Runner-ups

Gummi Bears

Tiny Toons

Tom and Jerry

Darkwing Duck
Top 8 - Cartoons From My Childhood
Cartoons from the 80s were classic. I grew up in what I consider a "Golden Age" of cartoons. Many were original or different and they all had really long runs. I think watching these cartoons developed my interest in comic books, model kits, and all those other hobbies I enjoy so much nowadays.
I find that the cartoons today lack the fun and simple stories that were from the Eighties. Either the cartoons are completely useless (like Spongebob), concentrate to much on learning, or don't make any sense at all. Maybe I'm just biased as these were the cartoons from my childhood.
Anyways, here are the cartoons I consider to be my Top 8 from my chilhood.
Got your own opinions? Have your say!

Thundercats
Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats Hoooooooo! I remember my first time watching this cartoon and I was hooked. It was hokey in the beginning, but it grew on me. The theme song gets stuck in your head and you can't get rid of it.
Mumm-ra was a great villain and there was a great cast of evil "mutants". There were lots of episodes to follow and with the signature "Thundercats Hooooo!", this was a no-brainer to watch when I was young.

She-Ra: Princess of Power
I liked watching She-Ra more than He-Man. Perhaps it was because I thought She-Ra was hot? I was probably hoping that skirt would fly up all the time. The thing I remember most about She-Ra was watching the show to find out where Loo-Kee was. It was fun looking for it/him/her whatever. Loo-Kee always delivered the "moral" segment at the end.

Duck Tales
The adventures of Huey, Dewey and Louie got me through middle school. I loved to watch them after school and it was never boring. It was just such an interesting show with very cool characters. Gizmoduck was always a favorite and it's success lead to the Darkwing Duck and Quack Pack shows.

Voltron
One of the more memorable sci-fi cartoons. This is one of many North American cartoons that were brought over from Japan and re-dubbed for English audiences. Voltron was based on Hyakujuu-ou Golion. This was an awesome series where five lion robots would join together and create this huge robot! I ate this up when I was a kid.
I always wanted the Voltron toys and I vividly remember a friend who had the entire set and he would bring them to school where we could play all day. Awesome.

The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show
The ultimate time waster. I loved watching the Bugs Bunny cartoons along with Slyvester and Tweety, Road Runner and Wild E. Coyote, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam and the countless other Warner Bros. classics. These were the classic cartoons and the animation was great. I still get a kick whenever any of these classics show up on TV.

G.I. Joe
Yoooo Joe! That was the battle cry. I preferred Cobraaaaa! and later, Cobraaa-lalalalalalala!. Those were awesome. The reason I loved watching G.I.Joe so much wasn't because of the Joes, it was because Cobra was so goddamn cool. They had the coolest weapons and coolest technology. When the cartoons started introducing the Vipers, BATS and other high-tech stuff, I was going nuts!
I remember the theme song when Cobra invaded Washington, it was absolutely awesome. Too bad, the Joes had to come in. Hahahaha. Don't forget the classic moral stories at the end of the show. Those were pretty good too.

Transformers
Transformers were the ultimate cartoon for me. I collected the toys, watch the show, collected the stickers and read the comics. The Transformers were absolutely fascinating. Soundwave was my favorite character and it was so much fun trying to remember the names for all the Transformers.
As more and more toys came out and more Transformers got integrated into the cartoon, I loved it even more. It was just fun to watch all these new characters in the cartoons and not just the same old five or six you would see in every episode of many cartoons.
I think that's why Transformers has been one of the more successful 80's cartoon revivals. It hits a spot for a lot of the older generation and is easily appealing to the newer generations. Too bad the new toys suck.

Robotech
Watching cartoons was simple. Every day, there would be another episode and it would be a totally unrelated story from any previous episodes. Occasionally you would have a two-part story line or even the rarer five-part story line. These would be exciting times whenever it felt like it was a "movie".
So when Robotech came along, it blew away my mind. It was a space soap opera that was a cartoon! There were transforming fighter jets and crazy aliens. There was a ton of violence and people died all the time! It was like nothing I'd ever seen before and it was AMAZING. I was sooo hooked to Robotech (which was an amalgam of three Japanese cartoons). The story was compelling and the artwork was good for its time.
Robotech started my love for Japanese Anime. I would quickly start following Gundam and countless other anime. This was before it became popular in North America and there were only a few cartoons you could watch or read.
Robotech introduced me to a new concept. Cartoons weren't just for kids. Japanese cartoons were much different than your typical North American fanfare. There were fun cartoons, serious cartoons and adult cartoons. I loved it and still love it! When I got the Macross Perfect Collection, I watched the entire series through in two days. Non-Stop. That's way longer than any Lord of the Rings marathon. After all these years, it's still amazing to watch.
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