When I was a kid, boys' toys included slot cars & COX aeroplanes. The latter involved standing in the middle and rotating while the plane goes around you on a tether. 
I never had one, but was envious of those who did. 
Compared to radio-controlled planes, helicopters, and drones, these must be boring as can be. G. I. Joes were about 12" tall, wore clothes instead of them being painted on, & had no names or personalities. Their hands were pitiful, & could hardly hold anything. MARX toys made 12" action figures with sculpted-on clothes, all of one color. Their hands could hold things, & they did have names & personalities. IDEAL toys made Capt. Action, whose hands were the best, & could hold more types of things. Also with a name & personality, had various costumes and masks such as Superman, & others.
All these had accessories & vehicles, except MARX' Mike Hammer, who was modeled on James Bond, & had all the goodies to prove it, but no vehicle. While most MARX figures also had enemies, neither Mike Hammer, nor Stoney, a WWII type soldier did. Marx series included Western & Medieval, I had just the Johnny West Figure, but there were many more in the series.
Nothing particularly boring about those toys, though.
The GI Joes were war-oriented toys, until about the 1970s, when the anti-violence crowd persuaded Hasbro to change to adventure themed sets. I had a dog sled, of which 1 dog remains. I cannot recall myself even wondering about the change from the war theme, as I already had plenty of those Joes, anyway.
LEGO was really crude, and barely recognizable by today's sets. Barely anything moved, except wheels. I actually did have a set with gears in it, though most sets had nothing more than wheels and axle blocks.
There were no opening doors, much less the garage-type doors that have been around for decades, now. I think I actually did have a house-set, that had a very crude garage door, & a Matchbox-sized car to go through it. Hot Wheels & Matchbox cars are likely the least changed of toy types.
