Friday, August 22, 2008

Your Turn

So, this week I was watching television when lo and behold a Seinfeld episode came on. I know, I know, what are the odds that you turn on the television and a Seinfeld episode is on. Pretty damn good considering I think it is on 24 hours a day.

So, it was one of my all-time favorite episodes. The one where Jerry and Elaine feed turkey to a woman so she will fall asleep and they can play with her vintage toys.

My question is this. What is the toy you absolutely loved playing with growing up and the toy you always begged your parents for, but they never got you.

102 comments:

Sara said...

omg i never got a ken doll!! i think my mom was afraid of the fake sex my barbies were going to have with him.

Anonymous said...

Hmm I recall just wanting more and more Barbies.

Molly said...

barbies and i never got the pony i wanted. not really a toy but it was the only thing i wanted.

enty glad you didn't catch the episode on masturbation or who knows what the hell you'd be asking us.

Molly said...

sara maybe your mom thought it would come with a peen.

lutefisk said...

Oh--Barbies for sure. That feeling you got when you bought a new outfit and opened it up & dressed your favorite doll of the week?--It can never be duplicated.
I know we had this discussion before, so forgive me for the rerun, but I never got my Barbie Beauty Center--the original in the pink box from the 1970's. My sadisic family tortured me, & wouldn't spend the $9.99 to make my life complete.
How I longed for that!

Anonymous said...

Barbies & Thumbalina

Clanger said...

I always wanted an Easy Bake Oven. My mom told me no, I was luckier to have a REAL oven. I thought it would be cooler to cook with a lightbulb! :) Also Barbies - my mom did not believe in Barbies.

Emma31 said...

Rainbow Bright doll. I thought my world was ending when my mom told me NO! "for pete's sake you need this doll like you need a hole in your head" Ahhh memories!

Emma31 said...
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amydylan said...

I wasnt allowed a Barbie but I really wanted one my daughter has a couple of 100 barbies now though!

Emobacca said...

A Fleshlite. At least it would have prevented me from staining so many bedsheets.

lutefisk said...

jenn-- I actually bought an easybake oven a few yars ago for my kids because I never had one either, & they ooed & ahed over it, & it is still in the box next to the McDonald's flurry maker. Kids are too jaded to sit & bake a pie with a lightbulb.

mooshki said...

For me it was just books, especially Nancy Drew. I was always broken hearted that my mom wouldn't give me more than a few $ for the book fairs. When I played with friends or my brother, it was mostly games or running around outside, not toys. We weren't really a toy family, and honestly, I didn't miss them much except when I'd see a particularly shiny commercial.

Jesse D said...

I don't remember a single thing I ever wanted but never got. My parents went all out every Christmas for their three kids, shopping all year for presents and such. My favorite presents all had to do with music though - my first record player/tape deck, my first cd player...

dethmama said...

Lawn darts, clackers, bb guns... My parents never denied me any toy. Oh wait... they just gave those to me. I never had to ask.

mooshki said...

Oh, and when I got a Barbie, my brother cut off all its hair a couple of days later, so the thrill didn't last long. :)

Moosefan said...

I am a child of the 70's and i loved loved loved my Baby Alive. The original one! I have a picture of me with my Baby and I am rocking the red and green plaid pants with the green turtle neck on Christmas day!
I always wanted a Strawberry Shortcake doll and the doll with all the junk that was in the very first section of the Sears and Robuck Christmas Wish Book. Yall know the doll-with the bed, and trunk of clothes and all of the junk that came with it..Getting the Sears Wish book was a fight and a half at my house. I remember getting my crayons and a red marker to circle the stuff I wanted and the stuff I did not.

Molly said...

emobacca, you would think your mom would have appreciated that.

mooshki, my brother threw my barbie on the floor of the basement and it's tits were dented in until they popped back out again.

jw12 said...

I asked my dad every day for a horse. He finally got fed up at told me he bought me a saw horse. I was so freaking excited that I told everybody.

I will remember this when he retires.....

sam said...

One Christmas when I was 5 y/o, I wanted and received a little electric organ. I loved it. 25 years later, I am in Berkeley and I see this homeless guy with 12 shopping carts hooked together with all his crap inside. Tied to the front of the lead shopping cart is my little electric organ. I was overcome with emotion.

selenakyle said...

Good one!!!

I loved my Lite-Brite, I loved Barbie clothes, and anything PlayDoh-related, even into high school. I got a Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop in 11th grade for Christmas. Really.

Can't think of any toys I didn't get if I really wanted them.

I wasn't allowed to have any Alice Cooper records, though. That's the only thing I remember being flat-out denied. My Mom is scared to death of snakes!

We always had all we needed and most of what we wanted.

jax said...

damn there were so many. Barbies were always a favorite as well as my Cabbage Path Dolls and my Micheal Jackson doll. Light Brite was a big hit too.

i begged my parents for the playdoh barber shop with the hair that 'grows' back through the bottom of the chair....my bff had it but we never did. damn you for teaching me the price of a dollar!

selenakyle said...

Awww, man, NAF Adrian--bummer. That giant Barbie head thing go so many wacky hairstyles and sluttly make-up in my household--it was heaven.

I see we're all "of a certain age" regarding the Barbies.

Remember the clothe4s had snaps and not the velcro nowadays. I love dressign Barbies.

And yes, they had sex with both Ken and GI Joe--those lil' sluts couldn't resist that Kung-Fu grip!

Lilandorth said...

Me too, Sara!! I think my mother was afraid I would simulate sex with Barbie & Ken.

However, she did let me have a Skipper (Barbie's little sister) so obviously lesbian pedophilia was not a concern. ;)

jax said...

weird selena we were talking about the same thing!

irishstayc2 said...

emobacca - a FLESHLITE??? hee hee

We too were forced to go out and play when we were kids but I did get some rainy day toys - My favorite is a tie between litebrite and spirograph - oh the hours of joy and the tears over lost tiny tiny pieces.

The toy I wanted and never got??? A sno-cone maker!! I don't know why.... But i bought my daughter one when she was 3 or 4 and it was a piece of crap - you had to turn the crank and shave the ice and it took 20 minutes to even get enough out and it would melt before you got the flavoring on it...

Hey maybe my mom and dad were smart after all!

another fun one - thanks enty - hope everyone has a great weekend!! I'm beach bound in 3 hours woohoo!

selenakyle said...

And bummer too, jax. That hair could be molded with these little accessories--like "Insta-hairdo!"

jax said...

lol i had the giant barbie head hair style thing too! my brother would sneak into my room in the morning and prop it up next to my bed and scare the shit out of me when i woke up..this damn big barbie head 6 inches from my face!
dick.

lol! a saw horse!!!

Ice Angel said...

I was spoiled and got just about everything I asked for....except stilts!!! Still want em!

lachickforever said...

I loved playing with my Strawberry Shortcake doll and her friends (her cat Custard, Huckleberry Pie). I used to have the Berry Shaped Carry Case to take them everywhere.

Also loved my "Sit N Spin"

Mom would never get me the Easy Bake Oven.

jax said...

you can still buy Snoopy Sno cone machines online.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2668133

selenakyle said...

...and I am supposed to be working right now... but all I want to do is dig out my Lite-Brite--it's in my spare room closet!

Ice Angel said...

I love buying toys for my kids that I wanted as a kid, like Rockem Sockem Robots.

My favorite toy when I was a kid was by far and away my Holly Hobbie doll. I had her, her sister Heather and a little mini Holly. I had cribs for them, strollers and everything. But I slept with Holly every night and took her everywhere. I remember Heather being nice and clean and Holly being dirty, tattered and torn, just the way I like her! Boy I miss that doll! :(

irishstayc2 said...

oh loved the big head makeup barbie. LOL jax - your brother sounds like mine.

*Miss_P* said...

I always wanted a Lights Alive
Never got one.

http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=4392

Sinjin said...

I got a horse when I was 4. I must have asked for one, or it was a really random present! To this day I'm still the only family member who's owned one. Toys I never got: I really wanted Weebles, and a Barbie head, and an Inchworm that you rode on. Glad to hear Barbie was getting her freak on at other kid's homes too (I thought I was really naughty!)

irishstayc2 said...

my brother got the rock'em sock'em robots - loved them. Anyone remember the vibrating fooball game? you would set up your players and the field would vibrate and they would fall over and or move? I never really got it but we played with it a lot!

and a game called Feely Meely?? a box with four holes in it and you had to pick a card and then put your hand in the box and feel for the thing that was pictured on the card?? Then we used to get mean and put everything from jello to cat poop in there to try and prank each other.

mazemerizing said...

Pretty interesting that so far everyone appreciated what they got as kids and/or felt they were spoiled. I also have no complaints about my childhood and the toys I received even though I know my folks didn't always have a lot of money. That is, of course, why we are so much better than the rich, spoiled L.A. celebrity brats we like reading about?

My sister had a bubble-headed bleached blonde Barbie, so not to be redundant I got the Midge doll. I don't think she was that popular, but I loved her. She had an early Mary Tyler Moore Show hairdo, bangs, long hair that flipped up. So cute. And freckles. We also had the convertible car and the dream house. We didn't buy a lot of clothes, but my mother MADE THEM. Still can't figure out how she had the patience for that.

amazonblue said...

When I was really little, maybe 5 or 6, I loved a doll called Tippy Toes. She came with a plastic yellow horse and blue bike. When she broke I pitched such a fit my dad went to Kmart and bought 2 replacements. I still have one in the original box with the $5 Kmart sticker on it. I checked on Ebay a fews years ago and she was selling for about $75. Thanks Dad!

jlb said...

My cousin had that football game they play in that episode - man alive I used to play that for hours just trying to get as many blippy touchdowns as I could. :) Loved that game.

Most of my childhood toys got melted/damaged in a fire when I was little, so as I got older I never got attached to things like that (other then books - how I loved Nancy Drew & the Hardy Boys). Now I sell toys and I play as much as I want. lol

selenakyle said...

Y'all are all so funny today! First time in a while that you've brought tears to my eyes.

lilandorth, you slayed me!

Apparently all brothers are identical.

What did y'all's parents instantly regret ever giving you?

For us, house, it was Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots because of the noise factor, followed by Trouble board game (push-down dice-roller), and Hungry-Hungry Hippos (clacking mouths).

My mother had a very low noise tolerance. She was a teacher...

Maja With a J said...

A little yellow Volvo. It was the 70's and it was important that girls had boys' toys and not just dolls. But I put my little yellow Volvo in my doll stroller with a blanket. Until I learned to pick it apart and put it back together, which I would to all day long, whilst maniacally talking to myself.
Barbie, and Ken. I made a play-doh peen for Ken, since he didn't have one.

Can you tell I grew up in Sweden?

I wanted the big stable for the My Little Ponies...but I only had two ponies and a small, portable stable. My mom HATED MLP with a burning passion, and she would not buy me MLP stuff. Also, she would not pay for comic books, I had to buy those with my allowance. She'd pay for all the 'real' books I wanted, but she thought comics were for dumb kids who couldn't read good. And I learned to read when I was 3.

When I didn't clean my room for a long time, my dad would take a black garbage bag and throw out everything that was on the floor, to teach me a lesson. Harsh. But he didn't have the heart to actually throw it out, and I found the bags in the garage one day. I was pretty smug about that for a long time.

lutefisk said...

my brother wanted a GI Joe--and my mother got him a Ken doll instead. Not me--him--it was cheaper than GI Joe.
But she did finally get him Action Jackson dolls.
We were very far from spoiled--probably more on the needy side.

IndigoBlue said...

Toy I loved -- Merlin

Toy I BEGGED for and never got -- a pony. Okay, not so much a toy, but you get the picture. And yes, we lived in the country so it was doable.

Molly said...

My mother had a very low noise tolerance. She was a teacher...


She wanted you to use your indoor voices.....

IndigoBlue said...

Yeah, I like that everyone pretty much remembers that they got everything they wanted, or at least that they loved what they did get.

And I'm on the Barbie bandwagon, too. I had a TON of Barbie stuff and gave it all to my little cousin when I was a about 12 and she was about 4. She ruined EVERYTHING. She never loved Barbie like we did. I even had vintage Barbies that were given to me by older cousins, etc., and gave them all to my little cousin. Boo! Still love her and she was probably way too young, but still. My Barbies all got their freak on, too. I even had the Barbie Pool where nude pool parties were a constant! lol

mooshki said...

"What did y'all's parents instantly regret ever giving you?"

Oh lord, that reminds me of working at Dayton's. They'd do holiday shows, and they'd give away free toys to the kiddies. One year at Christmas they gave every freakin' kid a whistle. Everyone who worked in the store was homicidal after the first day.

lutefisk said...

I kept all my Barbie's, & when my daughter was 3, I took them out to show her. I told her NOT to bend any of the legs, & the next thing--poor PJ (the mod one with the sun glasses attached to her head) looked like Heather Mills.

Merlin D. Bear said...

Strangely enough, a dollhouse hotel.
It came with all this plastic furniture that kept breaking (hey, I was all of 4 or 5 at the time) -
Toy I always wanted but never got? that's a tossup between the chemistry set and the biology set... (Sears had 2 of 'em).
I got the biology set once but the parents took it back when they discovered that it had brine shrimp eggs. Never understood that, but that was childhood.

BlahFrickinBlah said...

Loved all of my Barbie shit. I had the camper, the motor home, the apartment house (that 3 floor chompie!), the cars and the van. I had one Ken but he was lame so all of my Barbie's dated my brother's old G.I.Joes. Not the midget ones but the old ones that were Barbie size and had actual real(for a doll) hair with crew cuts. My Barbie's were a bunch of sluts. LOL

I always wanted a hamster but my parents would not let me get one. So one day, a friend and I went to the pet store and I bought one. They gave me this little cardboard thingie to take him home in. I told my parents that I won him at school. LOL Surprisingly, they didn't believe me. They bought all the shit for the little guy anyway and the sucker died like 2 months later.

BlahFrickinBlah said...

Oh snap! I had one of those big Barbie heads! I loved her! I had the ezbake oven but never did much with it. My older brother used to hide his cigarettes in it when we got older. LOL
Who had Mrs. Beezley? I'm not sure if I'm spelling it right but she was the doll with the blue and white polka dotted dress, glasses and you pulled the string for her to talk. My friend's brother strapped hers up to the wall and threw darts at her with the neighbor. She finally rescued her but when she pulled the string, it sounded like she had a stroke. Good times....

jax said...

blah! i had the barbie Rv too with the drawer you pulled out and vanity popped up? classic. i forgot i also had the pink corvette and the fricken barbie horse. i was spoiled becaseu my mom wasnt allowed them as a kid. loved it all and appreciated all of it.

merlin was the game with the coloured pegs you had to guess the combo right?? kinda like "you sunk my battleship!" loved it!

EL what did you like???

irishstayc2 said...

Man I love reading these comments today - My daughter had a barbie that was missing half a leg(thanks to the dog) and we used to call her "Special Barbie". or as my ex liked to call her Ilene... get it?? Yeah well u can guess where this story is going - a bank line, a guy missing part of his leg in a wheel chair and my daughter calling him special ilene. Yep... no sh*t... I will never forget it and she's now 22 and I have never let her forget it either!LOL

toy they regretted giving us?? Operation! They apparently had a noise issue as well - i remember my dad walking into my brothers room early one sunday morning, picking up Operation game we were playing - taking out the batteries and then dropping it back on the floor and walking out of the room all without saying a word LOL. Yeahhhhhh ahhhh good times.

mooshki said...

Yeah, Enty, cough it up. Unlike the first concert or movie, this one shouldn't necessarily give away your real age. :) Just head upstairs and ask mommy and daddy if you can come out and play!

"...they discovered that it had brine shrimp eggs."

Sea Monkeys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kelli said...

oh I am with everyone else- definitely the Barbie dream house with all the furniture- wasnt allowed to have it b/c it was too expensive. My neighbors who were so spoiled, and had everything, had it, so I would go over there and play with it.
And someone mentioned the Sears books-omg I would die waiting for it and circle everything I could possibly remotely want!! I did love the fake kitchen with the fake food...ah the memories. Had the holly hobbie oven though!!

selenakyle said...

I forgot about Spirograph! You had to be in concentration mode for that one. Loved it.

Reminds me of the pens with the four colors of ink all in one. Just click the black, blue, red or green.

We cheated our asses off at Battleship--I would put the little boat on top of the bigger ship so my brother couldn't find it. Misses all over the board!

The old-school MouseTrap game was super cool in bad weather, which we didn't have all that often. If it wasn't thundering or blowing a gale, we had to be outside but within hollering distance.

Yeah, my nieces swing Barbies around by their hair so about ten minutes after opening them up, the dolls are doomed.

But they are under threat of a serious hide-tanning if they mistreat their American Girl dolls...

selenakyle said...

Oh yeah--Operation!!! That incessant buzzing.

God knows I did love my childhood now that we're looking back...

lutefisk said...

BlahFrickenBlah--
Mrs. Beasly was Buffy's doll from Family Affair. I remember her, but I never craved her.
All this talk about Operation--anyone remeber the commercial where they said "take out wrenched ankle?"
We named our gerbils Herbie & Wrenchedankle after the commercial.

And it seems if everyone had a Barbie Beauty Center but me. Well, I had Liddle Kiddles--with the doll house. And one of the Kiddles lived in green ice cream cone, & the othe one in a peppermint lollypop case. They are currently upstairs on my dresser.

selenakyle said...

OK, one more...

Anyone else have homemade Romper Stompers made from coffee cans and clothesline string?

jax said...

anyone ever have the mickey mouse record player in the little case? and you'd play the sing along books and turnt he apge when tinkerbell made her tinkle noise?
god i loved that...bought a whole wack of those records in mint condition from the flea market last year.

Ms. said...

My parents were weird. We got a lot of what we asked for, but never the refills. e.g. Lite Bright and the Easy Bake Oven. They never purchased refills for either, so the two toys were essentially wasted after a week or so.

I was never into dolls very much, but had at least a dozen of them and a couple of barbies.

When I was seven, some poor (literally) girls were lost in the woods for three days and when they were found & hospitalized, I decided to give them my dolls to cheer them up.

However, I wanted to keep one doll and a couple of the fancy barbie dresses. My mother made me give everything away. Kept saying, "you said you were going to give them your dolls, so you're going to give them all of it."

I look back on that incident and think that it was a miserable thing to do to a seven year old kid.

Only thing I never received that I really wanted was giant stuff animals. I finally purchased a giant purple teddy bear myself when I was 10 by saving my Christmas money from my grandparents and by earning 5 cents a pint picking raspberries one summer. The bear was $16 at Target. I kept that bear until I was 21 and then tearfully gave it (and five other huge stuff animals) to a neighbour's child when I moved to another city.

Anonymous said...

i wanted a nintndo when it first came out my dad promised to buy it if i got all straight A's at school, but he never did im still waiting for it at 27

PunkiMeowMeow said...

I had a pink glitter hula-hoop that I would gyrate for hours.
I always wanted a Easy Bake Oven. Those little chocolate cakes looked so yummy on the TV commercials. Alas, I never got one :(

Lissa THEEE Pissa said...

The Easy Bake oven, definitely. I asked for it for Christmas for about three years straight, but never got one. I have since bought Easy Bake ovens for my daughters, my nieces, and various friends of my children, hehe...

Lissa THEEE Pissa said...
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Chris said...

I think I played with my Barbie Dolls the most...I also had Ken AND GI Joe, so Barbie and Midge would go on double dates, and make out with GI Joe and Ken, or else Barbie would get kidnapped by GI Joe and Ken who would make her take her clothes off (or rip them off) and they would lock her up in the milkbox (remember them?) LOL

The one thing I never got? prolly one of those Barbie sports cars...I played outside mostly as a kid, never really wanted anything badly, except a pair of white go-go boots that I NEVER GOT *sighs* I begged my mother for those nonstop, and ALL the other girls had them :-P

Nichole Fisher said...

I'm with mooshki - I always wanted more books. I was into Nancy Drew as well. My mother always tried to convince me to check them out of the library. It just wasn't the same. I always hated to give the books back (I am a re-reader).

selenakyle said...

We ate the E Z Bake batter before the damn stuff could "bake."

And I loved Nancy Drew--kind of written along the same vein as Scooby Doo was, so I usually could figure out via foreshadowing who the villain was.

White patent leather zip-up go-go boots!

God how I love the fact I was born in the 60's, but also how amazing that I've lived this long without dying from an LSD or heroin overdose, pray tell?

(never took either one of them to this day--was scared straight by the 1970's!)

kelly said...

I am the youngest, and only girl, in a family of 6 (background info which you will understand later)

My favorite toy was my Baby Alive doll until the day one brother fed her real food and she died (a long loud death lol) he then replaced the words to the song "Baby Alive soft and sweet" with "Baby is Dead cold and blue"

The one thing I always wanted but never got was a real barbie. The doll I did get (I think maybe a Marbie) had hair you could pull out for long hair and crank back in for short hair. Fun until another brother pulled out her hair, glued a pirate patch onto her eye and drew scars on her face. Good times, good times.

Hard to believe, but we are an extremely close family and couldn't love each other more.

jax said...

i read everyhting i could that Beverly Cleary wrote...loved Romona Quimby!

did anyone read the Trixie Belden books? she was like a younger knockoff of Nancy Drew.

dbfreak said...

I, too, got mostly whatever I wanted that was not too expensive. Some of my favorite toys were barbies, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, Lite Brite and I was always reading from a young age and I loved Nancy Drew also. Funny aside, my mom would take me to the library and I would sneak into the young adult section when I was 7 and I always wanted to check out this book called something melodramatic like "What Happened to Phoebe?" about a pregnant teenager. My mom would always catch me with it and put it back - my poor mom must have been really freaked out : )

Anyway my top two favorite toys ever are the green inchworm you ride and the Sit & Spin! I love the Sit & Spin so much that when I see my friends' kid's Sit & Spins now, I always have an internal debate over whether or not I could fit on it and if I would be too heavy for it to "spin" : )

Oh, and Not A Famous Adrian:

"And it seems if everyone had a Barbie Beauty Center but me. "

Not true! This is the one toy I wanted and didn't get.

Excellent topic!

Murphy Brown 2020 said...

I wanted (and got) anything having to do with She-Ra, Princess of Power. I can rattle off all the dolls and their specific powers and what they looked like. I still remember my fifth Christmas -- I ran downstairs to find the Crystal Palace already assembled in front of the tree. I can TOTALLY remember how overjoyed I was. I had all the dolls, all the horses, and I carefully kept all their weapons and hairbrushes organized in a little drawer in my bedroom.

My favorite one was Catra -- She-Ra's nemesis. HOT! I've always liked the evil, wily ones. What can I say? My dad gave them all away when I turned eleven or so, and I would DIE to have them again. They're pretty rare.

That said: if you have any, I'll blow you for 'em. Or, I'll just pay you.

God. I think of what little girls have to work with now, and I want to cry. She-Ra dolls were so badass and Amazonian! I want toy companies to keep their awful little hands off that part of my childhood so they don't try to revamp that series and make it all Bratz dollish. God, how I loathe Bratz dolls. I saw a little girl at a yard sale today dressed in leggings, a denim miniskirt and KNEE-HIGH PATENT LEATHER BOOTS. I fucking blame Mattel for that. Well, and her parents.

Anyway, the one "toy" I always wanted and never, ever got? A dog. :-( I grew up in Washington, D.C. My dad's excuse of not having enough space for a dog to live happily was a good one, but a pretty bobo thing to hear when you're a kid.

Am I really the only CDAN girl who never got into Barbie?! Whenever I got them as a present, I'd cut their hair off and remove their legs and stuff. My grandma finally gave up and stopped buying them for me.

Murphy Brown 2020 said...
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Murphy Brown 2020 said...

Also, since we're talking about kid lit, does anyone else remember Zilpha Keatley Snyder? I read The Egypt Game and The Witches of Worm over and over and over again in the sixth grade.

bionic bunny! said...

kelly, i literally laughed out loud at that, and seeing as my folks (and me!) weren't into noise either, that's quite an accomplishment!
geez, i was a tomboy, i worshipped my older brother!
and i seldom got what i asked for at christmas, but my folks would get these other bizarre gifts-- one year i got a five-foot tall styrofoam tyranosaurus! it was all put together and it was great, bigger than me. they put it in the front yard for their annual new year's eve party (a big deal in rose bowl territory).
i wasn't spoiled, but i can't remember anything i really, really wanted but never got--although my dad still owes me a pair of levis from when i was 16 and he "forgot" the deal he made with me (but he paid for my divorce, so i'm okay with that). i always wanted to play with my brother's slot cars and was NEVER allowed, but my dad bought me every hot wheels toy imaginable, from the day they came out.
i didn't have dolls, but i had stuffed animals. i STILL have a "cecil the sea-sick sea serpent" whose pull string still works ("i'm comin' beany-boy!")!
i think y'all can guess that one of the things i always wanted was a bunny. if i can ever figure out how to post pictures of ALL my bunnies on my blog site, i will!
oh, and one year, because i had acne at a really early age (like, 8) my mom wouldn't let me have chocolate in any form. they also put me on a diet, which i think is why i have trouble losing weight now (the doctor's idea). so i was miserable. and my big brother took me to the rose parade (it was still safe to do so) to camp out and let me have swiss miss instant hot chocolate (with mini marshmallows) without saying a word (he's almost 7 yrs older), and it's making me cry now to think about that gesture, because we didn't always get along.
sorry.
and who needs the barbie pink corvette when your husband buys you this?>>>>>>>
:)

ClaireFrasier said...

Jax: I loved Trixie Beldon... I still have a couple of those books in a box somewhere. (And a dear little old lady friend who calls me "Trixie"--she's hard of hearing & she thinks that's my name. I answer her, of course).

dbfreak: I must have checked out "The Bride Wore Braids" at least once a month in jr high. (They really shouldn't have had that book there... It was less a horrible warning, than a how-to.. snerk).

I wasn't a Barbie fan... I just read a lot.

The one thing I always wanted but never got (at least until I grew up and bought them on my own), was a pair of moccasins. (I was 6 in 1970, and one of the teenage neighbor girls had them, and I WANTED them so bad). Best shoes in the world

nunaurbiz said...

Put me under the Ken-less doll people. My parents always thought my sister and I wouldn't play with him (get your minds out of the gutter!!!!) So we resorted to marrying off our Barbies (and Francines) to my brother's G.I Joe (or Batman, depending on how he was dressed).

Several years ago, I met someone at Mattel, told them this story and they sent me a special edition Ken!!!! My nephew was little then so when I took him to Toys R Us, I'd go check out the new Ken clothes and I had so much fun dressing and undressing my new Ken. Hee hee hee!

c17 said...

1) Rock 'Em - Sock 'Em Robots & Battlin' Tops

2) Legos. She said they'd "Get stuck in the vacuum". I'm convinced I missed out on a big part of my creative development by not having Legos. :(

lutefisk said...

dbfreak--I'm sorry you didn't get your Barbie Beauty Center either. I guess in the long run it prepared me for the disappointments in life. Yeah, right. I still want it, but only mint. It has to be original, & it can't be one that some other kid has defiled!

lutefisk said...

If anyone in the NY area still has their Barbie head, please invite me over. I will bring my Barbies & we can play.
I even have 2 potty training Kelly dolls with toilet paper & their toilets I will throw in! Kelly replaced Trudy--Barbie's little sister--yes, I have her, also!

Jack*e said...

Teddy Ruxpin. Ruxpen?

Well, whatever the spelling, I wanted that toy when I was about 4 years old. While I did receive the magical talking bear from my parents, about 5 days after popping my first tape in, Teddy had to go to the "hospital."

Teddy never came back, so if any of you know about this so called "hospital," please report back.

ms snarky said...

Easy Bake oven. and one of those giant freakish Barbie heads that you can put makeup on and do their hair in several of many varieties of cheerleeder styles.

I'm still in pain!

ms snarky said...

@ ms. -
ouch. never the refills? painful.

That's a little taste of marriage way before your time!! hee.

trogdor said...

Well, I guess you can kinda tell my age now...

I always wanted the original matchbox Voltron. The one made out of metal with the super bright paint. The matchbox version even came with the chest plate, super sword and rear wings.

It got so bad, my mom would just slap me BEFORE we got into the store. Kind of like a pre-emptive strike, I guess.

I finally bought one in 2005 from a guy in Oakland. All original, unopened box too. I pulled it out to play with my niece and nephew, but alas, their dad informed me it was covered in lead paint. So I built a shelf and have it sitting in my closet so I can see it every morning.

Some parts of growing up are pretty cool!

Random Ramblings said...

i just wanted a Cabbage Patch Kid... that was really my favorite.. my best friend had two and i just wanted one.. i had the Barbies and the Kens.. even a few My Little Ponies :o) But i did indulge in GI Joe too hehe

bionic bunny! said...

i did remember something..
i wanted, with all my heart, a guitar. i took lessons at lunch with my sixth grade teacher and was allowed to play with "that" uncle's guitar and electric guitar whenever i wanted. in fact, he "gave" me the gibson for about 3 years until he decided my brothers babies needed it more. my dad for some reason was against any music that might lead me off the track of a 'REAL' college education (long story), and refused to let me have any kind of musical instrument, or even voice lessons.
even now, he has my grandfather's banjo-mandolin, a fairly rare instrument, that he's never allowed me to even touch. he's let my SON actually PLAY the danged thing, but he never believed i knew what i was doing.
at least my son really has true musical talent, and he'll get the b-m. AND we just found a mandolin in my in-law's house that he now has.
and i can't even sing any more.
but, i got everything else i wanted, right? right?

RagDoll said...

I wasn't allowed to have a go kart. one of the kind powered by lawnmower engines. My Mom was convinced I kill myself on that thing, so i had to settle for riding the neighbors' go-kart when they used it. Boooo.

TV said...

i never got "fashion plates" and still am pissed about it.

lutefisk said...

Mama Theresa--the one where you put the plastic stencil things in the frame & rubbed with colored pencils. Even I gor one of those & I rarely got anything I wanted. I had a BArbie one, & loved decorating the clothes with the different patterns--unless you are talking about something different.

Oh--the 1 thing I did get that I really wanted--a Chrissie Doll--the 1 where you could adjust the hair length by turning the knob on her back & pushing in the belly button. And her cousin Velvet--I got them the day after Christmas when they were 1/2 price.
And--both are in their boxes up in my closet.
I am truly like the girl from that Seinfeld episode.

Pamela S. said...

I loved playing Operation. My Barbie Camper was a close 2nd.

The thing I begged my parents for & never got was a pet monkey. Imagine that :)

Molly said...

nobody mentioned the simplest of toys and i loved both. colorforms and crayons. to this day i'll sit and color with little kids only now i stay in the lines.

jax said...

"Blogger Mama Theresa said...

i never got "fashion plates" and still am pissed about it."

LOL!!! i had fashion plates and it sucked after a few hours...you didn't miss much hon. they gave you a red crayon thing to rub on it and it bled everywhere once you tried to colour in.

wow i feel 9 again.

Molly said...

it's saturday morning. shouldn't we be watching cartoons and jumping up and down on our parent's bed?

mooshki said...

Ms., my cousins had giant stuffed giraffe, and I envied them so much! A few years ago I bought one of F.A.O. Schwartz's giant teddy bears. I still love to snuggle with it sometimes.

"Operation" - I loved that scene in "Iron Man."

Nichole, I am a re-reader too, so I don't use the library much anymore. Amazon's used book section is probably my favorite thing on the internets (after CDAN, of course ;)).

Kelly, aren't brothers the worst!!! :)

Jax, oh yeah, I loved Trixie Belden too.

DBfreak, when I was 9, ALL the girls were checking out "Forever" by Judy Bloom. We'd read sections of it to each other during free time at school. It was so scandalous! :)

Ernestine, I loved She-Ra too!

"It got so bad, my mom would just slap me BEFORE we got into the store. Kind of like a pre-emptive strike, I guess."
--LOL!!!

I thought of a favorite toy: Slip-n-Slide. There's one in a yard in my neighborhood, and every time I walk by I wish I could play on it.

triunfopark said...

I was so into Dawn Dolls, Barbies & Liddle Kiddles! I had 2 side by side bookshelves that I cleared off and made each shelf a room. I pretended all my dolls were different families but sharing one, big house. My parents were divorced so none of my dolls were married, the Ken dolls just visited! I remember I couldn't wait to get home after school each day to play with them. It was such an escape for me. I'd play for hours.
To be honest, I was indulged (out of guilt, no doubt) so there was no toy I really wanted and did not get. Wish I could say my life is still like that!
I still LOVE Seinfeld, it's one of my all time favorite shows. No matter how many times I watch an episode, I always laugh. Elaine & George for me were the stand out characters and were brilliant!
Thanks Enty, another great topic and memory.

Anonymous said...

Love this thread. I had Barbie everything - including the house, corvette, camper and I had a Barbie grocery store with rows of plastic vegetables in bins and a shopping cart and everything. Had Ken and another male barbie doll - he had dark brown hair that was real (well, not really REAL, but you know what I mean). Don't remember his name but he was a get around brown with my Barbies.
The Sears and JC Penney Christmas catalogs rule our world!!!
I never had the EZ Bake oven or the Barbie Beauty head - which may be why I am still a rotten cook and can't function without my stylist (see Mom???)
I had a great childhood - my parents made sure we all had wonderful presents and fun things.
My one thing I never got as a child was a big microscope - every year they'd have some massive microscope set in those catalogs and I would circle it like mad, but no dice.
Sigh.
They made up for it with lots of sparkly things though =)

Molly said...

Don't remember his name but he was a get around brown with my Barbies.


ace tomato, i have to ask a stupid question. what does 'get around brown' mean? i've never heard that expression before.

Anonymous said...

"get around Brown" "too slow Joe" "Runaround Sue" "scary mary" - I don't know the origin - it's rhyme slang. So a "get around Brown" would be a ladies man or Rico Suave type.

My guess is Cockney.

Bad Momma said...

Sea Monkeys. I did a post about them last year.

http://bad-momma.blogspot.com/2007/09/sea-monkeys-making-comeback.html

Molly said...

ace tomato, thanks. now i get it!

DetroitRocker said...

My daughter begged to have this doll that talked Baby Heather. It's head would turn to the sound in the room and talk to you and in time it went from a baby cry to a young girl. This doll scared the crap out of me. I would make my husband take the batteries out before he went to work.

Well one night I watched as I thought he had taken the batteries out. My daughter was holding the doll and I went to kiss my husband goodbye. My husband stood outside the door. I turned around and said something to my daughter and that dolls head turned to me and started talking. I about shit my pants. My husband came in laughing his ass off. Still can't understand how my daughter could sleep with that thing.

michelle said...

lite brite!!

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