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So I was wondering, what memories do you associate with the toys you had as a Kid? Is it a case of every time someone mentions He-Man you think of Grandpa Joe giving you Stinkor for Christmas just before his freakish death? Do you associate M.A.S.K. with a great holiday? Did owning a Barbie instead of a Transformer get you laid like those Happy Meal adverts claimed?

For me, the main thing I associate with Visionaires is my Mother sitting on the floor spending all of Christmas day trying to put together the vehicles she'd brought me. That one with the sphere things that could come off was surprisingly tricky.

Another year I had the He-Man snowman character, and I'll never forget how the adults constantly pissed themselves laughing at the rapid back and forwards hand movement he made when you flicked his switch.

What are yours?

Originally posted by inflatable dalek
Stinkor

I remember my mother threatening to boil him to get rid of the stench. And threatening to take superglue to one of the Snake Men (the one with the neck that extended at the push of a button) so I'd stop scaring the crap out of her with it. She wasn't fond of King Hiss either, for some reason or another. I don't know why she kept buying the things for me.

Whenever I think of Gobots I remember when I got a bunch of hand-me-down Transformers and TF-type robots from my older cousins. There were a bunch of Minibots, Jumpstarters, etc...and one lonely Gobot. Scratch was a better toy than all the rest of them combined, I say!

Thinking of some of the Lego spaceships I had as a kid always makes be flash back to sitting at the dining room table with my mom and my grandma, trying to piece together this UFO-like set I'd gotten for Christmas while my dad (who'd promised to help me) snored like a lumberjack in the next room.

The memories associated with my TMNT sewer playset are many in number, but would sound like gibberish to anyone who wasn't there.

Originally posted by Warcry

Whenever I think of Gobots

Allways reminds me of my eye operation. Sitting there in the hospital afterwards being given a couple of boxes, opening them up and being told "We brought you some Transformers as a reward". And it was bloody Go-Bots (including, I think, the big Keader-1. It was a Seeker sized gray plane anyway...). Hugely disapointing to me- and yes, I knweo that's now an official cer-azzy view. Actually, Cliffy would probably gorge his own eye out if he thought he could get free Go-Bots out of it...

So many toy memories from childhood...

Your mention of He-Man, for instance, Dalek - I remember getting He-Man himself, in my Easter basket. (1983? '84?) The first MOTU figure I had, though, IIRC, was Man-E-Faces. Bought him with my own money, and he came with a bonus pack of weapons. And seeing Snake Mountain for the first time - the back cover of the comic books listed it as "coming soon", so I knew that there would be a playset of it. But, actually seeing it - despite the fact that it looked nothing like the version on the cartoon (I actually prefered the pack-in comics to the 'toon, which came out a while after the toys debuted, but the show had the only version of the Mountain we'd seen to that point) - I literally exclaimed "Oh... my... GOD!" Silly kids

That was at Lionel Playworld - like Toys R Us, but we had them first in my area. I remember seeing 1984-86 TFs there; and especially Star Wars, before and as the line as going out of business. The "red tag special" stickers... got some $.99 figures, and some other deep discounts, like on the Rancor... But, if I'd only had the money at the time that I do now...

God, I had Man-E-Faces. And the Castle Grayskull garden tent! It looked very odd next to the red and white stripped BT tent my dad "borrowed" from work for us.

Hm, I tend to associate the Voltron toys I had with really great birthdays I had when I was very little.

Most of the memories I have of toys are Christmas morning memories of getting whichever Transformer it was I had been wanting most. I used to sneak downstairs at like 4 in the morning and open up presents till I found whichever TF they'd gotten me and then sat and played with it on the living room floor til everyone else woke up. I remember the year I got the Constructicon gift set. That was a great Christmas, I don't think I even bothered to take any of the other toys out of their boxes that whole day. Damn I wish I still had those...

Whenever anyone mentions (or I see him in a comic or whatever) Sunstreaker, I remember having him when I was 6 or 7, and having the shoulders come off or something. My older brother threw him away, I can still remember vividly him throwing him in the trash can.

I figured out later (way later) that the part that came off snaps back on pretty easily.

I also remember breaking my arm in 2nd grade, and my mom going out and buying my Scorponok to cheer me up.

Most of my memories also relate largely to TFs... other toylines were largely thrown at me to wean me off the things...

I remember my mum having to take Hordak back before we'd even made it out of the Woolies car park after I tore his cloak straight off (thankfully, they let us have another one).

I remember finding that Cobra plane that was basically a souped-up VTOL A10 at a car boot sale and being ludicrously excited about the thing, despite only having two Action Force figures.

I remember carded Action Man uniforms being a stockingfiller of choice for years.

I remember me and my brother clubbing together and buying something like a dozen Linkits kits from a discount store (we can't have spend more than about £30).

I remember arguing with him over which Manta Force patrol we were going to get - he wanted the blue "underwater" one, I wanted the yellow "tank" one. Funnily enough, I think Manta Force was about the first time I remember really noticing recolours in a toyline, what with all the patrols coming in the big white spaceship.

I remember my Bampa buying me and my borther a Legions of Power set each in the poundshop in Blackwood... I had a blue set, he had a red one, whatever that meant.

I remember spending hours drooling over a Siku catalogue.

I remember finding out Sgt. "Slammer" was a Wrestler called Sgt. Slaughter as well. The UK name-change made that especially confusing...

Does anyone recall several toys having boundary-beating playground credibility? There seemed to be stuff that everyone wanted, even if they really weren't a fan of that line... Stuff like He-Man, Lion-O, Matt Tracker's car, Flint/Destro, Optimus Prime.

I distinctly remember getting hook after my first day of Kindergarten. I had to be good and not fuss, and when I got in my mom's old Grand Am, Hook was in a bag in the backseat.

I was ecstacic.

The rest of my life has been downhill since.

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
I remember arguing with him over which Manta Force patrol we were going to get - he wanted the blue "underwater" one, I wanted the yellow "tank" one. Funnily enough, I think Manta Force was about the first time I remember really noticing recolours in a toyline, what with all the patrols coming in the big white spaceship.

Did anyone else get the school program on the development of Manta Force shown in class? It seemed like an entirely UK originated line...

Manta Force is also my main memory of the towns dear departed Owen & Owen department store, on the landing halfway up the stairs they once had a big display I was fasinated by. It's whatever I think off when I go in/walk by the T.J Hughes the store is today...

Ah, displays! That reminds me of the (also now-defunct) local department store chain Hills. They had several end cap displays of MOTU, Star Wars, G I Joe - did they do Transformers, too? - all opened up and posed for action, "walled" in with saran wrap or something. Quite cool.

And, yeah - Man-E-Faces And the Rattler - the fancied-up A-10 Thunderbolt- type plane - is very nice, and quite worth getting excited over, Cliffy