Badmovies.org Forum

They say there were two main types of boys growing up... those that are into action figures, and those that are into cars and trains (and, I suppose there were also those into knitting, but that's a different thread).

If I had to make a wild guess, I'd say most of the men posting here where the former.

That who I was... I liked action figures Gi Joes, Transformers, and, of coruse, Star Wars.  Also had an army of plastic reptiles, dinosaurs, snakes, and the occasionally glow in the dark bug (yes, I know bugs aren't reptiles.)  Also loved MUSCLE Things (these one inch plastic figures that came in a variety of weird forms), and had about twenty of Battle Beasts (in fact, still have them today.)

Sadly, of my three nephews two of them are definitely car/train kids, so I can't related to them (third's autistic, think he's mainly into opening and closing doors.. and NO, i'm not making fun for him for that.)

Ahh.. kids these days.

I liked cars on occasion myself, but usually when I got Hot Wheels or Matchbox, I usually tried to get construction or military vehicles (could always use a tank or jet fighter in my games).

Never really did much with "building" toys like Legos and Lincoln logs.  Mainly I just used them as props for whatever story my action figures were acting out (usually the small lincoln logs served as barrels of something or other) that or used them to build walls that one character would toss another through.

Man, I'm miss my childhood some days... :( 

A little of both. Would have liked to have had a collection of G.I. Joe's, but I was only able to get one of the cheaper version called Action Jackson, but then again I had literally a thousand green army men. Also had sets of different ones like Calvary, WWII German Soldiers, Cowboys, Indians. These were my action figures. Use to build fortresses and trenches outdoors and throw rocks at them or set them up inside and bounce a rubber ball off the wall which would come back and knock over the plastic figures. All the while recalling my favorite film PORK CHOP HILL.

(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/108/299016336_1927f79da2_m.jpg)
Flame Thrower Guy

Yep, I had them all tinker cars, matchbox, and my favorite Hot Wheels and Johnny Lightings. Use to bang them up with rocks to make them look cool like the ones at the local raceway.

Also use to have electric race cars by Aurora and Tyco with the snap together tracks. Really liked those.

(http://www.slotcargarage.com/scgarticles/1062/img25.jpg)

My brother had the train set. We use to set up the village with all the scale housing and back then there was this stuff called green slime in a can and I would have the town attacked by green slime just like in the film THE BLOB. The train station blob attack was my favorite with all the very tiny figures waiting for the train. If they only knew the blob was nearby.



Had both, but somehow I enjoyed my Lincoln Logs more than my Lego's because they looked more authentic with my green army men.
 


I don't think kids do these things anymore.

I think there are several different sub catagories boys can get lumped into.  Stuff like jocks who played a lot of wiffle ball and the opposite category, the kids who played baseball on the Atari 2600. 

As for these two given subjects I was more of an action figure guy than anything.  Although I did ride around on big wheels and played with Hot Wheels, I didn't and still don't find cars particularly interesting. However,who else can say they rolled on a Smurf Big Wheel.  Yep thats a small DarkSider on his Smurfmobile.
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/smurfmobile.jpg)

Big Wheels were awesome. Use to ride them down hill and turn the wheel hard for a spin out and that was before they invented the brake. Rode that thing till the wheels cracked.

Lombard Street must be a Big Wheels paradise. To awesome.

[youtube=425,350]http://youtube.com/watch?v=sWnff376PEI

One day I'll be in this race. Believe it ! ! ! !

All of my friends were girls growing up.  So I played hopscotch, jumprope, cat's cradle.  I could never figure out how to cast-off, so knitting has remained forever elusive.  But we used to cross-stitch and embroider for hours.  And we made a lot of bracelets too.  I did have a few action figures, mostly movie monsters.  They'd stalk and terrorize the Barbies, but the girls would always bring Ken out to save the day.  The only car I ever cared about was Herbie.  I had maybe a dozen different Hot Wheels VW bugs.

So there, a bit of everything!  :teddyr:

I was a pretty good mix growing up.  We would play with matchbox cars for hours under my friend's spruce trees.  The needles could be moved to make roads, parking lots, and you name it.  We would also play Star Wars and GI Joe for hours in either Mike Spence's living room, sitting room, and dining room or in my basement.  The main thing was having enough room for all the different "bases."

We went through a ton of plastic army men.  In the field between our houses we could dig trenches, build bunkers, and then attack the base with dirt clods until only dust remained.  I'm sure the farmer could never figure out why his wheat or soybeans didn't grow in that one spot.

We did play wiffle ball, but often wiffle ball bats were wrapped with black electrical tape, the grips with twine, and then they were used as swords for swordfights.  We would even joust with them on our bikes.  Let me tell you, getting hit across the cheek or the knuckles with a wiffle ball bat HURTS.

Not to mention playing "army" for days on end.  We knew every in and out of the neighborhood, where to crawl through a hedge, what tree to climb, where a tall clump of grass could hide you.  "Bang Bang, got you Ryan!" and then they would have to lay down and count to thirty.  By then, you had better be long gone.

We also played cops and robbers on our bikes, with six to eight chasing the one or two robbers.  You do not know all the places that a dirt bike can go until you are about ten or eleven.

I look back on childhood fondly.

I was the kind of boy who was born female.    :teddyr:

Ah come on, someone had to say it!  I stayed female too.  But I played more with the boys when I was little, so I was always outside playing baseball, catching snakes, building tree forts, falling out of said tree forts, and doing things my kids think are mystifying, like catching crawfish and such. 

I did have a lot of Matchbox and HotWheels cars, and I used to build roads for them through the grass in the back yard.  And I didn't have Ken for my Barbies, I had my brothers' much cooler GI Joes.  Ken was wimpy.

Trust me, that's the best kind of boy!

Big Wheels got brakes now?   I wore a big hole the front wheel of mine.
Had a bunch of GI Joes -- the big ones, too.  I also used my army men (and cowboys & indians and vikings & knights) with legos and lincoln logs.  My dad made plastic molds and did some inventing, he made me a cannon shot out a plastic slug when you squeezed the bulb, it was real great for setting up all the soldiers and then shooting at them.

What was also cools was destroying my models with those little ladyfinger fireckrackers & BB gun.

(http://www.retropedalcars.com/images/Marx-Big-Wheel.jpg)

See the little blue handle next to he back right wheel. That's the latest spin-out break on the one side. I remember the break version came out shortly after mine was broken.  :smile:

(http://www.timewarptoys.com/jwest.jpg)

HE'S FULLY JOINTED!!

Man when I was a kid, we played with dirt and we were happy to have that dirt!


Star Wars toys ... god I'm getting old I was ... like ... nearly grown when those came out.

 Wow...Johnny West. had him,and Geronimo,Bart,General Custer,Sitting Bull...and a guy with a Mowhawk!Had some GI Joes too..."with Kung Fu grip,and lifelike hair and beard!". One of em talked. You pulled a string on his back and he would say stuff like-"ENEMY PLANES! HIT the DIRT!"
 Scott-I also had LOTSA them little plastic army guys...and did the same thing...throw rocks at 'em,run em over with Hot Wheels or Tonkas.
 Made lotsa Aurora model kits! Had ALL the Universal Monsters,plus some WWII airplanes;a cool Barnabus Collins, even a VAMPIRELLA! Also collected monster mags,gum cards (usually the kind with monsters or Rat Fink hot rod stickers. Had lotsa MAD mags too. All this was finaced from picking fruit for farmers.

Oh yea, we had a Universal Monster model that we put together. It was THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. We also had a GODZILLA model.

Though I was not into knitting, I might have been accused of it :bluesad:  I have two brothers and two sisters, and I don't agree that boys can be broken into two (or three) categories, but have to admit to having enjoyed my G.I. Joes very much.  I also played with my sister: my Joes and her Barbies and Ken in her dollhouse . . . using a plant mister and tea candles, we had a hurricane . . . and a lot of fun.  I had JOES for a number of years, including what I now know were the first version Marine, (a brunette and a redhead, actually) and a fuzzy-headed  talking Astronaut; also had Big Jim, Callisto from the Matt Mason series, Odin the Viking made by and just like the Marx Western figures; most of the Aurora monster models (not all were Universal!) and Colorforms Outer Space men.  Oh forgot to add HOT WHEELS, MATCHBOX, TONKA (Firetruck, dumptruck, car trailer with cars including a Corvette . . . I had the rare coupe with motor boat and trailer for the longest time!  What ever happened to that?)
(http://a102.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/1/l_bf361e0a4f035196f9e0d464dc1aa64d.jpg)

I guess I still am an action figure boy.  I proudly have this optimus prime figure at home.  The toy is huge at 12 inches.

(http://www.ultimatetoys.com.my/new/Transformers/TakaraMP01/Takara%20MP01%20Optimus%20Prime%201.jpg)

(http://a323.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/2/l_d8c01f52c52fe1e2a047a95d544a513a.jpg)

Heck I'm still collecting action figures now, the Marvel Legends and DC Direct stuff and I'm always on the lookout for original Star Wars figures, I had cars when I was younger, I've still got my Scalextric set and the majority of my Lego but things like that didn't interest me as much as the figures did, to the extent that when I did get Star Wars figures when I was younger I never got any vehicles for them as I didn't think they were of any use.

Allhallowsday-Oops! Yeh...Kong and Godzilla...I forgot! The Forgotton Prisoner and the Witch wer'nt either. Or Jekyll and Hyde! I think the only one I did't have was the Bride of Frankenstien. No wonder I'm so messed up. I musta went through hundreds of tubes of airplane glue! We usta buy those paint by number kits(the ones with scary clowns and big eyed kittys) just for the paint!

                   (http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/MONSTE.jpg)

Ahh, how cute!   :smile:

So, were you a little player back then, just friends, or were girls still "icky" and you had to wash your hands after playing wtih them for long periods of time?   :smile:

Oh, oh, forgot about those!  Loved Army as well!  The "real" dark green and tan ones, not the various knock version which broke too easily.  Mom didn't trust me with firecrackers, so, unlike most boys, I didn't blow mine up...


HAHA!!  If I had had a train set, I'd probably would ahve been putting walls or other figures and letting the train crash into it!  Hehe.

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I don't think kids do these things anymore.
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Don't really know.. other my nieces and nephews, I don't hang around a lot of kids (I think the parents on my block have told them to stay away from our house...

Hey, don't look at me, I don't know WHERE that kid got the ligther, honest!

Wow.. that must have been nice to have a lot those... uh... what you call them?  Uh.. "things" to play with... you know, other people who hang out with. 

For various reasons, most of my childhood was pretty solitary.

Hell, things haven't really changed that much in that respect, but that's another thread...

There was some doctor play to be sure, but it was all innocent curiosity.  Things haven't much changed.  All but one of my friends are female.  And believe it or not, all this feminine exposure has actually doomed my sex life.  I am forever fated to be the shoulder to cry on.  Damn my listening skills!  :bluesad:  I feel like Orpheus sometimes.  (Because he visited Hades while he was alive, he could never properly die.)  Because I've been to "insider" hair/makeup/fondue parties, I can never be in a romantic relationship.  *sigh*  Haha.

I was into both as a kid. I loved Hot Wheels cars and loved to play smash-up derby with them. I even had those that showed damage when you crashed them together. Also loved those little cars that you ran on a track with a remote control. Still I'd have to say overall I preferred action figures, especially G.I. Joe and LJN wrestling figures. I had most of the A-Team figures too and numerous DC Super Powers figures. I could easily be swayed if I had more money to get back into collecting action figures as they seem far more detailed and impressive nowadays (although it's undeniably a nostalgia thing as the figures that most attract my attention are based on old classic movies or old-time wrestling from the 60s through to the 80s).

I was both an action figure and model boy. Never really the "go outside and break my fragile joints" kid, as you could probably infer here :wink:.

I cannot count the number of times we hurt each other.  Another of our favorite activities was having dirt clod wars.  Once, we had a game that involved throwing old pieces of siding at each other.  They were a couple of feet long and flew like javelins.  I still have a small scar in my eyebrow from that.

We'll not even get into throwing walnuts at each other, with only garbage can lids as shields.

This is absolutely the truth, I've been married to a "tomboy" for 36 years and in my opinion they make great wives, at least Poogie has been for me.

Dirt clod wars rock.  In fact, they should be used to settle all minor legal disputes.  Want to sue someone because they ran over your toe?  Clod War!  Winner gets the money!


At least you know the correct terminology........Mr. Snivelly once referred to me as "low maintenance", which immediately cost him an extended trip to the mall while I made a liar of him. 

Dirt clods! Also,we would take green apples and sharpened sticks...and call them wicks. Put the small apple on the end of the stick...whooosh! Thos e suckers would fly...and hurt! Also have spear fights with the big reeds that grew near the swamp. The root ends were sharp and heavy with dirt...those hurt too.The migrant workers that lived up the road had a million kids...we used to have rock fights. REAL rock FIGHTS. This was serious sh!t to us little monsters!

  Missed your response here. 
Buying the paint by numbers set for color choices is true dedication to your project; I used to do stuff like that but forgot all about it.  :thumbup: I did not have THE BRIDE either, and still don't!  Yes, I went back and collected many of the old monster models and the boxes (which I now recognize I'm more fond of, like any true collector.)   Time goes so quickly that all of those models are now packed away and the boxes stacked in the closet . . . back in the early 70s, I also had many Aurora snap together kits, and now still can't believe my Mom bought me the Prehistoric Cave store display . . . with the cardboard volcano!  Man, kids are stupid!  I let that disappear after only a little while, tossed out and unappreciated as the ephemeral treasure it was!  I had the cave for years, but it too, is now decades gone.  Bela, I applaud you yet again, and you too, BTM, for a good thread! 

PS.  I had most of the Aurora Monster Scenes, including the character VAMPIRELLA which is best described as Wow, and I have re-collected several of them unopened.  Now have two packed away from "DARK SHADOWS" MPC BARNABAS COLLINS builtups, plus a builtup WEREWOLF w/box and an unbuilt Barnabas in box, unbuilt Vampire Van, too.

Always liked the plumes of dust from a good dirt clod.

I loved the smell of dirt clods in the morning. Smelled like..............victory.

More good stuff remembered, those crab apples, speared on the end of a green but crackin good whip were like flak and did hurt...the stone fights were savage with neighborhood kids, who got positively comic hurtling boulders that no one could not get out of the way of...I do remember little more than 40 years ago my sister and I trying to trick a younger neighbor into stepping in dog doo (he always went barefoot) poor little Brendan, it took a few tries of playing our wicked game, but he eventually got a good step o' barefoot n' d'bare doo.   He was a tough kid, and I still remember him pounding home all barefoot, crying, as if acid scarified...woohahahaha :twirl:

  :bouncegiggle:  Hallowsday-the giant rock trick....Hahahahah! Seems like some kid would always try that ...looked cool...not too effective. While the kid was trying to hurl the rock was a good time to aim and hurl a handful of machine gun fire...!

Yea, we use to store crab apples in our fort for ammo. Those grotesque little apples did sting. We had a crab apple tree in our backyard.

(http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/45/18/23051845.jpg)

We also use to store Hickory nuts and acorns for ammo and would hide them in a secret compartment in the floor which would get a lot of moisture and they would begin to sprout roots if you didn't use them up.

I was a car boy and still am.   Now I've got 2 life-size toys: a 65 Mustang and an 07 350Z, and I still play with those old Aurora cars with the snap together track!

Probably the best and by far the most dangerous wars we ever had in my neighborhood were with those first generation "Clackers", which were two large glass balls held together with a piece of cotton string. The idea was to hold the string in the middle and make the balls 'clack' together, but they made for an impressive if potentially deadly bolas. Amazingly nobody ever got seriously injured in battle but my brother did stick a pair in our bedroom wall one night when I refused to "Shut up". 

Real Clackers bore absolutely no resemblence to the wimpy bits of plastic "Clackers" that were popular a few years ago.

(http://www.vintagelane.com/clackers_super_klackers_click_clack.JPG)

Anybody remember "Wizzers"? They were brightly colored plastic gyro tops with plastic and metal tips. You'd rev 'em up and they'd spin seemingly forever. A bit boring (the 'Wizzer Tricks' packs helped some), but you could rev 'em up and stick 'em in someone's hair. They would instantly ride up the victim's hair and clamp onto their scalp! Tons of fun! http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/wiz.html (http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/wiz.html)

(http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/wixbox.JPG)

We once had a great idea for a bazooka war using bottle rockets and metal pipes, but someone narced to their mother before we even got started.  :bluesad:

Lucky boy, we actually went through with this.  We had PVC pipes with Plexiglas shields.  The smaller ones fired rockets that were a bit larger than bottle rockets.  I think they were called "Jupiters" and they detonated at the end of their flight.  The larger ones fired converted model rockets that had either firecrackers (like M80s or M100s) rigged to explode or had a mixture of black powder and flash powder set to detonate.

Being shot by a detonating rocket actually annoys a cow even more than a BB gun.

As I've often said:  I'm amazed that I survived childhood.

:thumbup:  Andrew, sounds like your childhood was inspiration for "Beat" Takeshi's yakuza games in Sonatine (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108188/) (1993).  I've always wanted to do that...

Never played bottle rocket war until after college.
Did play blackwalnut battles, I got hit on the head one time so hard it started bleeding.

I remember stringing six bottle rockets together and launching a toad about 100 feet into the air . . . . but my GI Joe parachute saw him safely to the ground again!!!  I bet he told his little toady grandchildren about that!!! :teddyr:

Sweet.

I was also a "climber", a distinct subgroup of foolhardy boys. I would climb trees, trelises, iron latice work, utility poles, and just about anything where I could get a decent foothold. I only had two major accidents: one broken arm falling from the top of a pine tree (I blame a poorly placed rotten limb) and one broken collar bone jumping from my grandmother's roof into a minnow pond (we were playing TOWERING INFERNO or THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, I forgot which).

I'm still the one everyone sends up the ladder to paint roof peaks, change stairway lightbulbs, etc. Last year I sprained my back badly crawling out of a second story window to paint because I thought a ladder was "a waste of time".  :teddyr:

Hmm.. you've let them desexualize you.. you're not a "friend" to them...  Wish I knew what to tell you about getting out of that.  Maybe the next time you're comforting a broken hearted female, you can slip a few hints like, "You need a man who'll appreciate you, and never treat you badly... I might think I know someone like that..." Then slip her some tongue!

Granted, I'm not expert on starting relationships, so I may not be the best source of advice...