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Most of the things I used to get as presents as a kid tended to reflect the fact my folks didn’t have a huge amount of money to spend, so books and Matchbox, Corgi and Dinky toys, I still have quite a few of the books I was given, the very battered cars disappeared years ago, although they wouldn’t be worth much now, they really took a hammering!
The books, though, were very important, I learned to read at an early age, so a mixture of junior encyclopaedia, nature, and history, along with various story books meant I developed a pretty good vocabulary and deep love of nature and science.
Why do you consider those things to be shit by modern standards?
I didn't say anything about considering anything to be shit, on the contrary I just answered the thread title question honestly about the great toys of my childhood.
I'll add magnifying glass for looking at tiny things and engraving/setting fire to things on sunny days.
Airguns and spud guns! Everyone had guns 🙃
Yeah - we had a few air guns, sheath knives, Barnet Diablo catapults etc.
The worst one and I didn’t have it, was probably Stretch Armstrong 🙂
i begged my parents for a stretch Armstrong. They refused. 10 seconds after holding one in the school play ground i knew why
The power of advertising
Barnet Diablos and Gats are definitely on the 'not shit' list.
A bath toy. JoJo La Plongeur
A little fella on a high dive board. When you filled up the bottom he dived off the top with a pop. Loved that little guy
Britains Deetail.
Still collecting even now 🙂
The wikipedia pages Waterloo Officer with flag is a photograph of my orginal. He is a bit faded as I kept him in the window for to long :-(.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britains_Deetail
PS If any of you guys still have any in the loft, I'm interested. 🙂
My personal favourites include a hoop, a tangerine and a piece of coal. I'd still be happy with any of them but I doubt theyd go down well with the niece.
Lego, my boys are playing with stuff my mum and uncle had, stuff my sister and I had and stuff my niece and nephew had.
Empty boxes still go down a treat
Super Flight Deck.
Even in the hallway, the lowest setting sent the plane straight into the end wall.
When summer came I could run it outside, the full length of the garden, but that's not important.
This was the first big craze that I lived through. It was a global phenomenon.
I remember how hard they were to get. It was one item per customer in Toys R Us so people were doing laps trying to get the full set.
We completely missed out on the first wave and I didn't get any at all until well after Christmas.
There was a similar thread on my old school Facebook page. which reminded me of the those two balls on a piece of string that bounced off each other when you waved your arm up and down at the right speed then eventually shattered sending fragments everywhere.
That's them, I couldn't remember the name. Quickly banned in school after which there didn't seem much point.
How 'bout the length of corrugated hoover pipe we used to wirl round our heads to make a whooshing noise...?
Loved loads of the old boardgames. Risk, Formula One, Totopoly etc.
I used to pick up some old stuff from jumble sales and the like.
This affliction has followed me into adult life and have quite a collection of board games.
Swingball- wore the lawn out playing it with my sister.
The maddest toy as a kid was the set of 3 throwing knives my gran gave me. They had been my dad's or uncles.
Who gives their kids throwing knives!!!
Who gives their 12 year old grand son throwing knives!!!!
I've still got all my fingers and only had a couple of gashes.
The thing was they were rubbish throwing knives. I spent hours lobbing them at posts and might actually get them in point first one in a hundred times.
Toys my kids will not be getting- throwing knives!
Someone said it earlier - subbuteo honestly the worst toy ever ever invented. Expensive, fragile, those stupid pitches that kept rucking up, having to paint them, didn't work properly....just utter crap
But as its a 70's 80's toy thread - can anyone remember a set of plastic 'robots' or androids which were about the same size as play people (again crap) but semi translucent with loads of accesories and really expensive so i didn't have any but my rich mate had literally all of them. they were ace they were but unlike say star wars figures which crop up everywhere I've never seen or heard of them again
EDIT having just done a bit of googlefoo, it appears they were called Micronauts and if my mate Toby from 1979 has any left then he is sitting on a fortune!
I had Micronauts. They were ok at the time, but in retrospect... bobbins.
Wanted a chopper but got a space hopper instead. Helped build the thunder thighs I have today.
Evel Knievel stunt cycle.
I had the usual stuff (Lego, Action Man etc), but there was something special about the sound, the speed, the ability to make ramps out of books, rider under the sofa. this thread got me searching for one now at the age of 52!
Someone said it earlier - subbuteo honestly the worst toy ever ever invented. Expensive, fragile, those stupid pitches that kept rucking up, having to paint them, didn't work properly....just utter crap
But as its a 70's 80's toy thread - can anyone remember a set of plastic 'robots' or androids which were about the same size as play people (again crap) but semi translucent with loads of accesories and really expensive so i didn't have any but my rich mate had literally all of them. they were ace they were but unlike say star wars figures which crop up everywhere I've never seen or heard of them again
EDIT having just done a bit of googlefoo, it appears they were called Micronauts and if my mate Toby from 1979 has any left then he is sitting on a fortune!
I had the mobile exploration lab it was ‘ace’ , I played with it until every moving part had pretty much broke.
This was the time the Star Wars figures were around, oddly after Return of the Jedi the Star Wars figures lost popularity and were bargain bin sell offs until the next lot of films started then boom.
Most afternoons were spent playing with Action Men.
Wanted a chopper but got a space hopper instead. Helped build the thunder thighs I have today.
TBH you didn’t’ t miss much, as a cultural icon great but as a bike, heavy and not that great to ride.
I’m not sure my plums ever recovered from the design flaw inherent in that bike either 🙂
This thread is a great way of seeing who actually read the first line of the first post
like any thread over 15 posts here. It’s a great reflection of the male psyche
Or indeed read anything after the first few words of the title. Anyway, cheese is great and gazelles, what are they like? Thomas Hardy FTW and approach every junction in prime position because Helen Mirren is best.
Best that you grate the cheese on the gazelles then grill for a couple of minutes.
Johnny 7 - was nearly as big as me when I was a nipper and fired all manner of projectiles 🙂
Consider that people did read the first line but might not have exactly the same idea of what might be considered (in general by kids of today) a bit shit. A generation that gets a screen before they can read. Anyhow, once again any excuse to slag off other users.
Action man eh! I still have mine, and apart from shooting people, moon missions and scuba diving I think I done everything for real my action man did.
Most afternoons were spent playing with Action Men.
Oh, that brings back so many memories!
I used to load up my action man with so many accessories I doubt he could have stood up in real life.
Tracy Island. Yes, the Blue Peter Tracy Island, made from bog rolls and newspaper. Not the plastic one from the Toys R Us.
Lost too many hours to Subbuteo, but by modern standards it's a bit naff, only ever got Super Flight Deck working properly once, by commandeering the upstairs landing and banning our parents from accessing their bedroom as the control wires were strung from the bedroom door.
Subbuteo was an odd one. It looked great in the box but was pretty awful as a toy.
Tank Command too.
I'm sorry but subbutteo was ace then and still ace now!
About 15 years ago me and 15 other lads held a subbuteo world cup over a weekend, host city of Edinburgh. Everyone chose a country and sourced their team from Ebay.
4 venues for the group games, then the knock out stages held over an evening in my mates flat. Great laugh, everyone smashed out their mind.
I was England, we got put out on penalties in the semi finals so fairly true to life as well
Fair enough. But as a 9 year old in 1977 I didn't have the resources to to do this. Red team and blue team and a 7 year old sister who didn't want to play it.
Also. Dinky Gerry Anderson vehicles. Fantastic models, but painted the wrong colour!
Thunderbird 2 is not blue. Eagle Transporters are not Green or Blue. SHADO Mobiles are not green! Why did they do this?
I have to confess that as an adult I’ve bought a couple of SHADO Mobiles and painted them up as they were in the TV show. I also spent a daft amount of money on a green Eagle.
Something's just struck me.
I had a toy spacecraft that was pre-loved so came without a box or anything. I think it was part of a series (like those Micronauts mentioned earlier) but I have no idea what. It was kinda like an elongated A-Wing shape. The cockpit was a big clear sphere which rolled on the ground, if you turned it upside-down the seats were on an axle so the spacemen would spin round to be facing backwards. I think the nose and tail had connectors so you could join others together like a train.
Does this ring any bells with anyone? I'm pretty sure we've mentioned this on STW before so someone must recognise it.
Fair enough. But as a 9 year old in 1977 I didn't have the resources to to do this. Red team and blue team and a 7 year old sister who didn't want to play it.
Well two man games do tend to be a bit crap if you don't have anyone to play with!! Got my first set in 1986, world cup edition with 2 teams and subs..usefully when your dad manages to stand on your Argentinian number 9 on boxing day
Does this ring any bells with anyone? I'm pretty sure we've mentioned this on STW before so someone must recognise it.
No, but I want one!
How 'bout the length of corrugated hoover pipe we used to wirl round our heads to make a whooshing noise...?
Hah yes! I remember that sooo much.
I had a unique 'noise' toy – our garden gate, made a 'beeooynggggg'! noise when I swung it on its hinges that was pretty much identical to The Six Million Dollar Man when he used his bionic powers – I would spend ages making the noise then pretending to be Steve Austin.
Anything remote control was brilliant in the 1970s!!
Then the batteries would run out before Christmas dinner.
And you'd wait weeks for your parents to buy more as they cost a small fortune back then! 🤣
No, but I want one!
Found it.
https://wearethemutants.com/2020/01/07/mutating-empire-britains-space-toys/
I just had the main module and a few connectors, the creatively named "Space Craft" 9110 in the catalogue.
Tamiya Sand Scorcher.
It was bloody brilliant at the time, and would pelt along at a gazillion mph, but, thinking back, it was pretty one-dimensional, and didn't fare too well when turned at high speed. And the battery lasted 5 minutes, and then took an hour to charge.
Probs not a patch on the crawler type stuff that's available nowadays.
Stick a modern battery and radio gear in it and it will still be "bloody brilliant".
I remember having that stargard set, plus a green alien flying saucer thing which it did battle with.
Must have been only about 3 years old at the time as I remember it being one of my earliest toys.