My Favorite Toys from Childhood

You couldn't find an AT-AT at Child's World in Waterbury in the Summer of 1980

My grandmother took me there almost every morning that Summer. I would waddle right over to the Star Wars section, and scan the shelves for the elusive AT-AT. It was never there. My mom finally found one that Summer, and it was one of he best days of my childhood. I remember she told me over the phone that she found one, and the anticipation drove me nuts. It was such an oversized toy compared to the rest of the Star Wars line. The box seemed massive the first time that I laid eyes on it. That AT-AT was my favorite toy.

I was thinking back on that time as I watched the trailer for the new Star Wars movie that opens up this week. I wondered how many other kids nowadays are waiting for that magical wrapped present Christmas morning? What was on their lists? Well, I told you about my single favorite toy, but here are a few more that made me a very happy boy in the glorious 70's and 80's.

Simon - A great electronic game that came out in 1978. Basically, a sequence of random tones were generated that you would have to repeat. Simon says "Blue, blue, yellow, red, yellow" etc. and it got longer and more complex. My brothers and I spent days and months playing that game.

Colecovision - Yes, I had the Atari 2600, AND the 5200. They were great! BUT, Colecovision was my best friend. Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Zaxxon were my favorite arcade games, and they were brought home with this console. I loved Colecovision.

Stretch Monster - Stretch Armstrong was the first extremely flexible toy that came along, you could stretch these things out and they would always come back to the original shape. Until you broke the skin, and that purple goo would bubble out. I remember that they used to give you band-aids to cover the wounds, which, obviously never healed. Stretch Monster was the second toy in the series, and maybe it was just because it was different and green, but it was my favorite of the two.

Big Trac - One of the first programmable automated toys to hit the market. You could program it to go forward, backwards, left or right in sequences. I spent days programming that thing to roll around my kitchen floor.

Thank you for taking this trip down my memory toy lane with me. I hope that you get a Christmas present that you will remember forever this year!

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