Toys

I remember when I was a young 'un, not so long ago I might add, toys were metal, and I mean solid metal. You must remember Transformers!

My Grandad would buy them for me and they were virtually all metal, they weighed a ton. Now when I see kids playing with the new types they're all bloody plastic, the only metal parts to them are the screws! If I had kept all my Transformers in their boxes they'd be worth a fortune now, although toys are for playing with not putting away in an attic.

Production values are so lacking these days, why can't they bring back properly made toys? It could be something to do with the lack of metal, I dunno but surely they can start making some proper toys again.

Rant over.

Ok, I'm joining this rant!!! Not about toys, but food!! When I was little I used to LOVE Wagon Wheels... and they were actually the size of a wheel!! (well, maybe not quite, but almost.. haha ) and Foxes Classic Bars..... now both have shrunk considerably!! I can no longer pig out on ONE Wagon Wheel... I need at LEAST 2 or three!!! and Classic bars are now the size of a lego brick!! The cheek of it all!!!! (and yes, I am hungry)

Yeah Wagon Wheels were HUGE! Now they're half the size. It's the same with almost everything now, to cut back on costs they reduce the size of products but charge us more. It aint right I tells ya!

I got to agree with you on the toys, but I dont know what wagon wheels are.
Its the same with wood toys, no one wants to make wooden toys anymore.
I remember my brother had Optimus Prime (I think that was its name) and I liked playing with it. Perhaps they make things out of plastic because its more 'safer' for kids of today?
When I was a child of the 80s, we didnt rely much on toys, we mostly used our imaginations then. Unfortunately kids of today, it seems that all they want to do is watch tv or play video games. WHat happened?
I miss the 80s!

I still have Optimus Prime upstairs, lol along with all the Dinobots And Wagon Wheels were large chocolate covered biscuits with marshmellow inside.

OMG!!!! Bunn, is that the new cover!??!!? I always think of them with the old reddish packets, you know that had the picture of a wheel and cart on!! :laughing: Mmmm

I got the image from an foriegn site so that picture might not be used in the UK.

Ahh, ok then... :laughing: Man I wish I had one right now... Mmmm marshmallow and jam, and biscuit and chocolate.... *drool*

Stop dribbling on the keyboard, I can see you

Oh, In New Zealand we dont have those, instead we have something similar called mallowpuffs (I think thats the name, I havent been in NZ for over 3 years now).

My grandfather comes from south devon, Cornwall, I believe, is anyone near there? I would like to hear about it, because I plan to visit someday, because I would like to visit where he is from. He is still living in NZ so I dont think he plans to go back, not in the near future anyway.

Uh, sorry, s'cuse me... :laughing: Well it IS almost my lunch time....!! (but all I have is fruit... I think a trip to the shop is needed!)

Kiwideus!!!! YES!! Well I used to be... I have moved since and its about a 5 hour drive for me now, but I LOVE Devon and Cornwall, in fact hubby and I are hoping to move out there one day - we go on holiday there every year and are just in love with the place, we always go to Cornwall, but Devon is just as lovely. I would SOOOOOO recommend a visit there, you won't be disappointed

Your Wagon Wheels are what we call Moon Pies. Ours have gotten smaller, too.

Having three brothers, I remember when Tonka toys were made out of metal. They were, supposedly, indestructible. Well, when Randy put Mike's Jeep behind the wheel of Mom's 1960 Oldsmobile, he put paid to that claim.

This product safety thing has gotten way out of hand. I rode a bicycle and roller skated, without pads or helmet, played on monkey bars, without a rubber mat below and, generally acted like a kid. How did I EVER survive?

Fact of life: kids get hurt. Cuts, bruises, scrapes and the occasional broken bone go with the territory. Short of wrapping them in cotton wool and keeping them indoors, you can't prevent everything.

Besides the bikes and roller skates, we had (GASP) dirt bikes and go-karts! We're all in our thirties and forties, with kids of our own ('teens to early 20s) and, despite all of this "hazardous" activity, we and our kids are happy and healthy.

Could part of this safety conscious thing be a result of lawsuits?
I bought a metal tonka truck for my 2 year old son for christmas, so I guess they are still around. He just loves cars and trucks and his grandpa is making him a sandpit and so thats why I bought that tonka truck.

Bodlover - thanks for the recommendation, I definitely will have to visit there! My poppa tells me that some of his family is still there, someone in his family or his family was a gentry or something like that (I wasnt listening too closely) - what is gentry?

Gentry is a "class" below Nobility - it means they are wealthy - um, "well born" and such!! hahaha, come from a good family, that sort of thing, usuall own quite a bit of land. It was a term commonly used when the "class system" was in effect - So if those are your relatives - go visit them now!! They're RICH!! :laughing:

Could it be that we've got bigger that the Wagon Wheels look smaller? I was having this discussion recently, and we came to the conclusion that they looked HUGE when we were about 5!!! and therefore we've grown and they've stayed the same?

Kiwideus - a child of the 80s using their imagination??? That made me smile! I'm a child of the 60s and early 70s so my opinion of 80s children is that they had the world at their feet as far as toys were concerned. We had lego, mecano, plastecine, play doh, dolls, corgi cars, oh and I had a spinning top! How's that for a victorian toy!!

Transformers for me are very modern. I remember watching the TV ads with great distaste and thinking what is the world coming too (at the age of about 15).

(Just call me grandma)!!!!!!

Yuck! Wagonwheels are horrid! I'm glad they have shrunk in size. Now what about Walnut Whips - they have been miniturised.

I bought a tonka fire-engine for a friend's child a few years ago - it was metal, it was so heavy!

I don't like Wagon Wheels, but that's because I hate marshmellow. Me and a girl bought two HUGE bags of marshmellows and ate the lot between us, I haven't eaten them since.

I had a toy lorry made by a company called 'Buddy L', seriously! I had so much fun with that name and they couldn't tell me off

'Where's my Buddy L truck?'