In 1980, there was a significant third-party candidate (John Anderson) whose support came mostly at the expense of Jimmy Carter.

In 1980, there was the Iranian hostage crisis that many blamed on Jimmy Carter.

In 1980, the US economy had been in tough shape for several years due to two energy crises and bad policies going back several presidents.

In 1980, US athletes and TV boycotted the Moscow Olympics because of the USSR's war in Afghanistan.

But the biggest factor was simply how people felt wrt the candidates.

The Carter Administration faced the energy and economic problems head-on, and had called for hard work and serious changes in dealing with them. The "moral equivalent of war" was needed to make the USA less dependent on cheap imported energy.

The Reagan approach was to talk about "Morning In America" and "getting the government off your back" and building up the military. Energy problems were to be dealt with by "supply side economics", which another prominent Republican called "voodoo".

It was the difference between a Churchillian call for blood, sweat and tears and Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy"

And now we're dealing with the problems from 1980 that weren't solved by the replacements.

Is imagination.

The dolls don't talk, sing, cry, laugh or wet. The idea is that the doll's owner imagines all those things. What a concept - play driven by the imagination.

To help that process along, each doll has an historically-accurate backstory and, now, a movie. A way to teach history from the ground up.

Toys can be good things, regardless of how old you are.