# Buying pieces your childhood: Books, movies, toys and music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2004, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229 "2004-08-17T11:49:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/1 "2004-08-17T11:49:13Z")
Age: 34 Books: \*\*Superman vs. Muhammad Ali \*\* on eBay, to replace the copy I lost when I moved. Charles Schulz **Happiness is a Warm Puppy** , one of the first books I learned to read on my own. **Stand Back! Said the Elephant, I’m Going To Sneeze!** Which I read once in my doctor’s waiting room and couldn’t put out of my head for 20 years. All from [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) Movies: **Watership Down** , Bakshi’s \*\*The Hobbit \*\* and the first three **Muppet movies**. Also: Berry Gordy’s **The Last Dragon** , first movie I got to third base watching with a girl. Toys: **Rubik’s Cube** , **the Snake** and **the Pyramid** and a collection of 213 **Garbage Pail Kids** cards, from neighborhood garage sales. Music: Nothing I can’t fileshare – although there’s a copy of a non-beatboxing ‘La Di Da Di’ with Slick Rick and a real woman singing the ‘Sukiyaki’ hook I can’t find anywhere. What I’d like to buy: a complete set of **Encyclopedia Browns** , and all the \*\*Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators \*\* books, maybe the **McGurk Mysteries.** ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/2 "2004-08-17T13:41:52Z")
I’m currently on a search to find a pink plastic whale bathtub toy that I had as a child. My daughter managed to break it 21 years ago (I shouldn’t be too hard on her, it was at least 30 years old at the time…but I’ve never forgiven her 😛 ) My sister recently got a new Chatty Cathy doll to replace the one she claims I lost (this not forgiving thing seems to be a trend). I still have most of my childhood books and games, but I’m collecting miniatures of some of the Little Tikes toys my kids had: we just don’t have room for the turtle sandbox anymore! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/3 "2004-08-17T14:02:19Z")
I replaced some of the X-Men comics I bought new (and now worth $1,000’s - dammit) with reprints. They didn’t read quite as well now that I am grown up, but holding them reminds of when I first read them. I collect 1st edition books - some are super valuable, but there is nothing like holding a book that meant a lot to me as a kid - like Dune, say - and remember how it felt to read it the first time… ---
**Author:** ![ussentinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ce7236/32.png) [@ussentinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ussentinel)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/4 "2004-08-17T14:30:31Z")
Age: 37 Toys: View-Master reels; specifically, Superman (vs. the Computer Crook); Batman (“The Purr-fect Crime”); Micky Mouse, Goofy & Donald Duck in The Clock Cleaners; among a few others. I found all of them on eBay. But as a little kid, I remember Walgreen’s having these elaborate little display racks with View-Master packets on them. \*I been lucky enough to nearly all the comics I had as a kid. I’ve replaced the beat-up copies with ones in better condition. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/5 "2004-08-17T14:40:17Z")
I’d like to have my hands on all the Tower of Shadows, Chamber of Darkness, Monsters on the Prowl and Creatures on the Loose comic books I once had. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/6 "2004-08-17T14:44:02Z")
Well I’m 26, and I never stopped collecting action figures or comic books. Collections are here: [http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/toys.html](http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/toys.html) [http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/comicsmasterlist.html](http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/comicsmasterlist.html) And Transformers: The Movie still makes me cry. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/7 "2004-08-17T14:45:08Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > Well I’m 26, and I never stopped collecting action figures or comic books. Collections are here: > > [http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/toys.html](http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/toys.html) > [http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/comicsmasterlist.html](http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/comicsmasterlist.html) > > And Transformers: The Movie still makes me cry. Sorry, the second link should be [http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/comicmasterlist.html](http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/comicmasterlist.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/8 "2004-08-17T17:44:58Z")
I’d love to have a complete set of \*Encyclopedia Brown \* books and _Charlie Brown Encyclopedias_ for myself. I read a ton of other things when I was a kid (especially miscellaneous mythology books) but those’re the two things that jump immediately to mind that I have especially fond memories of and that I can remember the titles of. Maybe some _Bearestein Bears_, _Nancy Drew_, _Hardy Boys_, and \*Fudge \* books too, for any eventual kids? I don’t think I’m quite nostalgic enough to actually read those again though. 🙂 And I _ **will** _ eventually own all the seasons of _Saved By the Bell_, _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_, and all the _Star Trek_s if or when they’re released on DVD. Ooh, and I want a Pound Puppy too. A talking Cooler to replace the one I had as a five year old if at all possible. I loved that thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/9 "2004-08-17T17:48:25Z")
I’m 22, by the way. Forgot to include that in my previous post. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/10 "2004-08-17T18:03:35Z")
I don’t have to buy anything! I’ve kept everything I’ve ever had! 😃 Actually this aint far from the truth, unfortunatly. I have junk from 30 years ago. It turns out one of the few things I did give away, my Hotwheel cars, is now the toy of choice for my little guy. He loves them and cant get enough of them. I regret giving them away and now wish he had them to play with. :sad: Just as well. He’s kinda rough on them and it would break my heart to watch them get torn up. Besides, all the ones I had are now worth about $50 each! :eek: And I guess its not too bad. I’ll be passing along my Fiat, which was my dad’s, so he’ll have a real car to motor in someday. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/11 "2004-08-17T18:34:17Z")
I finally bought a hardcover copy of _ **Watership Down** _, even though I still have the paperback copy I had when I read it the first time. Recently I bought the **Challenge of the Superfriends** DVD’s, which were about as good as I remembered it. I also bought the **Starblazers** DVD set, and wish I hadn’t – I remembered it being just _the coolest thing ever_, and was heartbroken to discover that to a jaded 33-year-old, it’s just poorly animated, tedious, and boring. Captain Avatar is still a major bad-ass, though. ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/12 "2004-08-17T18:43:04Z")
Age: 49 I’m slowly reconstructing my Marvel comics collection from the mid '60’s. Mostly **Fantastic Four** , **Spiderman** , and \*\*Strange Tales \*\* (I loved _Dr._ _Strange_!) at this time. I had a huge collection spanning 1964 through 1969, but sold it in the '80’s. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/13 "2004-08-17T18:49:50Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > …Recently I bought the **Challenge of the Superfriends** DVD’s, which were about as good as I remembered it… You must’ve had very discerning tastes as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/14 "2004-08-17T18:53:32Z")
From 1983-1985 my family lived in England (Pateley Bridge, for anyone familiar with that part of North Yorkshire). While there, I started buying the then-new _Now, That’s What I Call Music_ double cassettes: I had #s 1-4 when it was time to move back to the States, but the movers lost the box that contained #s 2 & 3! After the move I acquired #s 5-9, but 2 & 3 quickly went out of print and became impossible to obtain. Impossible, that is, until the time of eBay. 😃 It took a while to find them, even on eBay, but several years ago I finally did and now I happily own a complete retrospective of British pop from my early teens. It’s quite the trip down memory lane to listen to this music now, 20 years later, but I still love it! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/15 "2004-08-17T19:51:32Z")
I’m 59, and I’ve been looking for a playset my brother and I used to spend hours with. It was painted tin, a western “town” - connected buildings – the sheriff’s office, saloon, I think a hotel, stable, and there were plastic cowboys, horses, watering troughs for the horses, the whole shebang. Haven’t found anything even close. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/16 "2004-08-17T20:44:09Z")
36 here. I had lots of inflatable toys when I was a kid. Beachballs, [Gumby](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20910&item=5915028219&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW), [Godzilla](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=747&item=5911903443&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW), etc., but there’s really only one I want to replace. It was a two-chamber Easter bunny with ears that went all the way to the ceiling! They came out around '85 when I was in high school. I managed to get a single-chamber version of this bunny via eBay but it’s a bit smaller. I’d love to have the bigger version again. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/17 "2004-08-17T23:23:47Z")
I want two things: **The elephant who liked to smash small cars** by Jean Little, one of the greatest picture books ever written (The elephant sings, “Smashing cars! Smashing cars! How I love to smash small cars!”), and a particular hardback edition of Diana Wynne Jones’ **Witch’s business** which is a light dusty purple with the title stamped in gold on the front. It was the first DWJ book I ever read. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/18 "2004-08-17T23:26:35Z")
I forgot to add that the Jean Little picture book now goes for nearly $200 on used book sites, and so I’ll have to wait until it comes back into print (probably never). ☹ I once almost got the DWJ book. ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/19 "2004-08-18T00:17:35Z")
Age: 23 I bought a copy of The Phantom Tollbooth from the children’s section of my college bookstore during the final semester before graduation. ---
**Author:** ![Graycat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Graycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Graycat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229/20 "2004-08-18T02:51:11Z")
Age: 46 I bought A.A. Milne’s children’s books while I was still in college, and the boxed Beatrix Potter set shortly after I was married. As my kids get older, I buy books that I loved at their ages to add to the books they select for themselves. Most recently, I bought Madeline L’Engle’s _A Wrinkle in Time_ tetralogy for my 11 year old son. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-pieces-your-childhood-books-movies-toys-and-music/260229.md?page=2)