Toys!

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1][CENTER][B]1. What were your favorite toys (if you had any)?[/B][/CENTER]

[B]Transformers[/B], plain and simple. I was absolutely addicted to those guys and their TV counter-parts in the early 90s [[I]Hums theme music[/I]]. I can't seem to find any of my old ones anymore which is a pity but when I did collect them my collection was a mean sight to behold. I reckon I must have had every Transformer made and since I was older than my little brother by 2.5 years he wasn't much fun so it was just me and the ‘Bots and ‘Cons. Other than Transformers I was pretty big into [B]Action Man[/B] by the time my brother was actually old enough to play with me, we used to have a lot of fun since we had about 20 Action Men altogether and get into big wars with them and the like. [B]Lego[/B] was my little brothers craze and although I did enjoy playing with the Lego with him, it was never really my thing.

[CENTER][B]2. What did you think of the toys then?[/B][/CENTER]

Best thing since sliced bread, the Transformers were without a doubt one of the coolest things I'd ever come across in my short life (well at that stage). The Action Men were great also but they couldn't compete with the Transformers for sheer coolness at that age. Lego on the other hand was something different to both of the other two, there was something engrossing about just Lego, we'd sit and play for maybe eight hours straight just building and building before finally getting down to the eventual war.

[CENTER][B]3. What do you think of the toys now?[/B][/CENTER]

I still think the Transformers as pretty wicked although I'd save my money for some new CDs or DVDs rather than buy one. Lego is still good fun and my brother and I sometimes play for a few hours with it (like Tuesday two weeks ago). Action Man on the other hand has seen a rapid loss in the Cool-Meter gone down with Power Rangers and other things I'd not be caught dead talking about.

[CENTER][B]4. What do you think of the stereotypes that some toys seem to encourage?[/B][/CENTER]

I don't really feel that Toys create a stereotype though there is the defined [I]Boys play with Lego/Cars/Transformers etc.[/I], [I]Girls play with Barbie/Whatever[/I]. I don't know if this is a bad thing and I've no objections to it though if my smaller male cousins began playing with Barbies I'd be slightly worried to say the least...[/SIZE]

[Hevn]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue][SIZE=1][B]I used to like Barbie, heh. I had a mask shop, a pool, and a big house for her. I dress her up and all that girly stuff. But since I bought Ken, my Barbie became a woman. Lol. I'm serious. I had her date Ken and you know how dates sometimes end up. *foot in mouth*

Surely, Barbie was either a model or a disaster to the minds of young girls.

Anyway, I also loved Legos and mostly those that help hone one's mind and creativity. I go for board games and playing cards so I am not the action figure type and if ever I had one I'll probably display it for guests to see, like my now lost Rainbow Bright figurines, instead of locking them up in a toy box or something. Other than that, I don't play much with toys.

Toys are great and they amuse me a lot. I always thought how toy cars with remote controls work so I can make my own. My cousin and I once made a boat with an on and off switch. It actually moved on water so its cool. I love seeing other kids my age playing with toys but I'm not that fond of playing with them myself.

I always thought that toys have a certain effect on the things we like to do as we grow up. Take for example Legos. I used to make houses and stuff with it. Now I know that somehow that influenced my love of architecture and interior design. On the other hand, Barbie made me love the art of fashion.

I look at toys now as a work of art. I normally see works of art using Legos like a big Santa or two life-size couple on a Lego bench. Genious I say.[/B][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[DeadSeraphim]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=1][FONT=Arial][u]1. What were your favourite toys (if you had any)?[/u]

This implies that I don't still have some... *ahem* My favourite toys were Transformers, for sure. I'd amuse my self for hours with them, lol. I never got the Beast Wars toys though. They always seemed way too complex to transform. Most of the original Transformers were nice and simple and allowed for ease of play, lol.

Though I've noted that some of the more recent versions have difficulty levels printed on them.

[u]2. What did you think of the toys then?[/u]

Hella fun. I'd go to clean my room and end up playing wioth the scattered toys instead. Mighty sagas would be fought between plastic dinosaurs and transformers in my bedroom as a child, lol.

[u]3. What do you think of the toys now?[/u]

I only have one toy from early childhood, and he's looking pretty roughed up, lol. 14 years can do that to a bear. :p But yeah. I still like toys. Especially capguns. Such stupid games can be played by adolescents with a few capguns. *Urban Commando anyone?*

[u]4. What do you think of the stereotypes that some toys seem to encourage?[/u]

Eh, my views on stereotypes period are pretty negative. I never really bought into the 'girls play with dolls and boys play with cars' thing. I still don't, heh. I think that what a child plays with has no bearing on his emotional development, and just furthers their ability to utilize their imagination.

In other words, a guy playing with dolls won't turn out sissy, and a girl playing with cars won't turn out butch. I know I played with a lot of dolls in my youth, and I'm relatively normal. Furthermore my very feminine cousin Danica played with my cars and trucks when she was little, and its done nothing to her. It's all just old wives tales, lol.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Gelgoog Pilot]

Legos my friends...Legos...I had a ton and I STILL have that ton plus another or so heh. I sort of got into collecting them. When I was younger though my cousin and I would set up HUGE Lego armies...or not that huge but whatever...and we'd battle it out and stuff...He was great at building stuff...I had great things too though...they fell apart eaisier. Well yeah I still have them in the old attic somewhere...I love those things... :D

[future girl]

[B]1. What were your favorite toys (if you had any)?[/B]

I was and forever will be in love with My Little Ponies. I had about three, I think, and it was pretty fun making up stories about them and stuff. I also had a healthy collection of Tiny Toon figurines and some Teenage Mustant Ninja Turtles stuff too. I had this one Jem doll, she kind of resembled a barbie, except her hair was pink and her earings glowed. She had no clothes, I somehow lost them. In most scenarios, when I played with my cousins, she was the villain barbie because of this so that was fun heh. I had no ken dolls so little green Army men had to do. I used to have a lot of Play Dough, I'd always end up mixing all the colors though and my mom would throw it away :(

[B]2. What did you think of the toys then?[/B]

I liked my toys mostly because it involved making up really bizarre stories. How I got that Jem doll and my Buster figuring to interact is beyond me. It was a nice little escape for me, I grew up relatively lonely so toys were like my outlet heh. It was just fun you know, sometimes it's really hard to explain what the allure of a blue pony was, but when you're a kid you don't need the explanation, it's just cool.

[B]3. What do you think of the toys now?[/B]

I'm still really fond of my little pony dolls and Play Dough still kicks a** too. It's nostalgic. I waste money on old fashioned toys all the time heh, especially the Green Army men, you can never have enough Green Army men.

[B]4. What do you think of the stereotypes that some toys seem to encourage?[/B]

The stereotypes were never really imposed on me as much as they were on my other siblings. I guess since I was the youngest my parents didn't try as hard and in a lot of cases I just got my brothers and sisters left over toys. Because my brothers are closer to me age I had more of their toys actually. I think it's really rare to see a mom forcing her daughter to play with a Barbie and in this day in age Barbie does everything so that's not so much of a bad thing. It's more common to see a parent push a little boy for an action figure than it is to see a parent push a little girl to get an oven kit.

[Heero Darkangel]

Hey my father use to talk alot about the visionaries, He liked it alot...is that the cartoon where they can transform into animals which are displayed on their staffs? well something like that....

Well I never had toys when i was growing up...due to some people in my life didn't agree to things like that but now that i'm living with my parents they brought me a wingzero model kit not so long ago and it's was my first toy, I have it displayed in a glass case on my shelf in my room, I never play with it...I don't want to break it...but yeah...thats my one and only toy and I treasure it to the max!

I've seen alot of other toys around but I don't buy them although I like the transformer toys but first...I want to collect the rest of the gundam wing model kits...knowing my luck they proberly seem ancient to others and they proberly don't sell all the model kits...but hey I'm new to the world of cartoons, toys and what ever else there is...so give me a break...LOL

My first toy (well only toy) actually inspired me to.... buy the rest..LOL...May sound stupid to others but I like them...I now want to collect robotic toys!!! and Gundam wing sounds like a good place to start.

[Semjaza]

Does anyone have an images of these Visionaries toys? I've never heard of them.

[b]1. What were your favourite toys (if you had any)?[/b]

I don't know what my favorite was. I think it'd definitely be between TMNT and He-Man. I has so many figures and playsets and vehicles it was ridiculous. I still have it all heh.

[b]2. What did you think of the toys then?[/b]

Loved them obviously. I played with them constantly and set up all sorts of things for them to do around the house. I remember one time I had a disposable camera, so I set them up in the yard and took all sorts of weird pictures.

[b]3. What do you think of the toys now?[/b]

I honestly still think they're pretty nice. They're decently detailed and have managed to survive in perfect condition all of these years, they must be well made.

[b]4. What do you think of the stereotypes that some toys seem to encourage?[/b]

I don't really understand what this is referring to, to be honest. If you mean things like girls wanting to look like Barbie, then I suppose I can see the problem. To me, though, they're just toys. I played with them, but I never actually identified with them.

[Mord_sith]

hey im a girl (well 16 but hey) and i hate anything girlie. my fav toys have to be those little plastic soldiers with the little guns and things.
i dont like the sterotype that all girls like little pink fluffy dolls or barbies. i quite agree that some girls "Relate" to the role of housewife but there are also some guys who do to. like my uncle, he is a househusband - that new breed of pioneering men who arent afraid of ridicule. but he is a happily marred man with 4 kids who only works part-time so he can look after them. he didnt grow up with little pink fluffy dolls or barbies he had those awsome little plastic soldiers

ANYWAY sorry for waffling.

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=darkviolet][b]1. What were your favourite toys (if you had any)?[/b]

I loved my Rainbow Bright dolls when I was really young. I had them beat up on my Barbies. I also had some Jem dolls...I think I used one of them as Ken's mom since I thought that kids had to be shorter than their parents oh and She ra. Then there was my Little Tykes Kitchen. Barbie casserole anyone? I also liked to play with my brother's GI Joes adn TMNT. Them the barbies and who ever else I could find were always very useful.

[b]2. What did you think of the toys then?[/b]

Fun. That's the biggest thing for me. I always mananged to think up something to do to or with the stuff I had. Even my little people. I can't wait to play with my kids and their toys now. :)

[b]3. What do you think of the toys now?[/b]

Well, they don't make Jem anymore, but I think she definately had it one up on Barbie since she was an international musician and a fashion designer along with running some kind of half way house and having a split personality. She managed to keep it all together while battling a rival band. Let's see barbie do that. She ra kicked butt because she was a female super hero way before SailorMoon. I wish they had some more toys that I used to play with ...okay so they're bringing rainbow bright back, but I want She'ra and Jem.

[b]4. What do you think of the stereotypes that some toys seem to encourage?[/b]

Even wiith all the changes in Barbie I still think it sends the message that no matter what girls are still supposed to be pretty and only care about thier clothes and need a boy to go along with all their girl friends. And that ther's still a certain weight. I mean, you do know that Barbie was designed after a German Sex toy? SOme people might say something about the Little Tykes Kitchen, but my brother used it too. And some of my friends had younger brothers who used their kitchens as well. so that stereotype doesn't seem to work with me. Especially since my husband is more likely to be in the kitchen than I am. so not all those stereotypes really fly with me.[/color]

[Shwa]

1. What were your favourite toys (if you had any)?

I would have to say that the G.I Joes's were my favorit toys when I was little, they came with cars, guns, and little forts that were like $30 but it was all worth the money. What I liked about them mostly was that there were different types of G.I Joes and more came out a certain period of time.

2. What did you think of the toys then?

There were different types of toys to fill a young childs imaginations, everything was entertaining if it could move or you moved the toy and played with it. I know every time I went to the store I would ask my parents to get me something (like everyone else i bet), sometimes I dont get anything but when I do it's like christmas or my brithday.

3. What do you think of the toys now?

All of them are great to play with, plus their bringing back some of the old toys that were on tv when we were little like Spiderman, He-Man, Power rangers, etc. Those are fun to play with since those old shows got updated and look better than before.

4. What do you think of the stereotypes that some toys seem to encourage?

I don't realy knwo what to say here, basically everyone before me has answered the question quite nicely :D