1984 Mattel Christmas Wish List

What’s up, dudes? It’s the toy company that practically owned Christmas morning in the mid-80s! Yes, it’s Mattel — the plastic powerhouse behind Barbie, He-Man, Hot Wheels, and enough colorful cardboard packaging to completely bury your living room floor! Today we’re talking the 1984 Mattel Christmas Wish List!

Mattel goes all the way back to 1945, when Harold “Matt” Matson and Elliot Handler started a small company making picture frames. Eventually they pivoted from household goods to toys, and by the time the 1980s rolled around, Mattel had become an absolute giant in the toy industry. Barbie ruled the fashion aisle, Hot Wheels dominated the race track, and Masters of the Universe transformed action figures into a fantasy phenomenon.

This Wish List provides a huge variety of toys. From Barbie Dream Houses to Snake Mountain, there’s something for everyone. Crystal Barbie shimmered like Christmas tree tinsel, and Rainbow Brite practically turned the entire catalog into a neon explosion of color. Of course, Castle Grayskull towered over all of them!

Secret Wars Tower of Doom? Check. Hot Wheels Crack-Ups? Rad! Poochie stationery and stamps? Absolutely! So grab your Battle Cat, fire up your Attak Trak, and circle your favorites in this 1984 Mattel Christmas Wish List!

Check us out on Facebook, Twitter,  Instagram,  Totally Rad Christmas Mall & Arcade, Teepublic.com, or TotallyRadChristmas.com!  Later, dudes!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Do you have a Mattel Smile for Christmas? We're talking the nineteen eighty four Mattel Christmas wish list. It was 1984. Ghostbusters ruled the box office. Prince's Purple Rain was everywhere, and Mattel unleashed one of the most gloriously colorful Christmas toy catalogs of the entire decade. I'm your host, Harry D, with another episode of Totally Rad Christmas, the podcast that talks all things Christmas in the 80s, toys, movie specials, music, and fads. If it was gnarly during Christmas in the 80s, we got it covered. What's up, dudes? Today we're diving into Mattel's 1984 Christmas Wishlist, a catalogue where Barbie sparkled, He-Man battled evil in Eternia, Hot Wheels crashed gloriously into walls, and Rainbow Bright practically weaponized color itself. Now, before we crack open the wishlist, we gotta talk about the company behind it all. Mattel was founded in 1945 by Harold Matson and Elliot Hanler, the Matt and L in Mattel. Get it? Waka Waka! Originally they made picture frames, but soon they started using scrap wood to build dollhouse furniture. From there came toys. The rest is history. By the 1960s, Mattel had already changed the toy industry forever with Barbie, and by the early 80s, they absolutely dominated toy shelves with Barbie, Hot Wheels, Masters of the Universe and Television, and dozens of preschool lines. In 1984, Mattel was firing on all cylinders. This wasn't just a toy company anymore, it was practically an empire of molded plastic and impossible Christmas expectations. And of course, every great toy memory starts with a catalogue. Long before online wish lists, kids had wish books. Sears, Montgomery Ward, JC Tennies, these giant catalogs became holiday rituals. Kids circled toys, folded corners, and strategically left catalogs open on the kitchen table for their parents to accidentally, quote unquote, discover. Mattel's 1984 wish list was different though. This wasn't a department store catalog, this was a focused attack on your childhood imagination. Every page screamed, This is the hottest toy of Christmas. And honestly, they weren't wrong. Now, let's take a little bit of a trip back before we jump into the pages. So I gotta talk about seeing Castle Graceful in the wild. La plaza Mall, that's the mall in McAllen where, um, right next to the town I'm from, La Plaza Mall had the best stuff. I mean, there was a Woolworths, a service merchandise, and they had a KB Toys as well. Later on, they would have Walden Books in Circus World, Music Land, all sorts of fun stuff. But KB Toys was the one place that we absolutely had to go every time we went to the mall. And one trip, I remember turning down the action figure aisle and seeing the giant green fortress staring back at me. Castle Grayscale. The box art alone looked dangerous. The jawbridge, the green skull face, and the trapdoors, I mean, it looked less like a toy and more like Forbidden Ancient Power, right? Just sitting on a shelf between Barbie and Hot Wheels. Uh I just I remember just standing there imagining He-Man battling Skeletor, Man at Arms firing lasers, Beast Man just climbing the side of the castle. I mean, that was a magical, like seminal experience for an 80s kid. And so with that in mind, I say let's dive into this. And we're gonna start right away with the cover. So it's a red cover, it says, Give a Mattel smile for Christmas. There's two kids on the cover there. It tells you exactly what Mattel's selling. Pure Christmas joy. So the two smiling kids, they're in front of a Christmas tree, one's holding Barbie, the little girl, the little blonde boy's holding He-Man. And honestly, like, that's the whole 1984 toy aisle toilet section right there. Your girl isle, your boy aisle is typically what used to have. My my brothers and I used to do everything we could to avoid what we call the pink aisle, not the girl aisle, but we tried to avoid the pink aisle, we'd go straight for the action figures. But either way, like this picture just screams 1980s toys, right? Glamour and fantasy, muscles and magic, I mean pink convertibles and battle axes, it has it all. So you open it up, and we start with Barbie first. Now on every single page at the very top, there's a picture of a kid and it says give them a tell smile for Christmas. In this case, it starts with Barbie. So we have Crystal Barbie and Crystal Ken in box number one. These were peak 80s elegance, I mean shimmering silver white fashions, sparkles everywhere, enough glitter to blind nearby action figures.

SPEAKER_04 5:14

Crystal Barbie, you're so beautiful! You'll shine at the dance.

SPEAKER_03 5:19

Here's a new Crystal Barbie doll in a shimmery gown and change-around store. Oh, glory sparkles! Ken says, May I have us dance? Crystal Ken doll sold separately.

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Ken says you shimmer from head to toe.

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New crystal Barbie doll comes with gown and a necklace for you to wear. Ken sold separately.

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New from Mattel. Now next to it, we also have Barbie's motorbike, a bright pink bicycle to let Barbie fully embrace suburban freedom. Uh we had Barbie's dream pool set as well. This one seems interesting because I think you can actually fill it up with water. I don't know. I didn't have any sisters, it was just us three boys. And um none of my cousins I don't recall ever actually having that, so it's possible they did, but I don't remember it. Either way, it looked fun. Um, and I think kids would have a lot of time playing with it, you know. They Mattel just understood something important, right? Kids didn't just want dolls, they wanted worlds. So there was the dream cottage uh right here that it lets Barbie live like what I guess the complete 80s lifestyle fantasy or something. Uh, you know, and just lifestyles of the rich and Barbie. I mean the rich and famous. Uh there's Barbie Beauty Salon and Bubbling Spa. Uh I mean it's just there's there's little mirrors, uh salon chairs, bubbling tubs. I mean, Barbie was basically living better than most adults in '84. We also have on the next page Barbie's dream house. This is like the big centerpiece, right? It's huge. I mean, there's two little girls there playing with Barbie, and this thing just is almost as tall as they are. One's kneeling down, the other's behind it. It's massive. I mean, it's multi-rooms, there's just this gigantic shelf presence, and this is like the big present that kids dreamed about all year long. Now, as you turn the page, we get into some other regular dolls. So there's Rainbow Bright, there's Baby Skates and Chatty Patty. Chatty Patty was a pulse-spring talking doll, and like that same kind of technology was huge in '84. Chatty Patty delivered phrases, songs, and enough audio repetition to slowly hypnotize parents. You know, until I'm sure they wanted to throw it out. And I mean, she seemed pretty cool. Again, I didn't really have it, so I don't really know a lot about it, but I I really can imagine a lot of little girls having a lot of fun with this. Baby Skate's doll is uh this doll on tiny little roller skates with knee pads. I mean, this is like just screams 80s. Like I can just see, I mean, if it kind of seems like the village people movie, though. Uh something like that. We also get Snuggle Baby Bunny Beans and Kitty Cow Beans. These are soft body plush baby dolls built entirely around, I guess, cuddleing and snuggling and cuddling them. But on that next page, we have Rainbow Bright. Now, this is one of the defining toy lines of the decade. Hallmark's Rainbow Bright exploded in '84 with dolls, sprites, horses, playsets just drenched in color. I mean, I remember there was even a Rainbow Bright movie later on. You know, they had uh, I mean, just tons of Rainbow Bright birds. There was even a Rainbow Bright Christmas album that I talked about way back in season one. You can go check out that episode. But there's also some other things. There's uh ColourPocket wall hangings, which again was like rainbow decor that just kind of turned bedrooms into full Rainbow Land territory. There was the color buggy, which the little dolls could actually sit and play. Uh it's basically a little, just adorable little vehicle, bright blue, rounded, spoedic perfection. And then, of course, you have Rainbow Bright's horse and some of the Sprite characters you could play with as well.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

What's happening with the sprites in the land of Rainbow Bright? Color Feel, Color Feel, here come Rainbow Sprites, Sprite and Murkey Disney.

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Starlight was the name of the horse. Probably one of the most beloved fantasy toy companions of the era, along with Cringer and Battle Cat. So that's page four and five. As you turn the page, you get more. There's preschool fun with Poochie.

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Who can fill the days with fun and laugh with Poochie Fashion? Who always gets what she goes after? Poochie Fashion. Poochie Fashion.

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Here are three Poochie Pals, each sold separately.

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Poochie, I love dancing with you. I love jogging with you. Let's go! And who makes everything fun? Poochie! Poochie Fashion!

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Poochie Pals come in different outfits. Each doll sold separately. Each outfit has a different message. Poochie is from Mattel.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

So there's a CNC, Little Safe Driver, and Poochie. The CNsei toys, if you don't remember, I mean they're preschool royalty. You pull the string and you know you hear the cow say moo or something like that. This one has a whole just one full uh box with one, two, three, four, five, six, seven different kinds of CNse. I mean, it's it's quite impressive. There's the farmer says, the talking clock, the bee says, Count with colors, the zookeeper says, Mother Goose says, and about my work. So any one of those would just keep your child happy for days. There's also my first phone with the blue handle, it's like rotary-style toy phone with eyes that rolled while you dragged it around. Something called Lil Safe Driver, which is a a little toy. Uh I mean it's almost like a like a flight or driving simulator, I guess. You know, it's for your child to play with while you're in the car, but it's it's basically a tiny dashboard simulator for toddlers. Steering wheel, horns, signals, everything. Um, again, these are some that I don't really recall having, but I know if I was a toddler, I would have loved. There's uh rail toys for the cribs, you know, just things you can stick on the rails and play with. So there's those, there's tough stuff toys, which are like these chunky, real durable preschool toys built to survive just absolute destruction. And Poochie, which is one of Mattel's huge 1984 pushes, a fluffy pink and white fashion dog with bows, accessories, stationary stamps, and cosmetics. That's found on the uh opposite page there. You could comb her hair, you could change her clothes, all sorts of fun things. And I mean, there's it's wild what they have. There's uh plush pals, there's a stamper, there's uh um notes that you can hide in flowers. I mean, it's uh it's it's just crazy this Poochie push here. And of course you get the little girl in pigtails play holding the Poochie doll. There's watches, there's diaries. I mean, this is where toy companies realize that characters could become just could become entire lifestyle brands, right? And that's what they did with Poochie here. So we also get um a basket, like one of those um a basket, a toy like shopping cart, in other words, a shopping basket. There's also golf clubs, stroller. It's just all sorts of fun play that uh child could have there. But as you turn the page, you get to the good stuff. Masters of the universe. So this is the heroic warriors. You also got some of the evil warriors mixed in. So we have Clawful, Prince Adam, Flip Flash, there's Orco, there's Tila, there's Jitsu in that first box. Right under you have Castle Grey Skull, and there you have He-Man, Mechanec, Many Faces, Triclops, and Evil Lin. Under that, you have uh Fisto riding Stridor, you have Stratos uh driving the attack track. I mean, this thing is like it's just it's ready. And on the opposite page, you have Trapjaw and Roton, there's He-Man on Battlecat. Love it. Just vintage, vintage um 80s there. You also get Snake Mountain. Now we we did get a Snake Mountain, my brothers and I, but we didn't get it until later on from a garage sale. So some of it worked, some of it was missing a couple of things, but even then it was still a fantastic play set. We got Man at Arms up at the top, there's Panthor on the bridge, we have um Battle Armor Skeletor Whiplash, excuse me, Battle Armor Skeletor, Webstore, and Cobra Con at the bottom. We have Battle Armor He-Man on the Dragon Walker, there's Buzzoff and the Little Boy holding a beast man action figure right there. And I would have loved, I I did have almost all of these. Um I was huge into He-Man. It's probably either that one or G.I. Joe were probably my all-time favorite toys of that decade. It's super close between the two. But I would have loved to have been playing with this kid. I mean, it looks so fun.

SPEAKER_04 14:20

Is Snake Mountain ready to take on He-Man?

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Snake Mountain is gonna go each so separately. You put the mountain together. Snake Mountain with Echo Microphone, new from the Masters of the Universe collection. Action figures each so separately from Mattel.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Now, as you turn the page, you get Marvel's Secret Wars line. So this is where Marvel was kind of smart because you had DC, they had their big superpowers line, they teamed up with uh, I believe it was Kenner, they had the whole line out there, and they were just releasing all these superheroes, you know, Superman, Batman, and everything. Well, Mattel needed to counter that, so they enlisted Marvel, who had just released their Secret Wars comic um miniseries. So Mattel hopped on that bandwagon and they released Secret Wars to kind of counteract that Kenner brand. And we have the Secret Wars here. In the first box, we have Captain America, Doctor Doom, Spider-Man, Magneto, there's Wolverine, Doc Ock, Doctor Octopus, Iron Man, and Kang the Conqueror. Under that, we have Doctor Doom riding um his turbocycle, there's Captain America with his motorcycle as well, and then we get the Tower of Doom. Now, this was Doctor Doom's massive fortress, complete with trapdoors, there were battle stations. I mean, we have all the same figures there, just in different poses. I actually did have Captain America Spider-Man and Doctor Doom figures. The Doom figure was cool because he came with this blaster and it had just this little piece on the edge, and so you could slide it into his leg like a holster. I mean, it was super awesome. I loved that figure, that Doctor Doom was one of my favorites.

unknown 16:16

Secret Wars!

SPEAKER_04 16:17

Ah, Doctor Doom will trap Captain America in my tower of doom!

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Spider-Man, Tower of Doom and Doctor Doom versus Captain America set each soul separately. You put the tower together.

SPEAKER_04 16:26

How should I trap them, Secret Shield? Ah, with the Doom Slim. So this is the Tower of Doom. Welcome, Captain. Get me out now, Spider-Man.

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Tower of Doom from the Marvel Superhero Secret Wars Collection. Doctor Doom versus Captain America set in Spider-Man figure each soul.

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This thing is so cool, though. I mean, it's just it's fantastic. There's the Doom Roller, which was like this unstoppable vehicle of destruction. But yeah, that Tower Doom was just a sinister stronghold, right? I mean, for Doctor Doom, his evil disciples, the booby trap chair, the working trapdoor, this thing was fire. But as you turn the page, you get a few other things as well. So there's the speed shifter 500, which is uh Hot Wheels, I believe. It's like a high-speed launcher racing set, or racing track. There's all sorts of the Hot Wheels Cobra stunt set as a it was just chaos in the track. Uh crack up cars, which were cars designed to crash, like they were actually designed to crash, and then they would physically deform on impact. So these things were so fun as well because you would just smash them into each other and it looked like they were in a car wreck. But we're not gonna worry about that right now. We're gonna worry about the railroad freight yard, which was a sprawling train set that absolutely consumed the living room floor space. This thing was big. There's two kids playing with it. I mean, it was um it was just massive, right? And it ends with this uh the last page. It's a chance to get$55.50 in rebates. So you would actually fill out your wish list, send it in with what you wanted, and you had a chance to get cash rebate on the purchase there. So, I mean it it basically screams, right? Parents, we know this stuff is expensive. We're here to help you out this Christmas. And so this is like, I gotta say, one of the most 80s things, right? Mail aways, just uh rebates, things like that. And so there were rebates on the Barbie Dream House, Snake Mountain, the Tower of Doom, the Hot Wheels playsets, and then a few learned computer systems as well, uh, which were not featured in the actual wish list. But there you go. Uh so there's an image of a smiling couple on it that really makes me laugh. It's this uh guy in a very 80s haircut with uh big thick Coke bottle-looking glasses. He's holding presents, standing next to his wife who's just holding up in her gloved hand. I wonder if they were ice attorneys, holding up in her gloved hand just a bunch of cash, right? So nothing says Christmas magic, like carefully cutting UPC symbols off toy boxes while drinking coffee at the kitchen table, right? Uh, but you know, G.I. Joe taught us that knowing is half the battle. In this case, I think the other half is just standing frozen in the toy aisle trying to decide between Castle Greyskull and the Tower of Doom. Well, on that note, I'm gonna end it with Givers get a Mattel smile for Christmas too. So check us out on our social media pages, which you can find at Linktree.com slash Totally Rad Christmas. And if you're feeling like a kid staring at Castle Grayskull under fluorescent KB toy lights, leave us a review on iTunes. It helps us reach more people and spread some rad holiday cheers. Now don't forget to check out our merch shop on t public.com and our super dope website, totally radchmas.com. Merry Christmas to all and to all a safe night. Later, dudes.