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

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.

Legos, Playmobil, and those castle sets made of marble like blocks (don't remember the name).
Nero

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

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.

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

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

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.

I love you Marco!

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.

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

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

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.

Pam,

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

Peace,
Taylor

PS the red one was bigger than the blue hippity hop dang it! 

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

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

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.

"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

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

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.

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...