Hmm your just a little older then me. The earliest technical toy I ever had was the etch-and-sketch animator. Where it took me 4 hours to make a 15 second cartoon. I wonder how much these old gems would catch on Ebay.
I'd say electronic football, but those actually are back now. And you can get them at Toys R us for like 15 bucks.
"The best reason for committing loathsome & detestable acts -and let's face it, I am considerably something of an expert in the field - is purely for their own sake. Monetary gain is all very well, but it dilutes the tastes of wickedness to a lower level that is obtainable by anyone will an overdeveloped sense of avarice. True and baseless evil is as rare as the purest good - and we all know how rare THAT is." - Acheron Hades, THE EYRE AFFAIR by Jaspar Fforde
Originally posted by odessasteps I'd say electronic football, but those actually are back now. And you can get them at Toys R us for like 15 bucks.
Yep, got me one of those for $12.99 (plus tax) at the local Target. It's fairly ridiculous that it's a better handheld football game than anything I've found for the GBA, although I'll admit to not having put much effort in looking for the best GBA football game.
I really wish they'd bring back the Electronic Football II which had passing. That kicked ass.
DUDE NO WAY I totally had one of those too. It made the COOLEST noises. I remember there being some awesome ticking going on up in thar. I think I also employed it as a robot servant for my Darci supermodel doll.
The only thing I enjoy more than doing the crossword puzzle is actually finishing it.
Seeing DATAMAN *totally* reminded me of my Big Trac (sp?) Youmust remeber that programmable grey tank that you could use to terrorize your dog or cat, right?
Originally posted by odessasteps What's next? Gizmo? Simon? 2-XL?
Actually, the Simon is probably still within reach at my parents' house as well. That thing was great because it was FREAKIN' HUGE
I'd say electronic football, but those actually are back now. And you can get them at Toys R us for like 15 bucks.
And it's a cheap knockoff, too! The differences are just subtle enough to totally nag at me - fortunately I bought a 1979 Football on Ebay a few years back - I got it AND a Mattel Electronic Baseball for $25! Can you believe it? I sure couldn't!
I also bought a Merlin off Ebay 'cause I always wanted one when I was a kid but never got one (my parents gave me a Speak & Spell that year - WHICH I STILL HAVE, THANK YOU)
(edited by evilwaldo on 10.4.02 1518)
You're in a desert, walking along in the sand when all of a sudden you look down and see a tortoise. It's crawling towards you. You reach down and flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over. But it can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping.
Dammit, how can one talk of old-school educational toys and not mention Mr. F'n Professor?! That toy made me into a boy genius, and if they had one for adults we'd all become Steven Hawking minus the drool pan.
"You used it to shove your miserable daughter down our throats week in and week out...not anymore!" - Ric Flair gives me hope, Raw 3/18/02
"I thought it was cool how HHH just tossed Jericho out of the ring and made him vanish, possibly into another dimension, at the end of the match." - Dr. Unlikely says the funniest thing I've ever read on Wienerville.
Ah the memories of Dataman. There were several of those in my Grade 3 classroom, and whenever recess was rained out, there would be near-brawls and sprints over who got to play with the Datamen.
Kids these days, what with their time machines, and their waffle irons will never know the joy of fighting your classmates for an educational toy.
Originally posted by Super Shane SpearForget 2-XL. ALPHIE was the way to go. I wish I still had that little piece of my nostalgia. However, I still have my Speak n Spell too.
A REAL test of 80s toy fever was if you could get your parents to shell out the cash for the Captain Power tapes.
No way, dude. 2-XL was the by-god POO. I'm talking about the boxy brown original here, the one that would play 8-tracks. That bad boy taught me about astronomy and introduced me to the Beatles, all the while looking like a mini-fridge. Plus, he had a Boston accent!
Now sure, ALPHIE could play those newfangled "cassette tapes" and sort of had arms you could recognize, not to mention a discernable face...but where was the LOVE? Where was the ACCENT?
Originally posted by Super Shane Spear A REAL test of 80s toy fever was if you could get your parents to shell out the cash for the Captain Power tapes.
I had them all until my house got robbed when I was a kid. And I had almost all the toys and two of the ships. I still have most of the toys, but the videos were gone (I convinced my parents to buy 1+3 after that, but we never found 2 again).
Of course most of the Captain Power toys ended up filling out the roster for my sadly small Star Wars set.
Oh, and my older sister had a Merlyn, but I stole it occasionally, but my favorite gadget was my 'Tiger Talking Baseball'. "It's a great day for baseball for the--Titans--and the--Jammers--the--Jammers team--leads off."
Man, this thread brings back the memories. I had so many cool toys back in the day, but my mom was pretty yard sale crazy. Not much left now, but a couple trucks and some construx.
Some of the Transformers I had back then would be worth quite a bit on E-bay these days. Too bad nobody saw that coming.
I've started picking up some stuff recently to start a 'collection'. Its better than nothing.
Originally posted by zoggy1The weirdest games were on Merlin...something that looked like a red phone.
I was waiting for someone to bring up Merlin in this thread...that thing ruled! Ate batteries like a mother, though...
Q: If you could have interviewed Marvin Gaye, where would you have proposed to meet and what would you have asked him?
A: I would have met anywhere as long as it was before his father shot him. I would have asked him, "Hey, don't you think there's some chance that your father might shoot you? To death, I mean?"