# Let Us Now Praise Dangerous Toys **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 1, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-us-now-praise-dangerous-toys/216315 "2003-12-01T19:08:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Snuggles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Snuggles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snuggles)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-us-now-praise-dangerous-toys/216315/81 "2003-12-06T03:06:12Z")
how about a good ol home made potato gun , heh ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-us-now-praise-dangerous-toys/216315/82 "2003-12-06T03:59:19Z")
Not so much as a kid but as a teenager, my friend and I spent one afternoon back in the woods making a fire out of old letters from an ex-friend of our’s. With old nailpolish and a purloined lighter. Oh, and did I mention it was late August. During a dry spell. In the woods. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-us-now-praise-dangerous-toys/216315/83 "2003-12-06T04:02:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bughunter \* > \*\*What was that old SNL skit that had a fly-by-night Haloween costume maker brainstorming new costume ideas? Everything was named Johnny-something… > > Ferinstance, “Johnny Spaceman” was a plastic dry cleaner bag to put over Johnny’s head, and a rubber band to go arnound his neck. > > Then they had one with new toys for xmas, like “bag o’ broken glass.” > \*\* It was great! Dan Aykroyd. MY favorite was “invisible pedestrain” a totally black outfit. Brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-us-now-praise-dangerous-toys/216315/84 "2003-12-06T04:03:35Z")
that would be pedestrian ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Serpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Silver\_Serpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Serpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-us-now-praise-dangerous-toys/216315/85 "2003-12-06T04:14:32Z")
I’m only 20, so I figure most of my toys had already been bitch-slapped by the Safety Nazis. Does that mean we never played dangerous games? Hell no. Did my Dad sometimes come up with the game? Hehe, yeah. Snowmobile + snowsled (crappy plastic one) + rope = fun! My dad would drag us (my younger sister and me) behind him as he sped through a snow-covered soybean field (we learned early on that corn fieldsa were too bumpy, and the little corn stalks hurt like hell if you fell off the sled). What was really fun was when he would take a sharp turn - sometimes we’d make the turn with him, sometimes we’d go flying off the sled, and sometimes we’d go flipping over with the sled. He’d let me drive said snowmobile around sometimes (all before the age of 10). Once, I ran into the turkey pen. If not for the snowdrift, my leg would’ve been broken. Good times! And even with the padding and safety precauctions on trampolines these days, my sister managed to bounce a boy off and break his arm when she was, oh, 12. She still gloats, hehe. Most of what I played with when I was a kid were tractors, barns, and snowmobiles. So . . . yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-us-now-praise-dangerous-toys/216315/86 "2003-12-06T06:26:48Z")
I had a Crosman C02 pellet rifle. My older brother was a terrible role model in oh-so-many ways, and sure enough, during one unsupervised period he somehow determined that it would be a Good Idea for me to shoot him. I think he watched too much “Mannix” or something, but I wasn’t one to decline to fulfill his natural curiosity. The tennis ball cannon were a big hit in the neighborhood - I was crestfallen when soda can manufacturers switched can styles, precluding cannon manufacture. I suspected a communist plot. We used about 6 or 7 cans and electrical tape. ---
**Author:** ![Elenfair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@Elenfair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elenfair)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-us-now-praise-dangerous-toys/216315/87 "2003-12-06T15:12:19Z")
One of the toys on the top ten dangerous toys of the year (???!) is a set of blocks (Imaginability Wedgits Starter Set) based on the old “tangram” concept. This toy, for its mathematical and “spacial orientation” qualities won a bunch of awards from parents and teachers alike. My mother has 3 of those sets in her grade 1 classroom, and they are absolutely brilliant (and the kids love them). [http://wedgits.com/Welcome/](http://wedgits.com/Welcome/) Check it out! They come with illustrations a child is supposed to reproduce in 3D, with this set of blocks. Because the blocks have 90 degree angle corners, they were deemed by the safety folks to be dangerous because they could cause PUNCTURES if a child FELL on the blocks. They made the TOP TEN WORST TOYS list for safety reasons. Da heck! Good LORD. At the rate we’re going, the only thing kids will be allowed to play with will be kleenex, and only so if they’re wearing protective mouthguards (prevenging accidental swallowing), helmets, and have their hands safely padded by safety gloves. Oy. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-us-now-praise-dangerous-toys/216315/88 "2003-12-06T15:54:14Z")
_Fab_ulous thread. Everyone knows the following magic ten-word incantation: “Do not hold in hand; light fuse and get away.” And of course, everyone knows that this is an engraved invitation to figure out how to set off the firework while holding it. Roman Candle fights, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![saulisagenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@saulisagenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saulisagenius)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-us-now-praise-dangerous-toys/216315/89 "2003-12-06T17:59:23Z")
I once had a Lego Pirates set and I swallowed a Lego cannonball that I fired into my mouth with the Lego cannon. I thought it would stay in my mouth (I liked putting plastic things in my mouth and bitting them back then) but I had to go into hospital and get an X-ray, in case it had pierced me lungs or something. My mum told me that when she was a little girl she was always jealous of her sister having a toy oven when she only had a toy washing machine which wasn’t nearly as fun (but probably less dangerous). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-us-now-praise-dangerous-toys/216315.md?page=4)