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General Discussions => General discussions => Topic started by: Mario on June 01, 2006, 02:50:47 PM

Title: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Mario on June 01, 2006, 02:50:47 PM
This is something I think of often. I grew up in the 70's & 80's, and then having my own kids and buying toys for them the last 15 years i tend to notice how they just don't make them like they used to. I was curious as to what were some of the favorites of any of you. Mine was the Evil Kinevel Stunt Cycle, and Stretch Armstrong. Awsome toys back then.

                                                 Marco
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Kate on June 01, 2006, 02:56:19 PM
Quote from: Marco on June 01, 2006, 02:50:47 PM
This is something I think of often. I grew up in the 70's & 80's, and then having my own kids and buying toys for them the last 15 years i tend to notice how they just don't make them like they used to. I was curious as to what were some of the favorites of any of you. Mine was the Evil Kinevel Stunt Cycle, and Stretch Armstrong. Awsome toys back then.

                                                 Marco

Action Jackson dolls! (sort of a metrosexual GI Joe, lol)

Tinker Toys.

I BEGGED for the Kineval Stunt Cycle. My neighbor had one. I never got one. I'm still upset about it.
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Nero on June 01, 2006, 03:03:12 PM
Legos, Playmobil, and those castle sets made of marble like blocks (don't remember the name).
Nero
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Mario on June 01, 2006, 03:15:55 PM
Kate, On Evel stuff
   Go to EBAY! You can get an original there. I still am going to get one. In the box though never used is around 200.00 So it's better to get a used one that you can still play with. I forgot to mention all my Big Jim dolls. They had the best guy body for a doll.

                                             Marco
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: LostInTime on June 01, 2006, 03:37:03 PM
Had the Evel stuntbike thing.  Some Smash Up Derby cars where the plastic bits popped off and you went until one of the cars was stripped down.  Erector sets.  Legos.  Tente.  Atari 2600.  Star Wars figures.  Death Star.  Models of everything including the first Robotech models.  Rubiks Cube.  A tonne of Hot Wheels and the orange track.  A relative had one of those Kreskin ESP board games.  Huffy Bicycle with that long seat.  Six Million Dollar Man doll.  Split Second handheld game (still have it).

I also had this large action figure who basically had a strobe light on his head.  it came with reflectors that it would pick up on and then talk.  The uniform was red and I think it came with a cape.  Cannot remember the name of it.
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: taylor on June 01, 2006, 03:43:59 PM
Cool thread Marco!

I loved big wheelers!!  And I had a hippity Hop!  the large rubber bouncing ball that had the handle on the top!

I also loved playing with army men, building the forts and then using marbles to bomb them, painting blood on them with model paint! what a life! LOL 

I still love train tracks!  I am crazy about all trains and love to go out to where a track is and watch them go by and listen to that majistic whistle blow!


Peace,

Taylor

Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Melissa on June 01, 2006, 04:05:08 PM
Here's my opinion.  Boy toys are just cooler than girl toys (at least most of them).  I grew up with toys like Legos, construx, board games, transformers (those were so cool), and other various stuff, but I was a child of the 80's.  Nowadays if you go into a toys r' us store, you find a large section devoted to video games.  I personally don't think of those as "toys" and definitely not as fun as the toys available when I was a kid.  Fortunately, much of the stuff I enjoyed you can still find if you look hard enough.

Melissa
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: MarcosGirl on June 01, 2006, 04:06:15 PM
Oh wow Taylor...I had a Hippoty Hop.  Those were so cool.  I forgot about that 'til I saw you mention it!

I was into riding my bike (Schwinn Caliente - metallic blue)  Marco already knows this because he had one too and we figured that it was probably around the same time!  He grew up in Illinois and I grew up in California...go figure...we were meant to be even then!  I was also into roller skating and as far as toys went, I was all girlie all the time!...Barbies...tons of Barbies.  Oh and baby dolls.  The only guy toy I had was a stretch armstrong.  I was so fascinated with how he would stretch and then slowly morph back into shape. ;D

I love you Marco!
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Chaunte on June 01, 2006, 10:31:47 PM
I had a Major Matt Mason, Astronaut.

I built models of Mercury, Gemeni, Apollo and the Lunar Module.  Some of them actually flew!  I also had a 4 foot model of the entire Apollo/Saturn 5 stack.  I would follow along with a launch all the way to spashdown.

Model aircraft.  THe B-17 is, has been and always will be my favorite!

My Schwinn Stingray with the bananna seat!  We sould do skidding competitions to see who could leave the bigest cloud of tire smoke.

Of course, I have to go into the 60's for some of these.

Chaunte

Added 6/2/06:  I forgot to add my models of the Enterprise and Klingon Battle Cruisers!  I would hang them from my ceiling until the tape holding ht estring came undone.  I used pieces of yarn for phaser fire.
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: taylor on June 01, 2006, 10:39:20 PM
Hi Pam,

When I was 5  my brother had this toy dog, that if you pulled the leash it would walk and bark....he was scared of it, ...so I would put it in front of his bedroom doorway, and he would not come in,, so I would go in and play with all his toys until my mom would catch me and pull me out and spank my butt...did this on many ocassions! lol

Well I had barbies, went around the neighborhood and gave all girl toys away when I was around 8. Parents beat my butt and went and got them all back....

When I was  9 I decided that if I could not have my brothers toys then he couldn't either...so I sold them to kids in the neighborhood, out on the side of house where I would not be seen from inside...until my mom decided to see what I was up too sense I was way too quiet for way too long... got my butt beat for that too.

AND had to give all the money back, and yea they had to go around and get the toys as I gave the money back  man they had to be embarrassed! LOL

Peace,

Taylor

PS what color was your Hippty Hop?? Mine was Blue and my brothers was Red.... I wish I still had that thing! LOL
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: MarcosGirl on June 01, 2006, 10:58:16 PM
Taylor,
       I had a sister and 3 cousins that were real close to us, and we lived right around the corner from them, so we played together constantly.  I remember we all had hippoty hops.  4 were red and one was yellow.  The yellow one was a lot bigger than the red ones.  We all kind of shared them, but I didn't ever get on the yellow one because I was the youngest.  Man...that was a fun toy!

       That is so funny what you did with yours and your brother's toys!  My sister was the one doing all the stuff to get her butt beat.  I just got an occassional pop in the face for mouthing off.  I never had the privilege of a good butt whoopin'.

Take care,
Pam
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: jan c on June 01, 2006, 11:26:03 PM
I had one memorable toy besides my drum kit in the '70's
A completely decked-out Aston-Martin James Bond model car, had all the gadgets.
Envy of the neighborhood. I did not have toys growing up... kept that one for years. But the banana seat Sting-Ray (mine was metallic green), that was mandatory for either boy or girl.
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: taylor on June 01, 2006, 11:33:19 PM
Pam,

I told my wife the reason I have such a small ass, is because my parents damn near knocked it off! lol >:D

Peace,
Taylor

PS the red one was bigger than the blue hippity hop dang it! 
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Mario on June 02, 2006, 02:06:24 AM
Taylor,

    You are a hoot. Are you aware you can still buy something like a hippity hop in the stores? Or go to
Ebay and get an original. I had one too. They were very fun. The only thing I did with my barbies was made them get in bed with my GI Joe's.

  Jan,
    Why did you not have toys? That sounds like a sad situation. But drum sets are one of the best by far.
      The car sounds cool. Never heard of that.

                                Marco
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Rana on June 02, 2006, 07:36:13 AM
Melissa I agree :),  boy toys are so much cooler than what is available to girls.

My pride and joy were plastic models of airplanes & armoured vehicles - I specialised in the German & my brother in the Allied military equipment of WW2 (yes we were very warlike).   Led to frequent arguments as to which was the better. I could argue very convincingly about the absolute superiority of German equipment - to which my brother could always counter "yeah, so how come they did not win".

Best toys of all though were our slug guns, fishing rods (best were homemade) and spear guns. Geez childhood is the very best time of one's life I suspect
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: jan c on June 02, 2006, 07:37:10 AM
Marco my father was self-employed and CHEAP. The drumset and a box guitar (before that a trumpet) were major. I'm talking quality Turkish cymbals, though. PRIORITIES...
Other kids dads had jobs and salaries, my mom hadda explain this to me when I expressed some dissatisfaction on the toys scene.
Just not a lot of Hot Wheels like the neighbor boys.
My little sis had the tea set and dolls. Tea set was kinda nice as I recall. I mean I had a baseball glove and all that (didn't much get to use it, u know 'throws like a girl!' lol)
by the "70's" per se, i was rilly weird anyway, I had commandeered my mother's little cassette recorder and someone's old reel tape rec'der and was trying to fake-overdub - oh that's right I had this little plastic harmonium dealy - some weird sh*t..
I was a teenage acidhead, many toys woulda freaked me out.
That little Aston-Martin model was super-deluxe, if you remember all that car did in the movie, this did everything.
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Chynna on June 02, 2006, 08:03:06 AM
"The Green Machine"

A big wheel with attitude and flare! perfect transportation for an up & coming "Queen"

And the 80's
"cabbage patch kids"
Yeah my only oppurtunity to experience motherhood
And mind you the first & only time a Gay or Transsgender could adapt without someone protesting or trying to pass a some dumb az@ discrimination law.

Always a kid @ heart
Chynna
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: taylor on June 02, 2006, 02:38:15 PM
I remember when Atari came out...I used to play pack man and get stoned all night long...that little yellow dude was so fun to watch ....my buddy Joey, his mom was a pot head, so we'd grab her stash and just get ripped and not budge for hours playing pac man oh  and the astroids game lol....ping pong game was too intense if your stoned I could not move the knob fast enough timing was awful....it would just go right on by me... man I cannot believe I am not still 16...that sucks.  :(

Peace,
Taylor
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Louise on June 02, 2006, 03:38:26 PM
I grew up in the 40's and 50's.  My kids grew up in the 70's and early 80's.

I had two younger brothers, no sisters, so there wasn't much in girl's toys in our house.  I liked building things with tinkertoys, erector sets, and blocks.  I notice that my grandson likes to build with blocks, also.  My children (two girls and a boy) also liked to build things also.  I used to build plastic model airplane and boats.  My favorite were the sailing ships with intricate string rigging.  I also had quite a few stuffed animals.  They were the closest things I had to dolls.  My daughters had Barbies, of course.
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Kate on June 02, 2006, 03:51:53 PM
Quote from: Rana on June 02, 2006, 07:36:13 AM
My pride and joy were plastic models of airplanes & armoured vehicles - I specialised in the German & my brother in the Allied military equipment of WW2 (yes we were very warlike).

Oh yes, I pretty much had the entire Afrika Corps in my bedroom, lol. I was utterly fascinated with Rommel and that whole campaign - how oddly honourable and chilvalrous it was (as much as war can be). I swear I was there... I can feel the sting of the sand, the bites of the flies...

My other obsession was war games. These were board games, long before computers were in the home. Tactics2 to start, Panzer Leader, Tobruk, Afrika Corps, Air Force, Squad Leader... I had dozens. It wasn't the death and destruction, it was the challenge to master SO many rules.. and I have a tendency to live in my head (ya think?). Those maps and people were real to me. I loved imagining what they were feeling, playing out their drama as I moved each piece. My own little virtual world, lol...
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Chynna on June 02, 2006, 03:58:42 PM
Speaking of toys,
My BF just bought me my very first Barbie doll last christmas (the man never ceases to amaze me! :-*) he actually remember conversations we had when I stated I always wished I had a Barbie but My momma wouldn't buy me one.
I absolutely adore that doll

Sorry for rambling!
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: jan c on June 02, 2006, 10:59:53 PM
hey Marco that's right, my sister had Barbie and I had ONE GI Joe I think it's mandatory.
We DID THE SAME THING! a whole drama we would construct around Joe's seduction of poor Barbie. SICK!
We were like The Simpsons, only I was Lisa. Either one was Bart depending.
Joe liked to call Barbie 'little missy,' a lot, and she'd squeak her approval
u know how it goes
heh
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Melissa on June 02, 2006, 11:06:44 PM
GI Joe was a toy I never had, so it's not mandatory.  I just never liked them and wondered why other boys did.

Melissa
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Mario on June 02, 2006, 11:12:09 PM
Jan,

     We were a bunch of sick kids were we not? GI Joe was the old  guy, so Barbie wanted Big Jim. He was hot for being a doll. There was Big Jim, Big Josh, Big Jack, and this other dude from Australia. I had them all. I still have a few. Gotta go.

                                        Marco
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: jan c on June 03, 2006, 03:36:22 PM
Marco LMAO


Posted at: June 03, 2006, 01:18:16 PM

Melissa I thought GI JOE was ridiculous, I felt the same about Barbie dolls. But it was mandatory, I'm pretty sure.
BTW it was my sister that started the little missy riff; more often than not, she spoke Joe and I spoke Barbie.
years later there was some SNL skit about Joe and the little missy, and there it was, the exact same sound.
We had a good laugh about that.
Now she sorta liked her Barbies but would mutilate their heads, the bad Barbies.



Posted at: June 03, 2006, 01:27:49 PM

Taylor we would play Ping Pong for that very reason.
"dude. you missed. again."
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Melissa on June 03, 2006, 04:34:48 PM
Um, speaking of mutilating barbies, I have to admit that me and my brother did that to a bunch of my sister's barbies when we were growing up.  We got in big trouble for that.

Melissa
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Mario on June 03, 2006, 06:00:09 PM
How about HUGO man of 1,000 faces? He was this cool head that went on your hand like a puppet and had like a mess of differn't  facial hair pieces and wigs and glasses and goop I think for his face. Now that was just plain fun.

                                     Marco
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: taylor on June 03, 2006, 09:07:48 PM
Ok who had the Mr. Potato head???   And who found him rotting in their room later? LOL

Peace,

Taylor

Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: jaded on June 04, 2006, 03:28:44 AM
Hey that's no fair I wasn't around back then but I loved playing with old Hess trucks and toy soldiers oh and lego!!!!!!
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: taylor on June 04, 2006, 06:47:15 AM
Jaded,

Are you saying Mr. Potato Head is history?? Man I figured he was alive and well. Geesh that sucks  :'(

Peace,

Taylor
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: MarcosGirl on June 04, 2006, 10:41:14 AM
Taylor,
         Mr. Potato IS alive and well!  He is yesterday, today and forever!  Anyway...I had a Mr. Potato Head "back in the day".  I think now the way they make him, he has different colored glasses and appendages, but I had the classic one with the yellow glasses.  That was an awesome toy!  I loved putting all his parts on wrong.
         O.K., I will share a little story that I really don't want to admit to now, but I thought it was hilarious at the time.  When I was little, I used to love to embarrass my sister any way I could (she's 4 years older than me).  My mom would take us with her to the market and I would take Mr. Potato head's glasses and I would wear them through the store and act like I was a "special needs" child.  It was funny...it really pissed my sister off!

:icon_wave-nerd: this "smiley" reminds me of Mr. Potato Head.
Pam
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Melissa on June 04, 2006, 11:41:55 AM
Quote from: MarcosGirl on June 04, 2006, 10:41:14 AM
When I was little, I used to love to embarrass my sister any way I could (she's 4 years older than me).  My mom would take us with her to the market and I would take Mr. Potato head's glasses and I would wear them through the store and act like I was a "special needs" child.  It was funny...it really pissed my sister off!

LOL!!! :D :D :D That is so funny.

Melissa
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Annie Social on June 04, 2006, 12:38:54 PM
Well, for me it was the late fifties and well into the sixties. Robot Commando, who hurled red balls and fired a missile from his head. Mr. Machine, a transparent walking windup guy you could disassemble and put back together. Everything Gilbert made: Erector set, chemistry set, cheap Newtonian telescope. The first GI Joe, though I had more fun with my sister's Barbie...

And of course, the obligatory Schwinn Stingray. Mine was metallic blue. I remember my mother not letting me buy the pink tassles for the handlebar grips; those were for girls!

And I still have my old Slinky.

Annie

Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Mario on June 04, 2006, 02:01:22 PM
Annie,
     The first GI Joe? Very cool. Was he just a regular private? I can't even imagine what one could get for the first GI Joe on Ebay. I too loved my slinky.

                                              Marco
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Annie Social on June 04, 2006, 03:36:38 PM
Quote from: Marco on June 04, 2006, 02:01:22 PMThe first GI Joe? Very cool. Was he just a regular private? I can't even imagine what one could get for the first GI Joe on Ebay. I too loved my slinky.

Yep, 12 inches tall with the scar on the cheek and a backwards thumbnail. Came with an olive drab uniform, cap, boots, and dogtags. And Vanessa, Barbie's clothes didn't fit him, either!

It seems like half the toys I had are collector's items now; if only my mother knew what she was throwing away...

Annie
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: taylor on June 04, 2006, 08:54:13 PM
Marco,

An original MINT in the box, 1964 GI Joe with the dog tags, boots, etc. all never played with is going off on Ebay in one hr. for 180.00   that kind of gives us a clue for that year anyway.

Just thought you'd like to know  ;D

Peace,
Taylor
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Mario on June 05, 2006, 01:38:36 AM
Just wanted to add these for memory's sake:

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi69.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi63%2Fpam42766%2Fevel.jpg&hash=5c96dda87331c19e66d125b8cfa555942ecc5c17)
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi69.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fi63%2Fpam42766%2Fevelonbike.jpg&hash=70149c61206034036ed23a174e11606c11434943)
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Rana on June 05, 2006, 07:12:52 AM
Ahh Kate,

That takes me back :)  my favourite generals in WW2, Rommel & the Afrika Corps and Slim in Burma - I reckon the only allied general who embraced the concept of blitzkrieg.
If you can put aside the butchery and horror of war (as children can having no idea), it was fascinating, North Africa the war was chivalarous (relatively).  The British making fools of the Italians (who having no idea of mechanised warefare, their bravery was overlooked) The Afrika Corps then doing the same to the British - till El Alemain,  was soo close 40miles to Cairo.  Rommel out of fuel & supplies forced back but still dishing it out to the Americans advancing from the west (thou the Germans position in Africa was hopeless by then)

I am rabbiting on now so will stop, I also loved the maps and the dramas, and yes it was my virtual world - the models were my passport to it.  Bit sad really, but I was bloody lonely :(
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Dennis on June 05, 2006, 09:09:41 AM
I used to really like my Hot Wheels and tracks. My friend had a racing track where the cars were remote control, but we still always went back to the Hot Wheels. Every Christmas when I'd get something new for my tracks, I wouldn't be able to play with it till afternoon after my Dad had run it through its paces and pushed the cars to the limit that gravity would allow.

Some misguided soul gave me a Barbie at some point. I rigged her up in a harness and made ziplines all over my room with fishing line. She became commando Barbie. Those pointy little feet looked a little silly, but I could overlook that.

When I was younger I had Billy Blastoff. A little space guy who had moon cars and stuff. I think I played him to death.

Mostly I played outside, building forts on the beach, going beachcombing for fishing lures after storms. I had a little 8 foot sailboat that I was allowed to take out within sight of the house, so I'd take that out and go fishing. In storms, we would cast off the shore and catch fish. And I tried to set up ziplines for myself and my friends using cable and pulleys. Once I moderated the angle I was somewhat successful, although nearly broke my legs with the first try.

Oh, and building Go-Karts and racing them down the hill by my place. Riding our skateboards down the hill and seeing who could go from furthest up the hill without wiping out.

We'd build rafts that mostly sank. And sand castles with elaborate moat systems to see whose would stand longest when the tide came in.

It was a pretty idyllic childhood. Small neighbourhood, on the beach, between two campgrounds, so the few kids in my neighbourhood always had summer friends. Most of my friends were girls because there weren't any boys in the neighbourhood, but luckily they all had the same interest in stuff to do. Or they were too polite to object to my ideas. And I had a dog, Rusty, who would faithfully follow along with everything if no friends were available (except the boat, he hated the boat).

Dennis
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Annie Social on June 05, 2006, 05:51:23 PM
Okay, following Marco's lead...

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fanniesocialgraphics.com%2Fimages%2Fdeluxes.jpg&hash=42c46e79972c3b37273293236ea1a2456538fd03) (https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fanniesocialgraphics.com%2Fimages%2Fmrmachines.jpg&hash=3606809995283b5ce6344b67f7597fb50fe12b15)

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fanniesocialgraphics.com%2Fimages%2Frobots.jpg&hash=c030e778f5d96e9518f23d0b840163f340d8af86) (https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fanniesocialgraphics.com%2Fimages%2Fslinky.jpg&hash=52a0ebce1acd422a0b916da263cb378ca895d481)

Annie
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Dennis on June 05, 2006, 05:56:01 PM
Heh, cool Annie. My banana seat bike was the same colour as the one you posted, except that I had an orange sparkly seat on it. I loved that thing.

Dennis
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Owen on June 05, 2006, 11:53:10 PM
Well I'd have to say I had those brick blocks and legos. Also had matchbox cars from England. I had one of those hippty hops too. Anyone remember the pogo stik. You stood on it like a bike pump and jumped up and down on it. It had a spring loaded center. Everyone in my family played with that one. Oh and thoses hula hoops. I also played with my sister dolls too. he he. ;D ;D ;D ;D


Owen
love being female
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: MarcosGirl on June 06, 2006, 04:45:11 PM
Annie Social,
           I can't see the pictures you posted.  I just see 4 little red x's.  What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,
Pam
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Annie Social on June 06, 2006, 05:26:45 PM
Oops! My fault... they were hosted on my website, and it is down! It'll take a couple of days for it to come back up, probably Thursday night. Sorry about that...

Annie
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: taylor on June 06, 2006, 05:47:03 PM
Hey Owen,

I loved my pogo stick!!  I used to see how many times I could jump without having to fall off. I remember getting up in the hundreds, and then not too long ago I found one at a yard sale and could not jump 10 times on the thing! LOL

I loved Hot Wheels too. When wrecked and banged up I was the guy that painted them back up, I had my own repair garage at the kitchen table.

Peace,
Taylor
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: gin on September 17, 2006, 10:26:22 AM
Did anyone have a My Puppy Puddles?  That was one of my all time favorite Christmas gifts!
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Mario on September 17, 2006, 10:59:17 AM
I had to order them out of the back of a comic book back then, and you only got the packets, so you had to put them in a Mason jar. I loved wathching them "come alive". Bunch of brine shrimp. Anyway, the few times I had them, I had one sea monkey one time that lived for almost 2 years. So his name was Jeremy specticle. Now a days you can get them in alot of different stores, and they have all these cool habitats for them without having to do mail order :P  Maybe I will go get some more today. See what you have stated with me now?

                                                  Marco
Posted on: September 17, 2006, 10:58:21 AM
Ginger,
    Never heard of Puppy Puddles.  ???
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: BrandiOK on September 17, 2006, 09:57:05 PM
Oooooooh......Sea Monkeys, Evel Knieval dragster racer with parachute, Six Million Dollar man, GI Joe action series with Helicopter and buddha, never had an atari but we were the first to have the "Original Pong" video game (all it played was pong), Lincoln logs, erector sets, too much too list......I would have killed for a Barbie and an easy bake oven but I had to settle for playing with my sisters when she wasn't home :(
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Mario on September 17, 2006, 10:18:02 PM
I had a Easy Bake Oven. I think of that as a unisex toy. My brother played with it. Mine was sea foam blue. But I also had Mod Hair Ken. And Big Jim. I still have some of those dolls.
Had GI Joe with Kung Fu Grip. Used to swing him from the forced air vent in the playroom in the basement.

                                                          Marco
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: cindianna_jones on September 18, 2006, 07:51:14 AM
I taught my little neighbor girl friend how to use her Easy Bake Oven without the little expensive packets you had to buy for it.  We used real recipies scaled down.  What a dweeb I was. We would also play Monopoly and Risk all the time. My friend Stacy would kill me in those games. She was extremely aggressive. She also played by her own rules.  And she was always the banker.  It was very educational..... so much like real life.

I had this erector set that had a monorail you could hookup to go through the buildings you put together. 

Legos came along but we were too poor to buy them.

Daddy let me use his power tools though.  And I made some things.  I made some doll houses and furniture for my little sister.

By the seventies, I was a teenager, so my interests were ever more focused in girls, girls clothes, being with girls, and being a girl.

cindi
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Tiffany2 on September 19, 2006, 04:49:59 AM
  When I was young I played with the Johnny and Jane West dolls and my sister's Tom Thumb typewriter. And some times Barbies with the girls.
  A neighbor girl and I played with cars now and then.

  Tiffany
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Buffy on September 19, 2006, 07:05:40 AM
I was made to play with Hot Wheels car sets and Thomas the Tank Engine train sets.....

I would have loved an easy bake oven like Marco had.

Buffy

Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Tiffany2 on September 19, 2006, 04:18:51 PM
  I had a Hotwheels set too but I think that in a sense I may have been blessed with being raised around only girls. My one male relative and I played with the Hotwheels and Tonka trucks and cars and an old Crusader 101 remote car.
  The time spent with the girls though and the Thumbelina doll and putting dresses on the Chihuauah puppy were more fun.
  Tiffany
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: nonie on September 19, 2006, 06:22:21 PM
I had tons of Barbies and one "ken" though he wasn't a real Ken - he was Donny from New Kids on the Block and he had a rat tail of real hair (not real real, I mean not hard plastic like the rest of his hair).  I thought he was hot  man.  I mostly had the Barbies so I could have gril friends come over and play as ALL the girls, and I'm be Donny.  Oddly I usually pretended he was a surfer and was descended from the composer Tchaikovsky.  He had all these amazing talents that he was kind of embarrassed about but when he fell in love with Jasmine (from Aladdin, she had the longest hair so of course she was the one who always got the guy) she would see him doing stuff like surfing or whatever and she'd be like "Oh my god, I can't believe he can surf like that, he's so amazing!  AND he plays the violin, he's so sensitive..."  And of course she always had her hair up and then one day her saw her take her hair out of her ponytail holder and like, he'd never seen how long her hair was and he thought she was so beautiful and he fell in love with her!  (my best friend from back then and I always joke about that now - letting the hair down was always the deal clincher)

My cousin and I used to play Lost Boys all the time too, and we'd build litte treeforts out of cardboard and booby traps out of yarn.  He always wanted to be the main kid fromt he real world and I'd be Rufio.  Rufio was ubelievably hot.  Wow.

My brother had Battletech and MechWarrior - those games were awesome.  I loved the books with the diagrams of the mechs.  Oh, we had Battleship and this two-person hand-held game called Zip Zap,  and Hungry Hungry Hippos.  I always wanted Crossfire so bad...  I had a lot of Hot Wheels too.  I liked building cities for them out of cereal boxes.  Oh, and Moon Shoes, they were like trampolines you strapped onto your feet.  Those were fun.  Our cousin had all the Ninja Turtles - they came with tons of weapons they could hold in their hands, they were so cool.  Anything mutant was cool.  X-Men were freakin awesome.  I know Gambit wasn't around til the 90s, but I remember being so in love with him when I saw him in the cartoon.  His costume accentuated his hips and thighs in such a sexy way...  I had a Gambit action figure with a real cloth coat but I didn't like how the coat fit him - that action figure pissed me off cuz it was too small to be with the Barbies and it was just not as hot as the "real" Gambit was supposed to be.
Posted on: September 19, 2006, 06:15:52 PM
I guess Aladdin and Hook weren't until the 90s either.  Dang it.  I'm not old enough for this thread.
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Melissa on September 19, 2006, 06:30:45 PM
Quote from: Cindianna_Jones on September 18, 2006, 07:51:14 AM
I taught my little neighbor girl friend how to use her Easy Bake Oven without the little expensive packets you had to buy for it.  We used real recipies scaled down.  What a dweeb I was. We would also play Monopoly and Risk all the time. My friend Stacy would kill me in those games. She was extremely aggressive. She also played by her own rules.  And she was always the banker.  It was very educational..... so much like real life.

I had this erector set that had a monorail you could hookup to go through the buildings you put together. 

Legos came along but we were too poor to buy them.

Daddy let me use his power tools though.  And I made some things.  I made some doll houses and furniture for my little sister.
Now that sounds like a fun childhood.  Actually, I was similar, except I never bothered to scale down easybake recipes.  See, I find fun in everything, so I was happy with either boys or girls toys.  Heck, I still think boy toys are cooler.  Also, my daughter is the same way.  She loves both boy and girl toys.  In a way, I think the stereotyping is stupid, but I digress.

Quote from: Tinkerbell on September 17, 2006, 08:03:28 AM
...two of my favorites were the famous Rubik's cube and the sea monkeys!.
Well, I had both of those things and I'm definitely younger.  By the way Tink, we all know how old you are based on timeframes you've stated in previous posts. ;)  Anyway, I still like playing with the rubiks cube and I don't remember whatever became of the sea monkeys.

Melissa
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Mario on September 19, 2006, 11:40:06 PM
I just bought some sea monkeys last night, and they will hatch tonight, and start swiming around. Now they just give you more cool containers for them than before.

                                         Marco
Title: Re: TOYS OF THE 70's
Post by: Kismet on September 24, 2006, 12:51:35 AM
I've noticed the horrific decline in the quality of the toys we sell to kids these days, as well. I suppose it's largely to do with inflation, but the plastic and paint jobs nowadays seem really sub-par compared to a lot of the toys available when I was a kid. It's so... Cheap. Easily snappable, painted outside the lines, no love and care put into it just 'stamp' and it's done...

My favourites were the Jurassic Park dinosaurs, with the heavy duty plastic and PVC. They had a great line of toys, bright colours and interesting faces with working movable parts and sometimes even sound.
They're virtually indestructible; I have a velociraptor toy from the JP line I got when I was a kid and he's still ready and raring to go. Has a few chips of paint off his nosetip and tailtip now, but... Hey. He's had a lot of love.