Terminalcoffee discussion

http://www.time.com/time/specials/pac...

This list is clearly biased towards people my age and younger, I think, but I'm interesting in the toy craze from a parents' perspective.

My parents would NEVER, EVER, snowball-chance-in-hell go and wait in a line for a gift or pay a high price for a toy I wanted that was hard to find. As such, I'm inclined to want to treat my own kids that way, because I think if they expect to get the top toy of the year, then you've quite possibly raised a brat who will have nothing LESS than what's popular.

That said, I remember my first Beanie Baby. I didn't know what it even was; the German Baptist girl in my sixth grade class had a homemade one and I really liked it, so my mom went and bought me a little leopard one that was a real Beanie Baby. My brother and I started collecting them before they got really big, and my mom would occasionally shell out some money for nice ones, but not for Christmas.

Over the last few years, we've kept the Beanie Babies we enjoy (I kept the Princess Diana one) and sent the rest to soldiers overseas, because apparently Iraqi/Afghani children really love receiving Beanie Babies. My mom's friend sent me a care package while I was in India and put a few Beanie Babies inside it, and the Tibetan children I gave them to really loved them as well.

I had a Furby, yes, but a year or two after the craze had died down. My mom says that I wanted one the year they came out, but she waited until they were cheap and everywhere before buying me one. I have no idea where it is now.

I still have a Tamagotchi, an angel one, in the original box and everything. This was another thing I got after the craze died down. I recently gave up my favorite, a knock-off that was a panda and was far more interactive than the brand name, and my mom put a battery in it to see if it worked. It beeped at her the entire night before she finally got fed up and took out the battery, haha. (I'm a little terrified of these objects that demand your attention, thus training you to give your attention to it; tamagotchis and FarmVille and the like. It breeds this odd dependence on technology, and we humans react as if we really have "done" something if we suddenly spurt pixeled strawberries.)

I still have all my POGs. I can't bear to part with them for some reason. My prized POG is a 3D one of Saddam Hussein that says, "Beware of Speeding Terrorists" and flips between what looks like a group of, I'm presuming, Kuwaitis crossing the street, and a picture of Saddam driving a truck full of explosives, with his eyes all bugged out.

Despite being born in 1985, I only had one or two Cabbage Patch dolls. Many of my dolls were handmade by my babysitter.

So for those of you who are parents, have you waited in the snow on Black Friday to get that must-have gift? What toy did you want as a child and didn't get?

what did they taint the water with to give people the impression it was a good idea to spend money on a rock? i just cant fathom it.. maybe buying more then one rock at a time may be a bit more rational, like for an aquarium or some sort of ground cover, but a pet rock? really? i guess it just shows how fads really are and i must admit when i was young i got sucked up in a lot of that.. i had pogs, pokemon cards, tomagotchis, troll dolls, beenie babys, a furbie, and all that crap, i got rid of most of it by now.. none of them really ever were of my favorite toys.. my favorite toys were my ninja turtles and a couple of steel fighter planes.. i had (hope i still have) desert storm trading cards that were pretty cool.. i hope that if i ever become a parent ill raise my kid in such a way that theyd see through the fad and just get stuff they will really like, if not just not go crazy about the issue and maybe get one or two of whatever it is, like those zu zu things dont seem too bad in and of themselves.. its the mentality that gets into their minds that bad..

I feel your pain KD. The one that I got shafted on was Stretch Armstrong.

I never got a Hungry Hungry Hippos games, because my mom feared I'd eat the little balls.

She was probably right.

Gus said "little balls" and I'm not mature enough to avoid spending the next time minutes trying to work that phrase into a post.

I should have said "big balls" instead.

Incorporate THAT, Mr. Funny Man.

I got everything I wanted. Except for this:

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I never got this:

But I did get this:
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Not quite the same, plus the snake died like a week later.

1970 Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty. "Too loud."

Wrist rocket slingshot. "Too dangerous."


Subscription to "Famous Monsters of Filmland." "Too weird."

Clark, now that you are a "grown-up", have you bought yourself the Les Paul, the slingshot, and the weird magazine subscription(s)?

I keep telling my husband I want a horse--we've got the land and a barn--but really? Meh. It all seems like too much work now.

Plenty of snakes around, though.

Mary wrote: "Clark, now that you are a "grown-up", have you bought yourself the Les Paul, the slingshot, and the weird magazine subscription(s)?

I keep telling my husband I want a horse--we've got the land a..."

No on all three.

If I could get the Les Paul at 1970 prices, maybe. They're going for a couple grand each now. "Famous Monsters" folded up shop years ago and if my kids found out I had a wrist rocket, they'd probably climb up on the roof and start shooting at pedestrians.

I wanted drums, but I got the guitar instead. It paid off well :)

I wanted but got [image error]

I finally got the real pony two years ago. It is a lot of work, Mary. But worth it :)

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I'm pretty easy to buy for, since books, music, and horses are pretty much all I've ever wanted.

I had all the Breyer horses I could ever want, Sarah Pi. :)

Jackie "the Librarian" wrote: "I had all the Breyer horses I could ever want, Sarah Pi. :)"

Me, too. My father made me a sweet stable for them, too. Back when Christmas was magical instead of depressing and annoying.

Pardon me, my inner Scrooge took over for a second, there. Carry on being happy about Christmas.

I remember my fav toy was the hoppity horse, complete with horse head that hit you in not-so-funny places when you bounced. Mine was blue. I loved that darn thing to literal pieces.



I tried the black friday thing this year, once, and failed. I got to ToyRus at 10 to midnight, saw a bazillion people waiting in line and a full parking lot, and said "Screw it." I found something much better online. I just can't deal with that many crazy people.

Angie, when I first got married my DH bought us each a furby as a kind of joke. We moved soon after and didn't unpack that box because it ended up in storage. Then a couple of years later we moved again, and during the move we kept hearing these really strange noises, almost like a baby. It was creepy. We went from box to box trying to figure out what it was. Finally, he uncovered the box and found the furbies who apparently had been 'talking' to one another over the years to keep them 'awake'. Talk about creepy toys!

Hee...that's really creepy.

My family used to have a cabin in the summers - we'd go with all of our sheets and blankets and pots and pans and board games stuffed in the back of the van, and more on top in a carrier. One year the buzzer from the game TABOO came loose as we drove, and caught against something and started going off. We looked and looked but couldn't find it, so we had to drive the better part of ten hours with that horrible thing chastising us. Needless to say, we didn't play that game all summer.

Angie, when I first got married my DH bought us each a furby as a kind of joke

Your designated hitter?

I can't say that I didn't ever get what I wanted... but I typically didn't ask for the trendy stuff - I was a huge Hello Kitty and Little Stars fan as a kid, so if I got ANYTHING Sanrio, I was pleased as punch, even if I didn't ask for it. In fact, the year that Cabbage Patch kids were hot, I didn't ask for one and I got one anyway. Don't get me wrong, I was superexcited to get it, but you know... whatever. I just figured if I didn't ask for crazy impossible gifts, I'd never be disappointed if I didnt get it.

Anyone remember the name of the doll who had a button on the top of her head to make her hair grow... and you could pump it and make her spin like a ballerina on her toes? I did get one of those, but it was the only one that gave me a scare beforehand because my cousin had one just like it, and I really really wanted it!

My sister, however, asked Santa and our parents for a dog every year from the time she was 3 until she moved out and got her own. Being clever, as my parents thought they were, she always ended up with a toy dog of some sort or a book about a dog, but never the real thing.

RandomAnthony wrote: "Angie, when I first got married my DH bought us each a furby as a kind of joke

Your designated hitter?"

I was trying to figure that out too.

Dumbass Husband
Distinctive Hugger
Deliriously Horny

Hopefully not Dead Husband

Heh...I thought "Dead Husband" too, Jim, but I wondered if Miss Manners would allow "Dead Husband" to be abbreviated...

She will if she wants to keep up with the times :-)

I'm pretty sure it's "dear husband." You guys are hopeless.

Heidi wrote: "I'm pretty sure it's "dear husband." You guys are hopeless."

Nope - were married!

ETA - not to each other just to make that clear.

Jim...

I know, I've moved behind the ficus.

Heidi wrote: "Anyone remember the name of the doll who had a button on the top of her head to make her hair grow... and you could pump it and make her spin like a ballerina on her toes? I did get one of those, but it was the only one that gave me a scare beforehand because my cousin had one just like it, and I really really wanted it! "

I found her! I found her!! Mattel's Dancerella Ballerina Doll - came out in 1978! :D ♥ ♥ ♥



(pic disappeared... maybe it'll come back?)


There was also Dancerina, who'd been around for a while longer... I love that she even makes the same noises in this video that I remember her making!

Mattel's Dancerina Ballerina doll