The Dangerous Toys of Christmas: Debunked!

[RoosGirl]

Clackers?

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No, they were not attached with a string and I think they must have had some kind of gunpowder coating because that was the kind of pop it made.

[Cyber Liberty]

They were great in that pneumatic gun... Till I wrecked em all blowing holes in the barn wall. Man that was kewl! But it brought 'tan your hide' to a whole new dimension when the old man found out what I did to the barn 

Not only that, but I got my first carpentry lessons over that deal... LOL! I knew how to make a sabot for a lawn dart and power it with a pneumatic gun, but I didn't know how to hang a board on a wall... I knew why my dad got so pissed after that lesson.

Kids, right? 

I got a similar lesson right after I got my Wrist Rocket.

[Axeslinger]

I just wasted 5 minutes of my life, that I’ll never get back, reading their list of 10 only to arrive at a conclusion I realized many years ago:  some people, like the ones who come up with these crappy lists,  just need killin’.

And why was I not surprised that this namby pamby puss-whack group was in Massachusetts....how our founders must weep.

[dfwgator]

@Neverdul
My God, today they'd haul your parents in for child abuse for giving you that! ;)

Yep, I burned my hand a few times on that one.

[Neverdul]

Thinking back, I believe the same year I got the Thingmaker, I also got an Easy Bake Oven (hugely disappointing – cakes were pretty much inedible so my mom decided to teach me to bake with a real oven) and a Super Spirograph set.

The Spirograph kept me busy for many hours. But note all the little pins. You used those little sharp pins to hold down the paper and the gears to a piece of cardboard.  And yes, a few times some of the pins ended up on the floor and got stepped on.  It’s a wonder I lived to adulthood.

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[Cyber Liberty]

I just wasted 5 minutes of my life, that I’ll never get back, reading their list of 10 only to arrive at a conclusion I realized many years ago:  some people just need killin’.

And why was I not surprised that this namby pamby puss-whack group was in Massachusetts....how our founders must weep.

Actually, you don't need to go through all that effort to kill 'em.  No, let Darwin do the work for you.  Take all the warning labels off and let them sort themselves out.

[RoosGirl]

@Neverdul

I think what I'm talking about is number 5 on this list.  Man I wish I still had them now!

http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/5-toy-recalls-that-everyone-should-have-seen-coming/

[Gefn]

How about its brother game, the Crazy Clock Game? (I had that one when I was a kid and it was
a riot and a half.)

What other bedeviling games can we remember from when we were kids that today's nannies
would probably put on the sh@t list. . .

Tinkertoys
Lincoln Logs
Girder & Panel building sets
Bridge & Turnpike building sets (I had one of those, too, figured out how to build my own version of the
Tappan Zee Bridge with it and the plastic roadways were the perfect width for my miniature cars!)

Come to think of it, there was a toy made in the 1930s that today's nannies would go apoplectic
over . . .


(An electric-powered toy replica of the actual Sunbeam Mixmaster Model M4J, both made in 1934 by the original
Chicago Flexible Shaft Company that was re-named the Sunbeam Corporation in 1946. Kids could actually
use this Toy Mixmaster to make their own cookies and stuff, though they didn't recommend you try anything
heavier because of the small motor.)

Spirograph

Mystery Date!

[skeeter]

Thinking back, I believe the same year I got the Thingmaker, I also got an Easy Bake Oven (hugely disappointing – cakes were pretty much inedible so my mom decided to teach me to bake with a real oven) and a Super Spirograph set.

The Spirograph kept me busy for many hours. But note all the little pins. You used those little sharp pins to hold down the paper and the gears to a piece of cardboard.  And yes, a few times some of the pins ended up on the floor and got stepped on.  It’s a wonder I lived to adulthood.

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I don't think the Strange Change Time Machine was able to heat to 400 degrees, but it got up there. Those damn capsules were pretty hot for awhile, too, immediately after the metamorphosis.

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[Cyber Liberty]

This is going to be a GREAT thread, I can feel it.



(RIP, Flounder)

[corbe]

   I grew up poor in Louisiana, this was a good Christmas for me.



    *NO, not the kid, the box on a string.

[Neverdul]

Spirograph

Mystery Date!

Oooh! Mystery Date. I didn't have that but a friend of mine did.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfcBl_Eps_c

And the Game of Life.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjMJ6bGXm38

The interesting thing is that Game of Life is still around and is pretty much the same. A couple of months ago I was sitting my niece’s four girls and we played the Game of Life.

[roamer_1]

I got a similar lesson right after I got my Wrist Rocket.

I still use a wrist rocket... Get the black bands for it, and cut em down a touch...  I get the same arrow penetration as a 45-50lb recurve bow... And I can take the eye out of a grouse with that thing at 15-20 yards. Got it rigged for arrow-fishing too... Brilliant tool, if you know how to use it... There's a whole pocket in my gobag dedicated to a wristrocket and accoutrements.

Been using that thing since I was eight or ten.

[Cyber Liberty]

I still use a wrist rocket... Get the black bands for it, and cut em down a touch...  I get the same arrow penetration as a 45-50lb recurve bow... And I can take the eye out of a grouse with that thing at 15-20 yards. Got it rigged for arrow-fishing too... Brilliant tool, if you know how to use it... There's a whole pocket in my gobag dedicated to a wristrocket and accoutrements.

Been using that thing since I was eight or ten.

I didn't have the black bands, but it was breathtaking the power that had.

[Gefn]

Oooh! Mystery Date. I didn't have that but a friend of mine did.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfcBl_Eps_c

And the Game of Life.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjMJ6bGXm38

The interesting thing is that Game of Life is still around and is pretty much the same. A couple of months ago I was sitting my niece’s four girls and we played the Game of Life.

I still have the game of Life, along with Clue and Monopoly from my childhood.

@Neverdul , is that Mysterion from South Park?

[Neverdul]

I still have the game of Life, along with Clue and Monopoly from my childhood.

@Neverdul , is that Mysterion from South Park?

Yep. Mysterion from South Park - from the Coon Trilogy. 

[Frank Cannon]

I got this for my for Christmas. Does anyone know it this is on WATCH's dangerous list?



It was such a deal I couldn't pass it up.

[EasyAce]

I still have the game of Life, along with Clue and Monopoly from my childhood.

@Freya
I loved all three of those games. Also Sorry!, Risk, and a Monopoly derivative called Finance.

[RoosGirl]

I got this for my for Christmas. Does anyone know it this is on WATCH's dangerous list?



It was such a deal I couldn't pass it up.

I just hope you invite me over to play!

[Gefn]

Yep. Mysterion from South Park - from the Coon Trilogy. 

I'm a big fan of South Park. I liked Kenny in this.

[Gefn]

Does anyone remember a toy where you cut something out and you put it in an oven?

The other one I vaguely remember is Winky Dink and his magic screen,

I drew on our TV without the magic screen and got the wrath of mom.

[Neverdul]

Does anyone remember a toy where you cut something out and you put it in an oven?

The other one I vaguely remember is Winky Dink and his magic screen,

I drew on our TV without the magic screen and got the wrath of mom.

@Freyda

Shrinky Dinks? I had that.

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I also recall having a Colorforms fashion set. It wasn’t a Barbie set but sort of like it.

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[dfwgator]

I wanted this game for Christmas...

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[Cyber Liberty]

Does anyone remember a toy where you cut something out and you put it in an oven?

The other one I vaguely remember is Winky Dink and his magic screen,

I drew on our TV without the magic screen and got the wrath of mom.

A lot of people did that with their Winky Dink sets. I guess a lot of them knew you Mom too, because there was wrath.  TV sets cost almost as much as cars back then.