What’s the one
childhood toy
that you really wanted,
but didn’t get?
I was one of those kids who took really good care of his toys. I didn’t take them outside. I didn’t loan them to friends. And I was very selective about which friends I let play with them. So my stuff pretty much stayed pristine. I played with them, of course. I wasn’t one of those freaks of nature who kept his toys in their original packaging and put them on display. Anyway…
Because I took really good care of my stuff, my parents had no problem buying me toys (until they divorced and money suddenly became a scarce commodity, but that’s a story for another time). The bulk of my toys consisted of Mego superhero dolls (uh, I mean, action figures), about three hundred Hot Wheels, and my G.I. Joe collection. The G.I. Joe stuff wasn’t the tiny toothpick figures that came out in the ’80s. No, this was the tall, cloth uniform, dueling scar on the cheek, Kung-Fu grip ones that predated them.
I had a bunch of them: some with brown hair, some with blond, and I think even a redheaded one (he was the crazy G.I. Joe). I had the jeep, the headquarters, and the training center ‒which just consisted of a plastic tower they could climb and zip-line down from. Problem was, there wasn’t much to be done with them. They were kind of…bland. I mean, how many war scenarios can you come up with? And the superhero figures were the wrong size to try and mix stories with.
One day, I was at a flea market with my family, hunting for back issues of comic books, when I saw a toy that looked like one of my G.I. Joes, but way, way cooler. This one had a mask that changed his appearance, a remote-controlled jeep, and some cool weapons. He was some sort of spy figure, but the same shape and look as the G.I. Joe line. Introducing him into my G.I. Joe universe would’ve been like having the Six Million Dollar Man show up on the Love Boat.
I wanted that toy, but the guy selling it wanted twenty bucks, and spending twenty bucks on a toy at a flea market in the ’70s… Well, lets just say my mom didn’t readily agree. I may as well have been asking for a brand new bike.
I begged. I pleaded. I said it could be my birthday and Christmas gift for the next decade. I promised to stop asking for a brand new bike. I even asked the seller if he would take less for it (he declined). Finally, after an hour of begging, my mother said okay. But I was too late. Someone else had purchased it.
I never saw that toy anywhere else, and although I know my mom looked elsewhere for several years after, she never found it. Eventually, I gave up the toys and all of my G.I. Joe stuff was sold at a flea market because life is cyclical, and none of us knew that stuff would be worth big bucks to collectors some day (dammit!). So the question is…
What’s that one childhood toy you really wanted, but for whatever reason (money, timing, parents didn’t think you should have it) you didn’t get?
Tough one… it was either the big volcano island mighty max dungeon set, but probably the (highly coveted) jurassic park compound! Yeah… definitely the compound. My best friend Rudy got it. But I had the t-rex with dino-damage action! Lol wow, I miss being a kid!
Sorry about that lost toy, but I do love hearing about boys who coveted their GI Joes. My dad, now 92 was the illustrator who created the fist 4 GI Joe characters in 1964/65. I remember the deep sea diver modeling in the living room and have great stories about others.
I never did understand why boys loved to play war games with castrated action heroes. Can anyone out there let me in on the secret. My dad always wondered too? Email me, as I’ve been curious for decades!
I don’t think it was just the G.I. Joes that didn’t have genitalia. Barbie and Ken were lacking, as well (and I’m guessing still are). For me, I gravitated more towards the superhero figures because I read comic books and liked to make up my own stories. The G.I. Joes worked for that, too, but I wasn’t a big fan of war stories. So my stuff gravitated towards spy/espionage stories, with the soldiers going undercover on some secret mission, Which is why that spy figure (whoever/whatever it was) would’ve been so cool to add to my cast.
Chemistry set. No way did my folks trust me enough to get me one of those. But it might have launched a brilliant career in science for me. Thanks for nothing, Mom & Dad!
I’m with Kim, I can’t remember anything that I really wanted, I had no expectations so everything I got, I was happy with. Having older male siblings helped in that things I may have not gotten, they did. The “kitten” thing, I can relate to with my daughter. At the end of Christmas night, I asked her if she got everything she wanted and she responded with a yes. Parents know their kids and I knew something was up so I told her that I could tell she wasn’t being absolutely honest. She then stated that she’d hoped to get… Read more »
Like most kids of my generation I was a big fan of He-Man, but for some reason my mom objected to the figures, which meant the only time I got to play with them when I went to friends houses. Skeletor was my favourite, but the one I coveted was the Castle Grayskull playset, which looked so cool and would have been just as much fun to play with using my GI Joe (smaller, Cobra era) and Kenner’s Super Powers toys.
That Skeletor was pretty cool looking.
I’m wracking my brain and I honestly am having a hard time thinking of any toy I wanted from Santa that I didn’t get. I never asked for anything over-the-top, so that could have been the secret to my success. However, on the non-toy end I never did get that kitten, which may be why I’m on my way to being a crazy cat lady now…