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The size of their toys
May. 13th, 2003 09:12 amIn response to yesterday's writing assignment from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
uberdaddybear to write about your favorite toys.
When I was growing up, before my sister came along, I got about any toy I wanted. I had tons of GI Joes, the full size ones, not the dinky ones they came out with later. GI Joe could come in and kick Ken's ass and take Barbie out for a ride in his jeep and give her a rug burn with the short burr haircut he sported. Later, of course he would develop a scar from the experience. I never knew how they got the scar to appear over time.
I even had Mike, the GI Joe answer to the Six Million Dollar Man. Mike had a bionic arm and leg. I think it was only one leg, which meant if he ran, he would probably pull his other leg completely out of his hip trying to catch up, then he would have a need for yet another bionic leg.
Mike also had a helicopter blade that would fit in his hand, and by pushing a button in his back, his wrist would turn the blade. The whole arm was clear so you could see the mechanics of the whole thing.
I also had a nearly complete line of Star Wars toys from when they came out in 1977 up through The Empire Strikes Back. Star Wars came out when I was ten. They never expected it to be such a huge hit, and in those days they didn't license the hell out of movies for toys. In fact, I can hardly think of a movie tie-in toy before that. I may have had a shark due to Jaws, but that was a Rated R movie, so no kiddie tie-ins. It took them some time after the movie came out to gear up the toy making and distribution. Heck, the Happy Meal hadn't even been invented yet.
I had X-wings and Death Stars and TIE Fighters and landspeeders. I had the remote control R2-D2 that had an antenna that was twice as long as the cell phone I have now. Since we lived in Nacogdoches, TX when the movie came out, the first toys boxes has the Sears catalog stamps all over the boxes. When we moved to Conroe in 1978 we were closer to an actual Sears, some 25 miles away in Houston, but we still used the Sears catalog and the Christmas Wish Book for much of our toy shopping.
I have no idea when we got our first Toys R Us.
Now, around 1980 my family's finances started to go a little south. The house payments, Dad's try at running his own business, and some legal troubles between my family and my then aunt made money tight. Besides, Laura had to get her share, too. Barbie townhouse anyone? So when Empire came out, I didn't always get everything, but there was one toy I was dying to have...the AT-AT.
The AT-AT was the bid, elephant type walker that the Empire employs on the ice world of Hoth to destroy the rebel base. I had the Snowspeeder, I had the Hoth Luke and Han and even the Snowspeeder driver action figures. Now I had to get my hands on the two foot tall AT-AT with the "working" lasers.
The problem was, it was 45 dollars. Mom and Dad didn't want to shell out that much money for a toy, and besides, I was 13 years old. I'd be growing out of this soon, anyway. They told me I'd have to pay for it.
This was devastating. I had never had that much money in my life. It's not like today's teens that seem to have enough money to get stuff at the mall every dang day. I would have to do chores and save up for it. I also had the bad habit of saving lunch money by waiting to eat until I got home from school. Mom, that wasn't just a really large snack I was having, that was lunch. Growing boy indeed.
This was just after the lunchbox years. I carried a metal lunchbox for a couple of years after all of the other kids had moved on to buying lunch, or just using the oh-so-trendy paper sack. In jr. high it wasn't cool to have the Star Wars lunchkit, and I got picked on for carrying it. I got picked on for a lot of things, including my weight. One notorious asshole was Scott Levantino, who I'd still punch his daylights out if I saw him today.
Funny thing about metal lunchkits, they pack a wallop when swung into the face of your tormentors. It happened more than once.
The AT-AT was purchased a few months later. I played with it for a few weeks, then it was over. It was one of the last Star Wars toys I bought. When Return of The Jedi came, I was too old to be playing with such things. I was in high school.
Funny that I buy action figures today.
Still, I took the lesson. I had to buy my Colecovision and have bought every computer I've owned since. The AT-AT taught me a lesson about responsibility and the difference between want and need. Just for that, it stands as one of the more significant toys I ever owned.
So what became of the AT-AT? It was sold during college with all of the rest of the Star Wars toys so I could afford to pay for a semester. I don't even remember how much I got for it. It was a package deal. I still see it from time to time, it's still on the shelf at the comic book shop I frequent here in Houston. It still has the yellowing catalog stickers from Sears.
uberdaddybear to write about your favorite toys.When I was growing up, before my sister came along, I got about any toy I wanted. I had tons of GI Joes, the full size ones, not the dinky ones they came out with later. GI Joe could come in and kick Ken's ass and take Barbie out for a ride in his jeep and give her a rug burn with the short burr haircut he sported. Later, of course he would develop a scar from the experience. I never knew how they got the scar to appear over time.
I even had Mike, the GI Joe answer to the Six Million Dollar Man. Mike had a bionic arm and leg. I think it was only one leg, which meant if he ran, he would probably pull his other leg completely out of his hip trying to catch up, then he would have a need for yet another bionic leg.
Mike also had a helicopter blade that would fit in his hand, and by pushing a button in his back, his wrist would turn the blade. The whole arm was clear so you could see the mechanics of the whole thing.
I also had a nearly complete line of Star Wars toys from when they came out in 1977 up through The Empire Strikes Back. Star Wars came out when I was ten. They never expected it to be such a huge hit, and in those days they didn't license the hell out of movies for toys. In fact, I can hardly think of a movie tie-in toy before that. I may have had a shark due to Jaws, but that was a Rated R movie, so no kiddie tie-ins. It took them some time after the movie came out to gear up the toy making and distribution. Heck, the Happy Meal hadn't even been invented yet.
I had X-wings and Death Stars and TIE Fighters and landspeeders. I had the remote control R2-D2 that had an antenna that was twice as long as the cell phone I have now. Since we lived in Nacogdoches, TX when the movie came out, the first toys boxes has the Sears catalog stamps all over the boxes. When we moved to Conroe in 1978 we were closer to an actual Sears, some 25 miles away in Houston, but we still used the Sears catalog and the Christmas Wish Book for much of our toy shopping.
I have no idea when we got our first Toys R Us.
Now, around 1980 my family's finances started to go a little south. The house payments, Dad's try at running his own business, and some legal troubles between my family and my then aunt made money tight. Besides, Laura had to get her share, too. Barbie townhouse anyone? So when Empire came out, I didn't always get everything, but there was one toy I was dying to have...the AT-AT.
The AT-AT was the bid, elephant type walker that the Empire employs on the ice world of Hoth to destroy the rebel base. I had the Snowspeeder, I had the Hoth Luke and Han and even the Snowspeeder driver action figures. Now I had to get my hands on the two foot tall AT-AT with the "working" lasers.
The problem was, it was 45 dollars. Mom and Dad didn't want to shell out that much money for a toy, and besides, I was 13 years old. I'd be growing out of this soon, anyway. They told me I'd have to pay for it.
This was devastating. I had never had that much money in my life. It's not like today's teens that seem to have enough money to get stuff at the mall every dang day. I would have to do chores and save up for it. I also had the bad habit of saving lunch money by waiting to eat until I got home from school. Mom, that wasn't just a really large snack I was having, that was lunch. Growing boy indeed.
This was just after the lunchbox years. I carried a metal lunchbox for a couple of years after all of the other kids had moved on to buying lunch, or just using the oh-so-trendy paper sack. In jr. high it wasn't cool to have the Star Wars lunchkit, and I got picked on for carrying it. I got picked on for a lot of things, including my weight. One notorious asshole was Scott Levantino, who I'd still punch his daylights out if I saw him today.
Funny thing about metal lunchkits, they pack a wallop when swung into the face of your tormentors. It happened more than once.
The AT-AT was purchased a few months later. I played with it for a few weeks, then it was over. It was one of the last Star Wars toys I bought. When Return of The Jedi came, I was too old to be playing with such things. I was in high school.
Funny that I buy action figures today.
Still, I took the lesson. I had to buy my Colecovision and have bought every computer I've owned since. The AT-AT taught me a lesson about responsibility and the difference between want and need. Just for that, it stands as one of the more significant toys I ever owned.
So what became of the AT-AT? It was sold during college with all of the rest of the Star Wars toys so I could afford to pay for a semester. I don't even remember how much I got for it. It was a package deal. I still see it from time to time, it's still on the shelf at the comic book shop I frequent here in Houston. It still has the yellowing catalog stickers from Sears.
