1980’s childhood marked the beginning of a new era in toy culture. Toys turned into products and brands instead of being purely playthings. In the project Children of the Eighties the museum collected memories from over 300 eighties’ children. Those memories depict a sort of uniform culture in Finland: all watched the same shows on TV and played the same games in the streets. Many remember having lots of playmates and dozens of kids gathering to play together outside. Hockey cards, stickers and scented erasers were popular collectibles. It was a common pastime to fill in friendship books (not sent) and slams.

Imported toys conquered the Finnish toy market – for good. Barbie dolls and He-Man, My Little Ponies and Transformers, Cabbage Patch Kids, Garfield and E.T., Turtles, Care Bears and Lady Lovely Locks – the list goes on. For Christmas you either got (a dream come true) or didn’t get (traumatized for life) the Commodore 64 home computer, the LEGO set, the Star Wars action hero or the Moncchichi you had marked in the toy catalogue.