Toys, as kids...

[Broken_Hero]

Just about everyone had a certain toy that they spent hours fiddling around with while they were growing up, which one, or type of toy did you enjoy the most? For me, I was raised on GI Joe, Transformers, Star Wars, He-man, Superfriends, Gobots, Silverhawks, and the Thundercats primarily. Most of my toys were figures/dolls, but I had a few vehicles. Of all the different types of toys, I would say GI Joe far outnumbered the rest...

So my question is...what toy(s) did you grow up on?

[fizzgig]

1. you had no category for me

thunder cats, jem and fraggle rock

and i loved jem because she could kick barbie's ass

[Broken_Hero]

3. I would say action figures, for you...

because gem/thundercats were more action figure related...fraggle rock is more, plush toy, like stuffed bears, and what not...:)

[TK421]

77. You just gotta love Synergy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She kicked ass!!!!

[reyd reid reed]

2. I know I had all the dolls..

I had the Baby Tippy-Toes and the Baby Grow-a-tooth and the Barbies and Skippers and all that stuff. I never played with it, though. I prefered to draw or to read or to work puzzles and do word games...and torment my brothers.

I did enjoy dressing my cat in doll clothes and putting him in the baby buggy and then strapping on my roller skates and taking him for a *ahem* walk.

And I liked my pogo stick.

[Broken_Hero]

5. I was never good with pogo sticks...

I should have thrown bikes on my list...that is another big one....

[reyd reid reed]

13. Oh....I loved my bike.

I had a gold three-speed that I practically lived on in the summer. Until my brothers decided to use it as a ramp for their bikes.

To this day...

:mad:

And, as corny as it sounds, when we lived in Alabama I had this bamboo fishing rod that I loved. I'd go down and fish in the morning and swim in the afternoon and it was glorious.

*sigh*

[Broken_Hero]

16. Sounds like old good days...:) nt

[reyd reid reed]

23. Oh, it was...

chasing fireflies at dusk...digging for live bait (for the fish, not the fireflies)...digging forts into hillsides...sucking on honeysuckle....swinging june bugs....crawdaddies and mud puddles...camping and canoes and frog gigging...

The frog gigging was kinda creepy, though. And then when the legs jumped in the pan -- that was it. No more frog gigging for me.

[pink-o]

71. I don't know if I would classify a bike as a toy

...for me, it's still legit transportation--altho as a kid in the 60s, I had a no-speed with coaster footbrakes. At the age of 52, it's a commute hybrid bike with 27 gears and always-tuned up handbrakes!!!

And your childhood memories sound awesome, not corny at all! What a bummer that this generation growin up will only get nostalgic about their summers in front of the computer or the x-box.

[AlienGirl]

4. Toy animals

Toy cars were cool too because I could pretend they were alive.

Tucker

[Broken_Hero]

6. I had a lot of toy cars too...

but they wouldn't last long...:)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

72. Me too...

I loved my plastic zoo animals especially. My little guy plays with them now. :-)

[ghostsofgiants]

7. Three words...

Nintendo Entertainment System.

I was also a big Transformers/action figure fan.

[Broken_Hero]

9. oh damn...

I remember when the first kid on the block(Erin) with a nintendo became the instant best friend of every kid, within a walking distance!...:) Man, I use to get so pissed off playing mario...and that damn laughing dog on duck hunt! Damn him...

[ghostsofgiants]

18. I was a Super Mario Bros. fiend.

I got Super Mario Bros. 3 for my 5th birthday (a little over a month after it came out). The greatest day of my childhood, I think, haha.

[Broken_Hero]

24. I was all about Mike Tysons Punch Out

Tecmo Bowl, Blades of Steel, Zelda...hmm, a few others..oh, Tiger Heli, and Russian Attack, and TMNT...:) Man, I would love to get an old school nintendo back....I still got my super nintendo...with my valued Killer Instinct, and MK-3, and Super Mario World...:) The last time I played mario bros I, I beat the game in ten minutes...not to bad, I have never beat mario 3 though...i'm weak...:(

[Omphaloskepsis]

28. I had the one with the stupid fucking robot...

Gyromite was cool.. The robot was shit.. I would just have my sister control the gates.. JesusFuck what a waste of money for that stupid fucking robot.

"It's the Legend Of Zelda and it's really rad,
Those creatures from Ganon are pretty bad,
Octoroks, Tektites and Leevers too,
But with your help our hero pulls through.

[Heidi]

8. Books, books, books.

But my first doll was a talking Nurse Julia. :thumbsup:

[Broken_Hero]

11. I didnt' start getting into books until

6th grade actually, but books are a great escape...books helped me a bunch in junior high/high school...:)

[swimboy]

55. Awesome!

Earl J. Waggendorn, Jr. figure sold separately.

:hi:

[mikeytherat]

57. Corey Baker, action friend, also sold separately!

mikey_the_rat

[swimboy]

58. Boo! Mikey!

How are ya? :hi:

[mikeytherat]

60. Doin' fine - in and out today

How 'bout yourself?

mikey_the_rat

[swimboy]

63. Quietish day, after the tumult.

Quiet evening planned for tonight as I'm leaving early in the morning for DC for a church seminar.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

10. G.I. Joes (and their vehicles), Barbie Dolls, Hot Wheels, Toy Guns...

Surprise, surprise...I turned into an andro lesbian who likes fast cars & guns

Oh yeah, and I had my own small motor boat on the nearby lake by the time I was 11. I spent much of my time fishing or just tooling around in the boat. I still like boats and fishing, except now it's bigger boats and bigger fish.

[Broken_Hero]

12. Thats a good thing though...

In most peoples view...:P

:yoiks:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

14. Yeah, I just like target shooting.

We don't use them for hunting or protection in our family. It's just an activity.

[Broken_Hero]

19. I like target shooting too...

to bad my .41 ammo costs so much...bleh, I'm tempted to get rid of it..and my 9mm needs to be serviced, but i'm to lazy...shooting with a pistol is a lot harder than most people realize...I'm only slightly above average with both handguns...what do you shoot with?

[Omphaloskepsis]

15. Legos and Erector Sets.

[Broken_Hero]

17. Lucky...

my parents got me a knight set...just a knight/horse...and the first thing I do is leave it in pieces all over the floor..and lo and behold, in the early morning my father steps on some pieces with his bare foot...no more legos for us...:( But it was all my fault...did you ever fiddle with lincoln logs?

[Omphaloskepsis]

21. Stepping on Legos was a huge problem in my house..

I did have Lincoln Logs.

The progression was something like:
Duplo -> Lincoln Logs -> Legos -> Erector Set -> Capsela -> Drafting Table -> Computer

[Broken_Hero]

22. Good progression...:)

mine...

gi joe/superman--->books---->superman--->A social work degree--->Sub teacher

[Placebo]

20. Legos!

I still have thousands and thousands of them stored in the closet from when I was a kid, my mother refuses to throw them away.

I was big on those, and all those PLAYMATES light-up Star Trek ships, and Hot Wheels, and all that kind of stuff.

I also had some sort of Key fetish and, although my memory of said fetish is sketchy at best, everyone remembers me as a kid being obsessed with keys and collecting keys and asking people for their old keys. And I guess they must be right because I do have boxes full of random keys, hah.

[reyd reid reed]

25. My kids have Legos.

And K-nex.

And I find them all. At 2 a.m. In my bare feet.

[LiberalHeart]

26. Hop-Along-Cassidy Bike

Black and white with cool fringe on it, very cowboyish. I tied cords on the handle bars and pretended they were reins and I was riding a horse. As you can see, I wasn't quite right as a kid.

I also collected antique miniatures and adored them. And I loved sneaking out the attic window on the third flood and sitting on the gable roof with my dog (my parents would have had heart attacks if they had known this at the time).

But mostly I spent my time with books or a writing tablet.

[Monk06]

86. I am soooo jealous ............

I had a Roy Rogers cap gun set when I was a kid, so
I'm not a complete loser.

[Oeditpus Rex]

27. Legos and Lincoln Logs

Lots of 'em.

And Kenner's Girder and Panel, Bridge and Turnpike Building Set.

I'd take a corner of the living room about eight feet square and build a town, with Matchbox cars and Hot Wheels on the roads. Made road and business signs from construction paper.

That was inside. Outside, it was this:


When the weather was decent, you couldn't get us off of 'em.

[Heidi]

29. That looks almost exactly like my first bike,

except mine was the "girls" model: royal blue with metal flake in the paint and a white banana seat flecked with silver. :thumbsup:

[Oeditpus Rex]

32. And a white basket between the bars

and streamers coming out of the grips?

The "Fair Lady."

[Heidi]

34. I had streamers, but no basket.

My sister little sister had a basket, though (and she had training wheels on her bike until she was _nine_. :rofl: )

[Oeditpus Rex]

36. When I was 9, I got one of these for my birthday

First time I rode it, I hit some gravel and laid it down. Didn't ride it again for months. x(

[Heidi]

37. Oh, but that's a cool bike!

You shoulda borrowed my sister's training wheels! :rofl:

[Oeditpus Rex]

39. Nah

I got rid of the training wheels when I was 8 7 6.

[LiberalHeart]

30. Here's the Hopalong Cassidy bike...

[Broken_Hero]

31. my first bike looked like this

except it was red/white...same frame/build mostly...

[swimboy]

56. I have that bike!

Mine is yellow! I woke up so early that Christmas that our parents made us go back to bed and I took the bike back into the bedroom with me! It is still in pretty good shape.

[Kutjara]

33. I was raised in the 60s, when toys were still lethally unsafe.

Everything was stamped out of tin or steel, with hideously jagged edges and hinges that could rip a finger off. Even cute and cuddly stuffed animals had their eyes attached with three inch long steel spikes.

I remember a girl in my neighborhood had an Easy Bake Oven, which we boys 'liberated' from her. We found that, if you part-baked the little cakes in their tin pans and then hurled them at someone, they would result in quite impressive burns and screams of agony. Sort of primitive napalm, really. Much fun.

Cereal boxes contained all manner of toys that had sharp springs, brittle plastic and tiny parts, all ideal for swallowing. I fondly remember my mother, on numerous occasions, enjoying the acquired pleasure of picking through my most recent bowel-movement, looking to see if some toy part or other had passed through my system.

Now everything is far too safe. How is Natural Selection ever going to work on our species if we don't have toys that are genuinely capable of seperating the genetic wheat from the chaff? Nothing says 'unfit to reproduce' like sticking the metal hook on the end Major Matt Mason's flight tether into a power outlet.

[Broken_Hero]

35. damn...:)

Sounds like a decent childhood to me...:) I remember rock wars, where we used tin garbage can lids as sheilds, and the purpose of the war, was to make the other side hurt really really bad, and cry uncle...and thats how the victor was determined...but, a lot of innocent glass windows got broke during these wars...and a lot of ass got busted by parents...but it was good fun...mostly...:)

[Oeditpus Rex]

38. It was *great* fun

We had these huge backyards where I grew up — something like 270 feet deep. In the back half of ours, my Arkansas-native folks had fruit trees and whatnot, and we learned "alternate uses" for unripe plums and walnuts.

:evilgrin:

Despite what Mom said, nobody ever got an eye put out.

[Broken_Hero]

40. fruit wars...oh man

I bet that was a lot of fun...I can just imagine getting creamed by fruit...we got walnut trees in our backyard, and I would loathe to be hit by one of those...they look like a small green tennis ball...

[Oeditpus Rex]

41. Yeah, but with a cover that's more like leather

And those suckers hurt.

We aimed for the legs and back, though.

'Course, we weren't very accurate. :evilgrin:

[Broken_Hero]

42. yep, green leather..

and when the bust open, the skin at least..that black gooey crap is damn near impossible to get off your hands...when I mow grass out back, I hit walnuts all the time, and they go zinging off...:)

on edit:last year my wife, and my inlaws and I picked up over 1,000 lbs of walnuts...after getting the husks off, we had just over 300 lbs of walnuts.

[Oeditpus Rex]

43. I forgot about that

Yeah, that gunk was like tar or somethin'. But those walnuts — English walnuts, they were — were good eatin'. :9

Man, this is bringin' back some memories. :7

[Broken_Hero]

44. yeah, like black tar

thats mixed with black permanent marker ink...damn stuff is hard as hell to get off, if even possible. My neighbor across the road has four HUGE walnut trees...now his trees produce baseball sized walnut husk, no joke on that...mine are more...golf ball-tennis ball size. They have places around here that buy them too...I turned in..hmm, 200lbs for sale last year and earned 50 bucks...:) What part of Ark were you in?

[Oeditpus Rex]

45. I didn't live there

My folks came from there, but I've been to their old stompin' grounds a couple times — Warren/Monticello, in southeast Arkansas.

Had relatives in Missouri, though — Springfield. Spent a couple nights with 'em a long time ago. Roasted our own peanuts and caught fireflies. :7

[pink-o]

73. My mother's cousins

Had a huge walnut tree on their property on the San Francisco Peninsula. They gave us boxes of them every year, and my sister and I would invariably sneak the nutcracker out to the garage and make ourselves sick by gorging on them.

So guess what I found out just about 2 years ago? If you're not eating salmon or taking your cod liver oil (and I'm vegetarian) then you can get the same healthy omega 3 fatty acids from: Walnuts! So keep on eatin' those puppies and you'll get some super anti-oxidants going!

[seemunkee]

67. We used crabapples

Little fuckers would sting. It was always a war to see who could hold the tree.

[femmocrat]

81. Did you ever make pea-shooters with hollow reeds and choke cherries?

We had great "wars" with those! LOL

(And no one ever put an eye out!)

[BuddhaGirl]

83. lethal toys!

my brother and I had lawn darts...remember those? We were quite young when you played with them; I shudder when I think about that LOL

[sakabatou]

46. Legos! And I still play with them.

[Broken_Hero]

47. I am too poor

to get legos...the new lego knock offs look pretty good...Mega blocks, I think they are called...I always wanted to make a huge med-evil town for my D and D quests....:)

[tjwmason]

52. Lego really is the best.

I bought my last lego on the way up to university for my third year ( :eyes: ).

I have to admit to being somewhat old-fashioned, I much prefer the basic building blocks which really challenge one's imagination - too many of the modern sets are designed to be something specific, and have very individualised pieces...whereas for me half the fun was taking it apart, and making something totally new up without the instructions.

[sakabatou]

66. That's what I do too

I have tubs with basic blocks. Sometimes I'll take a set, build the model and take it apart. Combone it with the basic blocks for something new.

[gr8dane_daddy]

48. Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle...

Could never get the damn thing to jump a ramp over a "river" of "shark infested" water (trough with ants drowning).

[ScreamingMeemie]

50. THat was my brother's favorite toy.

:hi:

[YankeyMCC]

49. I had this toy Eagle

no not the bird the spaceships they used in the TV Show Space 1999 :)

That and the action figures that went with it were probably front and center. Followed closely by my 6 million dollar man action figure and vehicles and then I had this bridge/transporter room with Star Trek figures.

Ahh good times...:)

[LaurenG]

51. I had a red headed baby doll

It was my favorite toy in the whole world, I even remember seeing it in the store and telling my grandmother how much I liked her. "Santa" grandma brought it for Christmas when I was three.

You know back in the "olden days" we used to play outside as much as possible so I remember just playing with other kids more than toys.

[seemunkee]

53. ventriloquist dummy

I practiced in front of the mirror all the time. Had a red sports jacket and black bow tie to match my Jerry Mahoney doll.

[Kutjara]

70. Those damned things creep me out.

Ever since seeing that movie "Magic" with Anthony Hopkins, I can't be alone in the same room with a ventriloquist dummy. <shiver>

[Random_Australian]

54. Other: Nuthin' much.

There was some lego around the place. I think we had a sandpit for a little while.

There were other toys around the place, but I was never really interested in them, or the ones I had.

I don't really remember my youth. (I'm 18 btw)

[Mutley]

59. There were two

1. Legos — I spent Hours and hours building lego towns, lego cars, lego space ships and lego animals. I still have a bin of legos in storage, and I think there is currently a space ship I built sitting in there. :D

2. Matchbox cars — I had the little plastic track, miles of it, and I'd set it up to go down the stairs, around the corner, and into the living room. Then let the matchbox cars loose on it and see which ones would go farther before running out of inertia.

[datasuspect]

61. i had a "mommy" doll and a "daddy" doll

i made up a fantasy house where daddy always came home and mommy didn't tell me that daddy drinks because i cry.

[Fox Mulder]

62. Ninja turtles and Legos

My favorite turtle was Raphael and my favorite Lego playsets were Blacktron, Magnetron(?), and Ice Planet (all early '90s).

Edit: How could I forget Transformers? My God I loved Optimus Prime! Oh, and the regular Nintendo. I was an addict on that.

[catmandu57]

64. I came up in a time when playing army was what boys did

I had about ten thousand plastic soldiers and all their paraphernalia, there were cowboys, indians, nights, vikings, civil war, revolution, romans, trojans, pirates.
My favorites were called Giant, even though the were only an inch tall, you could by a huge bag for .50.
That and a huge arsenal of toy guns, I had a winchester rifle bought with green stamps that shot little plastic bullets, I didn't have it too long because I shot it at people, especially my brothers, when they went crying to mom complaining I never saw it again.
We had dirt clod wars, that and crab apples.

[benEzra]

65. LEGO's!!!

Lego's were my favorite toy. Also had a Daisy BB gun that I treasured (eventually wore it out, until the piston seals couldn't hold air anymore). Stuffed animal (a Gund doggie with floppy ears) that I still have.

I also collected the original Star Wars stuff for a while (my mom put those in a yard sale when I was in college--AAAARGH--they'd be worth a bit on eBay now) and some GI Joe stuff.

A Sears 10-speed bicycle.

[anarch]

68. matches

[BrotherBuzz]

75. You bet!

And when we graduated from being just kids to righteous juvenile delinquents, we were learned the finer points of manufacturing clothespin match guns.

[petronius]

69. I had a stick that I found in the forest - I named him 'Sticky' and he was

my best friend. Then Mommy took Sticky away and beat me with him, so I didn't really have any toys after that... :cry:


(Just kidding, really - sorry, Mom!)

[SmokingJacket]

74. I was a tomboy but I still loved dolls.

My grandmother used to sew clothes for my baby dolls, and my one christmas my mother made me and my sister matching baby quilts.

I also loved playing with matchbox cars in the sandbox, building roads and parking lots.

Oh, dang, I also loved lego: my sister and I made boats and crashed them into each other.

Never was big on Barbie, but I did have one, until her head broke off.

[Flying Dream Blues]

76. Cards, box games, skateboard, bikes, tetherball, trampoline....

I guess I was mostly an outdoor kid. Also, front yard football was great till they quit letting the girls play.

[TK421]

78. Here you go................

Transformers
G.I Joe
Star Wars
Masters of the Universe ( I HAVE THE POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!! )
Go-bots- ( never a big fan, but they have their place in the eighties )
Does anyone remember M.A.S.K ? ANYONE????
ATARI 2600 AND 7800?
Odyssey entertainment system...with the game ( if you can call it that ) or program that let you type words and the system would talk them out....my friends and I would type things like " Mike ____has no dick" and the computer would say it! COME ON!!!!!! SOMEONE KNOWS THIS ONE!!!!!!!!
Shrinky-dinks! Come on! Hail to the greatest decade of all!!

[TK421]

79. Listening to 80's music as I type......

:D

[femmocrat]

80. Toys bored the daylights out of me....

Instead of dolls, I had lots of books, art supplies, music lessons, horseback riding, and playing outdoors from dawn to dusk to entertain me. It was a different time. We played hide and go seek under the street light, jumped rope (hot peppers and double Dutch, anyone?), and played dodgeball, hand-drawn hopscotch on the sidewalk, and swings and monkey bars on the playground.... So different from today.

I'm a teacher and I have recess duty every day. Kids do not know how to entertain themselves anymore. It's nothing but fighting, bickering, and cry-babying. They cannot organize simple games without fighting. I really wonder what kind of adults they will become!

[tinfoil tiaras]

82. I grew up on barbies

Even with their unrealistic body types (i've never had trouble with the whole thinking I'm fat thing because I've been skinny all my life :P ), they were a terrific help to my imagination and helped it come alive in front of me. And, as always, my barbies were a melting pot-they were all not blonde haired, blue eyed. :D

[SammyWinstonJack]

84. Lincoln logs. Jumbo coloring books with the 64 pack of crayons.

[alarimer]

85. I remember Legos and Lincoln Logs

Do they even still make Lincoln Logs? Those were cool. Weebles (remember those? Weebles wobble but they don't fall down!). Also the Fisher Price farmhouse which made a "moo" sound when you opened the door.