I loved toy cars as a lad, I remember I must've been about 7 when 'Rough riders' came out, wee plastic 4 wheel drive cars, low speed, mucho traction, just a switch on and off at the bottom, looked like those US big wheel monster trucks.
We must've spent hours on the muddy slopes of the school playing fields trying to get to the top in one go.
Happy days.
Game Boy with Super Mario Land circa 1991. This was my introduction to gaming and it had me hooked. I was only 9 so it took me forever to finally get to the end. I don't know how I coped with not being able to save the game halfway through.
Matchbox Race'n'Chase
Bikes! 😃
These were two of my favourites
1981 - Astro Wars. Amusement arcade action in your own home.
Spudguns, stink bombs, catapults, pea shooters and devil bangers.
I was a menace.
If you grew up in Soviet-era Russia these would have been your only toys
https://www.puppiesandflowers.com/toys-of-potatoes/
Lol!
Polish tattooist in Glasgow I've used a couple of times lived right on the Russian border as a lad, has some incredibly interesting stories, and looks back on those days of no one having anything different with fondness.
I have to say bikes. I spent so much time on mine as a kid. Well, that or fishing kit.
I always found toys disappointing, I think bikes were also the one thing that actually did something for me, otherwise it was just playing / watching.
Snooker table was pretty good.
Lego obviously.
Trees... Specifically the climbing of and falling out, hours of fun.
fishing kit
Yup - my best presents were my fishing stuff - the centrepiece being an Abu Counterstrike match rod which cost about £65 back in 1980 (so that's £260 in today's money). I was gutted when I caught it in the spokes of my bike when riding to a fishing trip one day - fortunately I managed to get it repaired (at a large cost to myself - there was no way my mum & dad were going to pay for my stupidity).
@nbt, my first thought also, spent countless hours playing with the stunt bike. Also had the dragster and camper van with built in ramp. Took so much abuse and I never could get him to somersault!
massively into He-Man, Thundercats and the A-team... had playsets and figures for eaxh but the He-Man Evil Horde Slime Pit was the best!!
Had my first MX bike for Christmas when I was 5 in 1972
Home made affair with a 50cc Honda moped engine in it.
Was never interested in anything else and had a new bike every year as a combined Christmas and birthday present from then on.
Matchbox Steer n Go
loved it. I had loads of toy cars that I never played with other than for the first 30 seconds after getting them home. The steer n go gave them a lease of life!
Astro wars was another cool one I had. my mate had a bigtrak, which I thought I wanted, but I got bored after a few mins and wanted to ride my BMX.
Tomytronic 3D games were really good too, I think I had the tank attack one.
Always wanted Tin Can Alley but no way were my parents forking out for that. Eventually got it from a jumble sale a few years later. Loved it.
Penny racers were fun too, but I spent most of my childhood up the woods or fishing, so didnt really have many toys.
Best xmas pressie ever though was a tiny rowboat my old man bought off the fella next door, the one whos garage I eventually knocked down, and I had to share it with my brother. We had hours of fun taking it onto the salt marsh at high tide and flicking cowpats at the marooned cattle with the paddles.
Ohh, and the train set too - my mum and dad spent hours and hours building it (we could hear tapping coming from downstairs night after night - that was my dad fixing the track to the base). It came complete with a model village in the middle and a huge paper mache tunnel.
And the Sony separates system.
(Both shared presents with my brother).
And the bikes:
Raleigh Tomahawk
Raleigh Arena (10 speed, nach)
Raleigh Bomber (a proper precursor to a mountain bike)
A "radio" controlled tank.
It had wire- boo.
It shot rubber tipped darts- Yay!
I loved it, not sure about my sister and cats thoughts on it.
Penny racers were also awesome.
We had some plastic track for a game that fitted toy cars. Great fun when pointed down the stairs.
AIrfix kits, Lego and Bikes. 40+ years later that is still pretty much the case.
I also had a couple of Action Men that I played with until my sister’s rabbit ate their hands and faces off.
The lads over the road had an Evel Knievel. Invariably it would disappoint as it would fall over or Evel would fall off. Much like the real thing. Spoilt Kid™ round the corner had the “Rocket Cycle” version which was even shitter. He did once manage to get enough revs on the crank for it to take off at a phenomenal speed, but sadly it strayed onto the road and got run over. I’m sure that his parent bought him another before the day was through though.
Spoilt Kid™
Ours had all of the Star wars figures, and all the ships too. The bastard.
Action Man tank. Bloomin awesome. Big, green, mean. As opposed to the action man parachute. POS. Poor action man would have had a stiff neck from hurting into the ground at 140mph in real life as his chute repeatedly failed to open.
Lego first Space then City, then Transformers (I never got the really good ones, always the more obscure models that you'd never heard of), then Lego City again.
I always yearned for, but never got, an Airfix Flight Deck. By all accounts they were actually pretty rubbish, so in a way I’m glad I didn’t get one, and I’m not going to spoil it by getting one now.
I have fond memories of the following from my childhood...
Lego
Micro Machines
Playmobil
Action Force (then called GI Joe)
Bikes (obvs)
Scaletrix
Then the game changer was.... the Sega Megadrive! Mind blown!
Micro Machines
yes, the foldy squares to put together a road layout with all the buildings for it inside was ace too. I had the carwash a hoose with a swimming pool a police station. I'm sure there were a few others.
Lego, bikes and tree-houses.
Spoilt Kid™
Ours got a ski sledge toboggan thing (a bit like this but much better built)
All us plebs had were fertiliser bags (nicked from the local garden centre) filled with snow.
TBF though, I saw a picture on Facebook of his niece playing on it last winter - some 40+ years later so it has been value for the extortionate amount of money his dad spent on it.
I had all the Lego. Space and Technic mostly.
A couple of mentioned Astro Wars. I loved those Grandstand hand-helds, I had that plus Scramble and Firefox. Firefox was -ace-.
WWF (always F in my heart...) figures...
Played for hours with them with a mate.
I think we were probably too old for them TBH, but loved them!!
OOOH...teh wrestling ring was ore-sum!
DrP
Still in mum and dad's loft I believe
I can’t remember. What was around in 1960-70? (apart from not many of you lot)
Hornby Dublo train set, Corgy & Dinky stuff, cowboy outfits, a quiz game called The Magic Robot, bikes, Airfix, Lego, Meccano. No video/computer games then.
I always loved this (it was inevitably Spoilt Kid™ that had it so I had to go to his to play it).
What was around in 1960-70
For me (born in 1967 so grew up in the 70s) it was:
Microscopes
Toy guns
Action Men and accessories
Airfix
All the comic book annuals (Beano, Dandy, Whizzer and Chips)
Dart boards and darts
I had all the Lego. Space and Technic mostly
We've found spoilt kid!
The song "All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit" pretty much sums up my two favourite childhood toys. And some 45 years later I still have them.
Raving Bonkers - the boxing robots
Airfix models - Spitfires, Hurricanes, Stukas etc. All hung from my bedroom ceiling with thread/drawing pins to replicate a dog fight 😄
Bright orange Mk1 Raleigh Chopper - the one with wider bars and a T-bar shifter
Hornby train set
Playmobil
Toy cars - my grandma had an old bag with loads of really old ones missing wheels/tyres etc - I loved that bag of cars
Action Man - eagle eye and scuba diving one were my personal faves.
Must confess I probably spent as much time just kicking a ball against the house wall as anything else, or playing cricket on my own in the back lane - I tell you that wall opposite was quicker than Malcom Marshall.
Aye, a new football was just the best, loved it!.
