ColecoVision was the Holy Grail of second generation VGCs. Closest I got was playing my cousin’s Atari 2600.

I’m still a TRUs Kid at heart, it’s the toys than changed, instead.

Mac Tonight and Max Headroom should’ve had a duet somewhere along the decade there.

R.I.P. Spuds, you lucky dog, you.

My parents took me to see Temple of Doom as a “grin and bear it” gift for upcoming surgery which never happened. Brought my worn-out Kenner Indy along with us. My mom hated the money brain scene while Willie and Short Round annoyed the heck out of me. I now recall that my friend from school liked Kathleen Turner better in Romancing the Stone than Kate Capshaw in TOD.

Full Metal Jacket. Along with Platoon and Hamburger Hill, the three “good” Vietnam films of the 80’s. You had the Rambo and Missing in Action series on the flip side, but my favorite of all will always be Uncommon Valor.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Jason.

It’s just as well as there was a joke among my friends, though, that I killed every system I ever bought. I got an Odyssey² in 1982, a TI-99/4a in 1983, and an Atari 130xe in 1986. When I got my first PC I wanted to make sure it was totally future-proof, so I got what the tech guy who built suggested: a fully expandable 16 drive bays! It was about 3 feet tall…

Although, being born in ‘65 I am technically a “child of the 70s”, outside of Star Wars the 80s were far more significant in my life. Everything from friendships (many of which I still have), movies (too many to mention), TV (Cosby, baby) and toys (GI Joe, MOTU). Even the most significant event in my life, becoming a Christian, happened in the 80s. I will always look back at that decade with great affection.

Thanks for the memories, Jason!

I was the only one I knew who had ColecoVision, by the way.

-JJJ