Plus the SSC dolls are just too cute! Them ho dolls have nothing on the SSCs!

As for toys I had as in my own childhood... I owned tons of soft toys. Loads of plushie bears, cats, dogs, tigers, etc. My sister was an especially avid collector of them. We had some Barbies. We weren't allowed Ken dolls, cause Mum thought they were for boys. LOL. So in desperation of having a male doll, I grabbed my sporty Barbie, hacked her hair off and voila! A Ken Doll!

Usually my sister and I were fairly macabre when it came to playing. Sometimes we'd get boxes and tape them together to make a train. Then we'd stuff our plushies into the train with our Barbies  and drive up and around the living room. The living room was some mountainous countryside in our minds. At some point we'd have some tragic train crash and all the plushies and Barbies would have broken legs and bruises, or be dead. Or sometimes we'd have our toys get drowned, die in wars, get kidnapped, fight monsters, be set on fire (not that we would actually light them... Mum would have a heart attack) or die in various horrible ways and suffer a great many sufferings before finding peace and happiness again. I'm not sure where such play came from... a desire to be heroes?

One big influence on us as children was the film 'The Lion King' and the movie 'Blinky Bill'. I think our play reflected Simba and Blinky's own journeys unconsciously. Both young like us and had to go through many trials before finding happiness and glory again. But we never went through those trials for real, except in play.

I remember once incident as a child finding an exposed switch... there was a crack revealing all the wires beneath it. So curious I touched it and all I can remember is my body going very stiff and flying back a few feet. I thought that was great! I had no idea I had been electrocuted or how lucky I was. I told Dad and needless to say... he was quite horrified and told me to never do that again.

And J sounds like you had fun in the 70s with all those death-trap toys.

Yes, they were the good old days

(if any of you haven't seen that movie... you should do the same

Who remembers "Jarts"?
Oversized darts that would impale anything in their trajectory.  The idea was you had to throw them into rings or something on your lawn. I wonder if there were lawsuits, or if people just figured out eventually that they weren't the safest thing.

How about pogo sticks and stilts?
Ya better get the hang of em quick, or end up with multiple concussions, and we had no stinkin' helmets.

Don't remember Jarts....but thought you might enjoy this extreme pogo stick vid from You Tube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3MLYYvFLnUk

haha!

Well hey...........this isn't a "toy" per se, but it's vintage childhood memories.

How about......

Scratch n Sniff Stickers!  Specifically, "Trend" brand, the ones that our teachers would put on our homework papers, and then kids would collect them in their sticker books?

I've bought up about 50 of them on eBay, they're great!    I love stuff that smells (hence my love of Strawberry Shortcake dolls) and these things are so much fun.  You all remember them, right?? 

Yup, Trend scratch n sniff stickers and the video game Bubble Bobble, where bonuses include candy, martinis and pieces of cake.....encouraging healthy eating habits for American kids, which is now not so surprisingly like the most obese country in the world.  ! 

Who remembers "Jarts"?
Oversized darts that would impale anything in their trajectory.  The idea was you had to throw them into rings or something on your lawn. I wonder if there were lawsuits, or if people just figured out eventually that they weren't the safest thing.

How about pogo sticks and stilts?
Ya better get the hang of em quick, or end up with multiple concussions, and we had no stinkin' helmets.

Green Slime, Garbage Can Slime, just one word: why?

Hehe and i remember when I was about 3 my friend tried to coax me to stick a bobby pin in an outlet, fortunately my father caught us just in time... the good ol' days

  J

"Aye-be-gore matey!

:\ . . . huh? . . how'd that go again now? . . . is it . . . I just . . . huh?    I've heard of "Aye" and "Aarrgghh" . . . but "Aye-be-gore"?? There are just so many possible interpretations! . . . so yea, "Aye-be-Clinton!" . . . I'm sorry, carry on.

Don't forget the hula hoops.   And barrel of monkeys!  And hopscotch!   And sidewalk chalk!

And Pick-up Sticks too!

I remembered something this morning about my brother and me and our stingray bikes. When we lived in the Philippines, because of the monsoon season, we would often have to play inside. The on-base housing we lived in was designed for such weather and the possibility of flash flooding, so the bottom floor was basically one big screened in patio.

To entertain ourselves we would turn our bikes upside down and pretend the front tire was a ship's wheel and we were on the open sea...

"Aye-be-gore matey!, I do believe we be staring a gale force in the eye... with our, Aye-be-gor!, only good eye!"

My brother even had a pirate patch for his eye.

What a lovely memory...

Oh me too, I had my big group of stuffed animals and a few baby dolls, but for play, not decoration.   Back when I was 21 I was grumbling to all my guy roommates / friends about how my stuffed animals were all over at my mom's house, in her garage, in a bag......and how I really wanted my Garfield, but mostly my Odie back.   !!   I don't talk to my mom, so, I wasn't about to go there myself, so my roommates were seriously ready to go drive over to my mom's house and get them for me. They joked about showing up, and ringing the doorbell, and my mom would answer it to find several guys there on her doorstep with stern faces, frowning at her saying "We're here for Odie." ....

All I can say is.... it's a damn good thing I didn't have any liquid or food in my mouth when I got to that point, 'cause I would've been cleaning up a mess for the second time today! LOL!

LOL! I can just imagine a news reporter reporting on the 5 o'clock news--

"And other breaking news this evening... a home invasion was investigated by the police today after a group of angry young men rushed a woman's home as she opened the front door. The angry young men made off with a coveted garbage bag full of stuffed toys, but not before they thumbed their noses saying, "This one's for lyra". The police have only yet ascertained that this lyra woman is the gang "moll", and the real brains behind the heist. The FBI has already been notified, and they are fully prepared to step in if the stuffed toys are taken across the state line. Stay tuned for more information, we're sure to follow this abomination."

Oh yeah, hopscotch! It's funny, because I remember hopscotch being serious business... huhn, that's weird, I really do remember hopscotch rounds being stressful for the competiveness among my friends.

I want to learn how to play the flute too. I met this woman, a professional fluatist, at a rock show in a local venue (local to New Port Richey, a bar) last summer some time. Her boyfriend was one of the guitarists of the opening act. I told her that for the longest time I wanted to learn how to play the flute. We got to know each other throughout the show, having a great time. She told me she'd be happy to teach me if I wanted to travel to St. Pete, even said she had a flute I could use!

Sound good?

Yeah, I thought so too until I was saying goodbye to her, went to give her a hug... and holy kwap!, she came at me with her mouth open! I barely dodged that... "home invasion" !

Ahem... I never called her , I don' wanna learn how to play the flute that bad.

Check out this link, even if they aren't "big silver flutes"... they're crystal flutes. Hmmmm... one of these might be better than buying a red wagon, and it'd be easier to store too --

http://search.hp.netscape.com/hp/boomfr … tes.com%2F

Yipee!

You know what else is a fun toy? Emoticons!

ROTFLMAO!

I think Star Wars toys and Lego were the two things I played with the most from what I remember. I must have had about a 100 Star Wars figures and most of the ships and vehicles, I was Star Wars mad when i was kid. One of my biggest regrets is selling all my Star Wars toys when I was about 14.

Building stuff with lego, particularly space lego was something else I loved. I used to love building my own moon bases and spaceships, but I would also build lego towns as well. The lego airport set was another favourite of mine.

I guess I like to have my head in the clouds literally as well as metaphorically! It's fair to say that even from a very young age I was always more interested in things like aliens, space travel and flying than I was more earthly pursuits, and so not much has changed there!

Andy

That's interesting!  It is amazing how who we are can be reflected in our childhood toys.    Possible indicators of past lives / future lives / other dimensional happenings and timelines....

I had a whole load of stuffed toys, but those were for decoration. The last time I saw the doll collection and stuffed toys was about 25 yrs ago. If they're still around it is because my father hasn't yet thrown them away.

Oh me too, I had my big group of stuffed animals and a few baby dolls, but for play, not decoration.   Back when I was 21 I was grumbling to all my guy roommates / friends about how my stuffed animals were all over at my mom's house, in her garage, in a bag......and how I really wanted my Garfield, but mostly my Odie back.   !!   I don't talk to my mom, so, I wasn't about to go there myself, so my roommates were seriously ready to go drive over to my mom's house and get them for me. They joked about showing up, and ringing the doorbell, and my mom would answer it to find several guys there on her doorstep with stern faces, frowning at her saying "We're here for Odie."        That's a crack up.   They were begging me for her address, but I was like No way, hell no!  How embarrassing! 

Yes, we lived for 9 years in a semi-rural area, and I really loved the nature.  That was the one thing I did like about CT.  There was woods, a brook.   I was one with the woods! 

And the bike....me too!

OMG!   Me too!!!!  I always wanted the Operation game!!  Only got to play it at friend's houses.   That's so funny!   My friends would be bored with it, not understanding the appeal because they had it around all the time, and I was always like WOW!  Cool!  Let's play!!!   The Hamstring...the funny bone....the wish bone.....that rubber band thingy!  haha

The other game I REALLY always wanted but never had / got was Simon, the electronic memory game.  ooooh.....THAT was cool.  I came across an arcade-type version of it in a movie theater lobby when I was 21 and was insanely, almost frighteningly good at it.  It was to the point where I was able to remember something like 20+ color combinations, and could've kept going but I got weirded out at how well I was doing and it was like coming to the surface from a trance, and then screwed up and it was game over.     That was a game that I did end up buying at a toystore.   Had to have one!!   I got a Pocket Simon.    I never was able to ever duplicate what I did that one time in the movie theater;  quite disappointing, actually.  To duplicate that requires disconnecting your mind, which is what I've disccovered.  You can't think.  You have to go into a trance, then you can probably go infinitely.  Fun stuff!  I recommend Simon for anybody, it really teaches you how to build up your memory, which is something that's always beneficial.

Yeah, me too.     Don't forget the hula hoops.   And barrel of monkeys!  And hopscotch!   And sidewalk chalk!  And for you children of the 70s.............Light Brights! 

Hey....................anybody out there into Chinese jumprope?   You know, that whole "in out side side step" thing;    How about using that same stretchy cord to do Cat's Cradle?   I LOVED cat's cradle, that was so fascinating to me that if you did it right, you would always have 2 X's to pick out in the tangle.  Then those little paper doohicky thingamagigs that you fold up and have numbers and colors and names and fortunes written into them.   We were all WAY into those in 3rd grade. 

Books were my life!!

I wanted to play piano.  I would have given anything for that.   As a little kid it would bother me when I'd come into contact with a piano -  I felt I knew how to play but couldn't remember how.  It was MADDENING.    Never learned the piano, but did grow up to become a master typer!      Nimble fingers.  Oh yes, and I did learn to play the flute in 4th grade.  I've been having dreams with big silver flutes in them lately.  I went into a musical instrument shop last week and gazed at the flutess up on the racks way up high, out of reach.  oooh I wanted to grab one and push all the buttons and play!   Not that I remember how, but still, it would be fun to mess around on it again.  haha  I was really good at it as a kid, played in the "8th grade beginner band" at the connecting junior high school, because kids pick up on stuff like a sponge.   

Yup!   Had my little blue and white record player, with all my 45's and 33s.    I had the Disney soundtrack records, there were two, the first one had a white cover and the second one had a yellow cover.  They had all the songs to all the Disney movies.   I wore those suckers out.   I would dance around like a goober.    (i was 5, 6 years old)   Had all my story books that came with 45's that we got from the Weekly Reader book club thing too.

Now you've got ME started and on a roll! 

Building stuff with lego, particularly space lego was something else I loved. I used to love building my own moon bases and spaceships, but I would also build lego towns as well. The lego airport set was another favourite of mine.

The thing I wanted most that I never had was a remote control airplane. In fact I'm still quite interested in owning one and they're definitely adult toys rather than kids toys. Actually I'm more interested in having a Microlite now but that's hugely expensive.

I guess I like to have my head in the clouds literally as well as metaphorically! It's fair to say that even from a very young age I was always more interested in things like aliens, space travel and flying than I was more earthly pursuits, and so not much has changed there!

Andy

...I think the types of toys we played with can, to some extent, reflect the deeper aspects of who we are.

I think you're right, although I'm basing my agreeance on some toys I'd always wanted, even asked Santa for, in person, and never got. I always wanted an Easy Bake Oven, and one of those big boxes of miniature dishes, bowls, flatwear, cups, etc.. And while I'm at it, I wanted a kids' dining room table and chairs.... but that Easy Bake Oven was the bomb as far as I was concerned.

I took a moment and googled "Easy Bake Oven"... I've found googling even the most obscure of concepts and notions will return something interesting nearly every time.

I opened the link below and got the biggest grin on my face, I thought, "Heeello! Welcome to my world!" LOL!!! I am so happy when I'm in a kitchen cooking, especially for others... and the more the merrier!

Snicker! Snort!... if you open the link make sure to move your pointer over the kitchen . I'm tellin' ya, I'm grinning the grin of a five year old right now! Great thread lyra!

http://search.hp.netscape.com/hp/boomfr … asybake%2F

The thing is, even though I didn't get these toys, I really wanted them, and that has (now that montalk pointed it out) translated into my adult life. Working in the food service field was/is the most gratifying mainstream career choice I've made. I am in my element when I cook for others.

I've been reading along since this thread was started, and I was trying to remember what toys I had... I don't think I had many, or those that I could actually "play" with. It's not that I was abused or we were poverty stricken or anything like that, I think it's because until I was in 7th grade we moved a lot. It was probably a strategic move on my mother's part, she surely must've gotten sick of packing and unpacking everytime she turned around.

I did have Barbies, but I really didn't like 'em. I had a fantastic exotic doll collection my father brought home from his Naval tours of duty, but I wasn't allowed to play with them... heck, some of them were in glass cases! I had a whole load of stuffed toys, but those were for decoration. The last time I saw the doll collection and stuffed toys was about 25 yrs ago. If they're still around it is because my father hasn't yet thrown them away.

I had a bike and I liked to play with "outside" (still do)... climb trees, explore bugs (some bugs), etc.. I would even sneek off into the jungle when we lived in the Philippines... boy-howdy, I would've gotten in big time trouble if I had've been caught doing that! I just HAD to go in there though... had to .

One toy that I had that kept me busy was an Etch-a-Sketch... I bet all of you had one. I made sure my son had one too. Here's a link to an online Etch-a-Sketch, if you feel like playing--

http://search.hp.netscape.com/hp/boomfr … neetch.htm

We had game boards also. And again, like with the oven, I really wanted the Operation game, but never got it... and I grew up to be a Reiki Master! LOL! When I'd go to a friends house that had Operation I would be all over it.

I would play with Jacks and Ball sets a lot also, and jumped rope. Actually, I have bought a set of Jacks and Ball as an adult, and sat on the floor playing with them... there's something zen about playing with them solitary. Hmmmm... I think I'll get myself some next time I go to the store.

I spent a lot of time reading when I was a kid--lots of Nancy Drew, Little House, etc., and I liked the Archie comic books.

From the age of seven on I had a piano to "play" with, and I took lessons for about 10 years.

But my most cherished toy? My little turntable, and collection of 45's.... and <blush> Elvis Presley soundtracks!

And this reminds me... my friends and I would set up stages with boxes, get up there with a pretend microphone in our hand, and sing along to the record playing. We'd even, <majorly blushing>, play the Elvis soundtracks and each sing a part!

My favorite 45 record solo was "Boots" by Nancy Sinatra. I had this pair of red vinyl boots... I'd wear them while singing along, and oh-my, but I would strut! What a goofy kid I was! Too funny!

Now this is a toy I want RIGHT NOW! I've wanted a red wagon for a couple of years now so when I go to the beach I can pull along all my beach gear, and not have to lug it.

And ya know what ? I have a paycheck comin' soon, and I may very well just buy myself one! HA!

errrm... well, now that I think about it, where will I store it... we've got gosh darn kites everywhere!

Y'all should go fly a kite! Now there's a great toy for folks of ALL ages!

This was a great fun post to write, thanks again lyra!

OMG Lyra 

The pic's of the "Ho" dolls made me almost  me pee my pants laughing 

   I know, aren't they awful?  !!   Seriously, my god.    I can't even imagine being given those as my source of dolls to play with.      It's sad.  I feel bad for kids today.  Hopefully some of them will do what I would have done with those dolls....stare at them, confused, then stuff em in a box and shove em in the closet.

!

The pic's of the "Ho" dolls made me almost  me pee my pants laughing   

Gotta say that the little red wagon, modeling clay, and making up plays were my fav's as a youngster.  Guess having 2 sisters close in age helped a lot too.   We had a lot of fun and laughs.

One time my younger sis decided to play barber shop with the boy across the street (same age as her).  He had a rather severe buzz cut, and she decided that a little yellow clay to even out some of the color variations would help.   Well.... His mumsy wasn't too impressed with the results, she was pretty upset and had to use a LOT of butter to get all the clay out.   Dunno if the other sister put her up to it, but we all got a good laugh...

Does anyone remember the REALLY old toy called vacuumform?  It was one of those "much coveted toys" that heated small squares of thin plastic to make all kinds of stuff: little cars, funky glasses, flowers, ect.  Well, it didn't take too long to figure out what else we could do with the heating element on that thing.  Frequently we would heat crayon wax and paint clothes on Barbie and Ken-mostly Ken cause he NEVER had as many outfits/clothes that Barbie did.  It was a blast.

Good to remember stuff like that and remember we can still do "kid stuff" even though we are "all growed up." 

I did get to see some of the cards though, cuz you originally posted a link in your post to them. 

Did not. Never happened. lalala! 

Video games have an excuse! There's a story line, or a plot! What's GPK cards excuse?? Nothing! "Hi!, Were just disgusting and repulisve on purpose, so, Give us to your children and tell them to enjoy!!" . . . Blleeuaaauuurrggh.

In Grand Theft Auto, at least there's a thug around the corner who TOLD you to go shoot the cops! 

And plus, 1985? This was a time when things like this weren't exactly the pillars of many societies.