Re: Never grow up! :)

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.

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! big_smile 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

Join me in Peru to celebrate December 21st 2012 - Visit: http://2012awakeningretreat.com/

17 (edited by lyra 2005-08-10 14:44:47)

Re: Never grow up! :)

Auendove wrote:

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."   big_smile  big_smile   That's a crack up.   They were begging me for her address, but I was like No way, hell no!  How embarrassing! 


Auendove wrote:

I had a bike and I liked to play with "outside" (still do)... climb trees, explore bugs (some bugs), etc..

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!  smile

And the bike....me too!


Auendove wrote:

We had game boards also......I really wanted the Operation game, but never got it.....When I'd go to a friends house that had Operation I would be all over it.

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.   smile  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.



Auendove wrote:

I would play with Jacks and Ball sets a lot also, and jumped rope.

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

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. 



Auendove wrote:

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.

Books were my life!!


Auendove wrote:

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

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!  big_smile    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.   


Auendove wrote:

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

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.  big_smile  (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.


Auendove wrote:

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

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

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shit ... what a ride!"  - Anonymous
-----
"I get by with a little help from my (higher density) friends."
-----

Re: Never grow up! :)

Ayahuasca wrote:

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! big_smile 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.  smile  Possible indicators of past lives / future lives / other dimensional happenings and timelines....

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shit ... what a ride!"  - Anonymous
-----
"I get by with a little help from my (higher density) friends."
-----

19 (edited by Auendove 2005-08-11 06:09:04)

Re: Never grow up! :)

lyra wrote:

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." ....

hmm 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."

big_smile

lyra wrote:

And hopscotch!

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.

lyra wrote:

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.

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" lol !

Ahem... I never called her hmm , 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 smile --

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

lyra wrote:

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

Yipee! big_smile big_smile lol

You know what else is a fun toy? Emoticons!

cool

ROTFLMAO!

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
------
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance.
------
If you spin around on your chair really fast, things around here will make a lot more sense.

lol

Re: Never grow up! :)

lyra wrote:

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.

big_smile 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... smile

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
------
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance.
------
If you spin around on your chair really fast, things around here will make a lot more sense.

lol

Re: Never grow up! :)

Auendove wrote:

"Aye-be-gore matey!

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

I am as is Void.

22 (edited by lyra 2008-01-26 10:19:19)

Re: Never grow up! :)

Just thought I'd post this here, since it seemed fitting for a thread that was talking about childhood toys, and the difference between then, and how things are now.  (see "Bratz" dolls versus vintage "Strawberry Shortcake" dolls at the beginning of this thread. !)

article wrote:

The man who made childhood fun and a little crazy too

BY MITCH ALBOM
January 28, 2008

Last week, at age 82, Richard Knerr died. You probably don’t recognize his name. You probably can’t pronounce it. He wasn’t an actor or a war hero. He cured no diseases. Made no scientific breakthroughs.

In fact, you could say Richard Knerr was about one thing and one thing only: fun. But if you measure a man by what the world would be like without him, here a few things that, minus Knerr, you would never know:

The Hula Hoop.

The Frisbee.

The SuperBall.

Those alone took up a third of my childhood.

Knerr was the co-founder of Wham-O, the company that made those items and more, including the Water Wiggly, the Slip ‘N Slide and Silly String. If there was a philosophy to Wham-O’s products, it was this: Keep it simple, keep it cheap, keep it something kids like to do, over and over.

You’ll notice what is left out.

Violence. Noise. Weapons. Video.



Just for the fun of it

Believe it or not, there was a time when “free time” in America meant doing things like trying to shake a Hula Hoop without it falling down your legs. Or lining up a perfectly flat Frisbee throw, so that it glided on air like a flying saucer.

I know, I know. Anyone under 30 is groaning just reading this. But we make no apologies. This was what we did for fun. We threw Frisbees back and forth. We shook Hula-Hoops around our waists. We flicked a SuperBall against the pavement so hard it would bounce onto someone’s roof.

And then Mom called us for dinner.

Knerr and his partner, Arthur Melin, were from this more innocent era. A couple of California kids, they went to college together in the 1940s and reportedly both turned down offers to work in their father’s offices. Instead, they tried to make, well, fun things. Their first effort was a slingshot. Next they moved to boomerangs and tomahawks.

Then, in 1957, they introduced the Frisbee. The following year, they came out with a plastic ring you shook around your waist or neck. And before today’s kids laugh too loudly, know that by 1960, two years after its introduction, the Hula Hoop had sold 100 million units.

The Xbox 360, invented nearly three years ago, hasn’t sold 18 million units yet.

Take that, Halo.



The adult side of toys

I didn’t know Richard Knerr. But I recently saw an old photo of him in a shirt and tie, goofing it up, Hula Hoops swinging from his shoulders. And I was saddened by his death, because it reminded me of how a certain philosophy has died with him.

Today, kids’ fun has to be at someone’s expense. Blowing up your opponent is fun. Clobbering your friend in Madden football is fun. Insulting people on MySpace or laughing at a geek on YouTube is fun. You don’t see kid “crazes” anymore — the way SuperBalls or yo-yos were crazes. Today a kid craze is cell phones or PlayStations. Today the idea of bouncing a ball as high as you can seems so incredibly lame, you’d wonder if the kid doing it had problems.

But that’s the thing. We didn’t have problems. Not like they have today. We didn’t dream of torching the school, having sex with our teachers or getting back at enemies by destroying their reputation in cyberspace.

We bounced our balls, threw our Frisbees, shook that silly plastic ring until our hips hurt. And it was fun. It was fun because we weren’t proving ourselves. Our toys didn’t define us, rank us or socialize us. They were meant to be played with. What else could a product from a company named Wham-O be?

By the way, it doesn’t surprise me that Wham-O was sold to a conglomerate in 1982, then later sold to Mattel, then later to a bunch of investors. Guys like Knerr and Melin, who started in their parents’ garages, are often bought out, left with memories, photos and a big check.

Just the same, I was sad to see Knerr’s obituary, because it reminded me of so many youthful things that have waved good-bye. I know when something drops out of style, they say “it went the way of the Hula Hoop,” but they shouldn’t mean childhood.



Mitch Albom’s column is distributed by Tribune Media Services Inc.  http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=6956

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shit ... what a ride!"  - Anonymous
-----
"I get by with a little help from my (higher density) friends."
-----

Re: Never grow up! :)

Haha I never saw this thread... got me thinking though, there were some bad toys and games back in the seventies.

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 wink

  J

Happy to have been a part

24 (edited by lyra 2008-01-26 16:54:09)

Re: Never grow up! :)

apex wrote:

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!  big_smile  I love stuff that smells (hence my love of Strawberry Shortcake dolls) and these things are so much fun.  You all remember them, right?? 


http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/pizza.jpg

http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/pickle.jpg

http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/caramelapple.jpg

http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/leather.jpg

http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/popcorn.jpg

http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/chocolate.jpg

http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/rootbeer.jpg

http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/coconut.jpg

http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/bubblegum.jpg

http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/hotfudge.jpg


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.  !  big_smile

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shit ... what a ride!"  - Anonymous
-----
"I get by with a little help from my (higher density) friends."
-----

Re: Never grow up! :)

Lyra thank you for posting about Mr. Knerr - my roommate just synchronicitically bought The Hudsucker Proxy - definitely going to watch it tonight.

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

26 (edited by persephonevii 2008-02-06 04:56:04)

Re: Never grow up! :)

I noticed with the SSC dolls vs the Ho Dolls, that there is a big emphasis on the face with the Ho Dolls. Thick lips, loads of eye make-up , perfectly arched eyebrows and styled hair are found on the Ho Dolls. Whereas the SSC dolls have no such emphasis... and for some reason just feel wholesome to me. Balanced. Almost alive. I know that sounds kooky (alive dolls!?), but it's like someone cared when they made those dolls so it's like they put a bit of their own essence in these SSC dolls. The Ho Dolls feel dead to me, no spirit and cold. Just made for money and brainwashing.

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.

ape-x wrote:

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 wink

  J

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 smile