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Boys/Girls toys you wanted but weren't allowed to collect?

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  • Werewolf
    Inhuman
    • Jul 14, 2003
    • 14606

    Boys/Girls toys you wanted but weren't allowed to collect?

    I've been thinking about the Toys that Made Us He-Man episode where they point out twenty percent of MOTU collectors were girls. That's a pretty big chunk of sales and the reverse really didn't happen in girl's lines. Twenty percent of Strawberry Shortcake, Glamour Gals, Barbie, Sylvanian Families, etc. collectors were not boys.

    But these were all cool lines and there had to been stuff that would have appealed to a lot of kids, girls and boys. You might not have wanted a Barbie or Ken but Barbie had loads of sweet cars, playsets and accessories that would have been in perfect scale with Big Jim, GI JOE and Six Million Dollar Man. Also the Wonder Woman and Bionic Woman shows were ratings hits and boys and girls would have wanted toys.

    Same for the women here. Were there boys lines you wanted but were not allowed to collect?

    I had the advantage of having a Mom that didn't have any toy hang ups. If me or my sister wanted a Hot Wheels car, we could have a Hot Wheels car. To this day my sister loves Hot wheels cars. She also was never one of those weird anti-Barbie people either that forbid us from having dolls. She grew up right before Barbie hit and girl toys basically sucked when she was little. You, more or less, had your choice of play chores like dishes, brooms and ironing boards and a few baby dolls. Awesome!
    Last edited by Werewolf; Jan 30, '18, 8:38 PM. Reason: typos
    You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hill top near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One dark and stormy night, a light appears in the topmost window in the tower of the old house. You decide to investigate... and you never return...
  • PNGwynne
    Master of Fowl Play
    • Jun 5, 2008
    • 19432

    #2
    You know, looking back, I was lucky. My parents, though conservative, were not very hidebound about toys and play. We had a complete sheet-metal play kitchenette that my sister and enjoyed equally. (I won't go into my sneaking one of my mother's hostess aprons out of the buffet to use with it...)

    I had Mego, MOTU, Star Wars, Micronauts, SMDM, Super Powers, etc. galore. But I also had Muppets, Strawberry Shortcake, and Shaving Ken. My Miss Piggy puppeteering was a neighborhood hit, and I had a few Golden Girl and She-Ra figures. I also appropriated my sisters 12" Mego Wonder Woman and Bionic Woman.
    WANTED: Dick Grayson SI trousers; gray AJ Mustang horse; vintage RC Batman (Bruce Wayne) head; minty Wolfman tights; mint Black Knight sword; minty Launcelot boots; Lion Rock (pale) Dracula & Mummy heads; Lion Rock Franky squared boots; Wayne Foundation blue furniture; Flash Gordon/Ming (10") unbroken holsters; CHiPs gloved arms; POTA T2 tan body; CTVT/vintage Friar Tuck robes, BBP TZ Burgess Meredith glasses.

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    • palitoy
      live. laugh. lisa needs braces
      • Jun 16, 2001
      • 59176

      #3
      My wife wasn't allowed to have action figures but she wanted some badly. She did get Space lego though and was quite grateful for it.

      Me? I had a Ken, it was a serious attempt to play with the local kids and they were mostly girls. My only male companion, only wanted to play sports, all the time.

      The girls had not enjoyed it when Big Jim rolled into their zone, so I thought it was the doll. I got a Ken, turns out they just didn't want to play with me. (Price is Right fail music).

      Back to non-stop street hockey.
      Places to find PlaidStallions online: https://linktr.ee/Plaidstallions

      Buy Toy-Ventures Magazine here:
      http://www.plaidstallions.com/reboot/shop

      Comment

      • Iron Mego
        Wake Up Heavy
        • Jan 31, 2010
        • 3532

        #4
        Don't ever remember wanting any quote-unquote girl's toys, but I had a sister, so some were around. I know my Megos partied in the Barbie Dreamhouse a few times.

        Now that I think about it, I don't think she had all that many toys growing up. Mainly Barbie stuff I guess.

        I don't, however, think anything was forbidden. I think it was mainly a monetary concern. There are certain toys I coveted, and were available in local stores, that I never had. Maybe I just never articulated very clearly what I wanted. Hard to say.
        Wake Up Heavy Podcast

        Find me on Twitter

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        • Werewolf
          Inhuman
          • Jul 14, 2003
          • 14606

          #5
          Originally posted by PNGwynne
          But I also had Muppets, Strawberry Shortcake, and Shaving Ken. My Miss Piggy puppeteering was a neighborhood hit, and I had a few Golden Girl and She-Ra figures.
          Neat! Strawberry Shortcake and She-Ra. You had very good taste in toys.

          Originally posted by palitoy
          My wife wasn't allowed to have action figures but she wanted some badly.
          Wow, that sucks.


          Me? I had a Ken,
          That's cool. It seems like Ken gets a lot of ridicule now. But when I was a kid he was super cool. When you got a new Barbie, like Superstar or Crystal, you had to have the Ken that went with her. That reminds me: Dream glow Ken, best Ken ever, he glowed in the dark.
          Last edited by Werewolf; Jan 30, '18, 8:33 PM.
          You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hill top near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One dark and stormy night, a light appears in the topmost window in the tower of the old house. You decide to investigate... and you never return...

          Comment

          • HardyGirl
            Mego Museum's Poster Girl
            • Apr 3, 2007
            • 13933

            #6
            My mom wasn't crazy about the fact that I wanted some boys toys, but she never kept me from having them. My dad was famous for coming home from work w/ Matchbox car in his pocket for me. He also got me a Marx machine gun (that my mom couldn't stand b/c it was so LOUD), and a mini SSP from the local Citgo station. I also had 2 Mego AJs and a Big Jack doll. My dad's only restriction on action figures was that they had to be black guys. (which was weird since I owned white dolls). My mom really wasn't big on accessories for any of my toys so I never had any store bought playsets, or lots of extra outfits. AJ had 2 outfits I got for Christmas, and my Barbies (all 3 of them) had extra clothes, b/c of a blow molded deluxe doll set I had that came w/ them. I never owned a Ken doll.
            "Do you believe, you believe in magic?
            'Cos I believe, I believe that I do,
            Yes, I can see I believe that it's magic
            If your mission is magic your love will shine true."

            Comment

            • neogelion
              Museum Patron
              • Mar 11, 2009
              • 134

              #7
              I always wanted a Purple Pie Man.
              Zombie? Vampire? Evil clown?!? Yes, please.

              Comment

              • cjefferys
                Duke of Gloat
                • Apr 23, 2006
                • 10180

                #8
                Sometimes having a sister is good, she had some Mego Supergals and I played with them, no need to buy my own, and she played with my figures. But if either one of us wanted opposite gender toys, my parents wouldn't have had any issue with that, they were very easy going and open minded. My sister did buy a bunch of Star Wars figures, not just Leia, but in 1978 Star Wars toys became so ubiquitous they were practically gender neutral IMO.

                Comment

                • Earth 2 Chris
                  Verbose Member
                  • Mar 7, 2004
                  • 32481

                  #9
                  I didn't really want any girls toys, although I did use my sister's Charlie's Angels and her doll house in my Mego play. I also had a dune buggy I picked up at a yard sale that I used with Megos. I later learned it was from the Barbie line.

                  I bought the first wave of She-Ra figures, because I was so MOTU-minded at the time. After I bought them, I was kind of mortified I had at some point. They were SOOOO girly. I'm not sure even girls really wanted her all Barbied up like that, since she wasn't like that on the cartoon. I think if they had done a line like the DC Super Heroes Girls action figure line is now, it would have been even more popular.

                  Chris
                  sigpic

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                  • rykerw1701
                    Persistent Member
                    • Aug 27, 2007
                    • 1026

                    #10
                    Originally posted by HardyGirl
                    My mom wasn't crazy about the fact that I wanted some boys toys, but she never kept me from having them. My dad was famous for coming home from work w/ Matchbox car in his pocket for me. He also got me a Marx machine gun (that my mom couldn't stand b/c it was so LOUD), and a mini SSP from the local Citgo station. I also had 2 Mego AJs and a Big Jack doll. My dad's only restriction on action figures was that they had to be black guys. (which was weird since I owned white dolls). My mom really wasn't big on accessories for any of my toys so I never had any store bought playsets, or lots of extra outfits. AJ had 2 outfits I got for Christmas, and my Barbies (all 3 of them) had extra clothes, b/c of a blow molded deluxe doll set I had that came w/ them. I never owned a Ken doll.

                    For years I asked for the GI Joe Adventurer, which was the first Black AT guy. Never got him, or at least not until I was in my 30's and bought him myself. I don't know if that was an actual decision on my parent's part or if there just weren't many to be found in rural western NY in the early 1970's. My dad was never crazy about the idea of me playing with "dolls" anyway, but the military/adventure theme made him feel a bit better.

                    Comment

                    • Phosfate
                      New Member
                      • Jan 16, 2018
                      • 39

                      #11
                      I wasn't forbidden anything I could save up the change to pay for,* and apparently it became clear early on that Tonka Trucks got a lot more use than baby dolls. I didn't have Megos, because I wanted a Supergirl and Treasure City never stocked the girl heroes. I adored Astronaut Joe and his Mercury capsule, but a male friend brought his Joe over to play Barbies on the porch with us** and the sight of undressed Joe's metal rivets completely horrified me. Was this, I wondered, the closely guarded secret of the difference between boys and girls? But we went swimming a lot and the big kids in their tiny 70s Speedos appeared largely un-riveted. Perhaps I would never truly know.***


                      *Shout out to the Montgomery Ward clerk who accepted payment for Living Barbie in pennies and did not murder me.
                      **His dad went CRAZY APENUTS when he found out and he was forbidden to play with us ever again.
                      ***I was eventually given a set of facts of life comics that were the most 70s things ever. Love is beautiful, man.
                      I have never kissed the editor of the Radio Times

                      Comment

                      • Mikey
                        Verbose Member
                        • Aug 9, 2001
                        • 47242

                        #12
                        Was raised by my mom and older sis's

                        Had ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I ever wanted

                        Played with my Johnny West figures by day and made hockey puck cookies in my Easy-Bake Oven the very same night

                        On reflection ... I really loved my childhood

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                        • EMCE Hammer
                          Moderation Engineer
                          • Aug 14, 2003
                          • 25679

                          #13
                          I sewed, crocheted, and did latch hook which all made my dad squirm. Which makes no sense, as he's liberal as hell. I kept my Ken doll in disguise with Pulsar and my SMDM stuff. The only thing I was forbidden to have was toy guns. On several occasions I snuck and bought them at the flea market, and as soon as my parents would catch me with them they were confiscated. It bugged me to no end, but now that I am a parent I am the same way. I draw the line at day-glow Nerf.

                          Comment

                          • Makernaut
                            Persistent Member
                            • Jul 22, 2015
                            • 1544

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Phosfate
                            .....and the sight of undressed Joe's metal rivets completely horrified me. Was this, I wondered, the closely guarded secret of the difference between boys and girls? But we went swimming a lot and the big kids in their tiny 70s Speedos appeared largely un-riveted. Perhaps I would never truly know.
                            I got a big chuckle out of this and I needed to laugh this morning, so thank you!

                            I played along with my sister when she wanted to break out her Strawberry Shortcake stuff. Largely because she was always a good sport about playing with Star Wars toys so I felt I owed her. I did appreciate how cool the Strawberry Shortcake line was, but I never wanted any for myself. Probably didn't even occur to me as an option because I was pretty hard-line on the "Girls Stuff" and "Boys Stuff" as far as my play, but I was never bothered by girls playing Hot Wheels, GI Joe, or being on my little league baseball team.
                            Last edited by Makernaut; Feb 2, '18, 12:15 PM.

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                            • Mikey
                              Verbose Member
                              • Aug 9, 2001
                              • 47242

                              #15
                              Getting a fuzzy flashback ........

                              I used to have a weird hand cranked plastic knitting machine.

                              Resembled an Evil Knievel crank but made crocheted yard tubes ...

                              Never figured out why anybody would want to make crocheted yarn tubes

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