Episode 1448 Talkback - Top 5 Christmas Gifts We Got As Kids
i_am_scifi
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As the holiday season approaches its apex, the Speakers of Geek take some time to relax and reminisce about their personal favorite childhood Christmas gifts. So what kind of geeky goodies did the guys get during their formative years? Pour yourself an eggnog, listen, and learn! Plus: a Christmas nightcap with Drunk Cap!
Listen here all ye faithful!
Listen here all ye faithful!
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4. COBRA RATTLER
3. COBRA MAMBA
2. Castle Grayskull play set.
1. Random selection of Marvel comics ordered from the JC Penny Christmas catalog.
5. Buck Rogers action figures and a couple of ships
4. Battlestar Galactica action figures.
3. A generic action figure case that held twelve figures, filled with figures from the Empire Strikes Back, all of the main characters and I got vehicle a twin pod cloud car and an x-wing
2. Metroplex (along with Ultra Magnus, Astrotrain and Blitzwing)
1. Millenium Falcon already put together sitting under the tree with Han, Ben, Luke, Leia, Chewbacca and the droids fending off Vader and some Stormtroopers with some of the cantina aliens
that is the best right along with these:
Incredible Hulk action figure (the one with the lab coat from the 70's)
G.I. Joe: Sky Striker
3)
I remember my parents taking the slime away because they didn't want to have to clean it up. I found it like fifteen years later still in my dad's cabinet. :D
There was one Christmas where my sister got that taller Princess Leia figure and I got Luke. I only kept it for about a week or so and then gave it to my sister, it just seemed like a Ken doll dressed as Luke to me.
I also gave away all of my Joe's and Transformers when I was about 17 or 18. Gave everything to my best friend and his two younger brothers, they didn't have much of anything. It was an easy decision, I don't really regret it and he still has everything I gave them.
4. Mike the Mechanic, my cabbage patch doll
3. Voltron
2. Castle Grayskull playset.
1. Atari/NES/SNES & video games
Based on the amount of hours of play that followed, here are mine in order.
5. Best of the West collection Sam Cobra and his horse
4. Remote control R2-D2
3. Death Star space station
2. Evel Kenevil
1. Six Million Dollar Man with Maskatron villain
Honorable mention: Planet of the Apes model kits, Stretch Armstrong, Mego Marvel & DC action figures
One of the earliest toys I can remember having. My parents have pictures of me somewhere proudly wearing this bandolier with my figures. I didn't have a lot of Star Wars vehicles, but I did have a lot of the figures and this helped me keep them all in one place. Chewy was also my favorite character at the time and so that even compounded the love for this toy. This is so memorable to me that I mentioned it when I got to meet Chewy himself, Peter Mayhew, at this years Denver Comic Con. Off to eBay...
This was the vehicle to end all vehicles for me. Other G.I. Joe toys would come and go, but my Sky Striker stuck around with me. I believe it's somewhere in my parent's basement still, sans everything but the actual F-14. Once I saw Top Gun, my love for this jet was cemented. The wings would fold back when in flight, for a much sleeker look (although I do believe that that is not how they actually fly) while pulling the landing gear up at the same time! Eventually in high school I grabbed some fishing line and hung the Sky Striker from my ceiling. Loved it.
My parents didn't have a lot of money when I was growing up and so it was tough getting the toys I really wanted. Transformers and Star Wars vehicles always seemed like they were out of my parent's price range. Every now and then they would buy me smaller figures (see below). While my friends were playing with Optimus, Megatron, Starscream, etc. I had the little carded figures. Until I got Grimlock. I don't remember when I got this guy (probably for Christmas since my brother had Slag), but I loved dinosaurs and I loved the Transformers cartoon and these were two great tastes that tasted even better together. I would go around the house constantly reciting, "Me Grimlock!" I eventually got all five of the Dinobots from eBay with all of their weapons, cards, instructions and one box for around $200. I don't care if that was a rip off or not, I now have them prominently on my bookshelf.
I'm combining these two because of my brother. I love the guy, but we're only about a year and a half apart in age and we both grew up loving G.I. Joe. For Christmas I would always ask for Joe stuff. My brother was oblivious about G.I. Joe until about first grade. He then wanted everything that I wanted. One Christmas I wanted the Mobile Command Center. I knew I wasn't going to get it because it was waaaay too much for my parents. Shock of all shocks when my brother and I opened it that December morning! Then I found out that we would have to "share" it. We divided the decks with the middle being neutral territory. I think I conceded it when I was entering high school and he turned it into a base for his TMNT figures. The X30 was something we both got one Christmas. The wings are backwards! I thought it was cool, but my parents didn't want each other to be jealous so they got us each one. In order to tell our toys apart we would mark it in some way. My brother decided to mark his X30 with this God-awful pink shimmery nail polish of my mother's. It was easy to tell mine from the ugly one my brother had.
I don't know if I actually had Sgt. Slaughter, but I played the hell out of his Renegades. They looked so tough and were tough in the G.I.Joe animated movie. I would act out their scene with Flint over and over again. I loved all my Joe figures, but these were my favorite for the longest time.
Honorable mentions:
As mentioned above, I got a lot of the smaller Transformers figures. Bumblebee and Brawn were the two I cherished the most. Hours of entertainment. I also loved how Brawn looked nothing like the animated version. Hot Rod was one that I traded a neighbor kid for. I don't know what I traded for it, but I remember begging and begging because of how awesome he was in the TF movie. I'm happy to say that when I was in my early twenties I rectified the lack of TF in my childhood and purchased some of the reissued/Takara toys.
&#^$@n' just look at how beautifully stealth it is. I swear many of the Joe designs I saw in my dad's Popular Science magazines.
Thanks for the nostalgia, guys! Sorry this is so long!
:(|)
Also, someone else (I believe) mentioned Micro Star Wars vehicles. I still have Slave 1, and slightly similar, here are three sets I had and loved - Bespin, Death Star, and Hoth.
I forgot about the micro universe I had one set, Bespin catwalk and that was it lol
I just wrote about this in more detail over in the Silver and Bronze Age thread, but hope you don't mind me sharing it here again more briefly.
The days/weeks of 2014 exactly repeat the days/weeks of 1975...so this year, my calendar will be the 1975 Mighty Marvel calendar! My girlfriend gave it to me (although I had technically tracked it down about a year ago in anticipation of this.) It was apparently written by Roy Thomas back in the day. I posted January over in the Silver/Bronze Age thread....
And my other gift from my girlfriend was a reproduction of the 1975 Marvel convention poster. Although I attended the 1976 con, I had this poster on my wall for YEARS. It's lost to the mist of times, but this nearly full-size reproduction still makes me VERY happy! Artwork by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott.
My other favorites are a Corgi Batmobile (the larger one. I destroyed three of these through playing with them constantly), Major Matt Mason play set with space bubble and space crawler, Super Spirograph, Colorforms Outer Space Men (Orbitron was the first I got), can't remember what it was called but I got a motorized monster factory where you heated molds to make their arms, legs and other parts to put on the motorized frame (it created awful noxious fumes when heating the rubber), Zeroids robots, King Ding from The Ding-a-Lings robot line, Aurora Prehistoric Scenes and Marx dinosaurs.
I still have all the Matt Mason stuff from when I was a kid and still have the Brain from King Ding, sabre tooth tiger from Prehistoric Scenes and Orbitron and Collosus Rex from the Outer Space Men. All the rest were sold off in tag sales after I got "too old" for them. I've since replaced a lot of the stuff on EBay.
Major Matt Mason, Reentry Glider
Hot Wheels Power House
Mego, World's Greatest Superheroes - Aquaman
Tandy, Leathercraft kit (mine was a later version).
GI JOE USS Flagg and Terrordome (a plus of having 2 brothers )
HE-MAN : Greyskull and Snake Mountain
TRANSFORMERS: Aerialbots
still have all the Star Wars, GI Joe, He-Man and Transformers
It lasted for around 15 years although it did have to get fixed once when it got zapped in a lightening storm.
5. Shogun Warriors Mazinga from my brother
4. Darth Vader Star Wars Figure carrying case - still in my closet
3. Sled from my brother
2. Hot Wheels garage with elevator
1. Death Star Playset
As a result of this toy, I recently bought blue and red Force Action lightsabers. Every once in a while I'll pop the batteries in and swing it around. Once I even had my freshmen language arts class reading Romeo & Juliet and we used them as props for the big fight scene in Act III with Tybalt, Romeo, and Mercutio. Lights and sounds and everything! Epic.
..okay I've gotta stop this. Sorry.
They should have had the older brother from ET do the voice.
Being both a fan of Robotech and Transformers, this was a big deal.
Here are my top 5:
5) Transformers Hound and Skywarp - the first Transformers I had.
4) Nintendo Gameboy -played a LOT of Tetris
3) Castle Grayskull and several MOTU figures - great fun
2) Ewok Village and Rancor - gift them both one Christmas and that made for some fun Godzilla style action attacks
1) G.I. Joe USS Flagg - best playset ever
I grew up with the 80s Joes, but respect what came before because without it, there wouldn't be the belief that figures were a good idea as a toy for boys. But without the 89s Joes the franchise would have gone the way of the dodo. And I love how IDW recognizes both sides and has been combining both eras when they can.