Nerd roundtable on toys: We get nostalgic for bits of plastic
Published: 11/27/2012 4:00 PM
Last Modified: 11/27/2012 4:46 PM
Star Wars Death Star space station play set from Kenner.
We are nerds, after all.
But as we've all gotten older, some of our favorite toys have been lost, destroyed, sold in a garage sale or even thrown out by our parents. Heck, some of the toys we really wanted as kids we never really got the chance to play with because we never had them. Thanks for nothing, parental units.
With that in mind, what's the one toy you wish you still had? Or what's the toy you wish your parents would have bought you as kid. Yes, this is the time for airing of parental grievances.
Jason Powers: 
Maybe not my favorite toy growing up, but the one I remember the most among the myriad of Star Wars toys that came out throughout the 1980s, has got to be the Star Wars Death Star Space Station Play Set*. It was a gigantic snap together monstrosity that had three levels, an elevator, and huge gun on the top. There was even a little trash compactor filled with little bits on sliced up sponges and a monster and you could turn a big screw and the walls would close in. The thing was amazing. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but somehow my parents were able to provide my brother and I with this plastic thing of beauty. We played with it so much that when it got all wobbly, we ended up gluing the whole thing together (poorly, I might add). Eventually the thing was destroyed when an X-Wing fighter slammed into it a bit too hard while re-creating the tragic death of Jek Porkins. There was a hole in our life for years after that.
The thing I never had but always wanted, and I know I’m going to lose some Nerd cred here, was the Super NES. We had an Arati 2600, but when the NES came around, we didn’t have the cash as a family to acquire one, so my afternoons were usually spent at a friend’s house who was lucky enough to own one. Soon enough I got a TRS80 computer from RadioShack, and was able to have enough fun on that thing to not care anymore.
(*On a side note, is it strange to anyone else that a whole generation of children were given toys with the words “death” and “play” right there on the box?)
Chris Moore 
There is only one toy that comes to mind that I wish I had gotten and it is completely my fault that I never got it. One thing and one thing only kept me from it: Irrational fear.
One day when I was in Toys R Us with my mother, out of the blue she asked me if I wanted a toy. I don’t remember doing something that warranted me getting a free toy, but I wasn't about to squander this opportunity. Before I could make a suggestion, my mom perhaps pointed to a toy that was right up my alley; an evil robot from the Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future series. This was perhaps the perfect toy for me at the time. First of all, it was a robot; plain and simple. Robots are awesome. Second: It had wings. Rule of thumb: If it’s a robot, it’s cool. If it’s a flying robot: it is perhaps one of the best things ever.
Right before I said yes to my mother, I froze when I saw this on the box: “With real firing action.” When I saw that sticker, a slew of horrible scenarios went through my head. One in particular was of me playing with the toy outside. I decided to try out the real firing action when all of a sudden a laser blast hits the grass. A fire quickly spreads and reaches the house. I suddenly see myself sitting on the drive way crying my eyes out as my house burns to the ground. Yes, I thought real firing action ACTUALLY meant real firing action. My mind then comes back to reality and I tell her that I in fact don’t want the toy. The toy looked fun, but the risk to the house in my mind was too great.
I still can’t recall the toy I ended up getting, but to this day, I still remember that toy that freaked me out so much, I had to pass it up.
Anna Codutti 
I didn't want for much when I was a kid, and being the eldest, I tried not to ask my parents for too much. But if the Kinect game system had existed when I was still of the presents-come-from-Santa age, I guarantee you I would have written a letter to the North Pole every day until Christmas. I'm no big-time gamer (the last console I was able to master was the NES), but I'd like to give the young version of myself something fun that would get her out of the reading chair sometimes. With your own body as the controller, Kinect games are as close as we can get to the virtual-reality play I wanted after seeing it on TV. (But can somebody please hurry up and invent the Holodeck?)
As for what I wish I still had, it's a bit of a mystery. To my everlasting regret, I cannot remember the name of the game my siblings and I played when I was 9 or 10, a game our mom found at a thrift store. The board was a huge map (I do love a map) dominated by ocean. The players are on an expedition, and a highly advanced and complex (or so it seemed at the time) electronic device tells them when they've found sunken treasure, shipwrecks and other deep-sea fun. I've spent tens of minutes trying to Google it, but without a name I've been striking out. (If you know it, I promise a handsome reward!)
James Royal 
There are a lot of toys I still wish I had, but if I had to narrow it down to one, I'd pick the G.I. Joe figure two-pack with Tomax and Xamot, the Crimson Guard commanders. For those who don't know, they were twins who were mirror images of each other, but one had a scar on his cheek because without the scar you'd never remember which was which. And when one got hit, the other felt it, because, you know, that's how twins are, right?
The toy I wish my mom would have bought me as a kid is the Cobra Terrordrome (sensing a theme here?). This thing was awesome. It came with the Firebat, a one-man jet, that could launch out of the central silo, complete with blast doors, which I could only assume were impregnable from everything except a full-on nuclear blast. I remember it having about 80 cannons to ward off attacking G.I. Joes; looking at it now there were just eight. It even had a jail cell for holding captives, who no doubt would undergo brutal torture to force them to reveal whatever secrets a 3-3/4" figure could hold. I could imagine launching missions to take out those pesky Joes from this of drome of destruction (what the heck is a drome, anyway?). Alas, it was never mine.
Micah Choquette 
The toy I wish I would've kept: My Nintendo. The original, with the rectangular controller and all it's simplified A-B button goodness! A large portion of my generation has the NES to thank for getting them into video games in the first place. I found it funny that the two games it included taught you how to "go the extra mile," (Time Warp in Super Mario Bros) and also how to cheat. (Look, guys! If you hold the gun right up to the television, it's SO much easier to shoot the ducks.) There's really only one other game I vividly recall having on NES as a kid and that was Batman. Sure, he was purple. And sure it was still side-scrolling, 8bit and repetitive, but guys, it was Batman. C'mon.
The single worst thing about the whole experience was that ours didn't actually break down, forcing us to buy another system. Yes, we had to blow air into the cartridges like everyone else, but it never outright died - we just "upgraded" to a Sega Saturn a few years after the NES got boring. With the new unit, we promptly sold the ol' NES in the next garage sale. To this day, I'm still kicking myself for that.
Michael Dambold 
I can answer both of these questions with one toy. The 1989 Dino Riders T-Rex. It was the biggest and baddest of the Dino Riders series, with motorized action. For it's time, it was an exquisite toy. It even had the Rulon leader figure packaged with it, which was not sold individually. This was one of the toys I desperately begged for, but was denied because of it's scarcity (I lived in a place that wasn't exactly known for getting new things, let alone toys) as well as the fact that it cost an arm and a leg. I mean seriously, in the late 80s economy it was about $30-40. Ridiculous for a kids toy, since the rest were selling for $5-10.
I did, however, get other Dino Riders toys, and later on found the T-Rex and Rulon leader at a garage sale. At that point, those were the two reasons I wanted the toy, so I was happy. Then of course a few years later I 'grew out of it' and sold them at a garage sale. I now completely regret that decision.
Matt Clayton 
This is simple, the Star Wars Millenium Falcon from Kenner.
Han was right: "She may not look like much but she's got it where it counts."
It was a great toy. You could open the top, play with your favorite characters from the movie and attempt to jump to light speed by throwing it across the room. Maybe that’s why I don’t have this toy anymore, but it’s one that sticks out in my mind, even to this day.
This toy had alert sounds, a landing gear that folded up, a cockpit canopy that opened, an entrance ramp, radar dish that swiveled 360 degrees and a rear deck area that lifted off to showcase a laser gun with seat that swivels 360 degrees. The original price of the toy $24.77 and was released with new packaging each time a new Star Wars film was released.
I never went without the latest and greatest toy as a child. Maybe it’s because I was an only child, or maybe it’s just that I was awesome. I’m not sure what answer is, but anything Star Wars related is something I had to have. I had the Ewok Village playset, the X-Wing fighter and anything else that was made at the time. But the Millennium Falcon was the holy grail of toys for me and it still is. Unless you have a “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” lunchbox to sell me.
Written by
Matt Clayton
Staff Writer
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