universe
He-Man may not rank as highly on this list as his sister did as my top 80s cartoon for girls, but number two isn’t too shabby! This was another boys’ cartoon that I didn’t mind watching. Okay, so the whole “by the power of Grayskull” bit is kind of cheesy, but then again in the 80s, what wasn’t? I have to admit though — I was always secretly rooting for Skeletor.
1. Tranformers
Let’s say I’m ranking Transformers number one for the sake of the peanut gallery. I can’t really grasp the fascination with robots turning into cars and such myself, but the show seemed to captivate the imagination of little boys everywhere (and sell a lot of toys to boot!). I remember sitting in a movie theater watching previews pretty long before the first recent Transformers film came out. It was a superhero movie, so as you can imagine the theater was filled with young testosterone. Then a preview came on. A vague one — it must have been the first. I had no idea what the preview was supposed to be for. The men in the theater did. You could feel the excitement. It was funny and disturbing at the same time. But needless to say, they wanted their Transformers fix then, and I’m happy to give it to them here too.
Not satisfed with the top 80s cartoons for boys listed here? See if any of these strike your fancy.
Not all of the 80s cartoons we got to know and love really fit under the boys’ or girls’ labels. There were plenty of shows loved (and not so loved) by both sexes alike. So I’m going to leave you with a list of additional 80s cartoons to look back on. Reminisce away!
Tell us about your favorite 80s cartoons (or even let us know your own top ten picks) by leaving a comment below!
Disclaimer: All images, photos, screenshots, and show intro video clips are believed to be covered by fair use rights under U.S. copyright law, being used for the purpose of editorial illustration / identification in the context of reviews or critiques.
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I'm trying to remember a girl superhero and she could "bend me, shape me, anyway you want to" and those lyrics were in the theme song.
does anyone know the cartoon which has 3 girls and one of them are princess and each of them hold Moon, Sun,and Heart crystal to transform to a super power to fight the witch.
Could it be Sailor Moon?
do they have horses"? if so i think im looking for the same cartoon:( ive been looking for it since foreverrrrr!!! but havent found it yet...
I think you're thinking of Princess Guinevere and the Jewel Riders.
lol- this is a reply to my post as well.. thank you very much! ive been looking for it for years
except it has a different name.. STARLA and the Jewel riders..?
Hello, All...
Very awesome to read all of these posts, but I am still lost. Please help before my sister's birthday in September. This is what we remember well enough to state: A brother and sister and their dog are in a little cabin in valley surrounded by mountains. It is night. There is a sort of explosion... They go outside; they are all (possibly), or maybe just the big hairy grey dog (OMG, it's so blurry), are taken to outerspace...... and the adventure starts there. There are creatures with hose-like snouts, IDK, I really don't know. Does this seem at all real to ANYONE to but us? It is not Snorks, it's definitely in space. Thanks
Wow. I just found it. Nevermind, and THAMK YOU. It is "The Racoons". Holy S___! And Thank goodness that mystery is solved. Take Care
I must say a few very great shows were left off Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, Duck Tales and JEM!!
Two of those were indeed mentioned in the article. Check again. ;)
And another commenter already added Teddy Ruxpin to the list. A good one, and cute, but not sure if it's necessarily one of the best compared to many of these other ones. But that's the beauty of these things. They're subjective and we can each love our own things. :)
Can anyone tell me what the 80s cartoon was that had a girl who drove a flashy car, and had a sidekick robot and dog??
It almost sounds like Poochi. But I think that was just the dog and robot -- the dog wrote an advice column or something. It might have been a special if not an ongoing series. Not sure if that's what you're thinking of, but I loved that as a kid.
Does anyone remember a cartoon about a girl with a star on her face, she would turn into a rockstar or something like that? I can't remember the name, anybodyyy???
JEM? she didn't actually have a star on her face, just her eye make-up to look like it was. we dressed up as Jem and the holograms one year for Halloween.
Anyone remeber a cartoon with an old man with a coat, a walking stick, a hat and a beared and never talking so you really could understand - and he had some kind of powers - like flying, and as far as I remember, his stick had some abilities to?
Think he had a wife also - dont remember if he was some kind of spy nor old guy with powers - but cant find it on any lists or sites - dont remember if i saw it on Sky Channel or Super Channel back in the 80's.
But would really love if any1 remembers the name.
Think his coat was green. Time of action in the cartoons was about the 80's.
He walked a little like Chaplin.
And he was able to talk to his wife trough his cane/stick
No ideas what it could be??
I remember this cartoon. The old man didn't have a beard but a big droopy white moustache and used to call his wife 'sweet keeper of the cheque book'. It's been driving me mad for ages trying to remember what it was called.
Does anyone remember a cartoon about a pink robot? She was a very feminine looking robot. I don't know if there were many episodes. That used to be one of my favorite cartoons and I can't remember the name of it. I think it was on after 3:30 during the week not on Saturdays. I think there were a few other robots too but I just remember the pink one.
Does she have red hair? Was she in love with a human male with blonde hair? Did she and other robots transform together? I've been trying to remember what this is for ages! At this point it could have been a dream mashup of dungeons and dragons, voltron and the mighty orbots.
The group is on a renaissance type planet (visiting definitely don't live there) at a fair. They were dressed like the natives. The pink robot with red hair goes to the fortuneteller tent. She wants to be human. The fortuneteller grants her dream and tells her she can turn back into a robot whenever she wants to with an amulet. The fortuneteller is really the bad person and when she tries to turn back she can't (she needs to to transform - she's central to the combining robots). She might have been the only robot. The others may have been humans in robots (voltronesque)
OMG OKAY SO for like a year ive been trying to remember this cartoon i watched over and over again when i was young! My memory of it is vauge but I remember it being of maybe a brother and a sister and a talking dog (i think it was talking) and they went on adventures one was in an areoplane and they had a suitcase. thats all i remember! THANK YOU!
I'll take the 80's Transformers cartoons over the recent movies any day!
True! Except the japanese episodes - got the Takara pack - and was really disappointed - its was to primitive and easy stories compared to the US versions of em.