Post by tirtefaa on Jun 2, 2023 20:41:55 GMT -5
Necro this since it's still relevant;
10. My Pal 2 - I asked for this thing for 3 Christmases straight, eventually getting it the third time. Leading up to that, I would usually just draw pictures of it or cut it out of catalogs and put it in little adventures with me. I just really really wanted a robot. The chase turned out to be better than the actual product, as My Pal tended to light up and start talking and laughing in the middle of the night. After just 4 days, my dad took it back to the store.
9. VCR - I know this sounds weird, but I treated this thing like a toy. I used to LOVE to record stuff, usually using the same tapes to find something else. I was good at stopping and recording, to keep the commercials out, especially when it came to recording movies, given we couldn't afford to buy them ourselves, we'd wait for them to show up, and I was usually in charge of the recording due to my skill, and "knowing" the commercial patterns; CBS would do fade ins and outs, NBC would display their logo briefly before returning, and ABC did bumpers (the bumpers would alternate from 2,3,2,3). Oh the simple joys I got from this.
8. Miniature foosball hockey table - I think my dad got this for clearance and we'd play this a lot. I was such a master at it at age 7, that I would feel bad and let my dad win. He never fussed about losing, but it was never fun to beat him like 30 to nothing.
7. Monkey/Ape puppet plush - my parents tricked me one Christmas year when I was 4, with a shoebox assuming I was going to get shoes. Thankfully, it turned out to be something fun, and my dad did great voices when he played with the puppet. On a side note, I genuinely thought I was going to get shoes because that's the kind of nonsense my grandmother did, buy me clothes for Christmas. For any grandparents out there...don't do this.
6. Stomp rocket- another fun family toy we bought for clearance at Kay B Toys. The rocket that came with the set didn't go very high, but there was this 'screamer' that went super high and sounded awesome. Me and my sister always tried to coordinate our stomp together to see how high we could make it go.
5. Three Stooges dolls - I grew up a massive fan of the Stooges, and saw these in one of those Miles Kimball-like catalogs you'd get in the mail. They were designed in the style of John K, but every other piece of Stooge merchandise looks incredibly cheap, and these had character. Anyways, the price in there was way too high, but somehow my dad found them at Suncoast for $25 each, which was still a lot, but thankfully he got a Christmas bonus that year and they were under the tree. I knew it had to be them, and I desperately could not wait to open them. Also, my sister lied to me saying there was a Shemp doll, that I searched for for years. Gotta love the days before the internet.
4. Slug Caps/pogs - for the brief time that pogs were popular, I really really got into them. While there were tons and I mean TONS of terrible pogs, there were a few cool ones. There was a kid at my church who traded me a bunch of his Slug caps, which were lenticular motion pogs done in gross out Basil Wolverton style. Gross out illustrations was always something I enjoyed, whether it was Mad Magazine or those Dinosaurs Attack cards. There was also a number of one off pogs that were just so bizarre that I'm glad I held onto them despite pogs becoming a punchline since then.
3. Lego - too many to name, but the Deep Freeze Defender was my favorite. I had a ton of tiny sets because the big sets costed too much. I grew up mostly liking Pirates and Space, but later grew to appreciate Castle. Aquazone and Wild West were also cool for the short time they were around. Town sets were always the most boring.
2. Food Fighters - bought a Sergeant Scoop from Ben Franklin on a vacation when I was 5, I desperately wanted other ones, but we were a poor family and couldn't afford it. Unfortunately, these were rare even then, and I remember only coming across them one other time, and I begged my mom to buy it, but she was in a bad mood and refused. I spent years looking for these at flea markets, never finding one. When I discovered eBay in 1999, these were the first thing I purchased.
1. Super Nintendo - I mean this goes without saying, but my 10th birthday was something special. Funnily, I asked for a Sega Genesis, but the guy working at Toys R Us convinced my dad to get the SNES, claiming it was a better system. In truth, he was correct and I didn't mind because this was my first game system, as I always had to watch others play their system, only getting a turn when they were bored or stuck. While I did have a few games for the system, having to instead rent games from Blockbuster. As I got older, I bought a lot of these games for cheap as newer systems came out, ending amassing quite the collection.
10. My Pal 2 - I asked for this thing for 3 Christmases straight, eventually getting it the third time. Leading up to that, I would usually just draw pictures of it or cut it out of catalogs and put it in little adventures with me. I just really really wanted a robot. The chase turned out to be better than the actual product, as My Pal tended to light up and start talking and laughing in the middle of the night. After just 4 days, my dad took it back to the store.
9. VCR - I know this sounds weird, but I treated this thing like a toy. I used to LOVE to record stuff, usually using the same tapes to find something else. I was good at stopping and recording, to keep the commercials out, especially when it came to recording movies, given we couldn't afford to buy them ourselves, we'd wait for them to show up, and I was usually in charge of the recording due to my skill, and "knowing" the commercial patterns; CBS would do fade ins and outs, NBC would display their logo briefly before returning, and ABC did bumpers (the bumpers would alternate from 2,3,2,3). Oh the simple joys I got from this.
8. Miniature foosball hockey table - I think my dad got this for clearance and we'd play this a lot. I was such a master at it at age 7, that I would feel bad and let my dad win. He never fussed about losing, but it was never fun to beat him like 30 to nothing.
7. Monkey/Ape puppet plush - my parents tricked me one Christmas year when I was 4, with a shoebox assuming I was going to get shoes. Thankfully, it turned out to be something fun, and my dad did great voices when he played with the puppet. On a side note, I genuinely thought I was going to get shoes because that's the kind of nonsense my grandmother did, buy me clothes for Christmas. For any grandparents out there...don't do this.
6. Stomp rocket- another fun family toy we bought for clearance at Kay B Toys. The rocket that came with the set didn't go very high, but there was this 'screamer' that went super high and sounded awesome. Me and my sister always tried to coordinate our stomp together to see how high we could make it go.
5. Three Stooges dolls - I grew up a massive fan of the Stooges, and saw these in one of those Miles Kimball-like catalogs you'd get in the mail. They were designed in the style of John K, but every other piece of Stooge merchandise looks incredibly cheap, and these had character. Anyways, the price in there was way too high, but somehow my dad found them at Suncoast for $25 each, which was still a lot, but thankfully he got a Christmas bonus that year and they were under the tree. I knew it had to be them, and I desperately could not wait to open them. Also, my sister lied to me saying there was a Shemp doll, that I searched for for years. Gotta love the days before the internet.
4. Slug Caps/pogs - for the brief time that pogs were popular, I really really got into them. While there were tons and I mean TONS of terrible pogs, there were a few cool ones. There was a kid at my church who traded me a bunch of his Slug caps, which were lenticular motion pogs done in gross out Basil Wolverton style. Gross out illustrations was always something I enjoyed, whether it was Mad Magazine or those Dinosaurs Attack cards. There was also a number of one off pogs that were just so bizarre that I'm glad I held onto them despite pogs becoming a punchline since then.
3. Lego - too many to name, but the Deep Freeze Defender was my favorite. I had a ton of tiny sets because the big sets costed too much. I grew up mostly liking Pirates and Space, but later grew to appreciate Castle. Aquazone and Wild West were also cool for the short time they were around. Town sets were always the most boring.
2. Food Fighters - bought a Sergeant Scoop from Ben Franklin on a vacation when I was 5, I desperately wanted other ones, but we were a poor family and couldn't afford it. Unfortunately, these were rare even then, and I remember only coming across them one other time, and I begged my mom to buy it, but she was in a bad mood and refused. I spent years looking for these at flea markets, never finding one. When I discovered eBay in 1999, these were the first thing I purchased.
1. Super Nintendo - I mean this goes without saying, but my 10th birthday was something special. Funnily, I asked for a Sega Genesis, but the guy working at Toys R Us convinced my dad to get the SNES, claiming it was a better system. In truth, he was correct and I didn't mind because this was my first game system, as I always had to watch others play their system, only getting a turn when they were bored or stuck. While I did have a few games for the system, having to instead rent games from Blockbuster. As I got older, I bought a lot of these games for cheap as newer systems came out, ending amassing quite the collection.