# Tell me about your favorite childhood toy(s) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 22, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464 "2004-05-22T01:21:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/41 "2004-05-26T00:33:04Z")
Hockey stick puck baseball glove baseball bat nerf football pimple ball (folks from the urban NorthEast should know what this is) Electric football Intellivision ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/42 "2004-05-26T01:17:24Z")
Johnny Seven One-man Army. Big gun thing that has seven different weapons. Something in the water around my block, lots more boys then girls. Built a baseball diamond in an empty lot. Backstop and all. When we wearn’t playing ball, we wearer playing War. ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/43 "2004-05-26T01:48:42Z")
I really liked Tinker Toys, sometimes Dad would get on the floor and we would build stuff together. I had a BB gun, too, but one day I shot my sister. Dad beat my ass and threw it in the river. I got my first serious lecture on firearm safety, I’ll never forget it. Dad was real upset! ---
**Author:** ![PucksRaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecd19e/32.png) [@PucksRaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PucksRaven)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/44 "2004-05-26T05:26:44Z")
I’m not sure, but I think I’m the first to mention Lite Brite? I loved that thing. I think it’s still in the back of my brother’s closet. Also: My Little Pony (I had the ranch and the castle platsets) Care Bears She-Ra (He-Man’s. . . sister? cousin? love interest? I know they were related somehow. My brother had all the He-Man stuff and I had all the She-Ra stuff and we used to borrow the others to create more epic battles) Legos (of course) I also played the board game Sorry with my mother at least once a week. It was the only one she could win with any sort of regularity. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/45 "2004-05-26T05:53:43Z")
:eek: Your Dad threw your ass in the river?? _Our_ Dad let my brother shoot his BB gun in the basement. Man, I wanted to shoot it too but I was to little to cock it. Still, it was fun to watch my brother and gather up the used BBs from all over the place. Our Dad worked at a place that repaired and made parts for collating and paper-cutting machines. This was when the concept of recycling was but a gleam in the environmentalists’ eyes. When testing the machines, they’d wind up with stacks of perfectly good paper that ultimately wound up in trash. My Dad asked the owner if he could bring some home for us and the guy happily agreed. We loved coloring and drawing and painting, and I remember being excited when he would bring us a stack of paper. That, I think, was my favorite toy. One year, Dad replaced the flooring in our kitchen. He saved the scraps of Congoleum (flexable flooring that comes in a lot of different brands now)and in the Winter we used them as sleds. We had a great hill all to ourselves and the Congoleum whooshed us over the snow at what seemed then to be amazing speeds. Our favorite store-bought toys were Etch-A-Sketch, Spirograph, Lite-Brite, and my brother’s Creepy Crawlers maker and Erector Set. **Brachyrynchos,** I’m always glad when I see someone else who remembers Beanie and Cecil. We didn’t have the Disguise Kit but we did have the beanies with the propellor that shot off when you pressed a button. Thinking about it, I believe that is the first toy I remember having. I was 3 then but we only lived in that house for 9 months so it’s easy to place the year. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/46 "2004-05-26T06:01:05Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > …keep in mind that it’s OK for boys to play with dolls: I read so in the book _Free to Be, You and Me._ [Child of the 70’s] There’s a land that I see where the children are free And I say it ain’t far to this land from where we are Take my hand, come with me, where the children are free Come with me, take my hand, and we’ll live In a land where the river runs free In a land through the green country In a land to a shining sea And you and me are free to be you and me I see a land bright and clear, and the time’s comin’ near When we’ll live in this land, you and me, hand in hand Take my hand, come along, lend your voice to my song Come along, take my hand, sing a song For a land where the river runs free For a land through the green country For a land to a shining sea For a land where the horses run free And you and me are free to be you and me Every boy in this land grows to be his own man In this land, every girl grows to be her own woman Take my hand, come with me where the children are free Come with me, take my hand, and we’ll run To a land where the river runs free To a land through the green country To a land to a shining sea To a land where the horses run free To a land where the children are free And you and me are free to be And you and me are free to be And you and me are free to be you and me [/Child of the 70’s] Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/47 "2004-05-26T06:08:22Z")
Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? Can we not have mentioned Stretch Armstrong and Stretch Monster yet? Has the world gone mad? Second the Star Wars toys (the real one, back in the 70’s). I also loved the Hot Wheels racing tracks (run by pure gravity) that you would set up down stairs and the like with nifty loops and such. Also, battleship. ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/48 "2004-05-26T06:19:58Z")
Apart from a stuffed, plush dog I slept with (name: Nuppy the puppy), I had no favorite toys until, at the age of ten, I discovered Matchbox cars. Not the modern Mattell-made imitations of the same name we have today, but the old ones made in England with heavy piano wire axles. They actually looked like real cars (not show cars). You could collect cars from all over the world. I never did get my mitts on a Citroen DS-19, however (it was the Holy Grail of Matchbox cars, at least for me). My next-door neighbor and I would build little roads in the back yard so we could have our adventures with Land Rovers (one of my faves was a 6-wheeled vehicle called the Alvis Stalwart). Mom finally had to give us our own corner of the yard so we wouldn’t “road” everywhere and mess up the lawn. Another toy I loved to death was (I forget the brand name) a set with a gray plastic base with rectangular holes in it, with vertical and horizontal girders that let you build your own skyscrapers. There were plastic panels that hung off pins along the sides of the horizontal girders and other panels you put on the top for the roof. Very cool! I spent hours building fantasy cities with that set. –SSgtBaloo ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/49 "2004-05-26T06:20:39Z")
Oh, Oh! Who remember [2XL](http://www.pickletreats.com/2XL/)? Good times man, good times. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/50 "2004-05-26T12:50:04Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > _It went zip! when it moved and bop!when it stopped and whrrr, when it stood still. I never knew just what it was, and I guess I never will!_ (apologies to Tom Paxton) 🙂 Been there. Done that. :dubious: 😛 ---
**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:** [May 26, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/51 "2004-05-26T13:20:32Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > Oh, Oh! Who remember [2XL](http://www.pickletreats.com/2XL/)? Good times man, good times. Oh wow, I found one of these in the attic at my house! It must have been an older cousin’s castoff, since 8-tracks were already phased out by the '80s. I ought to list this guy on eBay! ---
**Author:** ![bauble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@bauble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bauble)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/52 "2004-05-26T15:50:59Z")
I used to have a big Eagle 1 spaceship (from Space 1999) that my Micronauts spent a lot of time in and around. I also used to have a lot of Mego Star Trek action figures (they were _not_ dolls, dammit) and the Enterprise bridge playset. Does anybody else remember TCR (Total Control Racing) ? Basically, it was a slot racing set, but without the slots. You could get your car to change lanes via a switch on the controller. To be honest, I never had one myself, but I’d go over to other kids’ houses just to play with theirs. Man, I’d love to get my hands on one of those sets now. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/53 "2004-05-26T15:54:01Z")
I used to play with mercury. Loved playing with mercury… ---
**Author:** ![bdandhr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@bdandhr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdandhr)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/54 "2004-05-27T00:25:37Z")
Ha, ha, ha! I’ve played with mercury too! My brother once heated up a mercury thermometer to convince our mom that he was too sick to go to school. It is the coolest substance, the way you could break it up into tiny globules and join it back together!!! I don’t know that I have an absolute favorite toy, but the thing I remember most is the way new dolls and other toys have that “plastic” smell. Always reminds me of Christmas when I smell it… ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/55 "2004-05-27T01:26:32Z")
\*\*Creepy Crawler! \*\* Oh man! Burn yourself on the metal. Spill the burning hot liquidy plastic on yourself and stain the carpet, make gross out bugs. Who could ask for anything more: Fire hazard, bodily harm, carpet stains. Jarts, for pure terror if played bare foot. Behind the 8 ball. For drama and tension. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/56 "2004-05-27T13:03:43Z")
Bolo balls, those pairs of hard plastic balls on strings that you’d clack up and down until they shattered into flying pieces of jagged plastic, with an even chance that they’d be at eye level. Model rockets, specializing in modifying them so they were (a) overpowered, (b) lighter, © wouldn’t fly in a straight line, (d) explosive, or (e) all of the above. Control-line airplanes; see “model rockets” for modifications. I’m amazed I still have all my eyes and fingers… ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/57 "2004-05-27T18:48:28Z")
\*Mister Machine, ``` Mister Machine, ``` The walking, talking Mister Machine…\* My older brother had one and my mom told me she’d put my diapered behind on the floor next to it, wind it up, and I would just stare at it for hours, enraptured. I had Captain Action and the Batman costume. Major Matt Mason, the moon-bubble and Calisto, the “good” alien. Micronauts (I still have a broken Baron Karza and an unbroken horse/centaur for him) and most wondrously, my wife still has her Jane West and Gen. Custer dolls with _all_ the accessories! ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/58 "2004-05-27T21:01:32Z")
My all-time favorite was TinkerToys. When I was growing up (50s) they were all wood, and they smelled and felt wonderful. I also used the cylindrical box they came in as a wooden leg. Wooden legs were pretty popular because of Treasure Island. I also had European toy with a tiny car that went around a metal track, about 18" in diameter. It had a steering wheel and speed control, and there were things you could put on the track to drive through and around. It was way cool. I also liked my weaponry, particularly my Mattel pistols with the spring-loaded bullets and the Greenie Stick-em Caps. Took about 20 minutes to get it ready for 5 seconds of killing. I also had the derringer in the belt buckle that would let loose when you stuck out your stomach, and at other random times. We used to go to a restaurant frequented by people with known mafia connections. The derringer chose one of our times there to fire. People were going for the floor. It was way cool. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/59 "2004-05-27T21:02:49Z")
Yes, way coolness abounded in my childhood. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464/60 "2004-05-28T04:16:27Z")
The 12-inch GI Joes when I was younger but I got to say my bike. It was lime green with a banna seat and the back wheel was flat with just two thin grooves. It had a sissy bar, not the kind that went above teh back of the seat by two feet but just to the top. Oh and real chopper style handle bars. It expaned my world from just my street to an entire square mile. (wasn’t allowed to cross the big streets till later) Now there was a toy in my garage that belong to my older brothers and I never got to use it. You could make your own army men but not by melting plastic and pouring it into molds. No, with this baby you melted LEAD. Oh yeah, baby. I always wanted to use that but we didn’t have any of the little lead bricks to melt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-favorite-childhood-toy-s/246464.md?page=4)