I used to have a lot of Simpsons memorabilia, including t-shirts and trading cards. The unopened figures in the back are from my original collection but the rest belonged to my nephew. He moved into my aunt's side of the house once she passed away and handed me a shopping bag with all of these figures as a Christmas gift/downsizing of his collection.
Michael is only six years younger than me and grew up with a lot of the same toys I had, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
The Pizza Thrower in particular was one of my faves. I have vivid memories of four year-old Mike picking up the pizzas I shot across the kitchen floor.
That said, I thought it was called a Pizza Shooter so my memory ain't that great, lol.
Most kids had cans of Play-Doh, but we took that to the next level with our canisters of ooze:
There were other gross toys in our collection, too. I had a couple Madballs back in the day. Some were passed down to my nephew. He might still have a couple of these:
One of my favorite action figures as a kid were the Dino-Riders play sets:
Before I got into sports I was really into dinosaurs. My mom took me to Dinosaur State Park a few times and I marveled at the fossils and exhibits. I also collected the little dinosaurs in the gift shop. One year, I came down the stairs on Christmas morning and found a giant inflatable Stegosaurus guarding the tree. It was the best gift of my young life. Somewhere there's a picture of my seven year-old self bear-hugging that thing.
There were other non-sports toys I enjoyed in the '80s - Pogo Ball, Teddy Ruxpin, Simon, Alphie, Lite Brite, and Lego come to mind. I also had a Super Mario Bros. table top pinball game.
And of course I had hundreds of Garbage Pail Kids stickers:
This Crystal Gale sticker is the last one left from my original collection:
Thanks for reading!
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I was really into GI Joe and I remember one Christmas getting the hovercraft vehicle that was super cool.
ReplyDeleteAh Madballs. They were around when I worked in a toy store. They were some of the things I was tempted to get just for the heck of them but never did. Of course I wish I had gotten them. Like many late 1980s toys we sold I could have, should have but didn't.
ReplyDeleteHard to believe The Simpsons are going on 30 years. They've gone from something my parents wouldn't let me watch, to a show I rarely missed each week, to something I was was careful not to watch around my own kids!
ReplyDeleteIf I had to pick a favorite toy from my childhood, it had to be the Star Wars action figures and vehicles. They were a huge piece of my childhood. And if I had to be specific and choose a favorite from that line... I'd go with my Millennium Falcon.
ReplyDeleteAs for a special Christmas gift... the Falcon would be up there. But I don't think anything tops receiving the Atari 2600. I honestly don't remember if I actually received it for Christmas or my birthday. But I do remember feeling like one of the "cool" kids on the block owning one of these.
You brought back lots of fun memories with this post!
ReplyDeleteMy stepbrother was a big Turtles fan back then. I think he had all four Turtles action figures and the Turtle Van, but not the Pizza Thrower. I wasn't as big of a toy kid as he was, but my favorite would have to be the Transformers.