Why do we search for toys from childhood?

[starsky]

for me it's buying the toys i've always wanted that my parents wouldnt get for me for whatever reason.

[Sandman9580]

Well there are many children who, when they become adults,
drink more beer than milk, or eat more asparagus than cookies,
or in the case of OUR scenario, collect more stereo equipment
or kitchen cutlery than dolls or action figures.

Which ever way you go is normal to me... I wouldn't judge one way or another.

Well, I was being a bit facetious. Of course things change, and if being a grown-up carries with it its own terrors and responsibilities, it also carries with it its own joys. I don't sleep in footy pajamas anymore, and Masters of the Universe cartoons aren't anywhere near as compelling as they were when I was five (in fact I think they're terrible), I don't have to eat one awful noodle of Chef Boyardee ever again, Strawberry Kool-Aid remains awesome, beer tastes a lot better than it used to, and girls are no longer gross.

I may not play with action figures anymore but when I look at certain toys, I think they're just as cool now as they were then. My point is, you don't have to expunge anything from your life just because the "adult world" tells you to. The adult world would have a few things to answer for, first.

[cactus725]

Being older than most of you, I find for my personal collection, I look for things from the different stages of my childhood. My first recollection of cartoons included, Yogi Bear, Hucklelberry Hound, Bugs Bunny, Mighty Mouse, and Popeye. In 1966 Batman became the rage, which in turn lead me to all the super heroes and the comics. In my teen years ( the 1970’s) science fiction took over and I began to watch Star Trek, We landed a man on the moon and Major Matt Mason was king, and then 1978 came Star Wars. My collection reflects all of this, and by having rediscovered all the toys I loved then, I can show my grand kids a glimpse of what their grand dad was like at their age. We have a blast looking at this stuff, and as small as they are they think it is really cool.

Plus we all know how it feels when we dig around and see a toy we had as a child and it still exist.

[generic]

I collected toys as a kid and never really stopped. Even as a teenager, I still went to toy stores regularly. I think the first place I ever drove by myself when I got my drivers license was a toy store to look for GI Joe figures. When I was in college, my girlfriend (at the time) and I would go to toy stores all the time. I still have almost all of my childhood toys (which is probably why I don't collect Star Wars figures or Real American Hero GI Joes). Many of the vintage toys that I've bought as an adult were simply bought as an adult because I could find them before then.

However, the reason I collect MEGOS is because of the KISS Megos. Back when ebay first started, a friend of mine told me about it and said, "You can find anything there...even old stuff." So the first thing I looked for was "KISS dolls from the 1970s" because I had wanted them since I first saw them. When I realized that they were made by the same company that made my Superhero and Star Trek figures, knowing that I could search for "MEGOS" just made it easier to find the stuff that I'd wanted since I saw it in the comic book ads as a kid.

[huedell]

Well, I was being a bit facetious. Of course things change, and if being a grown-up carries with it its own terrors and responsibilities, it also carries with it its own joys. I don't sleep in footy pajamas anymore, and Masters of the Universe cartoons aren't anywhere near as compelling as they were when I was five (in fact I think they're terrible), I don't have to eat one awful noodle of Chef Boyardee ever again, Strawberry Kool-Aid remains awesome, beer tastes a lot better than it used to, and girls are no longer gross.

I may not play with action figures anymore but when I look at certain toys, I think they're just as cool now as they were then. My point is, you don't have to expunge anything from your life just because the "adult world" tells you to. The adult world would have a few things to answer for, first.

Amen on that.

Like everyone here, I resist being "boxed in" by certain standards,
and, at the same time, hope to benefit from the different stages of life.

I probably should've known better than to interpret what I read in your post
as a "straight shot" explanation.

[jds1911a1]

Why? Cause I'm still mad my mom made me sell my stuff at a garage sale....

in the joe world we used to have a saying a take on the Macarthur farewell address to congress
"old soldiers never died....Your Mom Threw them away"

[Wee67]

I think the whole nostalgia thing is an effort to let go of our responibilities a bit and re-live a time that feels less complicated for just a little while. I think we know this a romanticized view and we can't really return, but if its just a few minutes...

[pepi]

It quiets the voices and keeps the men in white coats away.

Seriously though, I'm a collector. My hobby is collecting...not in an obsessive hoarding manner but a more thought out and planned out accumulation of toys (seems always to be some sort of toy..throw in vintage D&D lead miniatures as toys as well). Maybe it's a control thing...not to get too "shrinky" could also be reliving a "perfect" little time in my childhood (though my brother doesn't "get" it.) So it's my little moment in time.

[clemso]

I've moved on from the nostalgia thing. I love Mego package designs and Mego were master at making you want them all, so now I own a lot of Megos that i was not even aware existed in my childhood. So part of the fun for me is the chase. I would love to own all the 8 inch lines eventually, but i am in no hurry.

[Gorn Captain]

Living in the back end of the galaxy (aka Belgium), I never got some of the toys that I wanted. I remember drooling over Famous Monsters ad pages.
From SW, in the 12" line, we only got Luke and Leia. Well, at least I could brush her hair....
We got a fair amount of Megos (Star Trek, Knights,...) but very few superheroes, so I missed most of those. Thanks to this forum, I got quite a few childhood dreams now.

Some figures didn't make it through childhood and died on the field of glory, so I wanted to get those back. Just recently got a Furies Ghost of Captain Kidd again. Welcome back, Captain!
Always wanted Matt Mason. My friend had one, and that was it. Now recently, I got several. Yeah!

[nvmbrsdoom5]

I was an only child and kind of a lonely kid alot of the time, but I had alot of toys and I spent alot of time playing with them and using my imagination, and it's what kept me happy. I felt a strong connection to them and was devastated when my father threw them all away during my teen years, but I'd figured they were gone and that was that. A couple years later when I started coming across vintage toys for sale in various shops and Toy Shop 'zine, I reconnected very quickly (and happily) with that feeling I had towards my toys, and ever since then they've been a good source of happiness and escapism from the troubles of everyday adult life. I keep my spending at a minimum, so I don't feel too guilty about what I do spend on my collection. My toys, my music, and my happy memories are what I need to be able to deal with the stress of life and not let it all get to me completely.

On a side note, I just recently purchased a boxed Oscar Goldamn doll for a very decent price, and it was such a thrill because I'd wanted that toy since I was a child and never owned it. Some people would look at me oddly for being so excited about a toy like that, but it was definitely a thrill and very gratifying to finally get it. So I think I can easily understand, Karen

[Trappy Trek Freak]

I have been collecting since I was a kid and it all just reminds me of the late 70s and the 80s. I get figures that I had and never had as a kid and if I never had it as a kid I go crazy with it like buying a bunch of them and I customize a whole lot too. I try to make thing I think that should have been made, if I had all this stuff when I was a kid I would have lost my mind. I have tons of different Trek crewmen using all different heads and shrinking playmates 9in heads so I am always buying Trek bodies. I just bought a 1976 Romulan and that is my holy grail of my star Trek collection. I love megos and old action figures and I will never stop buying them they make me happy. I never had Remco Conan as a kid so I bought a king Conan in the package, took it out of the package so I could hold it in my hand, then I shrank its head just a little and put it on a new Masters of the Universe Classics body. That Conan is awesome and the paint didn't even come off with acetone. I don't think a carded figure is worth anything unless you can play with it and set it free.

[hansen14]

I grew up in the 70's. My mom actually saved all of our toys...POTA GIJOE etc. When we went to college my father lost his job, they sold the house, put everything in storage and the storage place burned down. They lost everything! Furniture, clothes pictures and of course our toys! I cant buy back our christmas photos but i can recollect our toy memories. It can be expensive but its a great hobby.

[clemso]

On a side note, I just recently purchased a boxed Oscar Goldamn doll for a very decent price, and it was such a thrill because I'd wanted that toy since I was a child and never owned it. Some people would look at me oddly for being so excited about a toy like that, but it was definitely a thrill and very gratifying to finally get it. So I think I can easily understand, Karen

I totally get that, being from the UK, there were so me cool toys that used to drool over in the American comic ads. I doubt a lot of them were actually distributed here.