Old School Toys

[convair007]

I know my life was changed forever when I got my first water balloon launcher. I guess it may not be considered old school, but man, I got to be pretty accurate with shooting at the neighbor kids and passing cars.

 

[pilotmiketx]

I also remember the original Flight Simulator. That sucked.

I was about 10 or 11 when I taught myself VOR navigation on the old Microprose Flight Sim on my Atari 800. Also taught myselft how to program in BASIC. Yes I am a geek.

Oh, yeah, I also had an Inchworm! That was my favorite.

 

[AV8R4]

Invader

Sort of a cross between the Big Wheel and the Green Machine. It had a blue seat and chrome handle bars. Those wheels sure slid well on the concrete if you got going fast enough.

 

[CrewDawg]

TONKA!!!!!!!

Nintendo (atari was before me) - Contra being the best game ever

 

[westwind]

Way back before scientists isolated the NERF molecule, I got a really cool pump action bazooka that fired plastic balls about the size of a cue ball. My older brothers wanted to check it out (BIG mistake). They read that for low power, you pump it 3 times, for high power, 6 times. "Well, let's see what hapens when you pump it 50 times!" Exit two laughing big brothers, enter one crying little brother:crying: .

 

[Mercury]

GI Joe Hovercraft, you could actually lauch the depth charges off the side.

I think the lawn darts were actually call "Jarts" came in a red and yellow box with two white rings as targets. Just saw a set at a garage sale in our neighborhood.

And of course all the Stars Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi stuff we could get our grubby little mitts on.

Used to have a board game called "Dark Tower" that was a middle ages kinda thing with an electronic tower in the middle of the board. It had it all battles, plague, princesses. Never got into the Dungeons and Dragons thing though.

Cap guns that actually shot the old red paper caps that came in a roll.

 

[psysicx]

Legos
Nintendo
Big Wheels
Play Doh
Ninja Turtles
GI Joes
Micromachines?

 

[cforst513]

i love micromachines. holy crap. i had like 82047 cars. how about matchbox cars? anyone mention those?

 

[Traderd]

I'll show my age here.

GI Joe ( no kung-fu grip) with the pressure suit and capsule. Same GI Joe with the scuba outfit and underwater sled. That thing actaully worked and I lost one in a lake when I turned it on and let it go.

Captain Action. Same kind of toy as GI Joe but in our simulated combat as 8 year olds, GI Joe always won. And in one epic battle, Joe managed to tie a couple of Captain Actions (playing the role of "Charlie") to a post and burn them alive. Captain Action melts rather quickly as I recall.

 

[FutureTEDpilot]

TYCO SLOT CAR RACE SET....

I can still smell the "electric" smell as those little buggers would go aournd the track. Just isn't Christmas without a TYCO slot car set.

 

[CoolHands]

I remember I had a Tonka airplane that looked sort of like a Duke, with a handle and a trigger to make the props spin. Between that and my Millenium Falcon, I was fat, dumb and happy. Now I'm just fat and dumb...

Man, I had that same plane! I think it's probably still at my parent's house somewhere. I was really big into optimus prime and voltron too. I also loved GI Joes, anyone remember the cartoon? Oh yeah, my dad's atari 800 was sweet

 

[cforst513]

Man, I had that same plane! I think it's probably still at my parent's house somewhere. I was really big into optimus prime and voltron too. I also loved GI Joes, anyone remember the cartoon? Oh yeah, my dad's atari 800 was sweet

are you guys talking about the one that was army green on the top half and the botton, w/ the 'trigger', was tan? and it had a black piece on the top of the fuselage that you used to raise the landing gear? i LOVED that plane!!!!

 

[bafanguy]

Captain Midnight secret decoder badge. You drank Ovaltine and Capt. Midnight racked up the turbojet PIC under the admiring gaze of Mr. Mudd every Saturday morning. There was a guy with glasses and a lab coat, but I can't remember his name.

Remember, 'Sled ?

 

[LearLove]

I remember I had a Tonka airplane that looked sort of like a Duke, with a handle and a trigger to make the props spin. Between that and my Millenium Falcon, I was fat, dumb and happy. Now I'm just fat and dumb...

Born in 74 I was a child of the late 70's early 80's.

I had and still have it (in my parents attic I hope) the same plane. Mine was light blue. Yeah it was like a cross between a Baron/Duke and a Navajo. I wore my wrist sore squeezing (insert your joke here for what I wear my wrist sore doing now) the handle to make the props turn. Counter rotating if I remember.

Never had a big wheel or green machine, I was the youngest in the neighborhood so I had to be like the older kids and went from a tricycle to a dirtbike. I had a cousin that had a green machine so i was "checked out" on the lever operation. The thing is if you got the back wheels/axel turned real tight it was a bitch to get back straight. It didn't skid a well as a big wheel also.

I used to build stuff like crazy also, was always stealing my dads tools' while he was deployed or on a trip. I built a 3/4 scale wood ultralight like a quicksilver MX after I saw one in a national geographic. Then I built another one that was a cross between a Cassutt and Stitts. I believe parts of that one are still back in the woods behind my parents house. I built a delux treehouse complete with shingles that is still in thoes woods today. Scrap wood was easy to come by as after we moved in many developments started to spring up in the neighborhood. Wood for airplanes, treehouses and skate ramps was just a midnight covert ops over to new developement.

I had star wars stuff: X-wing, snow speeder, milenium falcon and the GI joe f-14. I also had this plastic army green cessna high wing that was a cross between a 150 and an L-19.

Jarts and shrinky dinks - just lawsuits waiting to happen. Anyone remember the kid from NJ who put a hot shrinky dink on his face straight from the oven, that pretty much ended that company right there.

I had a great powell parlota skate board that I found out last year my mom tossed out while she was cleaning the garage. I almost cried.

I grew up in what was pretty rural PA at the time so my school district was small and all we had was soccer (no football) and baseball so thats what I played and had quite a collection of shin guards and cleats. In jr/high I added wresteling and also started to race bikes (road bike, mtb and track) so in my teens I gathered a good collection of racing bikes.

I still have this childhood memory of when my older sister and her friend saw the movie Mommy Dearest. After they saw the movie they thought it would be fun to test the wire coat hanger beating out on little happy go lucky LearLove. Yeah what fun, 6 year old me comes home from a soccer game and gets ambushed by 2 nine year old girls with wire coat hangers.

 

[328dude]

Born in 74 I was a child of the late 70's early 80's.

I had and still have it (in my parents attic I hope) the same plane. Mine was light blue. Yeah it was like a cross between a Baron/Duke and a Navajo. I wore my wrist sore squeezing (insert your joke here for what I wear my wrist sore doing now) the handle to make the props turn. Counter rotating if I remember.

Also a prodigy of 74. My little Duke was yellow, with white on the bottom. Open canopy which my hermit crab could take rides. Trigger broke after a few trips off the back patio.

Here's a few I remember.

Lego's (already mentioned)
Lot's of remote control cars.
Big bulky walkie talkies. (Fisher Price I think)
Stretch Armstrong
Atari-River Raid was King
Voltron
Die Cast airplanes everywhere.

Anybody remember the game that ran off your VCR? It had a couple of guns and you would shoot at your TV at F-14's while playing the video? It would put these big cross hairs on your TV. I forgot who made it, but that was fun.

 

[172driver]

Pitchback -- the net you could throw a baseball at and it would bounce back
Gyroscope
The little plastic men with parachutes
Water rockets
Smashball at the beach
Duncan yo-yos
Daisy BB gun
Wrist Rocket -- slingshot
All kinds of model rockets
I have to vote for Frogger but River Raid did rock.

 

[avi8or54]

What about the little red rocket that you filled with water and pumped it up with air and let it fly.

"real" dart guns that would actually put your eye out or the guns that shot the little yellow pellets those things hurt like He!!.

 

[Way2Broke]

I had a dart gun. Sometimes I wonder where all the stuff I use to own went. Maybe my mom and dad put my dart gun in a box so that one day I can give it to my kids. I also had some really cool Ninja stuff. I always wanted to be a Ninja, maybe its not too late. Can anyone tell me where I can go to school to become a Ninja?

Some other old school toys that I loved......
Model railroads
Those little cars that ran on the plastic tracks, you used a trigger to make them go. I had a track set up all the way around the room once.
The original laser tag sets.
Playdo!

I love this thread.

 

[helimech]

Gotta love the Gi Joes, I think I had every type of aircraft, the hovercraft, everything.

Does anybody know the name of that Tonka airplane? I LOVED that thing, my sisters broke my propellers on it and I think my mom or dad stepped on it and broke the nose gear. I wanna get one for my nephew off of ebay if it's there.

Atari, Clouddancer or something like that, made the strange "poop" sound when you hit the trees. fun game, spent hours on that thing.
Also definately plastic model airplanes, at one point I think I had around 400-500 hanging from my bedroom, sitting on the bed, all over the place.

Anybody remeber the "Night Rider" 3-wheeler? that thing wa bad a$$!!!

 

[njcapt]

What about the little red rocket that you filled with water and pumped it up with air and let it fly.

Jeez. Finally a toy from MY generation. I was SO pissed that all the little kids in my neighborhood had Big Wheels and Green Machines with a freakin placard on them stating 'Weight limit 60 lbs'. I was about 75 around the time these showed up (1973 or 74). Friggin' 1970's polymers.

Missed ATARI by about three years, too. Damn you kids!

 

[Hand Commander]

The Tonka aiplane was called the Hand Commander, believe it or not. Sweet machine.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dllViewItem&item=6980040329&category=19029#ebayphotohosting Mine's still in my parent's attic. A gi joe fit perfectly in the cockpit, even though it was made for it.
I had that red water pump rocket too. Man, you could get some serious velocity out of that thing and probably kill your little brother if you weren't careful.
Powell Peralta Bones Brigade. Oh Yeah. The search for the animal chin. Lance Mountain, Steve Cabellero, Tony hawk, Rodney Mullen. Anyone remember?
I can't remember the name, but those battery powered squirt guns that looked real and would get you shot by police now days.

 

[Bjammin]

Ganip-Ganop,
Silly Puddy,
Fun Dip candy,
Plincko,
Radio Shack TRS-80 computer,
Battlestar Galatica Cylon Ship with the working missiles,
Tyco glow-in-the-dark race car set,
Tyco Southwest Chief HO train set,
The games of Chutes and Ladders, Sorry, Mouse Trap, and Life
Red Line dirt bike,
Erector sets,
Lincoln Logs,
Tinker toys

That aircraft carrier with the foam planes that launced was super cool. I forget who made it.

Brings it all back.

 

[icefr8dawg]

Anyone have those COX line control models? God they all flew horribly when I was able to get the little engines started.

 

[72f8dawg]

How about those crossman 45 air bb/pellet guns? We would shoot each other with Q-tips broke in half(untill we got cought by mom). They were great you could see the bb arc across the yard when they were brand new.

 

[BoilerUP]

Born 1983, many of these have been previously mentioned...

Legos
Playdoh
Power Wheels Bigfoot
Atari
Nintendo (Duck Hunt!!!)
Balsa wood & rubber band airplanes
Estes rockets
Crossman 760 pellet gun
NERF guns
Huffy bicycles

My younger brother was a big fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I was more of a Jurassic Park kid myself...

 

[328dude]

Anybody know if you can still run an Atari 2600 on a television of today? (HD)

 

[five-alive]

Zany Zappers
Mad Marauders - would go like 2 feet after winding them up
Colecovision

 

[V-STALL]

how about this Big Wheel!

http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/images/hemi_big_wheel.jpg

That thing gotta a Hemi in it?

http://common.weblogsinc.com/common/images/5203322665586411.JPG?0.4699383861408131


http://www.gizmag.com/watermark.php?p=4397_9080532146.jpg

 

[Gorilla]

Tinker toys for sure. Those thinks rocked. We'd always make various guns out of them, which then drooped and fell apart when you actually pointed them at somebody. Superior to Lincoln Logs which were considered a little kids' toy.

How about the little electric plane where you held a red flashlight thingie with a silver button which turned on the prop? The plane was on the end of a thin flex shaft. It became a lethal missile with little controllability.

Now here's an obscure toy. "Johnny Astro". I kid you not. Johnny Astro was a space-age, Apollo-era toy where you inflate a balloon, and tape a lunar-module type of landing gear to it. You had a control stick which pointed an enclosed fan shaped like a radar dish. The moving air would trap the balloon and the stick and throttle would control the azimuth and elevation of the balloon. The object was to move the balloon from it's launch pad to various landing pads. By timing it, it became very competitive.

Matchbox cars
Balsa flip gliders and rubber-band models
Any BB gun = guaranteed fun. And yes a friend lost an eye, for real.

A powerful imagination was required for most of these toys. I remember totally zoning out and being lost in an imaginative world. The ability to do that, which was so fun and so valuable, is lost at puberty. Damn those adult sex hormones.

 

[leardawg]

Too funny! You BW and GM guys will always be little kids in my mind. In my day, the only cool toy worth having was a Schwinn Stingray bike. The Big Wheel was, well, a tricycle, and only fit for toddlers and below.

They did seem to cause carnage, though. Hardly a day went by when some kid on one of those didn't go screaming down a hill and into a curb, flipping a$$ over teakettle and usually landing on his head.

No one wore helmets... that would have been totally dorky. I paid for it when I wiped out, got a concussion, and was puking sick for 3 days after. uke:

I remember getting my Stingray on my 8th birthday, blue with white banana seat(with the tiny sparkles in it). Tried to climb a couple of steps with it on the run by popping a wheelie, and went over a**-backwards. Also tried to jump a ditch, chickened out too late, and wound up in the ditch (never wore a helmet either; I don't think they even existed back in the 60s and 70s).

Other favorites:

GI Joe (pre-fuzzy hair).
Major Matt Mason space action figure (complete with moon station and various mobile rovers).
A fake plastic M-16 (most politically incorrect today, and I didn't grow up to be a mass-murderer; I don't even own a gun!).
My 4-ft tall Saturn V model which I put together when I was 10.