Favorite childhood toys

[goodcop2000]

The thread that StayPuft started about his 2XL robot got me thinking about my favorite toys when I was a kid. I thought I would post some photos and see who had the same stuff and what other kinds of toys you all were into.

One of my obsessions was Star Wars figures! I had about 50 of these from the original set before I sold them at a yard sale. I later collected some of the newer models in my 20's and passed those on to my kids.

   

Even before Star Wars, though, I loved plastic army men. The main type I had looked like the first picture below. However, I collected every type I could find so that at the end I had about 12 or 13 distinctive types of soldiers. I called the ones below Americans and assigned different nations to all the other types. For some reason the Dutch were always going to war against us. haha I had a set of colored wooden blocks that looked exactly like the 2nd pic below that I would use to build bases/forts for the army men and then one Christmas I received my greatest gift ever! The Guns of Navarone playset pictured below. I played with that thing forever!!

   

   

   

I did get exercise, too. I used to ride all over the place on my sweet Huffy bike, complete with banana seat and sissy bar. It was similar to the pic below but a different color.

   

I have a couple more toys to add but I think the limit is 5 photos to a post so I will continue in the next one...

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I was a huge Matchbox cars fan and these are stock photos of some of my favorites...the are the Detomaso Pantera, an armored car, and the "Turbo Fury". The last one had fans in the back that would turn when you pushed the car.

       

   

Finally I will mention that I used to love to play army myself (different from the little men). I had a surplus U.S. army helmet liner like the one below and a toy machine gun and I would run around like crazy and hide in bushes. Back then the toy guns didn't have the orange parts to show they were toys, though.

       

I hope these photos have brought back pleasant childhood memories for some of you. I have had fun going down memory lane.

Unfortunately I got rid of pretty much all my toys when I reached high school age. I really wish I could have handed off my army men and cars to my kids.

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Two more childhood hobbies popped into my head. I loved reading comic books - I would buy some at the drug store but mostly I found them at yard sales. And after the original "Pong" game which I am old enough to have seen I got the Atari 2600 and played many a game of Missile Command, among others.

   


   

[PJON]

Hi, wow Nice colection Good Cop.

Im lame. My favorite childhood toy was and is my Rubber Duckie. I even still have the Bert and Ernie album to go with it.

[StayPuft]

Goodcop,

Awesome thread! Funny, I was actually kid of thinking of starting a similar thread myself. You beat me to it. ;-)

Well, obviously, I've already mentioned 2XL



and Teddy Ruxpin:



But, I was also a big fan/collector of pretty much all of the toys from:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:



and, of course, The Real Ghostbusters:

[phantomninja]

Dude, Staypuft we could of been best pals in the 80's!

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I had a handful of these crazy beasts


And of course Dino Riders. I have a tattoo that was inspired by this classic series!

[wisdomknight]

Yep I had the Star Wars toys from the 70s/80s as well.
And I also sold them at a garage sale....and believ it or not
I bought the remakes for my kids around the same time.

I even had some of the exact same matchbox cars in those pics GoodCop!

We must be almost the exact same age.

[mqstout]

As my memory serves me (which, if I remember it, obviously it was a favorite, right?) In no particular order other than coming to mind -- note that childhood is a long time, so some are younger than others.
* Rambo action figures, TMNT action figures
* Legos (Castle and Pirate) -- a friend had Space ones
* Boxes, blankets & furniture
* Cheap green army men
* Sticks & rocks
* Nintendo (1985) / Super Nintendo (1991)
* The (non-RC) pink Corvette with Gizmo in it
* Some Tonka trucks (made of metal and rust)
* This one piece of random galvanized scrap metal that I wrapped with foam tape and fabric tape to make my "sword"
* Smurfs Colorforms & plushies
* M.U.S.C.L.E. Men (pink rubber weird-shaped figures)
* Drawing stuff and this magnifier-projector thing I'd trace things with and color
* "Matchbox" (usually off-brand) cars and, later, Micro Machines
* Highlights For Children magazine/activity books (especially Hidden Pictures)

Some notable exceptions (IE, things I did not use):
* Balls, bikes, etc
* GI Joe
* Comics

[Old Dwarf]

My childhood was in the "golden age" of Marx ,so I had Farm set,Army set,Fort Apache set,Alamo set,Space Set,too bad they
are long gone the things are worth a lot to collectors.Also had an O Gague Lionel Train set & later switched to HO.

My early childhood was during WWII,so not much materials around for toys,I had a wooden Hobby Horse (still have in fact).
and of course a lead frog "Frankie"who now rest in a dresser drawer waiting to be buried with me (hey he was my first toy I
remember).

OK At one point I had a cowboy doll.

OD

[SovTech]

LNoE and AToE.

And Dungeons & Dragons.

[vikinglad]

My childhood memories of my toys are very dear to me, and I kept most all of them. They are in storage at my parents right now, but I will try to post some pics if I go visit them.

Here are some of my favorites from previous posts:
1. Star Wars Figures, like the ones in the OP. I still have a bunch in the big Vader carrying case. This was my favorite movie, toy, clothing, etc till I was at least 8 or 9.

2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Figures. I loved the comics and cartoon too. I still have the 4 graphic novels fromt he original comics on my bookshelf at home. I also have the reprints of these from the late 90's still in the package.

3. GI Joe. Oddly enough, mine were always hand-to-hand fighting eachother with WWF style moves. Lots of weapons were lost. They also fought my Star Wars dudes pretty often. When I got older, I shot all of them up with my BB gun because they exploded nicely. I still have several of their heads in a small box from this.

4. Ghostbusters Figures. I only had Peter and a big slimy monster that blew bubbles with ectoplasm. I really liked all the slime with these guys.

5. Rambo Figures. Big dudes with lots of cool weapons that actually shot missles or something. I liked them because of the load of weapons each came with. My sis had a Girl (Kat?) that had 2 Uzis she kept in 2 holsters on either side of her waist. Tight.

6. MUSCLES. I still have about 150 of these guys in a brown paper bag in my closet at my house. I play them with my 9yo girl.

And here are some I didn't see mentioned yet:

1. He-Man. This was probably my favorite toy line when I was about 5. Big figures with cool gimicks, sweet rides, and dope castles.

2. Transformers, right? This was another "expensive" toy I really wanted but hardly got any of. I had Soundwave, and it was my pride and joy. I also had other random smaller ones (like Bumblebee), and lots of Go-Bots, but I really wanted the big real Transformers that were in the cartoon more.

3. MASK. Anyone remember these Mobile Armored Strike Kommand toys?


4. WWF wrestling Superstars. Big rubber brawlers with a big ring to fight in. I had about 15 or so, and the ring.

[StayPuft]

(08-23-2012 11:56 PM)phantomninja Wrote:  Dude, Staypuft we could of been best pals in the 80's!

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I had a handful of these crazy beasts

Oh my God! I forgot all about those little Battle Beast dudes! We had those too! It was so cool how your body heat made their little icon reveal itself. It was basically like Rock, Paper, Scissors, but with little animal warrior dudes.

We really good have been best pals back in the 80's. LOL!

(08-24-2012 12:26 AM)mqstout Wrote:  * M.U.S.C.L.E. Men (pink rubber weird-shaped figures)

How could I forget them? I used to love those!

And how could I forget, just like vikinglad, I had wrestling figures, but I was around more during the times of these ones:



Also, anybody else remember Boglins?



They are another one I still try to find sometimes on eBay.