Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood #7
Lego Space Sets (1978-1982)
Everyone grew up with Legos in my time, however sets were pretty humdrum in the 70′s. They consisted of big multi-colored pieces. Nothing was very uniform at all. This was especially evident during the great science fiction boom consisting of Star Wars, Star Trek, the Black Hole, etc. We wanted to make spaceships, and we didn’t want them to look like candy canes. Hence the introduction of one of my favorite toy lines, the Lego Space Series.
These sets were a major part of my childhood for years. I had quite an arsenal of ships, bases, and Lego parts. Here are the sets I can remember I had over the years: Galaxy Explorer, Starfleet Voyager, Mobile Rocket Transport, Space Command Center, Alpha-1 Rocket Base, & Intergalactic Command Base. That’s a lot of freakin’ bricks.
Although it is extremely difficult to find complete sets anymore, you can still find a few original sets, parts, and reproductions made from newer bricks on ebay. The command center above was going for $105 last time I looked.
Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood (Honorable Mention)
RUN YOURSELF RAGGED 1981
Run Yourself Ragged was a puzzle game in which you raced against the clock. Kind of like Perfection. The game consisted of a marble-sized ball bearing which you would navigate through a maze of 10 different obstacles (parallel bars, catapult, etc.) Each ‘obstacle’ had its own little control assigned to it– a lever, button, etc. Ultimate goal was to navigate the course in under 60 seconds and ring the bell at the end. This game came out under several other names as well – Tricky Golf, Snafu, and Screwball Scramble.
This was a very fun game. The fun factor of this was great while on Winter Break. After that, I think it sat in the closet for a very long time. Then it was retired to garage sale purgatory. Sure wish I still had this game now.
Top ten Xmas toys from my childhood #8
Star Bird (1978)
Following the initial success of Star Wars, many toy companies started coming out with their own space-themed toys. Milton Bradley was no exception with their entry, Star Bird. Star Bird had a few, very cool features to it – press a button and their front lasers light up and fire, tilt the ship up or down and it makes engine sounds that raise or lower in pitch, removable front assemblies, wing fighters and engine parts. Milton Bradley made a playset to go along with the Starbird line, the Command Base. It is a large cardboard station with plastic accessories like radar dishes, laser guns, a working crane, little vehicles and space men.
Milton Bradley later released this toy under the name Space Avenger. The reason was everybody was hopping on the Star Wars bandwagon, copycat-ing everything Lucasfilm put out and were getting sued as well. Milton Bradley wanted nothing to do with that and promptly changed the name.
Top 10 Xmas toys from my childhood #9
Hot Wheels Service Center (1978)
Huh? A hunk of Hot wheels plastic? No loops, parachutes, or ramps? Basically just a garage. Here’s some backstory. As a kid I was a semi-only child. My siblings were much older than I was, so I would have to come up with things to do on my own a lot. My older cousin would watch me a lot while my parents did the going-out thing. We would create huge environments out of Legos, Matchbox cars, and of course Hot Wheels. We had entire neighborhoods and scaled cities made. There were literally hundreds of cars, and even a big Matchbox parking garage. The Hot Wheels Service Center was a complement to my imaginary city. This toy had a working elevator, working dynomometer, gas pumps, car wash, a cool “road” your cars could roll down, and it folded up for “on the go” play action. It also came with a blue Trans Am. I think if I looked hard enough I might still have the car somewhere in my basement.
Even if it’s not the most awesome of toys, it’s more of the memories you have that make it great. And of course it has a Trans Am.
Top 10 Xmas toys from my childhood #10
This is a series of posts I did several years ago about the top 10 christmas toys from my childhood. I hope you enjoy them and they bring back memories of toys you received when you were a kid. Here’s #10.
Vertibird (1974)
Now this is a classic. You may be able to find cheap, miniature knockoffs of this toy, but none will ever replace the original. This toy cost around $12 25 years ago. An original boxed in mint condition can fetch $500 on ebay these days.
You might remember the tv commercial where you had to stop the fictional bank robber from leaving town. You would send vertibird into action and drop a roadblock on the cardboard cutout of a road. Then you could swing in and hook onto the car and carry him away. This was nearly impossible to do in reality. I wonder how many takes it actually took to hook the getaway car?
Two things that did not work together in the 70′s – a vertibird and shag carpet. Always a tangled mess.
CaptainsCast 025 – Toy of the year 1970-1979
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Things finally slow down for us and that means time for a new podcast. Ben and I discuss his teams’ results from their Lego Robotics Competition. We then cover the big topic of this episode – Top toy of the year 1970-1979.
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No excuse, but…
Sigh. I’ve been away from my passion for a while, and that stinks. Like anything else, it’s difficult to jump back into something when you have been away for so long. There have been no posts, no podcasts, no supplementals, nothing. Why? Well, it’s easy to get caught up in everything else in your life, that’s why. Here’s a rundown – Ben spent the fall in soccer. Hunter did as well. Of course they were in two different places at two different times. That was something we were not prepared for as a family. LOTS of running around. There was also scouts. I am the den leader for Ben and his other scout friends. We are trying to get these boys ready to cross over to Boy Scouts by March as well. Not exactly an easy task. Band is twice a week for Ben. Oh yeah, and chorus. AND Lego Robotics League. And now there is lacrosse. Ben decided to give it a try. He loves it. My wallet does not, however. It is a very expensive sport, but one that is growing. I would love for Ben to be a part of it as it grows in our area. I am also working to help our church achieve some goals via social media. A new web site is being developed, a Facebook page, twitter accounts, and I’m setting up a podcast of the church’s word every week.
There’s been this thing called a recession going on as well. That means everyone pitching in to do extra work to keep the company going. Being busy is a great problem to have. I am also doing a little bit of podcast consulting, too. Let me know if I can help you. If I can’t, I know someone who can.
There are also some new podcasts coming soon. Sci-fi nerd stuff, toys from the past, scouting, and being a mid-lifer are all coming. Stay tuned.
So, what can you expect from me given all these things going on around me? I don’t know. I need to sit down with Ben and do some shows. We have the subject matter. Expect some posts too. I plan on doing some mild re-design work to the site so the feeds work out ok for the future shows.
CaptainsCast may be small now, but I want to make it bigger. I thank each and every listener to our show. It’s less than a thousand, but more than a hundred. You are all fantastic. Please bear with me as I get the train rolling down the track.
Andy ‘the captain’ Kirk
