I myself wanted one of those remote controlled air planes. I thought that’s the coolest thing ever. Once I grew up and had the money, I never bought it.
One memory that kept popping up occasionally over the years is of my mother lending my neighbor my favorite matchbox car. By the time I’d gotten to him, he’d crushed it. I don’t think he meant anything by it, and I don’t have bad feelings to either one of them, I just know how much that sucked. I do remember that nobody gave a shit, and I never got it replaced.
Late last year I decided I was gonna get it back, so I’ve spent a few hours spread over some months when I was bored at my pc looking at matchbox size red Dodge Vipers from the 90s. Most had the wrong color, or extra decals, or the wrong wheels, etc. Eventually I found it, ordered a copy, and it got delivered about a month ago. I don’t play with it, but it sits on my desk at home as a sort of fidgeting toy.
I’m sure it says some bad shit about my psyche but to me it’s a nice reminder of a time when I was much happier. Maybe I should get some beyblades.
Hey just wanted to say I think it says good things about your psyche that you’re being kind to you.
After years of my family saying I’m too difficult to buy gifts for, and me saying, “What the hell are you talking about? Just get me LEGO!”, one of my kids got the message and has been getting me LEGO sets for Christmas every year.
It might have started when I bought myself the Cinderella Castle set.
The only problem I have is I’m 53, not 13. Sitting hunched over a pile of LEGO bricks for hours leaves me in pain. I need to come up with a space where I can play without injuring myself.
Perhaps a low table or an office chair without arm rests to get a closer to waist level
Sitting hunched over a pile of LEGO bricks for hours leaves me in pain. I
I have the same issue, so I recruit younger family members to do parts of my build while I get up and stretch.
But I give them very specific instructions what page to stop at and come get me, otherwise the whole build is done without me.
Always thought LEGO is just a perfect toy. Children like letting their imagination go wild, while adults enjoy assembling gorgeous dioramas with instructions to put on a shelf immediately making that shelf a 1000 times cooler. The only reason I’m not buying LEGO is that my rented apartment has no shelves and it would be a bitch to pack when I inevitably move somewhere else.
I do it all the time. Toys are super fun.
I wanted a Tyco RC car as a kid. My parents actually got it for me after waiting nearly a whole year for my birthday, and it was one of the most expensive birthday gifts I’d ever received.
Turns out it uses a proprietary battery that wasn’t even included in the package! We’d have to go out and buy that separately, which made the thing like 50% more expensive.
We couldn’t afford that so I agreed to return the RC car and pick something else.
I’ve decided to boycott them for life. Stupid Tyco for running my birthday with a stupid toy that doesn’t even include the battery.
The one toy I wanted more than anything as a kid was the Jurassic Park Compound.
I see them on Ebay going for $100-200, but that’s just for the building itself. It’d be pretty pointless to have a big fence with no dinosaurs in it, so I’d have to buy some dinos too. And I need action figures to sit in the watchtower and watch over the dinosaurs, you gotta have that.
And then the realities of adulthood set in: I wouldn’t enjoy this toy as much as I would have when I was a kid. Kid me would probably spend hours with this thing crafting big elaborate stories about wrangling dinosaurs and stuff like that. Nearly-40 me would set up the toys, make sure everyone’s in cool poses, and then it would probably sit on a shelf. I’m not really sure it’s worth it.
So while I’m sad I never got the toy as a kid, I think going back and buying it nowadays would be kind of an expensive hollow victory.
Nearly-40 me would set up the toys, make sure everyone’s in cool poses, and then it would probably sit on a shelf. I’m not really sure it’s worth it.
I gave in, and made that shelf, and I was pleasantly surprised how much joy it brings me. Each time I glance over, a get a little dopamine hit. It feels right that I kept a promise I made to myself when I was little.
Edit: I don’t touch the shelf much, but I know that I could, and that makes me happy.
