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Saw Trevors post about the Landing craft and it reminded me of my childhood.
A friend of mine and I would play army with our plastic green army men, and a crap load of military models. Planes, tanks, trucks, jeeps. I was more into scifi models, but I had a comparable collection of military vehicles too. My air force was mostly huey helicopters, while he had the planes. We both had tanks up the butt. Our battlefields were huge. We lived in an apartment complex that was next to a golf course, so we'd play on the side of the fairway. Epic battles complete with explosions by blowing up tanks and planes with firecrackers and m-80s and setting things on fire. He was the only model building buddy I've ever had. Awesome fun.
And the apts and golf course are still there after 48 years.To be fair, there were some Army Men videos games. They just sucked. There are a couple games that use the plastic army men without the connected name that are doing a bit better by it. Basically arena battles with toy soldiers.
I always thought it would be cool to do a short comic or two using Daz for a story with the little army guys.Yeah, I know about those(the 1st you speak of). Not the same and totally misses the point.
Video games are fine, don't get me wrong, but they keep kids inside all day.
We'd play for hours using our imaginations. We'd still get dirty because we made our own oceans and rivers. Even inside, beds, chairs, tables became mountains and fortresses.
I also lived in the era of the 12" figures, Big Jim and G.I. Joe. That was another group of friends in the townhouses next to the apts. And another of my faves was Major Matt Mason. Not 12", but still very cool.I remember in the early 70s, I was playing on the beach and I lost a bag of army men to the tide. Mom and I were visiting a friend who was a soon to be governor of the state. The property was on the beach. I was heart broken. LOL
My G.I. Joes were the 4" figures. My childhood was the 80s.
Can't give much in the way of 'normal'. I grew up in the country on a small farm. My closest neighbors were all on the edge of retirement & it was too far to walk to town.
Im over 50 and played with metal toy trucks in the mud,
road a bike and shot army men with cap pistols.Once Atari came out I rarely looked back.
I remember Tonka toys...The old man decided to add on to the house - did all the work himself, so there was almost always a pile of sand that he used to mix the mortar for the brick work with...made an excellent 'construction zone' for the Tonkas. Matchbox was always for playing inside
I was already a young adult when atari came out. I babysat for a friend and her kid and I would play Kaboom and pong.
I had Tonka trucks, matchbox and Hotwheels back in the 60s and 70s too. Those are still popular. And I had a Huffy ten speed that I rode like a mountain bike. Tough ass bike.
Maybe Im looking in the wrong places but I havent seen a decent size all metal dump truck in many years. Everything is plastic. I even had a cement truck to mix mud in and metal bulldozer. Perhaps they are just to expensive today or parents want nerfed toys so kids dont get hurt. ATM Id still rather play space invaders than make mud huts. Legos would be a hard call.
Ahh the good old days
I grew up in a small coastal town and lived right next to bushland.
I would spend weeks building cubby houses in the bush.
We would all play outside in the bush or the local park til the sun went down.Grocery stores put your shopping in card board boxes. I would turn a big cardboard box into the starship enterprise, the doctor who tardis or a world war 2 tank with a broom stick as a turret.
Cricket, and football was played out in the street without a care in the world.
I made go-carts out wooden planks, old broken bicycle parts and prams. I would wear a plastic ice cream bucket on my head for a helmet.
I would sometimes walk around the neighborhood knocking on doors asking for empty soft drink glass bottles and stack them in a milk crate balanced on my go cart.
The corner store would give give me 10 cents per bottle.Then I would spend my money on bag of mixed lollies and a few games of space invaders that was in the store.
I would make kites from garbage bags and bamboo then go to the park and fly them so high.
As a young kid my Imagination was alive and well. It was always full of adventure.
I was never bored and never stayed indoors.
Then I got a hand held donkey kong game on my birthday. Technology like the commadore 64 came into my life and then from that day on wards I didn't play out side as much.Metal ones are still around, but expensive. Usually specialty toy stores, or 'fancy' brands that charge 2x-3x what a plastic one go for.
There is a brand out there that I've seen in Target that are classic toys. Bit better wood-grain & a new coat of paint makes their price skyrocket.
Safety does have a bit to do with it as well. Metal outside toys are usually left... outside. Wear and tear plus rain = rusty edges. Had a neighbor kid launch one of the dump trucks into my kids face a few years back. Old style metal one. Bought slapped that little s**t.
@globalrecession2009 Thank you for sharing that. I really enjoyed reading it. As I got older, foosball came into my life and there was a game parlor that opened next to the apts we lived in at that time. I spent a lot of time there. Wasn't interested in anything else. Just foosball. LOL
There's ANOTHER kicker.. freakin parents these days. Actually, society. Kids can't even BE kids because its too dangerous. They may fall down and scrape a knee.. BOO HOO.... Yeah, just put kids in padded plastic bubbles inside padded rooms and let them play with air toys. Seriously. Lock up the parents that have free range kids because they're horrible parents and neglecting their children by having them go outside and be KIDS. Its ridiculous.
So, kids can't be kids outside, so they play video games, yet parents and society jump down their throats about playing video games. But then kids know that parents can't really do anything because if they try anything, they can have CPS called on them so the kids continue to play video games. Society bitches about everything being unsafe, including video games, and parents kowtow to society and their kids.
Can we just get back to being living creatures?
those were the days before flu shots and drive by's...unfortunately, society moves on, and equally unfortunately, usually in the wrong direction...spare the rod?? yah, right - kids wield the rod anymore - parents haven't got a prayer that will save them from their kids. If I had called anybody for some of the beatings I got growing up, CPS would have watched as I got another one for disturbing them - that is, if there was a CPS back then...
I don't really want to call religion into any of this, but when I was growing up I went to a parochial school, we were taught the Golden Rule - and it wasn't "who has the gold makes the rules" - and the ten commandments, with the first and fourth being almost equal...we were taught tolerance and equality - values that have been regretfully lost to the ages, or at least diluted so badly that they don't matter any more
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