What's It All About?

I received my first toy at a very young age. I have no idea what it was or what landfill it ended up in, but I’m sure it was wondrous. I’m also fairly confident that it went straight into my mouth, then to the floor, then likely back into my mouth again. Because kids are gross. Thankfully, I had many more toys throughout my childhood that didn’t end up with spit on them. And I happen to recall quite a few.

I vaguely remember a friction-powered tin airplane and train, though they may actually be photograph inspired memories. I recall a set of green plastic alphabet blocks that came from Tupperware or Avon or one of those other party companies that were popular in the 70s. They opened like clamshells and each block came with a plastic toy inside that started with the letter on the block. I remember the Jeep most of all. There are probably a few of the little toys embedded in the earth at my parents’ old house along with more than a few green army men.

Fisher-Price dogs
Photo credit lulu & lolie

More vividly, I recall my Fisher-Price Little People – a much earlier version of today’s Pin Mates. I had a schoolhouse and a barn and some Sesame Street characters. The latter might have belonged to my younger brother, but I know I played with them. And it was long ago enough that most of mine were made of wood, though some of them, like the Sesame Street characters, were plastic. And of course, anyone who had Fisher-Price Little People likely remembers the black and white dog more than any other. And I should point out that no one cared that the dog was as tall as the people or that none of the people had arms or legs.

I remember Weebles. “Weebles wobble but they won’t fall down.” My mom still loves telling the story about when I took my Mickey Mouse Weeble swimming in the porcelain swimming pool. For the record, while I recall walking – or whatever it is Weebles do – him along the seat, I don’t believe the dive was intentional. Also for the record, I’m pretty sure Mickey belonged to my brother. So, sorry, Chris, but I may or may not have dropped your Weeble in the toilet. Wonder if he ever ended up in your mouth afterwards? It’s called building up a strong immune system. You’re welcome. But I digress.

Hot Wheels! Who could forget Hot Wheels? I still have many of my old Hot Wheels, no redlines unfortunately. I’ve held on to a few and passed a few on to my son. It’s one of the toys I still regularly check out in the stores though my infrequent purchases are mostly limited to Ferraris and VW Buses – those two extremes should tell you something about me!

And of course, the orange track that went with them. My sisters and I acquired a number of welts as a result of that orange track. I had a device that used a lever to launch the car down the track. It broke once and my dad replaced the broken piece with my mom’s ice scraper from the freezer. For the youngsters out there, you used to have to defrost your freezer because ice would build up inside it. Anyway, the hack worked and my mom was out one ice scraper.

When I got a little older I graduated to Legos. I remember one Christmas asking for a very specific Lego space set. This was around the time that the yellow astronaut had joined the red and white ones. And this set had a slew of clear blue pieces – I always loved the clear colored pieces for some reason. Anyway, I was certain that this was the set I wanted...

Lego Public Works Center
Photo credit: Bricker

Until right before Christmas when I was certain I wanted a construction garage set instead! But it came with two vehicles, opening garage doors, and four minifig construction workers! I even remember showing it to my dad at Children’s Palace. If you don’t know Children’s Palace then you are missing out on something! Anyway, I ended up with both sets. This was not my intended outcome nor is this a strategy I recommend, so don’t get any ideas kids. I’d say I remember them well, but it wouldn’t be much of a feat since I still had them until about ten years ago.

The Lego space set would not be my only space toy. In fact, space and science fiction was – and still is – a favorite genre of mine. If it’s sci-fi, and especially if it involves vehicles or robots, I’m interested. I had a plethora of sci-fi toys throughout my childhood. Micronauts were awesome. And you could get them at the grocery store. They were mostly die-cast metal until the clear ones came out, which were plastic. You basically played with them until their limbs became so loose they would just flop all over, then you’d go buy another one. Great fun.

Mattel Space 1999, Eagle 1
Photo credit: Mike Burrows

I also had the electronic Star Bird, the Eagle 1 from Space 1999 (miss that one), the Mego bridge of the Eagle 1, the Mego Enterprise bridge – there’s one I wish I still had. The bridge was made of cardboard, wrapped in clear vinyl and would fold so it could be carried. It had a transporter, which was basically a two-sided compartment that opened into the bridge and toward the outside. You would put the figure into the compartment and give it a spin and occasionally the figure would “disappear” ready to emerge on the outside. I had a few of the main characters: Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and Bones. If you’re not familiar with Mego figure, they stood about eight inches tall and each had their respective aqua colored accessories – not sure what was up with the color.

Then in 1977, a certain movie was released. I can remember the events leading up to me seeing it. We were visiting my relatives in Tennessee. My aunt was taking my sisters to see a movie but no one had mentioned anything to me. So there I was, rocking on my granny’s front porch, feeling sorry for myself as my sisters climbed into my aunt’s car, when my aunt calls up to me, “Are you coming?”

Of course I was. I had no idea what we were going to see, but I knew I wanted to go. Shortly into the film a pair of robots, or droids as we would come to know them, appeared on the screen and changed my life. Hard to believe a film would have such an impact on me (and my wallet), but it did. From that point on, most of my play time was spent making up adventures with little four inch plastic people (and droids, and aliens). I even know where and when I bought some of the figures.

Vintage POTF Yak Face
Credit: D. Martin Myatt for RebelScum.com

By the mid eighties, the Power of the Force line was out and production was coming to an end, I wasn’t playing with them much. My dad had built a shelf for me with little pegs for the figures’ feet and I put them on display. (I still have the shelf though it’s been repurposed for my son’s Thomas trains.) And since I had all of the figures to that point, I bought the POTF figures and replaced the few older ones I had worn out or managed to break. Just like that, I had become a collector.

I still have those figures, and many more, and MANY more if you count all the ones I’ve sold over the years. And that’s what brings us here. I’m not sure exactly what this will be yet, but I know it will be a place to celebrate toys, to share our passion for toys. I don’t have any “ins”, so this won’t be a place to get inside information on what’s ahead, but we can surely speculate. Mostly I hope to reminisce and just enjoy what we have. Hope to see you back again! David.