Childhood collections vs parents

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

How many of us still have the toys we bought as kids? Either our adults bought them for us or we worked mowing lawns or other chores to get them. 

I've managed to keep most of my "toys" over the years, but the sad fact is many of those buying these for kids view this "dinosaur fad" as nothing more than a phase. They toss them in storage bins then clear out the toys a couple times a year when they have too many.  In addition we all know how most kids aren't playing anymore, they even buy phones for 1st graders. We also have parents not buying toys. I hear it at a lot of birthday parties here at the park, they want kids to have experiences and not stuff.  It's no surprise we don't see toy stores anymore either.

[Faelrin]

Honestly I imagine I would still have held onto my childhood figures. Lost all of them over numerous years in my parents' various storage units that got auctioned off. The only things I just about have left from my childhood is like my dad's table, that's been in his family's side for a few generations (in storage now, which makes me nervous), and a few SNES games (including the JP one). It's why I went hunting for some of them not too long ago, such as the Primal Rage figures, or the JPIII fence playset. I missed having them.

[Samrukia]

i still have almost all of my dinotoys my mum bought me when i was 3 years old (1995, post-USSR Kazakhstan - pretty hard times if you think about it). funny that i didnt know what dinosaurs were and she offered me to buy them    also, my parents and other relatives really supported me in this hobby, i guess for them this made it easier to choose birthday gifts for me (dino toy, dino book, dino movie on VHS)

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Honestly I imagine I would still have held onto my childhood figures. Lost all of them over numerous years in my parents' various storage units that got auctioned off. The only things I just about have left from my childhood is like my dad's table, that's been in his family's side for a few generations (in storage now, which makes me nervous), and a few SNES games (including the JP one). It's why I went hunting for some of them not too long ago, such as the Primal Rage figures, or the JPIII fence playset. I missed having them.

Nostalgia I think is a BIG factor in why we are collectors. We want to recapture what we lost at some point and that feeling that went along with it. Just about every piece I have reminds me of some time, place, event or person that meant something to me so I can totally understand that. Both my parents had their toys thrown away or given away when they went to collage or war and I think they instilled that desire in me a well if they knew it or not.

[Paleo Flo]

How many of us still have the toys we bought as kids?

,

Still got my Invictas obviously, the old Safari Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus & Triceratops from 1988 and an few JP Toys. I gave the rest, including a lot of chinasaurs, away in the last decades

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

How many of us still have the toys we bought as kids?

,

Still got my Invictas obviously, the old Safari Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus & Triceratops from 1988 and an few JP Toys. I gave the rest, including a lot of chinasaurs, away in the last decades

I think it says a lot that we here on this forum either managed to hang onto our past or are actively seeking it. The majority of others who, at some point, loved these prehistoric creatures, do not. 

[ceratopsian]

I was allowed only three dinosaur toys - more models actually that my dad built up and painted. Such things were in general not deemed suitable by my mother for a girl. I don't still have them - but nothing to with me losing interest or going through a passing fad.  My mother sent them to a jumble sale without asking my permission first or even telling me she was doing it.  Not unusual behaviour for her, sadly - secret disposal happened to all sorts of my things, including books, that she decided unilaterally I was too old for.

[SidB]

How many of us still have the toys we bought as kids?

,

Still got my Invictas obviously, the old Safari Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus & Triceratops from 1988 and an few JP Toys. I gave the rest, including a lot of chinasaurs, away in the last decades

I think it says a lot that we here on this forum either managed to hang onto our past or are actively seeking it. The majority of others who, at some point, loved these prehistoric creatures, do not. 

Very good observation, @Blade-of-the-Moon. Time is a strong test of devotion, isn't it.

[SidB]

I was allowed only three dinosaur toys - more models actually that my dad built up and painted. Such things were in general not deemed suitable by my mother for a girl. I don't still have them - but nothing to with me losing interest or going through a passing fad.  My mother sent them to a jumble sale without asking my permission first or even telling me she was doing it.  Not unusual behaviour for her, sadly - secret disposal happened to all sorts of my things, including books, that she decided unilaterally I was too old for.

I clicked 'like', @ceratopsian , though that doesn't mean that I approve of the way your interests were treated, it simply means that I sympathize with you, of course. My father had a similar experience. When he returned from overseas after WW2, he discovered that all of his childhood toys had been pitched out by the two elderly aunts who had taken over the management of the family house (his mother was dying of TB/'consumption'). I don't think that he ever fully dismissed the shock of that indifference and disloyalty. We forget was is was to be a child when we act in such a manner.

[suspsy]

I dearly wish now that I had kept all my Invictas.

[postsaurischian]

I was allowed only three dinosaur toys ........ Such things were in general not deemed suitable by my mother for a girl. .......

That's kind of sad @ceratopsian. How I had wished to ever meet a girl who was interested in Dinosaurs, but that never happened. I'm afraid there weren't any around in my surroundings those days .

I am a lucky man. My mother has always supported me in every way. From my first Dinosaur figure or my first comic book to my first guitar - even today she still insists of giving me something for my birthday. She was alone with two kids and she has always given everything she can to make her children happy. She's that kind of mother who is happy when her children are (and she has never stopped seeing us as her children). I'm blessed and very thankful!

[Gwangi]

I don't have very many toys from my childhood. A few stuffed animals, my Ertle Farm model set, my 48" AAA monitor lizard, and a few others that were too special to get rid of. I don't have a single dinosaur from my childhood, and I had a lot. Wanting them back was what originally got me into this hobby.

My mother, like some of yours, had certain ideas about when a child should grow up and how many toys they should have. I had a lot of toys but my mom was never too pleased about it. Many of them came from my father (my parents were never together and hated each other). It came to a point where I would bring my Christmas/birthday gifts home from my father's and my mother would go through them and pass judgement, deciding what I should keep and what should go. Even if I wanted to keep something I would be too nervous or embarrassed to speak up. I remember getting Kenner Jurassic Park toys from my father, taking them home, and then never being able to open and play with them because my mom wanted to return or donate them. "You don't need more dinosaur toys, you have too many, you're getting too old" were what she would say. It's one thing to want a toy on a shelf and never get it, it's another thing to have it and not be allowed to open/play with it. That is part of the reason I collect Mattel toys now, simply because I can. So then when I became a teenager the pressure was there to get rid of whatever toys I had, and I did. Needless to say, this has all effected my own behavior as a parent, for the better! It was a toxic thing she did, even if she meant well, I try hard not to repeat it. Special toys that my kid loses interest in just go into the attic, for the day when she might want them again, or for the day when she can decide what to do with them.

[Gwangi]

I get that. And I take your word for it given your position within the company. But from my position, as a parent, I'm not buying my kid another T. rex if they already have one or two. And I'm not buying them an Albertosaurus or Daspletosaurus either because to my untrained eye, they're just more T. rex. If I'm at a gift shop, or browsing Safari's online catalogue, I'm thinking "not that one, it looks like the T. rex my kid already has", I'm looking for something they don't have. But, that's just me, and maybe other parents don't mind buying repeats, or are allowing their kids more freedom to choose.

Right, and that's why there are things that aren't T. rex or T. rex adjacent items available as well. But as bmathison touched on, retailers want the heavy hitters on shelves. Because that's what a lot of customers are drawn to.

And not always the same old, same old. They want what's fresh, yet familiar. Mattel doesn't always release the same T. rex, they release different versions with different features, paint, articulation, etc. Hasbro always wants to keep Darth Vader on the shelves too, while the seasoned collector may tire of seeing Vader over and over, it doesn't change the fact that they know Vader moves units.

Maybe it's just the sort of person I am, but even when I was a kid this drove me up the wall. I was into Batman, but I didn't want all the different iterations of Batman with different costumes and gimmicky weapons (Sanitation Worker Batman, Roman Centurion Batman, etc.). I wanted a [singular] Batman and I wanted a Rogue's Gallery for him to fight with. The only time I ever saw a Poison Ivy on the shelf was at a bookstore in Mexico, and luckily I had enough pesos in my pocket to pick it up.

Anyway, the way I see it, this buttresses my thesis that kids have terrible taste. (I include myself, I don't really care for Batman anymore either.) I'm willing to allow that some of the bad taste can be chalked up to their parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, but I don't care for children and won't pass up an opportunity to cast aspersions on them.

This reminds me of how as a kid I was into TMNT (no nostalgia left for that!) and more than any other character I wanted April O'Neil. She was virtually impossible to find but I did eventually get her. After I did, I was the only kid that had her, and the other kids in my circle of friends were jealous or wanted to borrow her because they didn't have her. So here you have an important character from the series that is deemed unimportant by the company (market research?) and leaving a lot of kids disappointed that they can't get her.

[ceratopsian]

You are right, S @SidB.  The shock lingers.  It's more than half a century ago now and it still rankles - I guess we forget sometimes how powerless children can feel.

@postsaurischian - mixed fortunes for you.  I salute your mother!

I was allowed only three dinosaur toys - more models actually that my dad built up and painted. Such things were in general not deemed suitable by my mother for a girl. I don't still have them - but nothing to with me losing interest or going through a passing fad.  My mother sent them to a jumble sale without asking my permission first or even telling me she was doing it.  Not unusual behaviour for her, sadly - secret disposal happened to all sorts of my things, including books, that she decided unilaterally I was too old for.

I clicked 'like', @ceratopsian , though that doesn't mean that I approve of the way your interests were treated, it simply means that I sympathize with you, of course. My father had a similar experience. When he returned from overseas after WW2, he discovered that all of his childhood toys had been pitched out by the two elderly aunts who had taken over the management of the family house (his mother was dying of TB/'consumption'). I don't think that he ever fully dismissed the shock of that indifference and disloyalty. We forget was is was to be a child when we act in such a manner.

[Shane]

This reminds me of how as a kid I was into TMNT (no nostalgia left for that!) and more than any other character I wanted April O'Neil. She was virtually impossible to find but I did eventually get her. After I did, I was the only kid that had her, and the other kids in my circle of friends were jealous or wanted to borrow her because they didn't have her. So here you have an important character from the series that is deemed unimportant by the company (market research?) and leaving a lot of kids disappointed that they can't get her.

This specific issue is a bit more narrow than the overall issue that's been discussed here, and is a bit more nefarious.

There is a stigma around action figures that "women don't sell" which has been around for decades and is definitely based on a bit more questionable research than the idea that popular characters sell more. It's a sub-set of that idea but it's much more based in long-standing biases.

It unfortunately leads to many toy companies either not making women characters, or (in the case of April) short-packing them in cases so they are much harder to find.

I definitely think the idea that "action figures are for boys and they don't want to buy toys of women characters" is outdated and damaging, but it's a notion that most action figure companies have not been able to shake.

It's thankfully getting better (you see a lot of women characters in lines like Marvel Legends) but it still raises its ugly head every now and then (there was a whole "Where's Rey?" backlash after The Force Awakens merch largely ignored her character, though it wasn't clear whether it was due to the "women don't sell" trope, or that they wanted to keep her character under wraps until the movie came out). And McFarlane's DC Comics line has faced a lot of criticism over the lack of women characters beyond the usual Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, and Catwoman offerings.

[Faelrin]

@Gwangi You pretty much described my parents when I was a kid. Mother being the judgemental one (still is), father bought me lots of stuff, and she'd get angry. They divorced ages ago, but are together now for financial circumstances.

@ceratopsian I also do have an experience where my mother took my games and sold them at one of those places for quick money. Not my toys, but again lost them all in storage units getting auctioned off, and not through my direct choice. I'm like incredibly nervous we may have a repeat of this in the future since most of my stuff is in one now.

For what it is worth while I'm male, I'm also trans. I was assigned female at birth and thought I was until a few years back when I started questioning and figuring things out in my late 20's (2018). I've definitely had a lot of that "boys toys" nonsense dumped on me growing up, along with a lot of other stuff. Not from my parents thankfully, but from other kids, other adults. Society as a whole. Sure it turns out I'm a guy, always have been, but point is let toys be toys, and kids can decide what they like. They don't need to be told, or controlled into outdated mindset. My mother also learned very fast that I hated the color pink and dresses back then too (like as early as age 4), which result from other similar unfortunate social constructs/gender roles. In any case it has given me an open wide look and perspective that I likely would not have if I was born cis male. Edit: After writing this I just unlocked a memory. I was in 5th grade and we were given an assignment to design a toy set. I designed a female paleontologist action figure set that came with a dinosaur (inspired by the JPIII T. rex toy I had), because as young as 10 I realized there was a shortage of female toys that weren't from the so called "pink aisle", you know like Barbies, etc. Then again I don't think there was even anything like that in those types of toys when I was a kid, so an addition like that there wouldn't be unwarranted.

S @Shane Yeah it's unfortunately still a problem. Seen this with Mattel's JW figures like the original Legacy Ellie, Claire, and Maisie in 2018, or even the recent Dominion Maisie set. Yet on the other hand they oversatured the market with Owen, and in the US, Legacy Grant and Muldoon, back in 2018, which shelf warmed. At least Claire and Ellie this time around was better distributed. Legacy Lex and Sarah as well (in the US anyways). Also can't forget the lack of female characters on the packaging (until 2021's Camp Cretaceous), ignoring dinosaurs like the T. rex and Blue.

[Faelrin]

@Halichoeres Yikes. I'm so sorry you had to deal with extremists like that, and more specifically your own parents. I've had bad experiences with a religious upbringing (just the typical evangelical bigotry and hypocrisy, etc) but never something that extreme.

@Blade-of-the-Moon Oh good to hear she was included in that set and I just misremembered. Better then not at all. Also hoping Mattel does one too.

[Gwangi]

Sorry to hear about people's parents putting the kibosh on their interests. By crazy chance I still have some toys from when I was a kid, like some of my Legos and actually even a few old Batman action figures. When I was 11 or 12, I had a comic book collection and trading card collection. It wasn't much, maybe a few dozen books that I'd bought with chore money. But my mom became convinced that they were inviting demons--yes, literal demons--into the house, so she made me burn them on the grill. Around the same time, she said that my "obsession with animals verged on idolatry," and so she only let me keep checking out animal and dinosaur books from the library if I also read the Bible through. Reading the Bible helped turn me into an atheist, and then I went on to get a PhD in evolutionary biology, so, uh, good job I guess? I don't really have any nostalgia for the burned comic books, though, except that I could maybe have gotten a little money for them if they didn't go up in multi-colored, toxic smoke.

Yeah, I've got similar stories to that. My mom was pretty religious too and she used to be a Jehovah's Witness. My sister got interested in the Salam witch trials and my father got her a book on it. Not a book about witch craft or what-have-you, an educational children's book about the actual witch trials. My mom burned it, out of fear that it was bringing dark forces into our house. Ironically, my mom (now in her 70's) is a self proclaimed witch that's into tarot, crystals, and all that stuff. Equally ironic, she thinks my current dinosaur collection is the same collection I had as a kid. She apparently doesn't remember that she made me get rid of my dinosaurs as a young teen and thinks that I kept them all these years. Makes you wonder why it was so important that I get rid of them way back when.

My mom is also guilty of trying to put the kibosh on my interest in animals and dinosaurs. "You're too obsessed" she would say, and then negatively compare me to my father. All really healthy parenting strategies, I'm sure. I'm happy to report that I'm breaking that cycle with my own kids as well.

[Crackington]

Very interesting and heartfelt responses on here today, puts me in mind of (I think) the last Toy Story film when Andy finally parts with Woody and his toys. Lots of bitter-sweet or not so bitter-sweet memories for folk - thanks for sharing.

My own dinosaur childhood collection was given away by my parents once I'd gone off to college. I later found out that the young lad who had them was scared of them at night, so his parents just threw them all away (probably the glow in the dark Godzilla).

For myself, I've reached the same conclusion as Gwangi and will discuss together with them whether any of my girls toys etc need to go and not get rid behind their backs. I also occasionally inform their grandparents when I see the Aurora Jungle Swamp say, go for £250 on eBay!

I'm not bitter though...

[stargatedalek]

More folks than I anticipated here have been through Watchtower society hell.

I remember my (Witness) parents edited all of the documentaries I had to cut out clips mentioning evolution before I was allowed to watch them. A big part of why I leaned into dinosaurs and animals is because they were not strictly gender tied, so I didn't need to fear retribution for liking "girly" things, even though I very much leaned into them that way.

Early teens I come out only to find out they were no longer practising and only continuing to attend because I was so deep undercover they thought *I* was drinking the coolaid. Still not sure how I should feel about that outcome.