I was up early on Saturday watching the cartoons my children watch. They seem to lack something, I don’t but they just didn’t seem to have same sense of fancy or wonder I was accustomed to growing up. It got me thinking about the good ole days. The days when I couldn’t wait to get to the cartoons I loved. Here are my top five cartoons from when I was growing up

5. M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Komand) This was a fun on for me. I love special agents, action, and of course changing vehicles. This was sort of a rip off of transformers in that the vehicles would change between two different vehicles. I really enjoy the sort of clear cut good vs. evil. The world was simpler in those days. We were still fighting the cold war, sort of, and bad guys were clearly defined. This was fun!

4. Dungeons & Dragons. Who didn’t love this! I loved to play D&D in those days, and still do. My parents did not get it, the game or the cartoon. I have always enjoyed the adventure aspect of this game. The fact that we are seemingly destined for something more than we are. The show also adds this element in by grabbing a group of modern teens and thrusting them into the world of D&D. another of my favorite tropes. The unsuspecting individual who has more ability than he knows it just calls to me. This group of teens ends up on a D&D ride, which I have never seen at any carnival, and through the power of magic, are transported to the world of D&D. the only true quest is to return home. They are “guided” by a small being known only as dungeon master. Not 100% true to the game it was sufficient enough for me to enjoy.

3. G.I. Joe. What child of the 1980’s did not love this? Amidst the anti-violence on TV crusade there was a militaristic show about an elite fighting force fighting against a terror group. As a matter of fact why hasn’t this been brought back to the small screen? Everyone had cool codenames and the guns fired lasers, we all knew they were tracer rounds but lasers kept it “less violent”. Each week they would simply foil the plans of an inept terror organization that had several internal ego struggles that really keep them from pulling off whatever their plan was. Seriously how in a post 9-11 world is this not a television staple? Of course it was also a toy tie in, come to think of it weren’t most of the cartoons of the 80’s just half hour toy commercials? Again clearly defined good and evil and to add to the educational value were the PSAs at the end of every episode. They were almost as much fun as the show itself.

2. G-Force/Battle of the planets/Gotchaman. It’s not a tie it is all three names this one is known by. Actually based of an anime, or as we called it Japanimation, the Americanized version focusses on a group of young adults and teens that fight evil every week. I have not watched this one in a long while so my facts might be off but here I go. They each had their own vehicle, mark had a jet Jason a race car etc. these all were part of the main vehicle which itself could transform into the fiery phoenix. They all wore bird like costumes and together they would create whirly tornado of kick assery. This was another one that caught my imagination as I wanted more from the world.

1. Robotech. This was, for me, the granddaddy of them all. This spanned three generations. It had everything alien invasion, a love story hard hitting air combat. This was actually three different animes stitched together to create a huge universe that reached far beyond anything I had ever seen at the time. The depth of story alone tells me there is no way this was intended for children. The animation was superior to anything I had seen at the time. I loved this and as soon as I am done here I am going to look for the old episodes online to give this to my children.

Those are my top five children’s cartoons. Did I forget yours? Let me know in the comments. As always don’t forget to vote for your favorite.