Childhood in Britain

[evilC]

Just in case you American types ever wondered what it was like over here in the 70s.

[wingco]

Childhood in Britain

£4.25 for that piece of crap? I mean, that's a 1970s £4.25. A down payment on a flat in Camden £4.25.

[Femme Folle]

Childhood in Britain

I don't trust him; he has shifty eyes.

[Femme Folle]

Childhood in Britain

This thread title has given me a BBR earworm.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Childhood in Britain

The eagle eyes were a cool gimmick, but when they brought in the gripping hands, that was a real step up. The toy equivalent of opposable thumbs. (Except they broke off after a while.)

[evilC]

Childhood in Britain

Hands up who played cricket with their action man, once they got bored with him (after about 5 years).

[Femme Folle]

Childhood in Britain

Was he the bat, the ball or the bail?

[evilC]

Childhood in Britain

The ball. (Soon several smaller balls.)

[Femme Folle]

Childhood in Britain

Poor action man.

[Cal Alamein]

Childhood in Britain

Action Man was cooler than G.I. Joe in that there were more military uniforms available -- i remember getting a German uniform complete w/ their unique helmet and submachine gun. Therefore you had a proper enemy to fight.

W/ G.I. Joe you were pretty much stuck w/ gear from the four U.S. military branches.

[Reed John]

Childhood in Britain

We had Action Jackson with the Action Jackson helicopter and GI Joe, the tall one that talked. We also had the doll of Steve Austin, the Bionic Man. That was pretty sweet.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Childhood in Britain

I had about eleven Action Men, plus Steve Austin, two Spoks, a Kirk, a Bones, a Klingon and a McCoy from Star Trek, a Robin, two Planet Of The Apes guys, a glow-in-the-dark pirate-ghost thing, a Captain Koenig from Space 1999, and one other guy from an unidentified TV show but he must have been a baddie cos he had an evil face. And probably some more I've forgotten about.

I used to form them into football teams and make them play against each other with a ping pong ball.

When I got to about 14, me and my mate nextdoor lined them all up in his basement and executed them with an air rifle.

[Reed John]

Childhood in Britain

If you had that line up now in good condition, or better yet, in the original packaging, you could sell them for a small fortune.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Childhood in Britain

I used to form them into football teams and make them play against each other with a ping pong ball.

Me and my mate used to do that with plastic farm animals, using a Subutteo ball and rules (more or less). The pigs generally did well. They were larger than sheep, solid and the ball wouldn't get stuck between their legs like it did with the cows.

[Femme Folle]

Childhood in Britain

You bunch of doll playing sissies.

What kind of freakish kid would keep his toys in the original packaging?

[My Name Is Ian]

Childhood in Britain

I went on holiday to France when I was about 12 or 13 and found a shop that sold football kits for Action Man. I bought a Milan one and an Inter one. I think my nieces have got them now.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Childhood in Britain

Reed of the Valley People wrote:

If you had that line up now in good condition, or better yet, in the original packaging, you could sell them for a small fortune.

Yeah, I know, I've often thought of that. But even if someone had told me that when I was 14, I'd still have shot 'em. And I'd have been right, really. You've got to live for the moment.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Childhood in Britain

Amor de Cosmos wrote:

I used to form them into football teams and make them play against each other with a ping pong ball.

Me and my mate used to do that with plastic farm animals, using a Subutteo ball and rules (more or less). The pigs generally did well. They were larger than sheep, solid and the ball wouldn't get stuck between their legs like it did with the cows.

This is an awesome story. It's the sort of thing Danny Baker would love to hear about.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Childhood in Britain

Embarrassingly, we did it until we were about fourteen too. Then one of the neighbourhood kids found out and our lives were a misery until my mate signed schoolboy papers with Chelsea a few months later.

[WOM]

Childhood in Britain

I had Big Jim, GI Joe, Steve Austin and some evil villain from that doll line called Maskatron (you could change his face). I also had the Big Jim Sports Camper, his Corvette (with laser cannons under the hood) and the GI Joe 6-wheeled Argo vehicle.

Hell, I had Evel Knievel, with stunt cycle and the camper van.

My parents held onto the lot and now my son plays with them when he's over there.

As for 'over there', I always assumed everything was of Thunderbirds calibre or better. I might have been wrong.

[Reed John]

Childhood in Britain

Yes! We had Big Jim and I think the camper. And that guy whose face changed. We had that awesome Evil Knievel, but not the camper, I don't think. One of my first memories of life is my dad building a ramp in the basement for my brother's Evil Knieval toy on Christmas morning in our house on Prospect Avenue.

[WOM]

Childhood in Britain

Evel's van came with a two-piece ramp that went up the back so you could jump the van itself. I was pretty heavy into Evel as a kid, so the van would have been a must-have piece of kit.

[Reed John]

Childhood in Britain

Not when you have a dad who could descend into the basement and come back up with a perfect ramp 10 minutes later.