Slashdot Mirror
Top 100 Toys From The '70s or Thereabouts
doctorfaustus writes "Found this on Daily Rotation -- it details, with pictures, many of the toys we all wanted from our parents at Christmas a few years ago.... Everything from '160 Exciting Science Projects' to 'Stretch Armstrong,' along with the promises made in the toy's advertising and how often those promises were broken... The story has a British orientation, but I didn't see a single toy I didn't remember from my American youth.... They're all here: Simon, Slime, Magic Rocks, Sonic Ear... Even the Sinclair."
Explosive things, pretty pictures ya know, and alchol of some sort.
I've wanted one every year since I was 12... a girlfriend... I'm still waiting...
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
This sure brings back to when I was a kid and all they toys I took apart to see how they work. I bet if I didn't take everything apart they could be really worth something.
I Think the site will be slashdotted early. I saw a slowdown when I was almost done with the site.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
You remember this from your American youth? You had a much cooler upbringing than me... Go India! Beat Bangladesh!
slashdotted already?
umm... duh?
well, perhaps incredibly slow. it's only a matter of time. Happily I spotted Zoids, which I really liked as a young-un.
Screw you all! I'm off to the pub
What about Lawn Darts? They bring the exciting element of severe head trauma risk to the fun of summar yard play!
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
I just got to the 40s when you had to come and kill the site! BLAST!
and I mean nothing beat that miniature Eval Knievel motorcycle that was reved using a oversided twist tie. That thing would fly, and you could make it do wheelies and such.
Rock-em, Sock-em, Roomba's!
that my parents think that clothes are the hottest toy to get because i get so much of that crap every year. Havent seen one toy that i wanted really badly yet...
I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. - Catcher in the Rye
was that in the 70s? Man I would love to play that again, what where they Briggins somthing that would attack you or did you use them to attack the Dark tower.
I might just be nostalgic but does it seem that the toys from back then were more tactile and creative? The toys were good in their own right but to make them great you needed a good portion of your imagination to truly make them fly.
[grandparent voice]Today's toys are all movie tie ins and spin offs. The story has been told before the action figure or game has been brought home. The imagination is gone.[/grandparent voice]
Still a nice trip down memory lane.
-Teiresias
... description mentions "the sinclair". What, the Sinclair C5? ZX81? Spectrum? or one of the later, uprated spectrums (spectra?)
Screw you all! I'm off to the pub
That didn't take long.
c J:tv.cream.org/extras/toys/+&hl=en
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:CfODxQWCEL
My parents proudly got me a SWAT model van kit instead.
I stretched the van instead.
for Christmas was a server that could stand up to an onslaught from slashdot.
Now to rehash old wounds, a list of all the toys I ever wanted and never got. Merry Christmas!!...
Ah the 70's. The abortion of the 20th century. Fun times though. ABBA ruled :)
"He who throws mud, loses ground." - proverb
If Santa is such a cool dude and his elves are so fucking industrious why couldn't I get laptops and cell phones for christmas when I was a kid, instead of something crappy with flashing lights and irritating beeping called Simon?
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
We can all pitch in and buy them a server that doesnt crash?
"Capital punishment makes the state into a murderer. Imprisonment makes the state into a gay dungeon-master"
Weebles wobble but they won't fall down!
Mirror Mirror on the wall were are theee to see me from the slashdottinnnnnnng
My friend and I used to throw them straight up in the air and then dodge them when they came back down! Can't believe we never made it to the ER or become darwin award nominees......
There is no possible way that you can mod parent up. Think to yourself
- The cache doesn't cache pics.
- The cache is only for the last 10 or os in the list of 100.
DON'T BURN YOUR MOD POINTS!!!
I was only a baby in the 70's you insensitive clod!! :P
:)
(for the record, I was alive for maybe 5 months in the 70's
Join the TWIT army now!
NORTH POLE
Leader: Big red guy.
Employees: Countless little people.
Labor Conditions: Servituude
Cost of Product: Zero
COMMUNIST CHINA
Leader: Big red government.
Employees: Countless little people.
Labor Conditions: Servitude
Cost of Product: Next to Zero
I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Support capitalism, debunk the myth of Santa!
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
Toys from the 1970's make me think of the Micronauts. They were by far much cooler than Star Wars figures, and the came BEFORE transformers.
A favorite contraption. I loved my Skat Skoota and my Erector Set. I can still get Erector Sets but I have never seen another Skat Skoota since the one I wore out by the mid-80's. *sniff*
Dear Santa,
Since we have been good admins all year long, could you please send us:
1 New Web Server.
A nice fat internet connection.
Sincerely,
tv.cream.org admins.
liqbase
One thing that would have been interesting is if they listed the year that the toy first came out, the year it was last produced (some are still sold today, like the Rubik's Cube), and the year that had the top sales (i.e., when it was "in" for Christmas).
Unfortunately, with the site down, I can't even see what their criteria was.
used to have his way with all of my sister's Barbies. Who could resist with his bionic leg, magnifying eye, red jump suit, and his oh-so-fuzzy head?
It might make more sense if SlashDot implemented a "pre-cache" feature which would make a local copy of the referenced site/story...or published someone else's cache (Google?) in addition to the regular link.
Transformers were among the coolest toys that I recall as a child. I can remember opening a new GO BOT and spending hours trying to figure out how to morph the figure into a plane, boom box, gun, etc. Quality made toys from what I remember, you just don't see this level of craftsmanship in any of the toys today.Transformers were among the coolest toys that I recall as a child. I can remember opening a new "GO BOT" and spending hour's trying to figure out how to morph the figure into a plane, boom box, gun, etc. These were quality toys from what I remember, which undoubtedly have stood the test of time; you just don't see this level of craftsmanship in any of the toys today, period.
I came across this last week.
I owned that toy called Flight Deck. It was produced by Airfix, more well known for making plastic model kits, but around this time they branched out into other things.
Flight Deck comprised of a 1/72 scale F4 Phantom in Royal Navy colours attached to a loop of nylon fishing line. At each end was a pulley, the far end clamped to a chair or other furniture, and the near end attached to the top of a control column. The object of the game was to guide the F4 down onto a landing deck, which comprised of two 8-inch squares of carbord in a plastic frame, with a nylon arrester line tied to some flags, and cause the F4 to stop on the deck.
The problem with the game is that it took up too much space, and therefore could only really be played outdoors. The fun also wore off after about 4 or 5 attempts, so it went back into the box very soon afterwards.
There was a later version called Super Flight Deck; this had a catapult for take off added.
Discontinued plastic labyrinth
:)
That hexagon maze with mecury kicked ass!!! I remember beeing fascinated with it, and going and taking it off the shelf and playing with it, and then one day accidentally breaking it... hmmmm... that might also explain some other things about me...
Gravity Sucks
Then there is that awesome Kabala game. Never seen anything like it since. We had two of them over the years, and all that survived was the black eye-sphere that was turned into a bomb prop in a movie.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Vertibird is only number 64! IMHO, there was no better toy in the decade. I wore two of those babies out. Silly Brits.
How come all the funny posts are always by people who've never even seen the article? Maybe down the road, we won't even need links because Insightful/Interesting posts will just offer alternative viewpoints and Funny posts will only have subject-related humor?
This sig donated to Pater. Long live
Why does it seem like half of these sound like sex toys? Finger Frights, Fuzzy Felt, Pocketeers, Smoking Monkey, etc...
When I was in Kindergarden (1974) every boy wanted the Evil Knievel Stunt Bike due to the outrageous commercial that showed how it could "easily" do pop-up wheelies, jump ramps, and other incredible tricks. Of course, the commercial turned out to be somehwat faked since getting it to do more than fall over after a 3 foot dash proved to require endless patience.
It may not work any better than the last Google link did in that it doesn't have the pics, but give the Cache versions a try (the images may not work, but the text for toys 90-50 is there).
Google Search Results for "site:www.tv.cream.org TV Cream Top 100 Toys"
I just want my old Digicomp II again.
"But all your emitter and collector are belong to me!"
I campaigned for one for months in '79, and actually received it (albeit used) for Christmas that year. Best Christmas present (and investment by my parents) ever!
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
"You knocked his block off!"
(...even as a child I felt a special love for offering pain...)
HA! HAHA! SMACK AGAIN!!!
Communists: Slay Tibetans
North Pole: Marx toys
Communists: Marxist joys
North Pole: Ho Ho Ho
Communists: Ho Chi Minh
What of the most unexpected pieces of happiness that came with becoming a father a few months ago was for me to return to toy stores. I had left the "Toy scene" twenty years ago when all my attention was diverted to getting and upgrading home computers for myself. European toys rule : Lego, Playmobil, Smurf figures were here for me, are still here.
+1, Funny!
here.
mirrordot++
Registering accounts later than some other chrisb since 1997
nyud.net mirror here
Use it!
I'm having problems viewing all the toys, but I hope they have Click-Clacks on the list. For those who don't remember, the toy consisted of two large acrylic balls attached by two strings. The object was to swing the balls and hit them together. This got pulled from the market really quickly, before I could convince my parents that I wouldn't hurt myself. Missing from the boy-centric list seem to be the giant Barbie head with make-up. That damn Dana! She had Mousetrap but would never play it with me.
Since the site has obviously been slashdotted, here is the google cache for those who still wish to view the page.
I was born about 20 years too early for the Internet, so while waiting for Al Gore to actually get it done, I was an electronics geek in public & high school (early 70's)
One year a prescient uncle gave me one of those kits, and I absolutely devoured it over the next several months. Highlights were the various radio circuits, audio amplifiers where you pressed that pink crystal earphone into service as a microphone, and the pinnacle - an AM transmitter.
Thanks in part to that thing, I went straight into electronics after high school and had a great 20 year career in broadcast electronics before jumping into programming several years ago.
Thanks for the link. Those were good memories.
mirrordot--
chrisbtoo--
Registering accounts later than some other chrisb since 1997
It's my Chopper and your not going to play with it....
Is Happy Fun-Ball on the list?
One man's Funny is another man's Offtopic.
I remember growing up in the late 80's, before sue happy America really got going. I asked for (and got) a woodburning kit for my birthday. I thought it was cool that I could plug it in and get hundreds of watts of raw heat. Funny thing was, the only warning that the product could start fires (aside from the painfully short 6 foot cord) was that the tip got hot and could cause injury. A single sentence in about six pages of tips and hints on its use. Ahh, the good old days.......
Mego Spidey better be on there.
Where would we get our regular dose of Twisted Toyfare Theater if not for Mego Spidey?
...and a fire extinguisher.
Here's a Google Cache.
I remember back in '73, I got a GI Joe--the 12" action figure from the Viet Nam War era! He had rough beard and pre-camouflage utility uniform. VERY cool and manly. But then, my dad exploited my colorblindness by giving me a pink banana seat high-riser girl's bike he bought from a police auction for $5. Cheap bastard.
I think that was "tough love." But, on the bright side, I get to pick his retirement home.
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
http://www.whirlybirdcentral.com/faq.htm#V1
I was really, really good that decade, but I never did get one.
I also liked the Hot Wheels power house. The battery operated "car shooter" that you could connect to your track and make the car "endlessly" loop. Except I had more matchbox cars, they and the few hot wheels I had would stick. "Not for use with all cars"
Still it was fun a on a good set of batteries and the right one or two cars.
LEGOs have been changing for quite some time, but in many ways they're not much different. There were always specialty sets and special-purpose pieces. I remember the blue train tracks and ladders from the 70s, just as an example.
Certainly they have a lot more special pieces in current sets. Some of them are hard to use for a different purpose, but some of them are great for a wide variety of alternate uses.
Perhaps the biggest change of the last few years is the huge variety of colors available. There are multiple shades of most colors, including orange, purple, and many others. And they changed brown, grey, and dark grey to be slightly different colors.
But now you can go and buy a bucket of 1000 basic pieces for $20, so unlike twenty years ago, you're not limited to the sets.
I am particularly interested in the science projects and the electronics stuff from the description here.
And yes, I know you can still get Legos. I would appreciate links for some of the rare ones please.
It's like Mecano, just cleaner... I really wanted this as a child, and was surprised to find it again.
Check out Capsela
From the site:
Description: Max Out comes with 108 interlocking parts to construct over 100 land and water projects inicluding a tug boat, water pump, crane, cable lift, generator, steam roller, tricycle, vacuum cleaner and as many simple machines as your imagination can conceive. Includes a full color Science Discovery Design Manual with easy to follow assembly instructions, as well as an illustrated basic Science Booklet to explore 18 physical science principles. Children of all abilities from age 7 and up will be fascinated with tangible demonstrations of electric circuits, motion energy, friction and traction, buoyancy, vacuums, and other real-life concepts as they discover the fun of science in motion with Capsela!
Me too, and I was born in the 50's.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I didn't get very far in the list before the /. effect thwarted me, but my God, someone actually put a blob of mercury in a toy??? Oh, how I long for the days of my youth!
The lack of dangerous toys are a major part of why American society is going to hell in a handbasket. Back in the good old days, Darwinism made sure only the strongest, toughest, smartest kids survived. Nowadays, you can't hurt yourself with toys even if you try, playgrounds have 3 inches of soft rubber under everything, and they don't even have monkeybars (and you risk an NAACP protest march if you still call them monkeybars). The soft, stupid children survive into adolesence or adulthood and end up cracking for one reason or another and shooting up their school or workplace.
There's a bash.org quote that says, why don't we thin the herd of idiots in this country by taking the safety labels off everything for a while? I say we go one better and bring back toys that were deemed too dangerous and were removed from the market.
~Philly
I have fond memories of playing Downfall (Super-Mario variant basically), Dunegons of Daggorath, Enchanter, Rad Warrior... of course almsot all of the games were pirated, but I didn't know any better back then. *sigh* Those were the days my friend.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
My friend made a neat Simon OS X app. If the four keys aren't challenging enough, try it with 9 or 16. Who says you can't be a gamer with OS X ;-)
is definitely those talking "Hulk Hands" things... Its incredibly fun to grab a pair of them in WalMart and then try to pick up whatever things you came to WalMart to get with the clumsy gloves, which are incessantly screaming "HULK SMASH!"...
Its even more fun if you get a few people and do it!
I loved the stretch armstrong. It was heavy and you could really hurt someone with it.
Top toy from the 70s: Legos
o l-played-for-for-ten-minutes-and-thrown-into-a-clo set crap sold at stores I really appreicate how valuable toys like Legos are. And, guess what?!? Legos are still in business! You don't have to peddle ADD-inducing crap to entertain children!
Top toy from the 80s: Legos
Top toy from the 90s: Legos
Top toy from the 00s: Legos
No, I don't work for them, but having seen all the expensive-single-purpose-toy-with-no-volume-contr
-- "Makes Little Debbie look like a pile of puke!" - Moe Szyslak
Ah, I had a Tomy Caveman when I was young. It rocked totally.
http://www.miniarcade.com/tomy/caveman.htm
I had a fair few on that top 100 list as well, eep.
Best Christmas presents I ever got, circa 1966:
- A Secret Sam Spy Kit (periscope, camera and missile-launching pistol, all fitting into a plastic briefcase), and
- A chemistry set! (I made blue ink from the sodium ferrocyanide, fingerprint dust from the carbon powder, and sparklers from the iron filings.)
Ah, to be an eight-year-old girl again... *sigh*
New server and new connection. Damn slashdot.
These girls I went to school with, they would eat the stretchy material inside Stretch. I believe it was actually corn syrup, or some form thereof.
I never tried it, though I did have a Stretch.
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
woohoo
They frogot grass and drugs!
That's one expensive action figure of man!
Let me get this straight: Transformers, some of the coolest toys ever made, are (A) lumped in with Zoids and (B) ranked all the way down at #92? Give me a break! I can't even be bothered to finish the list after seeing that.
"Dave, I stand still--the conclusions jump to me!" - Bill McNeal, NewsRadio
Yea. I remember the chemistry sets of yester year. These days they would be considered a weapons of mass distruction related program activity, and owning one would earn you a quick trip to Gitmo.
Apparently the current kits consist of watered down lemon juice (it could get in your eyes!) and some PH cards. Heck, I bet they don't even come with a bunson burner. I pity the children of today.[shakes head sadly]
One of my memories from the mid 70's is the proliferation of games in those days that were of the "least loser" variety. Most of these had names starting with "Don't", like "Don't Break the Ice" (one of my five-year-old's favorites right now). You never won these games--the object was to go the longest without doing the thing that made you lose.
I'm not sure why, but for some reason this made the games less fun for me. Maybe it was because most of those games (DBtI being a notable exception) had no way of forcing your opponent to lose, so there wasn't much strategy involved.
I spent countless hours and batteries playing the "Magic Square" on that thing.
After a while I got bored with it and took it apart. Fascinating toy!
I noticed the illustration for the Rubic;s Cube was of the 4^3 version, not the standard 3^3 one. The standard cube I could solve, but the bigger one was pure evil, along with Alexander's Star and a few other vaiants.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
What? No Rebound?
This list is a sham!
"Tomorrow's forecast: a few sprinkles of genius with a chance of doom!" - Stewie Griffin
puzzle by Piet Hein
who the hell calls them LEGO?
everyone calls them legos -- certainly every kids does. I can still remember reading some 'parental guidlines' that instructed parents to encourage their children to call them 'lego blocks' and avoid "legos" at all costs. utter marketdroid b.s. It's been, what, 30+ years and the Lego corp still hasn't gotten it through their thick blockheaded skulls?
legos legos legos legos legos legos legos
Does anyone remember the toys from the early 80's that were robots with saw blades in their chests? You could wind them up and the blades would spin. Also, their heads were cockpits with little tiny gold and silver guys in them. I would kill to buy some of those now.
I read Slashdot for the articles
They didn't mention the slogan: "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down". I've just realised why they didn't mention it.
I believe that's actually SHINE on...
Hilarious!
I paid the going retail price for a Windows screen reader and got a free Unix computer!
You can tell I'm a child of the seventies. (Well, the sixties actually but I never grew up.)
I only checked out the first couple of pages, but I can reveal that I presently own a mercury maze, a 4x4x4 Rubik cube, a Mastermind, ...
I've owned several others but they're are no longer in my posession, and recognize the rest.
Paul
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate
It's even part chemestry set, since I have to make my own Mr. Hanky
Does anyone remember the Pyraminx, which was sort of like a Rubik's cube, but pyramid-shaped? At first, it seemed really cool, and then it was boring because it was too easy.
I imagine the toys from today that happen to still be usable 25 years from now will generally be pretty rugged, too.
Win dain a lotica, en vai tu ri silota
Yah right, every wholesole American child played with the Test Match Cricket set, seemingly dozens of Dr. Who themed toys and an arcane tabletop version of footer.
OK I'll grant you some of the heavy hitters where there like Battling Tops but a North American version of this list would be at least 40% different.
Rap star ludacris did a video with effects that gave him Hulk like arms. I normally hate rap(since I am not a nigger), but even I liked this vid!
Yes , i had the flying helicopter,evil knievel, led spaceship and played alot of with the rest at the toy store.
This list has some I haven't seen before. I have to think with the writing being 'english-centric' that alot of these toys sold in England. I think a U.S. list would be close. The escape from Clodestak(whatever) game was eye opening.
Our cool family computer toy from the 70s was the Imsai 8080... and we played a TTY version of Star Trek on it (except there was something not quite right with the TV Typerwriter, so it displayed as Star Vrek)... This we did after loading up BASIC from punch tape. Oh yeah, the punch tape was a pirated copy of MS BASIC. I guess we contributed to Microsoft being the Most Ripped Off Company Around....
If you disagree with me on social issues, then it's pretty clear that you are a narrow-minded bigot.
I wrote a clone of this fantastic game for the Gameboy Advance.
Check it out at GBADev
Grumpy.
How can anyone talk about games in the 1970s and omit Milton Bradley's "Mystery Date"? (The orginal and not the recent Hasbro version.)
n er.php?channel=535&format=tv&theme=toyland
See http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tu
Easily the dumbest, most sexist board game ever created.
I got a Stretch Armstrong for my birthday when they re-issued them in the 90's. My friend and I reeeealy stretched him and all of the weird corn starch stuff came out, so we just left it there. My dad came later to clean it up.
My Atari 400 rocked!! Flat key board, 16K ram, BASIC cartridge.
every time toys are mentioned on slashdot, someone inevitably brings up the "Lego was better when you didn't have all these Star Wars kits! there's no imagination anymore" or if you're really old "I had Lego before all this space and castle silliness! it was so much better"
have you seen Lego lately? sure, the Star Wars sets are there... but *gasp* SO ARE THE BASIC SETS!
May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
Two toys I always wanted (but never had) were Tonka trucks and the Raleigh Chopper (the bike pictured). Fortunately, my friends always let me play with theirs. I remember one memorable winter doing construction outdoors in the snow using Tonka bulldozers and quarry trucks.
The Chopper was a fantastic bike. No, it was THE bike.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
Ingredients (per single Lawn Dart):
Not that anyone should ever construct this, but if one were to imagine building such a nefarious device, here's how one might do so.
Go to the hobby store and purchase a model rocket tube with the fins already attached (get the biggest fins possible!).
Take the tube to the hardware store and find a threaded steel rod (around a foot-and-a-half long) that fits snugly inside, with about four inches sticking out of the rear (that's the hand-hold).
To weight the dart in front, use a threaded hose fitting, screwing it down until there are roughly four inches exposed.
Now, this is already a deadly weapon. But just in case one is imagining something deadlier.
Get a 12-gauge shotgun shell.
Unfold the end, and dump out the buckshot, and as much gunpowder as you feel comfortable with.
Slip the empty shell onto the nose of your dart (the primer, or explosive metal part is on the tip), and tape it down tight.
Move your target from the yard to the cement driveway, throw your dart, and run like hell in the opposite direction.
Wait for explosion. Keep lawyer's name on speed dial.
I'm suprised erector set didn't make the list... and what about lincoln logs?
Some of them I'd completely forgotten about too. Ahhh.... Nostalgia for 30somethings...
Here's my list - all 30
100 Finger Frights
99 Fuzzy Felt
98 Pocketeers
95 Quicksilver Maze
93 Rubik's Cube
92 Zoids/Transformers
91 Electronic Project/Chemistry set
90 Mastermind
81 Merlin
79 Viewmaster
77 Uncle Remus kits
70 Tonka truck
68 Perfection
65 Spud Gun
51 A radio controlled car
48 Silly Putty
43 Slime
42 Cadbury's Chocolate Machine
40 Game and Watch
37 Cluedo
36 Battling Tops
35 Spirograph
28 Magic Rocks
27 Shaker Maker
16 Tasco Telescope
8 Sea Monkeys
5 Airfix Model Plane
4 Top Trumps
2 A computer
1 A bike
I'd bring back the Battling Tops - they were they best!
EdinBear ! x
5 Guns and a Nazi Game? Hmm, I don't think you get good old-fashioned fun like that anymore.
My favorite was the Ghost Gun. This was a gun shaped toy that had a flashlight inside it and you put a strip of transparent ghosts inside it (like a film negative). The light then projected the ghost image on the wall, and when you pulled the trigger, some sort of pis would put a hole in the transparency. It would look like you shot the ghost. I think I got this for Christmas around '75 or '76.
Many shareware/freeware games download sites have a link to a Windows version of Merlin (#81 on the list); unfortunately the site the link points to that hosted the download for many years is now gone. Does anyone know where I can acquire the download now?
#88 Wade Whimsies. I have that hedgehog. (Although I suspect mine is from the pre-war vintage.) Scary!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
What about tinker toys!?! I'm surprised they didn't make the list. Oh, the countless hours wasted building towns, cars, and other pointless things... now I just build software.
Life is a journey. . . enjoy it!
Rubics cube they have as number 93.
its side are 4 by 4, unlike the traditional cube which is 3 by 3.
this wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for this statement:
"54 multicoloured facets of hell "
errr lets see
4*4*6
16*6
96.
hehe
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
giving the person using lego more options to choose from is a good thing.
My son has a few sets. He puts them together as per the box, then later dismantles them to use the unique pieces in something he created himself.
now, if a commercial tie in helps kepe lego around, then good for them.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Man this was the best toy ever. You could spectacularly recreate every one of his bone breaking crashes in thier full glory. It was great, when you created a new jump or obstacle you just winded the crap out of it until your arm was flying out of control and your ears were about to explode from the piercing creshdo of whirling gears and upcoming mayhem and then you let it rip! The best part was that if you jump wasn't successful, it wasn't a big deal, because most of his weren't either. Good times. I've also heard (from others) that family cats and dog were glad when this toy was not produced anymore. Not that I ever spent hours chasing them around the house with Mr Kenievel and his motorcycle
we don't want to teach children about giving just for giving sake. we should teach them to take what ever they want, and if they see someone who needs help, be sure to charge them.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Who can forget SST's!!
Plastic cars with a big rip cord driven wheel that would zoom down the asphalt and hopefully crash into the one your friend sent the same way!
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
it removed children whoes parent where irresponsible from the gene pool.
BTW, my sons school still calls them monkey bars.
Since when did the NAACP care about monkeys?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
You really *are* a codger :-) even older than me. (I graduated HS in late 70's) I had several of the Radio Shack electronics labs during my childhood, and while they were cool to get as Christmas gifts, the best thing about growing up in the 1970's was that my dad owned a TV and CB radio repair shop and I grew up in his shop. Nothing beats getting your hands on tons of parts and old scrap TVs, stereos, VCRs, CBs, etc and building whatever you pleased from scratch. Before I even got my driver's license I'd built by own metal detectors, tube type guitar amps, theremin, etc, and even had a 23-channel CB radio and 50 watt linear amp mounted on the handlebars of my 10-speed bike with a 102" stainless steel whip antenna mounted on the rear axle bracket. The sealed lead-acid batteries were heavy as hell attached to the frame under the seat where most folks attached tire pumps and water bottles, and would only run the rig for about an hour of so before needing a recharge. Everybody who saw my bike got a kick out of it.
Never got into computers until college though, since the only ones really available were things like the Altair 8800, SWTPC 6800, IMSAI 8080 etc, and those were kinda expensive for a small town poor boy like me. My college freshman year as an EE major, I learned how to program in Fortran on punched cards as my very first programming language (on a real computer bigger than a TI calculator), and I was hooked. Changed my major to computer science instead and the rest is history.
Merry Christmas fellow Slashdotters!
That's some list. Not counting the generic 'bike' and 'computer,' I had 22 of the items on it at some point in my childhood. Hell, I still have Merlin in its original box, the Hangman set in near-perfect condition, an old Radio Shack Armatron that turns 20 either this Christmas or next and looks new (though I don't think I have the objects that came with it), and a Big Trak with Transport that is cosmetically fine but needs a little mechanical work.
My parents were big into educational toys, so I've also got a boxed 2XL with a bunch of tapes for it, and a boxed Gabriel (I think) Show 'n Tell with a stack of filmstrips for it. I swear I'm the only kid who ever had one of these things, because I cannot find any mention of it at all on Google. It was a record/filmstrip player that had a light green and white color scheme and looked like a small TV with a turntable on top. If anybody knows what the hell I'm talking about and has seen a web page on the thing somewhere, please contact me.
Sadly, none of these things that survived to this day in such good condition are really worth any money today. Apparently my more rare and collectable toys were given away.
~Philly
I'm an old /.'er. The toys of my youth are not there in any way shape or form. For those of you inclined to laugh at someone who grew up in the early 60's:
Lincoln Logs.
Tinker Toys.
Erector Sets.
A good wagon.
An equally good toboggan or sled (New England bias>)
A plain old drum.
Bridges and Girders.
Skittles
The list goes on forever- did I see Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots?
Most notable? Nothing on this list required electricity in any form to function. How times have changed.
befuddled (noun) 1. Unable to create a pithy sig
You must remember it, that white box with the 40 watt bulb in it, with the front panel full of holes - you'd put a piece of paper in between the two front plates and plug in plastic colored pegs that would then glow by the light behind the paper.
I can't believe that diidn't make the list - everyone had one. And oh how those pegs hurt when stepped on with bare feet in deep shag carpet early in the morning!
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Man, I loved that thing. Okay, so it was a glorified 8-track tape player. But it was very weird and silly and, well, sort of educational, I guess. And, as an extra-spiffy hack, it could even be rigged to play a simple strategy game.
Well, at least Merlin made the list...
In the old days to build something like a pirate ship or castle you needed to figure out how to arrange the various rectangular blocks together to make the right shapes. Now you just grab the large pre-made lego pieces and all the work is done for you.
Because he and his intrepid band of astronauts pretty much defended my room for about four years, I thought until the early '70s.
The 70's were the great dawning of Japanese pop culture in the US. We grew up watching Speed Racer and Ultraman on TV in the early 70's, so when the toys started arriving, wow. Anyone remember the first Shogun Warriors toys? The big ones, not those little 4 inch figures from the 80's...man, how I wanted those. Especially Raydeen and Great Mazinga. They were two-freakin' feet tall! Maybe that's why I hated 80's toys so much...all the action figures were small. I never forgave 'em for replacing the real, hairy, foot tall GI Joes with those little plastic figures.
There's a great page on the Shogun Warriors toys here.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Anyone remember this toy? It was a guy you could tear off his arms, then put in a "chamber" with some goo (slime stuff) and it would make his arms stick back on (regenerate)? He looked reptilian maybe? And he might have been a spinoff of he-man. I'd love to find a pic of it, or atleast the name. (This is an ongoing discussion at www.clinko.com currently... PLEASE help... we have just about given up!!!!)
Starbird was easily my favorite toy at age 10.
Awesome memory surge -- this is why I read slashdot. Thanks!
Sam
No Micronauts? Come on! I lived for those things.
For those who want to start from 1-10.
http://tv.cream.org/extras/toys/toptoys1001.htm
WMD???? Heck most of the country around the world would kill for one of those "good" kits from back then!
1) Mattel's Vacu Form machine. { Early George Forma grill! }
2) Anything using Greeny stickum caps. Esp the slender Grenade/timer/alarm thing.
3) Mattel's Major Mat Mason. (Beats Buzz and the rest!)
4) A simple cardbord box. { Yep the box of imigination! }
One friend of mine died in a bycicle accident for not wearing a helmet.
I had a serious skull fracture in a playground when I was 6. The floor was concrete.
A friend of mine lost a finger in one ggame in a playground.
Neither one of us three was stupid. Simply many things in the past were not designed with safety in mind.
It amazes me that there are people out there that consider safety as something to be schmug about.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Same here. I can still remember the noises it made, and how it annoyed my parents! And in reference to the aticle. It did indeed use a marble in a tube to sense whether it was pointed up or down. (As any good geek should, I did take it apart in the end.)
I'm going to have to keep an eye on ebay for a Starbird so I can be 10 again. ;-)
Here's a Starbird Command Base on ebay now.
And here's a web site with more photos and an article about the toy.
Sam