Toys you had when you were a kid
- Thread starter Kyriakos
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Deity
Airfic 1/32 Napoleonics. I had whole armies from Airfix like that. But then when I was ten the Swedish toy stores collectively decided to no longer sell anything war-related 1914-onwards – and of course that meant everything war-related sort of just went. Still, by then I had more or less the complete set – I think I missed the WWII British inf, but that was it.
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Thorgalaeg
Deity
Oh man, I remember exactly these (okay, half of them), but in somewhat different colours.
Playthings:
- Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, Erector Sets
- Multitudes of toy soldiers
- Model Kits of tanks, planes, ships
- Dinosaur toys
- Neighborhoods
- Woods with stream
- Fields
Plastic soldiers were the cheapest toys; I had a lot of them too ^^
Also a couple of metallic tanks, but they were dreadfully out of scale with the soldiers.
Some niche plastic toy "soldiers" were figures of monsters. I collected a few, such as a group that was split to four factions, using the prime elements (water/fire/air/earth).
Lexicus
Deity
The forces of evil knew it was all over when the aliens showed up in their Alien Avenger
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
I grew up in communist Poland, so for a while my best toys were:
- My stick
- My bike
One day my parents surprised me with a CONSOLE GAMING SYSTEM. It was a box with 10 buttons - each one for a different game. Every game was based on the game PONG. One version had two synchronized paddles per player, another one had a different playing area with obstacles in the way, yet another one had shorter paddles, and you get the idea.
The controllers were black tubes with knobs on one end that you could spin left or right. This determined the movement of your paddle(s).
We had a very small black and white TV, but the game was black and white too and I was a young kind, so that all lined up pretty much.
I never remember playing this game, ever, not beyond that first day when we hooked it up and played around with it. I always returned to my stick and to my bike. The vast majority of my communist playing days were spent outside. This was my daily routine: wake up, go to school, come home from school, eat dinner, go outside and do whatever, return home at sundown, eat supper, watch my goodnight cartoons, and go to sleep. Every once in a while my mom would thrown down sandwiches and other snacks from the balcony to keep me energized. This was the way.
An honourable mention goes to a digital watch I got for my first communion from my aunt/godmother. It had a calculator on it. You could also set a timer and make the digital watch beep several times at a predetermined time. This was very exciting to me and my friends at the time. I had set up this digital watch to beep when it was time to go home every day, when the sun had started going down (Let's say 8pm but I honestly can't remember). The first couple times this happened I was honestly the most popular kind in the hood. I had a swarm of kids all around me listening in to the beeps. I felt so cool.. so powerful
When we escaped communism and became refugees in the glorious capitalist west, I did not have any toys for about a year. I played outside with other refugee kids. We were moved from camp to camp every couple weeks, so I had new surroundings to explore. This was my toy - walking through the buildings, around them, through and around the camp grounds, and wherever else we were allowed to go.. One of the camps had a castle as one of the buildings, which was amazing. That place was also very hilly and had many interesting walkways and nooks to explore. A bunch of the camps had forested areas with paths and trails. Every place was different, with different people, different buildings, different surroundings, so from my pov I was never bored. I could not communicate w/ many of the kids I ended up playing with, but kids who just want to play will figure out how to communicate pretty easily (w/ gestures etc). There were also a lot of Polish kids at some of the camps, so that made it easier to make (temporary) friends. I don't remember many toys around in these times. I know that I didn't have any myself (we left everything behind).
Wow, this is turning into a novel. In that case, there's no way I can't forget the first ever LEGO I received. My parents bought me a LEGO spaceship, at some point during our stay in Germany. It would have been at some point after the camps. I wish I still had it
I will never forget that set, I cherished it so much as a kid. I was amazed to own it.
Eventually they were able to buy me an ATARI 800XL computer, which was the spark that started my love/hate affair with computing, which lead to my schooling, my job, many of my present hobbies, etc. This was the computer version and not the console version - instead of a slot to inert cartridges there was an external tape deck that you could save/load stuff from regular looking audio tapes. It took forever, but it was my first computer and I loved that thing. When you boot it up it starts off with BASIC.. You see that READY and that flashing square IIRC.. That imagery brings back a lot of memories. wasn't time, but for all I know they figured out how to make a couple extra bucks.
- My stick
- My bike
One day my parents surprised me with a CONSOLE GAMING SYSTEM. It was a box with 10 buttons - each one for a different game. Every game was based on the game PONG. One version had two synchronized paddles per player, another one had a different playing area with obstacles in the way, yet another one had shorter paddles, and you get the idea.
The controllers were black tubes with knobs on one end that you could spin left or right. This determined the movement of your paddle(s).
We had a very small black and white TV, but the game was black and white too and I was a young kind, so that all lined up pretty much.
I never remember playing this game, ever, not beyond that first day when we hooked it up and played around with it. I always returned to my stick and to my bike. The vast majority of my communist playing days were spent outside. This was my daily routine: wake up, go to school, come home from school, eat dinner, go outside and do whatever, return home at sundown, eat supper, watch my goodnight cartoons, and go to sleep. Every once in a while my mom would thrown down sandwiches and other snacks from the balcony to keep me energized. This was the way.
An honourable mention goes to a digital watch I got for my first communion from my aunt/godmother. It had a calculator on it. You could also set a timer and make the digital watch beep several times at a predetermined time. This was very exciting to me and my friends at the time. I had set up this digital watch to beep when it was time to go home every day, when the sun had started going down (Let's say 8pm but I honestly can't remember). The first couple times this happened I was honestly the most popular kind in the hood. I had a swarm of kids all around me listening in to the beeps. I felt so cool.. so powerful
When we escaped communism and became refugees in the glorious capitalist west, I did not have any toys for about a year. I played outside with other refugee kids. We were moved from camp to camp every couple weeks, so I had new surroundings to explore. This was my toy - walking through the buildings, around them, through and around the camp grounds, and wherever else we were allowed to go.. One of the camps had a castle as one of the buildings, which was amazing. That place was also very hilly and had many interesting walkways and nooks to explore. A bunch of the camps had forested areas with paths and trails. Every place was different, with different people, different buildings, different surroundings, so from my pov I was never bored. I could not communicate w/ many of the kids I ended up playing with, but kids who just want to play will figure out how to communicate pretty easily (w/ gestures etc). There were also a lot of Polish kids at some of the camps, so that made it easier to make (temporary) friends. I don't remember many toys around in these times. I know that I didn't have any myself (we left everything behind).
Wow, this is turning into a novel. In that case, there's no way I can't forget the first ever LEGO I received. My parents bought me a LEGO spaceship, at some point during our stay in Germany. It would have been at some point after the camps. I wish I still had it
I will never forget that set, I cherished it so much as a kid. I was amazed to own it.Eventually they were able to buy me an ATARI 800XL computer, which was the spark that started my love/hate affair with computing, which lead to my schooling, my job, many of my present hobbies, etc. This was the computer version and not the console version - instead of a slot to inert cartridges there was an external tape deck that you could save/load stuff from regular looking audio tapes. It took forever, but it was my first computer and I loved that thing. When you boot it up it starts off with BASIC.. You see that READY and that flashing square IIRC.. That imagery brings back a lot of memories. wasn't time, but for all I know they figured out how to make a couple extra bucks.
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You also hadI grew up in communist Poland, so for a while my best toys were:
- My stick
- My bike
One day my parents surprised me with a CONSOLE GAMING SYSTEM. It was a box with 10 buttons - each one for a different game. Every game was based on the game PONG. One version had two synchronized paddles per player, another one had a different playing area with obstacles in the way, yet another one had shorter paddles, and you get the idea.
The controllers were black tubes with knobs on one end that you could spin left or right. This determined the movement of your paddle(s).
We had a very small black and white TV, but the game was black and white too and I was a young kind, so that all lined up pretty much.
I never remember playing this game, ever, not beyond that first day when we hooked it up and played around with it. I always returned to my stick and to my bike. The vast majority of my communist playing days were spent outside. This was my daily routine: wake up, go to school, come home from school, eat dinner, go outside and do whatever, return home at sundown, eat supper, watch my goodnight cartoons, and go to sleep. Every once in a while my mom would thrown down sandwiches and other snacks from the balcony to keep me energized. This was the way.
An honourable mention goes to a digital watch I got for my first communion from my aunt/godmother. It had a calculator on it. You could also set a timer and make the digital watch beep several times at a predetermined time. This was very exciting to me and my friends at the time. I had set up this digital watch to beep when it was time to go home every day, when the sun had started going down (Let's say 8pm but I honestly can't remember). The first couple times this happened I was honestly the most popular kind in the hood. I had a swarm of kids all around me listening in to the beeps. I felt so cool.. so powerful
When we escaped communism and became refugees in the glorious capitalist west, I did not have any toys for about a year. I played outside with other refugee kids. We were moved from camp to camp every couple weeks, so I had new surroundings to explore. This was my toy - walking through the buildings, around them, through and around the camp grounds, and wherever else we were allowed to go.. One of the camps had a castle as one of the buildings, which was amazing. That place was also very hilly and had many interesting walkways and nooks to explore. A bunch of the camps had forested areas with paths and trails. Every place was different, with different people, different buildings, different surroundings, so from my pov I was never bored. I could not communicate w/ many of the kids I ended up playing with, but kids who just want to play will figure out how to communicate pretty easily (w/ gestures etc). There were also a lot of Polish kids at some of the camps, so that made it easier to make (temporary) friends. I don't remember many toys around in these times. I know that I didn't have any myself (we left everything behind).
Wow, this is turning into a novel. In that case, there's no way I can't forget the first ever LEGO I received. My parents bought me a LEGO spaceship, at some point during our stay in Germany. It would have been at some point after the camps. I wish I still had it
Eventually they were able to buy me an ATARI 800XL computer, which was the spark that started my love/hate affair with computing, which lead to my schooling, my job, many of my present hobbies, etc. This was the computer version and not the console version - instead of a slot to inert cartridges there was an external tape deck that you could save/load stuff from regular looking audio tapes. It took forever, but it was my first computer and I loved that thing. When you boot it up it starts off with BASIC.. You see that READY and that flashing square IIRC.. That imagery brings back a lot of memories. wasn't time, but for all I know they figured out how to make a couple extra bucks.
Or at least played it at the time.
amadeus
Bishop of Bio-Dome
Too bad you weren’t in East Germany. You had lots of toys, but for some odd reason they all had to be connected to the telephone line.
More Battle Beasts.
Apparently they now sell for around 80 euros/piece.
The main issue with them was that compared to similar toys, they tended to look rather saccharine. Other plastic monster collections had seriously twisted vibes ^^
An example:
Apparently they now sell for around 80 euros/piece.
The main issue with them was that compared to similar toys, they tended to look rather saccharine. Other plastic monster collections had seriously twisted vibes ^^
An example:
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Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
Looks like a reskin on monster in my pocket mixed with… I dunno the robot ones that were like the same.
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