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With all the "I miss" threads on here, I thought I'd express an opinion.
Modern toys are CRAP. I'm happy as can be that My Little Pony came back, and then Hasbro has to go and make them 'trendy' and anorexic and stuff. They did that once, in the late 90's. It didn't work then, it's not working now.
And seriously, what is WRONG with toy companies these days that don't understand that quality means making something that doesn't break in three play sessions?
Back in my day....
Modern toys are CRAP....
Some companies are still putting out good stuff. You have to pay for it though. That's for sure.
My wife keeps buying our girl crappy stuff to save money then we bicker over it because I'd rather spend more money, and get less stuff, but have it work well and last.
I grew up on Legos. I was building things with those up until I left for college, just as something to kill time with. They've gone into trendiness - every new "set" is based off some movie or something rather than the old "Knights and Wizards, Pirates, Aliens and Spacemen, or Submarine Soldiers" themes, but the prices are still relatively low (the little five-minute sets still sell for three dollars, I remember scrounging up quarters for weeks one after another to buy those) and the quality of the blocks hasn't changed. So that's something at least.
I dunno; I felt like I was a baby in a topless bar when I wandered into a ToysRUs the other day prior to Christmas. The problem is that the good toys cost $$$$. I'm just peachy keen that my ole man got me a Lego VIP membership. Not sure what I'll get out of it, but knowing that someone sprung for it was +1 to say the least.
I'd say the big issue is the end of die cast metal. Sure, kids were hurting themselves, but those things were unbreakable. I remember when we tried to break a kid's transformer(heresy, I know) with firecrackers. I forget which one it was, but he was still playing with it later on that day. Only the plastic parts were messed up.
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I'm most disgruntled by the toy commercials thrown on to kids' DVDs now. The worst is that I can't skip past them; when I try, I get the damnable 'Action Not Allowed' comment, and before the movie even starts my oldest wants all the movie tie-ins. What you have to watch for is the small print, in low-level white letters at the very bottom of the picture: "Final product may vary from that displayed."
A lot of the 'popular' toys I end up buying look nothing like the commercial, and are broken before the end of the day.
The final straw? When I break the damn toy trying to get it out of the antitheft packaging!
And those that appeared in the McDonald's Happy Meal. Who cared if I had to ... eat!
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I remember my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys (the old ones) always seemed to break >_>
... so did my x-men toys though.
I think I just had a bad habit of breaking things though.
As for the re-intro of things ... yea some of this stuff is weird to see. Strawberry Shortcut my wife used to like and now it's all ... trendy. She didn't dress trendy when we were kids ... she dressed like a dork and we liked her anyway.
Nerf guns are still good though, even the newer ones ... in fact I like the newer ones. Nerf gun clips? Oh thats just cool! The Nerf Swords suck though ... they hurt like friggen crap. Especially the bigger ones. The old phrase of "It's Nerf of Nothing"? ... well that stopped using nerf and now it's NOTHING but making a 26 year old cry.
What i REALLY hate though is the toys like the x-men and spider man and whatever else ... a few years ago they came out and were actually bigger than the ones I had which I thought were awesome. Over the years they slowly shrunk them so that now you're STILL paying the 10 bucks but you're getting toys half the size ... now smaller than the ones I used to play with. How are you charging the same for less?
... then again I don't know why I get too worked up. I don't buy them anyway and I have a daughter so I'm safe. Speaking of which, Barbies seem to still be durable enough.
I remember my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys (the old ones) always seemed to break >_>
... so did my x-men toys though.
I think I just had a bad habit of breaking things though.
As for the re-intro of things ... yea some of this stuff is weird to see. Strawberry Shortcut my wife used to like and now it's all ... trendy. She didn't dress trendy when we were kids ... she dressed like a dork and we liked her anyway.
Nerf guns are still good though, even the newer ones ... in fact I like the newer ones. Nerf gun clips? Oh thats just cool! The Nerf Swords suck though ... they hurt like friggen crap. Especially the bigger ones. The old phrase of "It's Nerf of Nothing"? ... well that stopped using nerf and now it's NOTHING but making a 26 year old cry.
What i REALLY hate though is the toys like the x-men and spider man and whatever else ... a few years ago they came out and were actually bigger than the ones I had which I thought were awesome. Over the years they slowly shrunk them so that now you're STILL paying the 10 bucks but you're getting toys half the size ... now smaller than the ones I used to play with. How are you charging the same for less?
... then again I don't know why I get too worked up. I don't buy them anyway and I have a daughter so I'm safe. Speaking of which, Barbies seem to still be durable enough.
Who's Strawberry Shortcut? ;-) That's a nice take on the name actually, I'd follow a webcomic by that title.
I like the nerf swords actually, they're fairly useful for when I need to practice or demonstrate something without hurting someone TOO badly...
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I remember my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys (the old ones) always seemed to break >_>
... so did my x-men toys though.
I think I just had a bad habit of breaking things though.
As for the re-intro of things ... yea some of this stuff is weird to see. Strawberry Shortcut my wife used to like and now it's all ... trendy. She didn't dress trendy when we were kids ... she dressed like a dork and we liked her anyway.
Nerf guns are still good though, even the newer ones ... in fact I like the newer ones. Nerf gun clips? Oh thats just cool! The Nerf Swords suck though ... they hurt like friggen crap. Especially the bigger ones. The old phrase of "It's Nerf of Nothing"? ... well that stopped using nerf and now it's NOTHING but making a 26 year old cry.
What i REALLY hate though is the toys like the x-men and spider man and whatever else ... a few years ago they came out and were actually bigger than the ones I had which I thought were awesome. Over the years they slowly shrunk them so that now you're STILL paying the 10 bucks but you're getting toys half the size ... now smaller than the ones I used to play with. How are you charging the same for less?
... then again I don't know why I get too worked up. I don't buy them anyway and I have a daughter so I'm safe. Speaking of which, Barbies seem to still be durable enough.
Who's Strawberry Shortcut? ;-) That's a nice take on the name actually, I'd follow a webcomic by that title.
I like the nerf swords actually, they're fairly useful for when I need to practice or demonstrate something without hurting someone TOO badly...
I'm going to CLAIM the typo was on purpose and try to sound cool and hip by being creative ... because there is no proof otherwise.
*waves hand* ... these are not the typos you are looking for O__O
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I remember my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys (the old ones) always seemed to break >_>
... so did my x-men toys though.
I think I just had a bad habit of breaking things though.
As for the re-intro of things ... yea some of this stuff is weird to see. Strawberry Shortcut my wife used to like and now it's all ... trendy. She didn't dress trendy when we were kids ... she dressed like a dork and we liked her anyway.
Nerf guns are still good though, even the newer ones ... in fact I like the newer ones. Nerf gun clips? Oh thats just cool! The Nerf Swords suck though ... they hurt like friggen crap. Especially the bigger ones. The old phrase of "It's Nerf of Nothing"? ... well that stopped using nerf and now it's NOTHING but making a 26 year old cry.
What i REALLY hate though is the toys like the x-men and spider man and whatever else ... a few years ago they came out and were actually bigger than the ones I had which I thought were awesome. Over the years they slowly shrunk them so that now you're STILL paying the 10 bucks but you're getting toys half the size ... now smaller than the ones I used to play with. How are you charging the same for less?
... then again I don't know why I get too worked up. I don't buy them anyway and I have a daughter so I'm safe. Speaking of which, Barbies seem to still be durable enough.
Who's Strawberry Shortcut? ;-) That's a nice take on the name actually, I'd follow a webcomic by that title.
I like the nerf swords actually, they're fairly useful for when I need to practice or demonstrate something without hurting someone TOO badly...
I'm going to CLAIM the typo was on purpose and try to sound cool and hip by being creative ... because there is no proof otherwise.
*waves hand* ... these are not the typos you are looking for O__O
These are not the typos I'm looking for...
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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What I hate is the dumbing down of toys across the ocean.
Look at the Super Sentai toys, then look at their Power ranger counterparts. I bought a Mercury Ranger shifter some time ago, and gave it to a friend's son. Compared to the American version, he was like a little mighty morphing demigod to his friends. That it spoke Japanese was even cooler.
Heck for Operation Overdrive, it was the Sentai toys they used as props.
I need my vision checked. I thought you had said Hentai toys.
<wipes brow> That was a close one.
Umm, ever heard of the Hello Kitty 'neck' massager?I need my vision checked. I thought you had said Hentai toys.
<wipes brow> That was a close one.
I was opting for the Hello Cthulhu version.
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When my two older brothers (now 44 & 43) were little kids, someone gave them a set of painted wooden blocks of various shapes and sizes. My parents still have them. In fact, they keep them in a wooden basket, right out in the living room of their house.
Guess what all the grand kids play with when they come over.....?
And let's hear if for Legos and Matchbox/Hotwheels cars, the other indestructible toys. My parents have boxes of those things from when we were growing up.
Indestructible? You must've been hanging with the tamer children. :P
Umm, ever heard of the Hello Kitty 'neck' massager?I need my vision checked. I thought you had said Hentai toys.
<wipes brow> That was a close one.
I own that! I got mine from the creator of J-List himself! It was AWESOME!!!
The final straw? When I break the damn toy trying to get it out of the antitheft packaging!
Ah antitheft packaging. The final straw. When you have to spend thirty minutes cutting three layers of plastic with oversized garden shears just to get a plastic man out of a box, and God help you if you have no scissors in the house at the time....
The final straw? When I break the damn toy trying to get it out of the antitheft packaging!Ah antitheft packaging. The final straw. When you have to spend thirty minutes cutting three layers of plastic with oversized garden shears just to get a plastic man out of a box, and God help you if you have no scissors in the house at the time....
I cut my thumb with a pair of serrated scissors last week when I was trying to remove metal bindings from the packaging that held the chatter Cookie Monster. The rest of them were plastic, so as I was not paying attention, *whoops*.
The toy is for 18+ months and I bought it for myself.
*facepalm*
Indestructible? You must've been hanging with the tamer children. :PHell no! My brothers and I helped push the expansion of the local hospital. Maybe indestructible was too strong a word, but no doubt that stuff was tuff.
<orderly> we got another one! </orderly>
<rn> hamster? </rn>
<orderly> thank god, no! a matchbox. </orderly>
The final straw? When I break the damn toy trying to get it out of the antitheft packaging!Ah antitheft packaging. The final straw. When you have to spend thirty minutes cutting three layers of plastic with oversized garden shears just to get a plastic man out of a box, and God help you if you have no scissors in the house at the time....I cut my thumb with a pair of serrated scissors last week when I was trying to remove metal bindings from the packaging that held the chatter Cookie Monster. The rest of them were plastic, so as I was not paying attention, *whoops*.
The toy is for 18+ months and I bought it for myself.
*facepalm*
I got a toy for myself once and I thought I could handle opening it without scissors. I made a small incision with a knife and started pulling it open upon the side.
About halfway through, I realized that I had gashed myself open quite gorily upon the plastic. Blood was literally everywhere. One of my roommates saw me and almost passed out(has a big problem with the sight of blood).
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The final straw? When I break the damn toy trying to get it out of the antitheft packaging!Ah antitheft packaging. The final straw. When you have to spend thirty minutes cutting three layers of plastic with oversized garden shears just to get a plastic man out of a box, and God help you if you have no scissors in the house at the time....
And it's not just toys, but that would be off topic. Modern packaging is the least friendly, least ecological and least fun of any ever.
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Indestructible? You must've been hanging with the tamer children. :PHell no! My brothers and I helped push the expansion of the local hospital. Maybe indestructible was too strong a word, but no doubt that stuff was tuff.<orderly> we got another one! </orderly>
<rn> hamster? </rn>
<orderly> thank god, no! a matchbox. </orderly>
I did get my head gashed open by a Stretch Monster once. Does that count?
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My son just got some of the New Little people for the Holidays and everything is a light weight plastic and he has already broke part of the Car wash.
Over the Summer my Wife and I found a lot of the Original little people 80 people 5 buildings(parking garage, sesame Street playhouse x2, the School house and the castle) with a ton of stuff to go with them. a Grand mother was selling them off after her last grand child grew out of them, they were her kids. Some of these sets are almost 40 years old and some are in mint condition even after my kids playing with them since August.
Are you old enough to remember the old Tonka trucks that were made entirely of metal? Those things laughed at most attempts to destroy them.Indestructible? You must've been hanging with the tamer children. :PHell no! My brothers and I helped push the expansion of the local hospital. Maybe indestructible was too strong a word, but no doubt that stuff was tough.
I once left a toy like that on the back of my grandfather's truck. He then drove all the way down the street before it fell off when he turned. Other than some nicks and scrapes from bouncing it was fine.
I did get my head gashed open by a Stretch Monster once. Does that count?Indestructible? You must've been hanging with the tamer children. :PHell no! My brothers and I helped push the expansion of the local hospital. Maybe indestructible was too strong a word, but no doubt that stuff was tuff.<orderly> we got another one! </orderly>
<rn> hamster? </rn>
<orderly> thank god, no! a matchbox. </orderly>
How in the world did you do that?
I once left a toy like that on the back of my grandfather's truck. He then drove all the way down the street before it fell off when he turned. Other than some nicks and scrapes from bouncing it was fine.Are you old enough to remember the old Tonka trucks that were made entirely of metal? Those things laughed at most attempts to destroy them.Indestructible? You must've been hanging with the tamer children. :PHell no! My brothers and I helped push the expansion of the local hospital. Maybe indestructible was too strong a word, but no doubt that stuff was tough.
Die cast metal! Huzzah!
And now we don't have those toys because of all the alleged lead contamination. Who would've thunk we'd put 'em in our mouths? Anyone? :P
Purely fabrication. Trying to defame quality Chinese products.
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Are you old enough to remember the old Tonka trucks that were made entirely of metal? Those things laughed at most attempts to destroy them.Indestructible? You must've been hanging with the tamer children. :PHell no! My brothers and I helped push the expansion of the local hospital. Maybe indestructible was too strong a word, but no doubt that stuff was tough.
Oh yes. The Tonkas were bad ass.
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How in the world did you do that?
I did get my head gashed open by a Stretch Monster once. Does that count?
I didn't do it myself. My younger brother threw it at my one of my older brothers and missed. Next thing I know, my head is bleeding all over the place. That was the second time I got stiches.
Chief Technical Officer
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Tonka rocked, and they still hold up pretty well in the modern era. Not like they used to though.
Are you old enough to remember the old Tonka trucks that were made entirely of metal? Those things laughed at most attempts to destroy them.
I love that one of their best-selling models is called the "Mighty Dump."
And those that appeared in the McDonald's Happy Meal. Who cared if I had to ... eat!
Actually, I count my daughter's kung fu panda action figures as the best ever Mickey D score.
And some of the most played with of any action figures she has.
Blasphemy I know, but my boys play with my old Star Wars figures. And Hot Wheels. And Blocks. The only toy that they keep breaking is My eldest's Buzz Lightyear (though the younger one did rip the wing off a chibi Cthulhu . . .)
nobody mentions playmobil? I'm shocked, shocked? What is this a casino?
It's back from the dead!
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I always liked the Calvin & Hobbes approach, where the box is a better toy than whatever piece of junk was in it.
