Since Suwanee's post about Good Times. I have been reflecting on my own 'good' childhood memories and the toys that meant so much to me.

I used to escape into my own little world and play by myself for hours at a time.

When I was 3 I was given this Family Tree House set (It was a hand-me-down from some friend of the family). I loved it and they even had a dog. The little boy figurine looked just like me and I could pretend I had a happy family. I still have everything but the actual treehouse (it fell to bits) and my kids love them too.


Then at about 8 I got my first and only lego set. It was a real 'boys' toy. The rest of the lego I played with was my older brothers. This was mine...just mine.



At 10 I got my first Transformer. I loved Transformers so much. I used to watch a lot of cartoons on TV (escapism again) and this was a toy from a real live TV show. WOW!!. This is Blaster. I really wanted Optimus Prime but now Blaster is more special to me. I sold him at a garage sail when I was about 15. I bought another one a few years back.



Just wondering if anyone else had some special toy/s when they were a kid that remind them that it wasn't all bad.

Lee

Since I'm a master a tracking down this stuff mate - who cares about the shipping cost to Oz when it's treasure like this? - found the treehouse(s):

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html;jsessionid=4A675144D5576864289B170F1C2FA652?_nkw=1975%20Kenner%20Family%20TREE%20TOTS%20TREE%20HOUSE%20Complete%20w%20Box&_itemId=310290258088

Mine was the Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (a 1966 model kit by Aurora):

Lancer

My wife she kill me. Lol. I nearly bought one a few years back......maybe now is the time???


WOW that sub looks AWESOME!!!! I didn't know cool was invented back then

Lee

Provided the wife DOESN'T kill you, I can guarantee you and the kids will be fighting to see who gets to play with it.

I truly love this stuff Lee and I've become particularly good at tracking down/limiting myself to the exact items, usually in great condition. It's done wonders for Little Lancer. Don't say I didn't warn you!

My "cool" was Irwin Allan's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space and The Time Tunnel...it WAS the Space Age, after all ;-P

I got my first Transformer when they debuted in 1984, then took a break from about 1990-1996, then got right back in again. Like getting reacquainted with old friends.

I have about 800 now, conservatively. Also some Macross Valkyries and Brave Of Legend pieces that fit the aesthetic and round out the ranks. Though the number that is "mine" is slowly decreasing, as rather than buy new ones for my son, I just give him mine! Not the treasured specimens obviously.

So as far as happy memories go - when the time came, I had the Transformers animated movie on in the background as I lost my virginity. Nerdy girls are awesome


Matt

Matt - You ARE a Legend!!!!

I'm married to a Starwars Nerdy girl sadly.... no gold bakini though

Lee

I think we all need a dose of this kind of medicine once in a while...




The Lego airport...a favorite...planes, blocks, what's not to love about this?


OK, this is not my Lego city, but I made many a massive metropolis like this one. They had residences, businesses, industry, an airport..and zoning. I geeked out on these.






















I used to have dozens of Matchbox cars. This is the only one left...and is now on my desk at work.




















And finally...The football game of red LED lights and a shrill whistle. A bit of trivia: the sound from the first version is heard in Supertramp's "Logical Song."


Will

Hey, Suwanee, it's EA Games on the phone. They wanna talk to you about SimCity. ;-)

Well, Lancer...as far as SimCity goes...I more or less do the real thing on a larger scale M-F 8am-6ish pm.

Little wonder where that comes from...

Will

LOL!

i must have been before the Lego era. but one of the few good gifts/toys i got that i LOVED was a Kenner Panel & Girder Building Set:



i spent hours making things with it. my brother had a Lionel train set and my architectural marvels enhanced his set-up. then i was given another great gift - a slot-car racing set:



and that made the whole scene even cooler. being an "artsy-fartsy" kid - as Lancer says - i was more into customizing the little cars with paint and decals than actually racing them!

Lee

OMG Lee. I'd completely forgotten about the Kenner set! I made all kinds of skyscrapers and got frustrated when I ran out of the right window panels for my design. Sometimes, too, the little tabs on the ends of the red girders would wear out.

An artsy-fartsy frustration?

Crap. Now I have to go back to eBay and find that, too.

Will

Your airport puts my gas station to shame. Like you I could get lost for hours..days creating a massive lego city. Lego is one of the more 'constructive' toys for kids to play with.

Matchbox cars. YES. I forgot about those. I still have some of my favourite peices (57 Corvette Stingray, General Lee (Dukes of Hazzard, Car Carrier Truck etc etc). I gave the rest to my son and he loves them too. Although he is into Hotwheels more than Matchbox.
When I worked in an office I had one on my desk too.

We had this crappy little army tank handheld game and we loved it too.

Arr the memories.

Lee

Traveller

I have NEVER seen or heard of the Girder and Panel building sets...WOW looks like fun. What an education I am getting! I see it was made by the same people that made my Tree House (Kenner).

Was it a bit like Meccano?

I have 'heard' of slot car racing sets - but never seen one in real life. Awesome! Being arts-fartsy myself I probably would have been more into customizing the cars as well.

Lee

the girders were hard plastic and the panels were kind of flimsy but thin, stiff sheets of translucent plastic with different parts painted opaque - so that there were solid walls, full windows and partial windows, as well as doors, roofs, etc. like Lancer said, you often ran out of the style of panel you wanted to make the design consistent. It was the right scale for my cars - HO - but smaller scale than the train set.

the slot car set came with 4 cars - but 3 were grey and one red - BORING! i couldn't let that stand. it was also hard to tell who was winning if they were the same color. i left the Corvette red. the Mercedes i left grey. i painted the Jag white with flame decals. and i made the T-bird metallic blue. So cool!

Lee (either one):

I had the Tyco Night Glow "Empire 1000" slot car set. It had glow in the dark components like guard rails and lane stripes....and the cars had working headlights for racing in the dark.

I got it for Christmas from my grandparents when I was 6. I think it cost something like $75 dollars in the JC Penney catalog. That would probably be nearly $250 in today's money...wow!
Tyco Nightglow

There was a strange electric/ozone smell that the controllers gave off after playing with it for a long time.

Good times.

Will

OMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!! I had this...and the full Main Sub.

See you on ebay...gotta find one!!!!gotta find one!!!!gotta find one!!!!

I actually just found a bath-boy picture of me. No submarine toy to be found...which was weird cuz I never took a bath without toys-gallor.

wait....i have no money for this!

@FarmerBoy - we may all regret you started this thread

Got more ways to spend your money, guys. Remember the smell of burning plastic? Amazing I didn't burn down the house (like UL Listed meant anything):

My sisters had one. The finished items were around the house for many years. I remember everyone burned their fingers eventually.

That hot plastic did have a very unique smell.

oh, yeah!
and my brother had a thing that you poured liquid plastic into little molds and made creepy-crawly bugs and eyeballs and other cool stuff that turned out rubbery-stretchy. i forget what it was called.
anybody remember those?

Lee

i found it!

Creepy Crawlers by Mattel:


some even glowed in the dark!!!

So here's a... SPECIAL childhood toy memory.



This is the Phantom Striker - flagship of the evil Lord Dredd from the toyline "Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future". The theme of Captain Power was that all the toys had strobing lights inside them as well as features that were activated by light sensors, i.e. battle damage. So you could have them "shoot" each other with their lights and they'd buzz or jerk or turn completely off. Some of them also came with mirrored targets that you could shoot in order to activate this light sensor feature if you didn't have any other toys (or friends) to play with.

So when I was about 9 I got the Phantom Striker and I pretended it was flying through space blasting Captain Power and all the other toys, I pretended by holding it at arms length and spinning and spinning around in a circle while constantly pulling the trigger and setting off the strobe. It strobe-blasted all of my furniture in my room and all the goodguys and all of my other toys and Darth Vader and whatever. It was just a really cool feature for a toy to have for a kid.

I did this for about, oh, two minutes. Which is a long time to be spinning around firing a strobe light.

And then I stopped hitting the strobe and looked around and I WAS COMPLETELY BLIND. For serious. My entire field of vision was covered with blue after-glow, like what you usually get in just a little spot after someone takes a flash picture. The whole world was a blue curtain and I could only faintly see blue-tinted outlines of things.

<Christmas Story> "Oh no - I'd shot my eye out!" </Christmas Story>

Naturally I was terrified, both of being blind and of the possibility that I would actually have to tell my parents that I'd gone blind in such a stupid fashion. So I shut off all my lights and lay down with my eyes closed for a few hours. When I opened them it was a bit better. By the next day I could see normally again.

It was still a cool toy.


And speaking of cool toys....

My parents semi-willingly sacrificed their living room floor so I could have this:



For y'all who pre-date the '80s, that's the G.I.Joe aircraft carrier USS Flagg and it was 7 feet long with a working megaphone. It made for a particularly happy Hanukkah


Matt

Lee,
I had a Creepy Crawlers set when I was a kid. I had great fun making toys to scare other neighborhood kids ( especially the girls) I had forgotten how much fun I had as a kid.

DavO

hehe nice

I had a firetruck which could actually spray out some water
and played a lot with Lego too!

I have a creepy crawlers in a box ready to get rid of it. Anybody want it?

Puffer

Since we're talking about melting plastic....

Can you even begin to imagine the carcinogens we inhaled as children? Not to mention it was before catalytic converters, etc. It's a wonder we're still alive!

Not only that (and I DO worry about that), but the little stove is a fire hazard

Puffer

last night i bought my younger self a gift - a toy.

i was cruising the aisles of a toy department hunting for props for a play - and got stopped by a display of little die-cast metal cars. flashback to the Matchbox and Dinky cars of my childhood. then i saw it - the familiar lines of my favorite car from the slot-car set that i posted about earlier.

this one is a 57 Corvette. i don't know what year my old one was but this looks just like it. except that one was red - my favorite color. and this one is turquoise - my other favorite color. and it is a little bigger. close enough.

i felt so excited when i got it out of the box and held it in my hand. kept looking at it and touching it the rest of the evening. it is in front of me now. i feel like i really connected something from the past with me in the present - and it feels good.

lee

Loved these....



Became obsessed with the Thundercats in 5th grade and had a bunch of these....



Needless to say, there were a shitload of these as well....

I used to have a Star Trek bridge set with Kirk and Spock action figures. Some days I wish I still had them.

You and I often connect on so many levels, Lee, and this is one of 'em. You know from many of my posts - and acquisitions - I'm a huge fan of the tangible because that tactile sensation immediately connects me with positive past experiences. Despite the fact my hands are about twice as large as they were at the time - I suppose I'll coin a term - the tactile memory remains. When I've found one of these treasures online, say on eBay, my heart beats a little faster.

I've loved sometimes carrying one of these treasures in my pocket and, as you did, just touching it as a form of reassurance...and nobody knows.

I barely remember the days of regular gasoline and cars sans catalytic converters...

I remember the smell of that exhaust as being acrid, but a little bit sweet at the same time... telltale signs of incomplete hydrocarbon combustion. Sitting in traffic on a hot summer day with the air conditioner on, still inhaling the exhaust of that huge Buick Electra 225 in front of us.

The first catalytic converters created exhaust that smelled like rotten eggs, which assume was some sort of sufide. Nice.

Will

@Suwanee...Since I hang around airports, I still get off on the smell of JetA. ;-)

(@Lee...You'll luv this)...Not exactly a "toy" but very important to me because it was Dad's Xmas gift when he (correctly) surmised I was interested in radio, etc. I learned from the original owner this is circa 1967. It lives in my office. Aside from the tactile, playing again with the controls, I always remember the smell of the platens holding the reels...and that smell is still there.

LOL...THIS IS MY FAVORITE MS THREAD...EVER!

Lee - My most priced matchbox car from when I was a kid is a 57 Corvette Stingray (black) and one of the best looking cars ever made - IMHO. Mine is VERY beaten up and well loved looking. I have a bit of a collection nowadays incl... a few bat mobiles, the General Lee, Mach 5 (Speed Racer), V8 Intercepter (Mad Max), Herbie, Eleanor mustang etc etc. I'll collect any car that was of significance in pop culture ... I would have the real things if the budget allowed for it.

BraveFalcon - Arrrr a kindred.... LOVE LOVE LOVE 80s Transformers, Thundercats and Starwars. My kids have been educated in all that was cool in the 80s. (I have them on DVD). I call it exposing them to culture but others have called it indoctrination. It does make them super cool with their friends when a remake is made and they already know all about it. (astroboy, voltron, Muppets etc). My greatest disappointment is that they like Starwars Episodes 1, 2 & 3 better then the real ones. And of course the Clone Wars animated Series.

Will - Yes the good old days before we realised that there was an environment. I nearly remember them too.

Lancer - We had a few reel to reel tape machines when I was a kid - that took the really big 7" reels. Man they were fun.

Man I gotta go watch Thundercats now.

I love this thread more than Lancer does

Lee

No...I love it waaaaay more than Farmer Boy duz! ;-P

What makes you think I'm going to act like a grown up ....

NO...I LOVE IT WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY MORE THAN LANCER DUZ!



so there!

(the rainbow is because the are pretty - not because they are gay )

Mommeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lee used COLORS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I think my nephews do too. I know they watch the show and so do all their little friends. I've never seen it. I did go see that animated movie they released several years ago with the Truman Capote-esque Hut character. WTF was up with that? The movie wasn't very good. I do like Episodes I, II and III but not as much as the originals, of course. They would have been better if Lucas had been more careful with the story line and hadn't set up so many contradictions between I, II, III, and IV, V, VI. I can't believe he fucked some of that up so badly. Also, I could have done without Jar Jar Binks.

BTW, I love this thread the mostest of all.... times infinity!!! Also, I have a force field. There, I win!

hey - Lancer - i had a tape recorder too. fogot about that! it was a miniature one that someone bought me in Japan and i couldn't get new tapes the right size for it so i had to use the same one over and over!
Lee

<----Lives in a parallel universe.

@Falcon

Damn you Ken ....

You used infinity!!! AND a force field!!!!

That's cheating.....I'm telling mum!

I have to admit I love the art design of Naboo and Padmé is WAY hotter than Leia. I have seen some of the animated series and it is better than some of the other crap out there. So even though Eps the new stuff is not as good as the old stuff - it is stil better than everything else out there (mostly). 7,8,9 Hmmmm we'll see I guess. But that is another thread in a galaxy far far away ......

Oh......I just remembered that from past experience 'telling mum' doesn't actually work anyway. She does nothing.
(I am laughing about that not crying - so I guess that is good)

AND

I take back what I said about Padmé and Leia. They are both hot in different ways. If anything the gold bikini trumps everything else.

Love it!

Leia chained to Jabba the Hut puts the late 80s Cher to shame as far as pure exhibitionism goes.

She made slave rags HOT! (Leia that is)

Will

In January we went to Disneyworld, and as part of the Star Tours show they "train" kids in the audience to do demo battles against a Darth Vader actor.

Good to see Disney believes in preparing kids to confront an unrepentant child-murderer.

(Wasn't triggered at all, I laughed my ass off, don't hate me!)


Matt

go ahead and laugh.

I loved my Kozmic Kiddles when I was little.
I had the whole set and did not care that my buddies made fun of me for playing with dolls








aren't they cute?
each one came with a story and a spaceship.

AWESOME.

lost mine a long time ago, but i never stopped loving them.

the only other toy i had that mattered to me (besides my stuffed animals and my toy guns) was my original posable 12" bearded G.I.JOE army action figure with Kung-Fu grip!





The History of G.I.JOE