The Big Talk

[Figuremod73]

They had that talk with me.... Up until '87 my whole Christmas' had been toys. At 14 I was told no more toys at Christmas. I was crushed, I was really getting into my Transformers and that pretty much ruined it.

I got a Nintendo that christmas of '87. I gradually lost interest in my toy collection as time went on as video games took more of a hold. A few years later all those MOTU, Transformers, Joes, etc were sold in yard sales. While I wasnt to bothered at the time, it REALLY bothers me now. I miss them and many of those TF are hard to replace because of value.

From '87 up to just a few years ago I didnt collect any toys. Now I know ive really been missing out.

[Iron Mego]

Wasn't forced out of it either. Lost interest when girls and other things became more important. My mom did take it upon herself to get rid of most of my toys and comics. Only things that survived were my Star Wars figures and my LEGOs.

[GeekSummit]

I think I was about 10 when my dad bought me my first Tomart's Guide. I guess that was his way of saying, "See this son? You're interests do have value" which was in stark contrast to hearing "Every little piece of Plastic Junk" at every trinket I pointed at as a kid. Ha... I use that one on my daughter... I'm getting old, man... ha.

[kingdom warrior]

Never had the Talk, I naturally started buying records and dated girls.....in 89 there was a great toy store in the Village in New York forgot the name of it, it wasn't ( Loves Saves the Day). I went in and they had megos and BOOM! it all came back to me and I got the bug to get toys again....

[Splitty]

This doesn't even really apply to me, as the things I collect now I could never get my hands on as a kid, so there was no continuation.
Relatives only ever bought me Barbies (I had no allowance!), although I somehow I managed to get me sticky fingers on a few revered Star Wars figures. Only a few. So I wasn't really in control of my toy inventory as a kid.

But the majority of things I collect now are terrifying and strange. When I started in mid 20's, ma pa and sis just cocked their head curiously, just another quirk from a quirky person. But the best part is, now that we're all waaay into the adult age, I have my parents TRAINED!! Whenever they're out and about in the city, they'll CALL ME UP if they see some oddity action figure or old toy they think I might like. And better yet, sometimes they'll just buy some weird thing and drop it at my doorstep!

Getting old has advantages. Sweet sweet advantages.

[torgospizza]

I got a few remarks from both grandfathers around 12 or so, but around 13 had to give them to my younger cousins. It cheesed me off, but I was getting to be more interested in girls, hot rods, and books, so it wasn't the end of the world. Then when the '89 Batman movie came out, I was around 22 and living on my own and just picked up a few of those figures and it kind of got me back into it a bit. When eBay was starting to get big, I'd pick up things here or there, but never got into that hunter mode ("I must have a Zem-21!") until I started coming here regularly.

[madmarva]

The day my Dad found me playing with a new mego Spider-Man figure. I believe I was in Kindergarten. He never understood my fascination with "dolls" or comics, on fact he despised it.

That being said, I got dolls up through the summer Empire Strikes Back came out. I think Yoda was the last one I bought. I started sixth grade that fall and lost interest. I was more interested in girls and football, atari and comics. Inever quit collecting comics.

However, my nephew was the right age for He-Man, GI-Joes and Super Powers, so I would buyhim various figures until he got too old. The animated Batman, x-men, spider-man shows brought me into collecting in the 1990s. The ads in the back of Toy Collector got me back into megoes again and a small article on Charlie Flatt got me into custom figures.

[jimsmegos]

It was a dark day really. I was twelve. Just returned home from a weekend at my grandparents. Gone. They were all gone. My dad had given all of 'em to my younger cousins. No real explanation other than "You're too old for those." I was crushed. But I got over it pretty quick as I started focusing on music and girls. The only time it bothered me was when I went to my cousins house and saw my toys utterly destroyed. They were like a double dose of Sid from Toy Story. But what you gonna do?

That's what made my dad's conversion all those years later even more of an impact on me and him. The things he gave away turned into a great comradeship in going on the hunts back in the late 90's.