Clinging onto your childhood toys

[Sly]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

Your latest pick up reminds me of the car they drive in My Name Is Earl. El Camino?

[victorbrunswick]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

Indeed, it was based on a 1964 El Camino.

[onthebusesfan]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

i still have my fireman sam teddybear when i was a baby im a hoarder for stuff i will never throw away anything

[darren]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

would like to see it mate.
what age were you when you got it.

ive lots of stuff ill not get rid of to many things to mention.

never heard opf a fireman sam teddybear.

i still have my fireman sam teddybear when i was a baby im a hoarder for stuff i will never throw away anything

[sf1378]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

Ive bought stuff from the 'bay that I had as a child. Mostly action figure stype stuff like Micronauts which I was hugely into and Mego Planet of the Apes and Star trek figures as well as the Denys Fishers Cybord/Muton toys. I've also bought toys that I wanted as a child but never got.

What's tended to happen with those is that I've enjoyed them and after a good few years I've realized that theyre just gathering dust on shelves, or - worse still, just sitting in a cupboard doing nothing. As I've tended to buy those 70's toys as close to mint condition as I could afford at the time, I've had no trouble selling them on when the time feels right and have usually made a decent amount of money on them so I've had the enjoyment and that nostalgia value and they've also turned out to be a bit of an investment too.

This might seem a little harsh to some but for me it makes sense as at one time I looked at the amount of stuff I'd bought over say, a five year period, and how much it had cost me and how much space it was taking up and realized I was just buying it because I could because I had no other commitments at the time, but was really just hoarding and not getting the enjoyment of of them after a while that someone else might, So selling them on after a few years became a sensible way for me to manage my compulsion to buy this stuff and make some money out of it too.

I do similar. I amassed a massive Action Man collection, including the 2006 - 2008 40th Anniversary reissues, made customised dolls what with the hair flocking sellers on ebay who could now do moustaches or mutton chop sideburns and different colours of hair, then there were the modern manufacturers of same scale WW2 uniforms and accessories so I could put things together like a more realistic Panzer Crewman or Afrika Korps but it was always the Palitoy style look I liked the most so even made customs like a Royal Navy Commander or an Argyll & Sutherland Officer on parade with his tunic, shirt, tie, sam browne belt as well as the customary kilt etc...I basicaly bought items I'd never had as a kid and like you had no other commitments back then. I also have Muton and Cyborg - well, I've actually got the Japanese same sized King Walder Junior's (that was the figures real name in Japan as the 12'' figures were the - well I'm sure you know, you collected them also!), mine are a yellow one and a blue one....I do have the Amulak costume for them and one of the Cyborg kits. There are so many things I get into and start buying - like classic Transformers or their reissues, Lego, G.I.JOE 25th/30th anniversary style figures, Gobots, Meccano, Hornby Trains - (I'd love to have a big layout oneday!). I mainly buy things to get my mind of other things going on in my life (you know, mundane or serious things). But there are items I own that are from my childhood that have such great sentimental value and they are priceless, like my teddies and my original Action Man and a few other things.

[sf1378]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

The only things I still have from my childhood are my lego and a couple of cuddly toys. Everything else got sold in one of my front gate jumble sales.

What sort of Lego? The Town stuff with the nice little men and women?

[battyrat]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

All my toys went as I grew out of them.They would just dissapear,sold on and the money put towards either new toys or secondhand for the more expensive stuff.My sister managed to keep many of hers.

A few years ago I was digging dads garden for him to put in a few potatoes and unearthed a few of my old toy soldiers that I was just so cruel too at the time.I used to build mud buildings and bomb them with marbles,dig trenches,etc.Some of the soldiers had been buried since the 70's.Those that were in better condition I kept but a few fell apart not long after being unearthed as they started to dry out.One of the soldiers in particular a roman gladiator I can remember watching dad paint well before we moved in 1978 so its an early 70's soldier at least.It still had traces of the paint clinging to it.These are the only toys I have left from my childhood and in this case my cruelty in many an unmentionable way in fact saved them for me in later years.If I had not been so destructive they would of been long gone with the rest of my toys.They are cherished and kept with the important documents in the same small box for safekeeping.I was only looking at them earlier this week.

[darren]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

its so great u managed to find them after them being buried for so long they where well preserved some of them the one u found which your dad painted must be a special one for u to find and now keep.

what others did u manage to find that u have kept.

All my toys went as I grew out of them.They would just dissapear,sold on and the money put towards either new toys or secondhand for the more expensive stuff.My sister managed to keep many of hers.

A few years ago I was digging dads garden for him to put in a few potatoes and unearthed a few of my old toy soldiers that I was just so cruel too at the time.I used to build mud buildings and bomb them with marbles,dig trenches,etc.Some of the soldiers had been buried since the 70's.Those that were in better condition I kept but a few fell apart not long after being unearthed as they started to dry out.One of the soldiers in particular a roman gladiator I can remember watching dad paint well before we moved in 1978 so its an early 70's soldier at least.It still had traces of the paint clinging to it.These are the only toys I have left from my childhood and in this case my cruelty in many an unmentionable way in fact saved them for me in later years.If I had not been so destructive they would of been long gone with the rest of my toys.They are cherished and kept with the important documents in the same small box for safekeeping.I was only looking at them earlier this week.

[pearsonbargains]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

my favourite would be the pound puppies, although I have recently thinned my collection down and kept a few of my favourites. Just love their cute faces, velvety fur and floppy bodies

[battyrat]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

Sorry to not get back sooner. I kept six of the soldiers in the end. One British marine, a German running. A jap standing with rifle, Two cheaply made soldiers possibly from those cheap bulk lots you used to buy in a net or large bag, and the Roman gladiator which my dad painted. I just wished I had found more in a sound condition. All show damage from my misspent youth. I did unearth more like a German soldier with a nail stuck through him and a rather good looking Indian brave. Both fell apart. The Indian Brave would of been the soldier I wanted to save. He came from the boys who lived next door. Both of the boys had this thing about the wild west and had a big tin of cowboys and Indians including US cavalry. I nicked this figure as I quite liked it at the time. Both of the boys moved house in 1977/78 so I would of gained it long before then. They ended up being football mad so from about 1976 till the time they moved that's all they done...football. I would of been about 10 years old when they left. Being the boys next door they were also my first proper friends so would of known them from before I even started to walk. I have a few faded photos of them, but not much else apart from long distant faded memories of long summers spent in the garden or out on the field playing cowboys and Indians etc.

[Chris-T]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

Still got my Top Trumps, my quality street tin of cars, my Tandy 200-in-1 electronic kit, my fairy tales book, my David Mondey aircraft books, quite a bit of stuff really come to think of it.

[culnara]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

I still have quite a lot of my action man stuff dotted about here and there, along with German motorbike and sidecar, jet fighter, and armoured personnel carrier ( although the big machine gun is missing from that and the rocket's are missing from the jet, two days ago I came across one of my old technical lego set's, I started to make it again and thats when I discovered there are several important bits missing I have a funny feeling they are in a bag with another technical lego set...... I have yet to remember where da ell I have put that one tho :S

not to be put off, I have managed to source the missing bit's on ebay, so I am now waiting patiently for them to arrive

I got both of these in 1977, first one was the fork lift truck ( the one I tried to assemble again ) and the other one, a Tractor is in a carrier bag somewhere..... the joys of being a hoarder

[akb48fan]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

I've still got some of my Star Wars ships up in my parent's attic but I think they're in a bit of state with all the dust and muck on them. I have been thinking of buying some of them again from Ebay or going to a toy fair.

[stuckinthepast77]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

i used to like things like the grandstand astro wars handheld game,and the nintendo game and watch handheld game,plus in my early years i had the alien attack,firefox and munchman handhelds,until transformers came along and i was all over thembut my parents didnt have money coming out their ears so i was luck if i got one transformer for my birthday and one for christmas-no,i was content with my pocket money (a quid a week)going on a 65p matchbox car from tescos then a bag or two of monster munch or golden wonderthose were the days

[bakermuk]

Re: Clinging onto your childhood toys

Everytime I come back and read this thread I always head over to ebay and start to look at some of the toys I had - and start to bid when I see something I had - Sometimes I win, sometimes I don't - when I do, I am excited about seeing that toy again the following week. In recent years I have bought

Top Trump sets from the early days
Matchbox cars (with boxes if possible)
Space 1999 Eagle Transporters

Love these things and they are a real link back to my childhood. Displayed when I get them, they are looked on everyday and cherished.