What toy did you have as a child that brings back the fondest memories?



Legos were a gift from God(s) for me. What could POSSIBLY be better than a toy that helped you make OTHER toys?

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Angel of the Abyss
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"I am Ripper...Tearer...Slasher...Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength...and Lust...and Power! I AM BEOWULF!"

This may not count, but my father let me use his tools. In the expanding suburbs of the 50's there was always scrap wood and usuable material about. We kids built lots of stuff (clubhouses, coasters and such).

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The Devil offered me power. I told him I preferred aperture.

Bows and sucker arrows.
Legos.
Dinosaur figurines.

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Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"The only way to explore the universe is to go and look." - Brian Cox
Well, the best way to find out is to go there and, find out. - Raven's Cry
'Evolution and science are one thing, but you don’t mess with Yoko Ono. Everybody knows that. ' - 386sx

erector set.

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"I'm as accurate as any psychic. And I'm a cartoon!" -- Squidward

"Arrrgh, the laws of physics be a harsh mistress!" -- Bender

Indoors, tinkertoys and clay. Outdoors, sticks, rocks and imagination.

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Lego, I still love it. I cant find for the life of me though those big tubs of generic blocks they used to sell. All I see is Lego Harry Potter this and Bionicle that.

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My first new shiny bike. With an electric horn and headlight, I was ready to "get out there" and explore the world around my neighborhood! Mr Q

I started on legos. Now I play with cardstock, and get stuff like this:

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There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
-Douglas Adams
Aim high (but don't blow yourself up)!- Homer Hickam

In Soviet Russia, UFO report you!- Phil Plait

Clear skies Maksutov.

As a little spratling in the sixties I loved the Mattel Strange Change Machine.
http://www.samstoybox.com/toys/StrangeChange.html

I just saw they came out when I was 7. Might have something to do with it.

And I can't remember what they were called but they had giant toy bugs that crawled when you pulled their strings. Had touch sensitive mandibles. Came with large six inch tall army men who, when placed in the line of travel, would be bitten and carried off by them. My older brother seems to think they were called "Horrible Hermans", but I can't find anything on them by that name.

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"The beauty of that discussion of averages is that you don't have to be an expert in Apollo or in photography in order to see where this time study "analysis" breaks down. You just have to be, well...not an idiot." -JayUtah

Model Rockets

Micronauts. Odd, I know, but I was a kid.

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Pitchback.

Basically, a net held in a metal frame with springs. Throw the ball at it and it comes back.

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Keeper of the Jabberwock

I had a toy X-Wing, a Colonial Viper and and an Eagle from Space:1999. Wish I still had them.

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Meccano (British version of erector I think)
It was nice to have a construction kit where you could actually build things strong enough to be used for real.

A couple of years ago I was briefly involved in a project making a glove for retraining fingers after accidents (I coded a game to be controlled by the glove), but since there was no prototype available I could code for, I used my Meccano set and a joystick to build one.

Surprisingly comfortable to wear and precise enough to replace a mouse,

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An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

A pantograph I'd hounded my parents for, my sixth Xmas.

My Johnny Seven,along with various other toy weapons.

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"An armed man is a citizen
An unarmed man is a subject"

Robert A. Heinlein

Just about every building set imaginable. (Lego came along a bit later.) Anyhow, Erector, plastic bricks, Lincoln Logs, a really complicated skyscraper building set that I forget the name of, another one with girders & posts, and on and on.

Tonka trucks were also good. Not to mention my Daisy Red Ryder Carbine. (Still have that one! Never shot my eye out!)

Current favorite toy is in my avatar.

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Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant.

Lego, without a doubt.

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Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?

Legos were the best, especially growing up in a place with long winters. My kids got my collection and more were added.

Years ago I came into possession of many, many pieces of ~4m long 35x35 mm off-grade building material for the Japanese market, called "turuki". I cut out the knots, planed the resulting pieces down to 33 mm a side, and then cut them into lengths that are multiples of 33 mm, up to 8x. Young children just love to stack these because they can always make their structures come out level. (I think it also helps them learn about integers, but that's getting too geeky.)

My kids and I made up a game. Each person had a turn at selecting a block and stacking it. No verbal communication about intentions was allowed. The idea was to see what would result. Here's an example:

We were obviously on the same page regarding the base for this particular one.

A Buck Rogers ZX-31 Rocket Pistol, made by Daisy, designed by Philip Francis Nolan; see here:http://www.geocities.com/buckrogers_...sy.html?200813
I also had a Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun, A Winchester .22 rifle, and use of .25 and .45 colt automatic pistols under very strict supervision. These were not toys, but I conquered the solar system with that ZX-31. All of the above were lost when our house burned down when I was 13. I just realized that the fire was 60 years ago this month! Weird, no?

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"I want to write about people I love, and put them into a fictional world spun out of my own mind, not the world we actually have, because the world we actually have does not meet my standards." Philip K. Dick
No matter how strong, or brave, or pure of heart you may be; sometimes the dragon wins!

Operation Moonbase.

I got it for Christmas in 1962.

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Life is like a box of chocolates. All of your choices are bad for you.