What were your favourite toys (apart from bikes)?

pneumatic

I just bought an ipod touch and I realise that I haven't been as childishly thrilled with any material object for decades.

Which got me thinking . . . .

What did it for me all those years ago? Well, for starters:

Meccano
Subbuteo
Space Hopper

I still have them all in my loft. They are old pals and I just cannot be parted from them.

So, what did it for you?

prawny

I have to confess I sniggered a little bit at the title, being a perv ruins the english language :oops:

pneumatic

prawny wrote:

I have to confess I sniggered a little bit at the title, being a perv ruins the english language :oops:

OOH Matron! I'm sure I don't know what you mean! :shock:

sonny73

Star Wars figures every day.
My bike; I had a b*stard hard Grifter, that thing was like a tank.
Subbuteo too and Lego when I was really small.
Also I used to get seriously excited buying those packs of Star Wars trading cards with gum in them, I can still smell the dusty pink gum now ah lovely

iainment

prawny wrote:

I have to confess I sniggered a little bit at the title, being a perv ruins the english language :oops:

Balls did it for me, big ones, small ones, whatever.

8)

bobtbuilder

Star Wars figures every day.
My bike; I had a b*stard hard Grifter, that thing was like a tank.
Subbuteo too and Lego when I was really small.
Also I used to get seriously excited buying those packs of Star Wars trading cards with gum in them, I can still smell the dusty pink gum now ah lovely

OMG - me too. All of the above!

fungus_the_muffin_man

bobtbuilder wrote:

Star Wars figures every day.
My bike; I had a b*stard hard Grifter, that thing was like a tank.
Subbuteo too and Lego when I was really small.
Also I used to get seriously excited buying those packs of Star Wars trading cards with gum in them, I can still smell the dusty pink gum now ah lovely

OMG - me too. All of the above!

+2

But which grifter did you have? Mine was blue therefore classy and awesome on the jumps.
Oh and my evel kenevil stunt bike was out of this world

CHRISNOIR

Race 'n' Chase, a fantastic bit of kit! And I loved Star Wars stuff although my mate was one of those little b*stards who managed to get hold of lots of really obscure Star Wars stuff which soured it all a bit. No matter what you had he'd turn up the next day with something more expensive. Git.

fungus_the_muffin_man

CHRISNOIR wrote:

Race 'n' Chase, a fantastic bit of kit! And I loved Star Wars stuff although my mate was one of those little b*stards who managed to get hold of lots of really obscure Star Wars stuff which soured it all a bit. No matter what you had he'd turn up the next day with something more expensive. Git.

Bet he was a only child.
My mate was like that he had everything as soon as it came out zx81, atari, full size snooker table, everything...... He's 37 and still lives at home. Explains alot does that.

CHRISNOIR

Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:

CHRISNOIR wrote:

Race 'n' Chase, a fantastic bit of kit! And I loved Star Wars stuff although my mate was one of those little b*stards who managed to get hold of lots of really obscure Star Wars stuff which soured it all a bit. No matter what you had he'd turn up the next day with something more expensive. Git.

Bet he was a only child.
My mate was like that he had everything as soon as it came out zx81, atari, full size snooker table, everything...... He's 37 and still lives at home. Explains alot does that.

His parents eventually filed for bankrupcy and divorced. Now, I don't usually believe in karma...

Porgy

Well the bike was my main one of course....but after that lego and toy cars when i was younger and meccano when older and i was obsessed with plastic airfix model kits.

I was a weird kid though and spent most of my time reading - I read Jaws from cover to cover one night when I was 8 or 9.

fungus_the_muffin_man

I forgot about airfix kits WOW i used to have loads of WW1 & 2 fighters and bombers around my bedroom. Have tried to get my lad into them but he won't have it cos it's to fiddly!

hopper1

I used to love my toy cars, Airfix, Meccano, went through the Action Man phase, too.
I used to build my Airfix war planes, then douse them in petrol, set fire to them and then dive bomb them out of my bedroom window - post dog fight style! :roll:
My Dad used to go mental when he saw the mess on the drive!!!
Now I have a three year old son, and we are merrily reliving it all again...

DavidBelcher

Didn't get properly into cycling until my early teens, though there was always a bike of some description for pottering about on. Toy cars and Lego were great favourites as a kid though I grew out of them eventually, unlike my model trains, which I've never grown out of (blatant plug for latest handiwork; http://www.flickr.com/photos/60525/sets ... 767252494/ , more to come soon). I was also fond of my chemistry set (Mum less so due to the mess it caused in the kitchen, Dad on the other hand cadged the odd bit of extra stuff from the lab he worked in to extend what I could do), which was no bad thing as I did end up getting a hat-trick of degrees in the subject!

David

Puzzler

My yellow Chopper
Steve Austin Six million dollar man action figure.
Subbuteo (fixed to a 6x4' sheet of ply, leant up behind the sofa).
A football

pneumatic

How could I have forgotten LEGO?

And I remember enhancing my Chemistry set with magnesium ribbon (from the toy shop!!! :shock: ) and the insides of batteries, prized open with a screwdriver. For some reason I now forget, the black powder was useful for making either hydrodgen or oxygen when mixed with something out of the bathroom cabinet. Whatever it was, it made lots of flames and pungent smoke.. Aah! Childhood!

Porgy

hopper1 wrote:

I used to build my Airfix war planes, then douse them in petrol, set fire to them and then dive bomb them out of my bedroom window - post dog fight style! :roll:
My Dad used to go mental when he saw the mess on the drive!!!

My models didn;t last long either - though what I used to do was smash them up a bit and then glue the bits back together to make it look like the aftermath of a plane crash.

Angus444

Subbuteo......still have the Munich Set from 1974, (which surprisingly contained the England team, even though they didn't qualify for that WC ), plus loads of extra stuff I bought from then on.....Happy days.......

Surf-Matt

Lego, model kits (usually Tamiya), RC cars, all Star Wars toys and because I went a bit wierd at about 12, loads of weapons...!

pedrojake

pneumatic wrote:

I just bought an ipod touch and I realise that I haven't been as childishly thrilled with any material object for decades.

Which got me thinking . . . .

What did it for me all those years ago? Well, for starters:

Meccano
Subbuteo
Space Hopper

I still have them all in my loft. They are old pals and I just cannot be parted from them.

So, what did it for you?

BEWARE THE IPOD TOUCH! IT WILL TAKE OVER YOUR LIFE!

Apps such as Flight Control and IMOB should be banned. I'm telling you, you have been warned!

Red Rock

My favourite toys...

Airfix models (must have made dozens of them)
Airfix soldiers (both 1/72 and 1/32 scale)
Meccano
Lego
Scalextric
Hornby Railway
Matchbox/Dinky/Corgi vehicles
String - you could do so much with string, like making a bow and arrow or a telephone with the aid of two tins...

But I mostly enjoyed playing out in the fields around my parents house and sliding down the grass railway embankment on a piece of cardboard. Oh, and climbing trees, swinging on ropes and catching frogs, newts and tadpoles.

cathald

Meccano and action men for me
I had a grifter and a chopper,we tried to get as many people onto the chopper and drove it down a big grassy hill,we got 7 on and then all fell off half way down (hair and teeth everywhere)

Frank the tank

Football, a home made go-kart, airfix models and a Johnny 7.

Winter warmers and gadders were good fun as well.

sloboy

Damn - I knew someone was going to mention a Johnny 7.

I never had a Johnny 7.

Bhima

Apart from bikes?

What? You mean.... there were other toys??? :shock:

finchy

A football. And my bike.

I had a chemistry set too. One day I was doing an experiment and eating at the same time (stupid, I know, but I was only 11).

So there I was with a test tube full off copper (II) sulphate in one hand, and a tube of smarties in the other. I'm sure you can all guess which one I lifted to my lips and tipped the contents into my mouth. Not nice.

cathald

What's a johnny 7 :?:

sloboy

http://www.stuffwelove.co.uk/johnny_seven.htm

All you need to know.

7 great ways to pretend to kill your friends.

Anonymous

Blue Grifter, took mudguards off, cool.
Space Lego, had an old roses tin full of it.
Evel Kneviel, had the chopper and the jet bike.
Action man.
Crossfire.
Astro wars space game. First game I had with an adaptor to plug in the wall, no more batteries, probably got that Xmas 1983ish.

fungus_the_muffin_man

Astro wars was my first ever electrical gamey type thing is was ace until I broke the little joystick waggler :oops:

Another great game, though not mine, was that cricket game on a green baize like subbutteo but different.

jc4lab

From the Johnny 7 era toys I got for Xmas were Secret Sam....Chad Valley give a show projector..Spirograph..Casdon Football with Bobby Charlton on the box...Best o f all a Microscope.. Remember I was dead chuffed when my best mate said he,d got nits