Toy Nostalgia

[ArtieRollins]

A thread where one can discuss all of your beloved and favorite childhood toys.

I'll start up with one of my all time favorite playsets, which were a part of the awesome LEGO knights series released in the early 90s. This fantastic looking playset was something I had been dreaming about for a long time, and when I finally got my hands on it, it was almost too good to be true. There was almost something religious about it all, and I remember that I did not play with it for days, instead I just sat around in awe and looked at it, and still coulden't believe it was all mine.

Before I dreamt about becoming a giant ninja turtle, living in the sewers of New York City, eating pizza all day and fighting foot soldiers at night, the only thing that I ever wanted to be, was a knight. And the closest thing a kid could come were thanks to the LEGO playsets/figures in the late 80s/early 90s, and none were greater than the dragon/black knights, and their headquarter/castle, which really was the stuff of dreams. And it really were as solid and brilliant as I had imagined, and turned out to be one of my favorite childhood toys.

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by ArtieRollins

[ArtieRollins]

Anybody remember the Mighty Max toyline? They popped up around summer/fall of 1992, were they soon hit big and for a short while, it seemed like everyone in my class/school, (well boys that is) had at least one of these cool looking playsets. But in the end, it was a rather short lived famous 15 minutes, as it soon faded out and by summer/fall of 1993 it had become very hard to find any of the toys in the local stores. Which kind of sucked, as it was easily damaged and to be able too pick up any spare parts was not made any easier by then.

I guess the Mighty Max series were some toy genious answer to the girls Polly Pocket toyline, but it did not manage to be all that successful, but still I have lots of great memories of it, and had these two playsets, where the green headed snake/dragon was my favorite one:

Edited February 20, 2017 by ArtieRollins

[Dadrian]

[Tony D.]

Very cool Topic! 

[ArtieRollins]

Between 1987-1994 the Turtle-mania seemed to be an unstoppable force. They were everywhere and every possible thing that could be linked up to the product seemed to be sellable. Through toys, foods/drinks, TV-shows, video games, clothes, music, movies, bathroom articles, comics and the whole thing had become such a big and powerful thing of a sales product, that even the mighty Disney caved in and gave entry to their very own, Turtles themed park from (1990-1996). 

For me, I was a bit too young to remember if Turtles broke through in the late 80s in my country (Norway) that is, but I do remember that my first taste of Turtle-mania came through the awesome 1987-1996 TV-show (the longest running cartoon show on TV before The Simpsons broke it later on) and I was instantly hooked by just watching the epic intro and hearing the incredible catchy theme song (written by Chuck Lorre, yeah the guy behind sitcoms such as Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory). This was around fall 1990 (I think) and it was a show like no other on TV. Turned out that instead of Teenage Mutant NINJA Turtles, it was re-written as HERO because NINJA apparently was seen as too violent for a kids show, and later on some of the Turtles weapons were either edited out, or replaced with some grapple hook device thing. Silly but as a 6 year old kid, I did not take much notice.

None of us kids knew back then that the original Turtles comics was based on a parody/tribute to comics such as Dare Devil and Frank Miller's Ronin, written by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. I did not know before early 2001, and it was a pretty cool surprise, as the original Turtles, black and white comics was much more graphic/gritty and very violent, compared to the more "cheesy" and kids themed showed, that I grew up with. 

Anyway, Turtles was the big deal, even girls in my class loved the show, and from 1990 and up to 1994, every weekend I (along with probably every other 4-12 year old kid) sat around, eagerly and awaited for a new episode. The movies though, or at least the first one released in 1990 seemed to have a more "mature" and tougher look, which caused a bit of upset among some rather vocal parents, as in return the sequels seemed to be much more toned down in both violence, language and when the last one came out in 1993, the Turtle-mania also had began to start fading away a little, as other shows such as The Power Rangers and Biker Mice From Mars had become big competitors when it comes to action figures, TV-shows and so on.

Back to topic, my first Turtles action figure was Master Splinter, and it was a gift from my dad when I had a very bad cold. It was a big thing for me, as I along with another kid were the first ones in our neighbourhood to have our very own Turtles figures. And from 1990 and up to 1994-95 I must have collected and got somewhere between 30-50 different Turtles figures, playsets and I do remember everyone of them, that's how much I used to love these fantastic plastic figures. I even remember how they smelled.  

The toy manufactors/company had become to greedy and decided that instead of keep on making cool looking action figures (the ones kid would love to have) from both the comics, movies and the TV-show, they decided to just milk the product dry for everything they got. So, week in and week out, a new Turtles figure popped up in my local toy store, and it just looked worse than the other, and they often did not even have anything to do with the Turtles anymore. Still, people bought the crap, and even up to 2002-03, in some toy stores, one could easily still find Turtles toys made between 1992-1995.

In this very hilarious article on some of the worst action figures ever made, it is no surprise to see how many of them were Turtles figures, and kids actually bought them, I know I would if I found one of them. 

Sadly, everything must come to an end, and Turtles had run its course, and around 1993 early 94 the monthly 12 edition a year comic (based on the american Turtles Archies Adventures 1987-1996) began to disappear. The last one I bought in winter 95, and after that I had to go to sweden or denmark to catch up, then the TV-show got the plug, and I guess my own apetite for more Turtles related stuff had also began to fade away. But still to this day, I kind of regret giving away all of my Turtles toys, comics and so on, as they were a big part of my childhood. And every now and then I do have this thought about buying some of the toys back, just to have them in my collection. 

[summer84]

I like this topic! It's fun reminiscing.

Pogs or Caps as we used to call them. 

 I had one of these slammers.

Jojo's

And of course:

 

But there were lots more, I could mention here...

 

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by summer84

[ArtieRollins]

1 hour ago, Dadrian said:

That is one neat looking playset. I do remember some of the G.I. Joe toys/playsets and they where always great, but also very expensive. Especially compared to Turtles. Still I had a couple of action figures and a military car, but somehow G.I. Joe never seemed to reach the same popularity as other toy/action figures back in the early 90s. Some toy stores even handed out free G.I. Joe comics for a short while, which where really cool, but sadly it never took off.

 

[ArtieRollins]

12 minutes ago, summer84 said:

I like this topic! It's fun reminiscing.

Pogs or Caps as we used to call them. 

 I had one of these slammers.

Jojo's

Those were the times. Pogs had a great run around 95-96 in my school, but as with other fashinable trends back then such as Fotball/soccer/NBA/NHL cards, they had a very short lived highlight period, but whenever people began to talk about them, you can see their eyes almost light up with nostalgia. 

15 minutes ago, summer84 said:

And of course:

 

 

That was the Nintendo 64 right? I remember a friend of mine had one, and we always played Goldeneye and Zelda, dont remember any other games though. 

When it comes to video games that got away, I always wanted a SNES Super Nintendo, as it seemed like every other kid in school had one at home.

The most awesome and most played video game of the 90s for me was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time (1992): The music, the atmosphere, the levels, everything was total perfection. And back in 2009 you could download it on PS3, but then it turned out that they manage to screw up with changing the music and some of the levels looked nothing alike the original. 

[Ferrariman]

I'm really dating myself but one of my favorite toys as a kid was Mr. Machine. A toy robot that walked, swung it's arms and rang a bell. The cool thing was that you could take it completely apart and put it back together.   Thanks to my grandson, I'm still a fan of legos!

 

[Sonny-Burnett]

For those into vintage Bond collectibles, the ultimate was the Multiple Products briefcase modeled after the case in From Russia With Love. This set had a pistol that could be assembled into a sniper rifle, a codebook, passport wallet, a shooting case, exploding (i.e. caps) locks, and hidden dagger among other things. These things in mint condition and in their original box can run  $1-2K. I picked one up back in 2015 for much less.  The case can be seen in this video at around the 1:12 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGdA9NHEX_w

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by Sonny-Burnett

[summer84]

32 minutes ago, ArtieRollins said:

Those were the times. Pogs had a great run around 95-96 in my school, but as with other fashinable trends back then such as Fotball/soccer/NBA/NHL cards, they had a very short lived highlight period, but whenever people began to talk about them, you can see their eyes almost light up with nostalgia. 

Yeah exactly how I feel about it, when I think back. Great times, even though it didn't last long for this game.

34 minutes ago, ArtieRollins said:

That was the Nintendo 64 right? I remember a friend of mine had one, and we always played Goldeneye and Zelda, dont remember any other games though. 

We used to play a lot of different video games on our Nintendo 64, still have it. And you don't remember Super Mario? 

Nintendo have developed a new gaming console "Nintendo Switch," that is expected to be out March 3th, 2017. I'm really looking forward to a platforming game created for this console, as these kind of video games are the ones, I mostly enjoy. 

[Dadrian]

2 hours ago, ArtieRollins said:

That is one neat looking playset. I do remember some of the G.I. Joe toys/playsets and they where always great, but also very expensive. Especially compared to Turtles. Still I had a couple of action figures and a military car, but somehow G.I. Joe never seemed to reach the same popularity as other toy/action figures back in the early 90s. Some toy stores even handed out free G.I. Joe comics for a short while, which where really cool, but sadly it never took off.

 

G. I. Joe toys were popular in the mid 80s. The 90s stuff sold poorly, as that generation (mine) had moved on. 

[airtommy]

Remember begging your parents for a new 9-volt battery?  

Edited February 20, 2017 by airtommy

[mvnyc]

Probably my favorite toy as a kid was this 1963 Aurora Thunderjet 500 HO Slot Car set.  Spent many a weekend racing my 1963 Thunderbird against my brother's 1963 Corvette Stingray.  They go for big bucks on Ebay these days:

  

Edited February 20, 2017 by mvnyc

[timm525]

When I was 5 or 6 I had an "erector set". It probably was the original concept to Legos. It was all metal and you made things by putting the parts together.

 

 

[Ferrariman]

11 hours ago, timm525 said:

When I was 5 or 6 I had an "erector set". It probably was the original concept to Legos. It was all metal and you made things by putting the parts together.

 

 

Had one of those too.  In fact, I had just about everything that required building. Erector sets, legos,etc. Lincoln Logs with which you could build log cabins. You name it, I had it!

[James]

12 hours ago, timm525 said:

When I was 5 or 6 I had an "erector set". It probably was the original concept to Legos. It was all metal and you made things by putting the parts together.

 

 

We had those. Might have been "hand-me-downs" from parents or something seeing how I can't picture them being made in the 90s.

Also this:

[James]

20 hours ago, summer84 said:

I like this topic! It's fun reminiscing.

Pogs or Caps as we used to call them. 

 I had one of these slammers.

Jojo's

And of course:

 

But there were lots more, I could mention here...

 

 

Yes! All of these, except the Nindento 64. We had a Sega and then we got a PS1. 

The pogs reminds me of the "Tazo's" we used to get in packets of crisps here in Australia. Boy, the days are long gone where we used to get things in chip packets and cereal boxes!

[ArtieRollins]

20 hours ago, Dadrian said:

G. I. Joe toys were popular in the mid 80s. The 90s stuff sold poorly, as that generation (mine) had moved on. 

I guess the same thing happened to Transformers and Masters of the Universe. A friend of mine who had two older brothers, which sometimes had its advantages, as he ended up with most of their 1980s He-Man action figures, which were really cool and we used to throw them in with the Turtles figures as they had similar height/size. And Skeletor's Snake mountain playset was always a favorite among the kids.

I did remember some cheap looking G.I. Joe rip-offs that came out in the early 90s, which looked very alike but I could never remember their name. 

[ArtieRollins]

21 hours ago, summer84 said:

We used to play a lot of different video games on our Nintendo 64, still have it. And you don't remember Super Mario?

I might have played Super Mario Go-Cart, or was that on Game Cube? Anyway, I did play some Super Mario but that was on the older SNES version, but Turtles In Time and games like Super Castlevania IV were always one step ahead (or at least I thought so) and when PS1 came out in 94-95 it became such a big game changer, that I did not pick up a nintendo game in years to come.

 

[ArtieRollins]

2 hours ago, James said:

Yes! All of these, except the Nindento 64. We had a Sega and then we got a PS1. 

My very first game consule was an old 80s Sega, that I got from my older cousin, and it came along with several car related games, were one just drove, and drove for hours through deserts and towards what looked like a futuristic city, but you never seemed to catch up with it. The other one really annoyed the living crap out of me, as I loved the movie Ghostbusters (1984), but the video game was really weird, where one would just drive around in the city and did not really know what too do, as back then you coulden't just type in what you were wondering about, and have several tons of HQ videos on Youtube, explaining it down to the smallest detail.

PS1 was huge, and it really killed off Super Nintendo and Sega when it arrived. Of course Grand Theft Auto (1996) was a big favorite, but I always loved the platform/adventure games such as Spyro The Dragon 1-3 that really had some impressive graphics and beautiful levels/worlds, and a classy soundtrack done by none other than Stewart Copeland of The Police. I could spend several hours just listening to the music alone. Sadly the game series did not reach the same quality when it tried to bounce over from PS1 to PS2 around 2000-01, and even with big names such as Gary Oldman and Eliah Wood lending their voices to the characters in the game, it was never quite the same. But the platform games did survive with style, as Jak and Dexter, Ratchet and Clank and Sly Cooper popped up around 2001-2002 and really were great looking adventures/action games that was fun for both kids and grown ups.

 

[ArtieRollins]

Radioactive, mutant animals was a big thing in the 90s, but not everyone ended up as successful as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Toxic Crusaders tried to chip in on the mutant/animal action figure craze in the early 90s, and I do remember at least one or two comics being handed out in the stores, but I don't think any of the 13th episodes of the original show made it on norwegian television. However, their toyline was really incredible and fitted very well along with the Turtles toyline. I was very upset when the toy stores suddenly decided to not sell them anymore, and back in 92 they were all gone.

Later on we learned that the Toxic Crusaders were in fact a very watered down kids version based on the highly violent and over-the-top b-movie The Toxic Avenger (1984) by the legendary independent movie company Troma Productions, and their co-owner Lloyd Kaufman was later on quoted saying that their toyline was "sold" out by New Line Cinema who did not live up to their mutual contract.

A shame, because the Crusaders toys were some of the best looking and solid action figures to compete with the Turtles toyline in the early 90s, and if kids had known its original source, they would have loved them even more.

Street Sharks (1994)

I can't seem to remember if any of my local toy stores had any of their action figures/toyline but a friend of mine who had family in America, came home with two of the shark action figures, and seemed very surprised that it had not reached norwegian toy stores yet. But I guess they tried too hard to milk the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame with this one, still the toys were not that bad and it seems like it did work better in the states than in scandinavia. It also had a less successful spin-off called Extreme Dinosaurs. 

[Tony D.]

23 hours ago, summer84 said:

Yeah exactly how I feel about it, when I think back. Great times, even though it didn't last long for this game.

We used to play a lot of different video games on our Nintendo 64, still have it. And you don't remember Super Mario? 

Nintendo have developed a new gaming console "Nintendo Switch," that is expected to be out March 3th, 2017. I'm really looking forward to a platforming game created for this console, as these kind of video games are the ones, I mostly enjoy. 

I still have my daughter's pogs....our grandson & grand daughter play with them now!

[Vicefan7777]

This was a toy set that made me want to become an architect.

[Daytona74]

I had a Bigtrak as a kid. That wondrous programmable vehicle which made you feel like a space explorer...

It was a lot of fun. I even had the cargo trailer which you could program the Bigtrak to dump at a defined point.

There have been modern mods and hacks by some people, using Arduino boards or Raspberry Pis to control the vehicle. That's actually an intriguing thought; I'm not quite sure what happened to mine, it might still be at my parents' house in the attic somewhere. Being that I enjoy tinkering with Arduino and electronics, maybe it's worth turning mine into a project like that someday...