Monday, February 6, 2012

The Search for Plastic Toys from Our Youth

There seems to be something in the air of late. Old gamers are casting about for clues regarding the plastic fantasy toys they played with or heard about in their youth. Dan Proctors is looking for some and A Field Guide to Doomsday has had a childhood memory identified. It seems I’m no different, because I’ve had an itch that refuses to be scratched for some days now and I’m appealing to you for help.

Back in the 1980s, I had a playset of plastic figures roughly equal to scale in army men. I think they might have come with a vinyl play-mat, but I cannot be certain. The set was a mix of different fantasy creatures, with each cast in a single color. Now, from what I can recall, one of the figures was the spitting image of a shambling mound, complete with carrot nose. There was also a “magma man” figure that seemed to be living fire and molded in appropriately red plastic. There may or may not have been a dragon figure and other plastic landscaping pieces such as trees and rocks and perhaps a dragon’s den. I certain that this isn’t some fever dream remembered as truth and that I did in fact own this and perhaps other sets of the same ilk.

Does this strike anyone as familiar at all?

EDIT: Whoops! After looking for days and posting this, I stumbled upon a clue. I guess it was the lava man who looked like the shambling mound!

EDIT AGAIN: Nevermind. Answered my own question.

5 comments:

Justin S. Davis said...

Thank you for your links, because I haven't seen those "Dragonriders Of The Styx" since the 80s. Forgot they existed!

(And I had those plastic dinosaurs. That ankylosaurus was very distinctive, compared to others of the time.)

biopunk said...

New, good-looking header, background *and* links to faint memories of hours of fun?

Thank you, sir!

TheMetal1 said...

Wow, much thanks. I had one of those play sets years ago. I remember the naga, the ogres and the orcs. For some reason though I think I had a different set, one that had a cheap plastic keep. Any thoughts?

Jay Exonauts said...

The set I had was the Forest of Doom, my fav being the green dragon, which has a good amount of heft to it.

Man, why don't they re-do those? It seems like they'd be so easy compared to how complex today's toys are.

Jeleryl Comisky said...

When I was just a kid, I had a huge collection of plastic cars and action figures. I had these years until I grew up. It gives me a very nostalgic feeling whenever I look at them now. They remind me that I had a great childhood. And I'm thinking I should give it away to other children so that they may experience the joy and the happiness that I've experienced whenever I played with my toys.