Toys

[Johnny Pneumatic]

As a child what did you play with?

I was a Lego fanatic, could never get enough of them. Sadly they cost so much that I never built a collection larger than a bag full. The bag was about the size of the inside of the main compartment of an average backpack. Barrels full of parts is what I would have loved. Still would.
I also played with toy cars, like Hot Wheels and the cheap-o kind too. I collected and played with Star Wars Micro Machines, had almost all of the ships from the Original Trilogy of movies.
I had some G.I. Joes, the small ones that where made in the 80s and 90s. Actually, most of the Joes I played with were my older brother's, but who cares?
I played NES, Super NES, Gameboy and Atari 2600(wasn't mine, at an uncle's). I played games on the computer we had: F-19 Stealth Fighter, Star Goose, some Star Trek game, Star Wars: Rebel Assault etc.
I also made some of my own toys, and used toys in ways they weren't made to be used. I also *had a sling shot('wrist rocket', to those who call it by that name) and I'd shoot steel ball bearings, marbles and rocks.
*Still do, even better than the one I had as a kid.

[Dingfod]

When I was a kid I had nothing but rocks and sticks to play with... and I liked it that way because there were kids I knew that didn't have any sticks to play with, only rocks.

Actually, I was thinking about this the other day. Even though my family was poor, I had pretty generous grandparents, particularly my maternal grandparents. I remember having a Mattel lever action rifle and revolve cap guns that shot rubber bullets, a Lionel 3-rail train set, and a big round container of Lincoln Logs. I too had a slingshot, a wooden handle with flat wide rubber bands with a leather patch to hold pieces of gravel or hard peas and beans. I never had a GI Joe or any action figure. What I never got but really wanted was an Erector Set. Legos and Hot Wheels, so far as I know, came along after my childhood was past.

[ImGod]

I lived on a farm and my parents couldn't afford a lot of toys for 4 kids and we only got 3 TV channels on some days, 1-2 on most. So I was stuck playing pool on our antique slate pool table, riding horses, shooting stuff, fishing, and working/being outdoors. We made lots of toys like our own bow and arrows, a go-cart from an old riding lawmower, a working telegraph between our rooms, etc., etc.. We did have army men and some hot wheels, but I think we blew them up on the Fourth of July.

One of my kids gets more toys on their birthday than my entire family got for a typical christmas.

I still build stuff from scratch when I get bored.

[lisarea]

Not too much, really.

We had lots of greenbar paper my dad brought home. Plus toilet paper and paper towel tubes.

We'd each get maybe five new toys a year or so. One year I got an Erector set I begged for for at least a hundred years (kid years, but STILL). I got a telescope once, and a rock tumbler. I don't remember what the rest of them got, because who even cares about those guys?

We had a couple of those big metal Tonka trucks, some stuffed animals, but not many, things like that. We only had edumacational stuff, usually. We were only allowed to watch something like an hour of TV a week or something, but even then, if we saw a commercial for something, we could NEVER HAVE THAT THING. EVER.

And I still keep this childhood toy in my office, to serve as a painful reminder.

[pescifish]

Hot Wheels, Tonka Trucks -- those were my favorites as an older kid. My brother and I liked to make up towns or construction sites in the dirt by the side of the house. Trolls, horses, dogs were always a hit and I'd make up stories for them.

Here's a shot of a happy pescikid at xmas. That Time Bomb was a crack-up! The game was to toss it around until it exploded in the hands of whoever was lucky to get it when the random timer went off.
http://www.pescifish.net/mepics/TimeBombXmas.jpg

[Ymir's blood]

I made my own toys from fake fur, felt, pom poms and googly eyes. They were modeled after the 'troll' pencil top things that were sort of popular for awhile. They had all sorts of accesories and buildings - made from cardboard and 'invisible' tape - such as a disintegrator machine and a large castle.

[ceptimus]

Here's a shot of a happy pescikid at xmas.
/me had one of those Tip-iT games, and has it still.

[Johnny Pneumatic]

...Tonka Trucks -- those were my favorites as an older kid. My brother and I liked to make up towns or construction sites in the dirt by the side of the house. Trolls, horses, dogs were always a hit and I'd make up stories for them.



Tonka Trucks, of course! I had one of those. One of the ones that were almost wholly metal, not the plastic crap of today. If you can't get hurt on your toys, they're not really toys. I had a sandbox that I'd drive it around in, when I wasn't doing the same in the yard. I don't know if mud, bamboo, rope, alligator clips and matches count as toys, but I played with them.
And how could I forget about my stuffed animals? I had a little monkey that I called Little Monkey. I loved that thing, but lost it somewhere when I was little. I also had Warworth the Rabbit, and still have him in a box somewhere in my attic. I also had a 55 gal. plastic barrel. Normally it was full of clothes, it was our 'clean clothes barrel', but I'd take them out and play in it(roll in it like a mouse wheel, or do whatever I wanted). Or I'd bury myself in the barrel under the clothes.

[Crumb]

When I was really little I was all about the Tonka trucks. One knee in the back and one foot to kick and I rode them around the yard. :inmycar:

When I was a bit older it was Hot Wheels all the way. I had a basket full of hundreds of them. Then it was GI Joes. I ended up with quite a collection of those as well.

[LadyShea]

I had many toys, but preferred playing "pretend" and being outside to playing with them.

I did like our Atari, though :)

[viscousmemories]

Lincoln Logs, Tonka Trucks, and ...

The Whirlybird!!

http://www.whirlybirdcentral.com/museum/images/5972.jpg

img compliments of http://www.whirlybirdcentral.com

[The Jesus Lawyer]

i was a big lego nut. i loved lego! :D

stars wars toys were also really cool.

oh, and i had a huge aresnal of toy guns...anybody remember the rifle game, 'tin pan alley'?


michael :)

[livius drusus]

Barbies and board games, mainly, including a Barbie board game which I really should have kept because there was a gigantic mistake in the game so you had to sort of avoid one section of the board or you'd end up totally snarled and paralyzed.

Might be worth some scratch today. :darn:

[Sock Puppet]

Legos were great. I also loved Micronauts, which were briefly popular in the mid- to late-70s. They were designed to be interchangeable, so you could combine them in various ways to make new characters and vehicles. I sorely regret letting those get tossed out.

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Barbies and board games, mainly, including a Barbie board game which I really should have kept because there was a gigantic mistake in the game so you had to sort of avoid one section of the board or you'd end up totally snarled and paralyzed.

I guess that toy was made before the Children's Toy Anti Neuro-tranquilizer Act was passed.

[The Jesus Lawyer]

Legos were great. I also loved Micronauts, which were briefly popular in the mid- to late-70s. They were designed to be interchangeable, so you could combine them in various ways to make new characters and vehicles. I sorely regret letting those get tossed out.

omg...micronauts...i remember those! they were really cool :D

[ceptimus]

I had a nice Meccano set.

I built lots of things from Meccano, but one of the best was a clock in our garden shed. I designed it myself, and it kept quite good time.

Here's a web site by a guy who's built lots of Meccano clocks: http://users.actcom.co.il/meccano/clocksmichael.html

My clock wasn't as pretty-looking as any of his, but I think the free pendulum mechanism I made was better.

I gave my Meccano away to a cousin; that was a mistake; I wish I still had it today.

While I was looking for the Meccano clock site, I found someone has constructed a Babbage Difference Engine (http://users.actcom.co.il/meccano/babbage.htm) from Meccano :)

[wei yau]

While I had Lego and Erector sets and other cool stuff, the best toys I ever had was G.I. Joe. Not the big guy, but the little 3.5 inch fellas.

Had a massive army. Between combining resources with my cousin and .... uh ... other means, we managed to build one big collection.

He still has it, I think.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

Who remembers Tinkertoys?

I liked things like Legos, Tinkertoys, and my BOOKS.

[Dingfod]

Tinkertoys were my substitute Erector Set.

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Tinkertoys were my substitute Erector Set.

And now you use Viagra.

[Dingfod]

Tinkertoys were my substitute Erector Set.

And now you use Viagra.Not hardly.