Is it just me or are the toys getting lame?
Anyone remember Pound Puppies?
I remember seeing Strawberry Shortcake again on shelves and Hello Kitty. I did not see that stuff when I was little. Then the company decided to bring back Rainbow Brite and Strawberry Shortcake. Perhaps they will do it again with the other stuff in the future we have mentioned. I really don't like the new looks of the Barbie dolls and The Littlest Pet Shops. I wonder what happened with Skipper and Stacie? Did the Metal decide to kill them off? Like they decided one year Ken and Barbie broke up just so they can make a new doll.
I did see a Ken doll in package at Winco Foods and I said to my boyfriend "I thought Ken and Barbie broke up. They must have gotten back together." My boyfriend then said "They're toys. They can do what they want." Obviously not getting it was a joke.
"Did the metal decide to kill them off?" was also a joke in case anyone didn't know.
Here is a link to some new transformer toys, they are more like collectibles, but I have a couple of them and they kick butt...
Transformers Masterpiece
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So all those old "Flash Gordon" lasers and "captain whatever decoder rings weren't tied to a show of some sort? Short of hula hoops, whip and top and cup and ball, most toys are a spin from something else, or have a basis in some show or other. It certainly isn't a new phenomena.
And something being tied to a programme does not restrict your imagination or its playability. Why would it? Does reading a novel mean you are restricting your imagination? After all, that's a guided tour through someone else's ideas, is it not?
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"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart,
that you can't take part" [Mario Savo, 1964]
Seriously, maybe I'm just nostalgic, but I remember having some cool toys in the 80's that you just don't see today.
These things were F'n awesome. You could use the bones to make the dinosaurs, or you could rearrange them and combine them to make all sorts of random vehicles and weapons. The points on the claws and the wings were actually sharp and the spring-loaded missiles were strong enough that they would shoot across the room, unlike the weak, safe spring-loaded stuff they have today.
Edit: Hmm...on second thought, looking at these pictures, I just realized that the T-rex looks a bit...um...excited, and the "mobile auger launcher" design on the last one seems a bit suggestive as well. Meh...
Edit 2: Okay, maybe now I'm just looking for stuff, but is that an upside-down penis in the clouds behind the T-Rex?
I guess now I understand why the box says, "Poses may require hand support." Yep, those were the good ole days
Owendust.. Phallic mysteries or not, those toys are beyond awesome. I want them. Undead Dinosaurs? That transform? Win doesn't get much Winningerest than that. (Might have made a word up there...)
Why the s**t wasn't I informed? Where can I get some?
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"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart,
that you can't take part" [Mario Savo, 1964]
Who else remembers this commercial lead-in from the 1960's?
"Major Matt Mason - Mattel's new Man in Space! Ready for every adventure with all his official equipment..."
I still have mine.
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KBABZ
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I agree that toys are getting lamer ("Oh gosh, ANOTHER lame jumping thing from RC!"), but I think the older toys weren't much different; I think the problem is that nothing's changed since then and so nothing is new anymore. Transformers have been virtually unchanged since their creation, as has many toys, old and new. I also think that when we (or rather you, I'm young) were kids we couldn't see the lameness of the toys when they started. Or something.
Still, nothing beats Lego. Even the lamest Lego sets are cool.
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wrongplanetmember
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I was watching old toy commercials on youtube and boy what fun times were when the board games were fun, entertaining. My boyfriend had an interesting theory why they don't make games so great anymore. Everyone is buying video games and would rather play them instead. I wonder if that's why toys are so lame too? More children are parked in front of the TV set playing video games or watching TV vs back in the days kids played more outside and more with their friends vs watching TV or they are on the computer.
As a kid, when my mother felt my brothers and I have been watching too much TV, she make us do something else and make the TV off limits. She did the same with video games. Computer she never really did because it wasn't big in our lives. When we use it, we wouldn't be on it all day and we didn't have internet except for a few months in 1997. Then we got it again in 1998.
My how times have changed over the last ten years. Toys were still cool.
I remember when Polly Pockets were about the size of a capsule pill and came with little fold-up plastic scenes. Damn, I'm old. -_-
Frankly, I'm just happy that Bratz are dead and gone (well, soon). Bratz Babies were even more disturbing. Whoever came up with the idea of sexed-up baby dolls needs to have a talk with Chris Hansen.
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hartzofspace
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Time for ebay.
This catalog has lots of old time toys, like Lincoln logs, kalaidescopes, and things. Check it out.
http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/brow ... 100:10370l
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I hated lego as a kid. I couldn't think of anything more lame as to play with.
My daughter loves lego and I am pleased because i think it's kind of educational.
I played lego with her once and I built a wall. A really tall wall. She thought that was simple but to me was fun. You don't get a headache concentrating for a design. I used as many lego's as I could with out it falling over. Looking how different colored lego's make a pattern.
As a kid, when my mother felt my brothers and I have been watching too much TV, she make us do something else and make the TV off limits. She did the same with video games. Computer she never really did because it wasn't big in our lives. When we use it, we wouldn't be on it all day and we didn't have internet except for a few months in 1997. Then we got it again in 1998.
My how times have changed over the last ten years. Toys were still cool.
Surely if videogames were so popular, then real world toys would be made more awesome, so as to provide some form of competition with them? Besides, most of the toys in this thread so far seem to have been of the "inside" variety, rather than the outside sort, which seem to have remained the same for generations.
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"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart,
that you can't take part" [Mario Savo, 1964]
I remember a toy commercial, from years ago, that was quite disturbing. The product was called "tinkle tots". Apparently, tinkle tots spent their days on a tropical island... tinkling (i.e. urinating). It was a very short lived toy (I think, at least I have never seen a commercial for them again) ...Does anyone remember those?
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