Hey #CoSo, what's the most dangerous toy you owned as a kid?
Most dangerous toy I owned? Probably either the Jarts (lawn darts), or Moon Shoes. The chemistry set and gas powered pogo stick weren't really safe either. Come to think of it, were our parents TRYING to kill us? ๐ค
Jacks are basically caltrops, bb guns are actual weapons, and let's not forget about board games like Crossfire...
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@Heucuva8 I had a chemistry set and a set of very real, very sharp, kids' woodworking tools. It had saws, chizels, a planer and several screwdrivers. I still have one of the screwdrivers!
Ooh. I forgot about that. It had the foam packaging with slots for everything and the hard case to hold it all.
The guy that sharpened them REALLY took their job seriously... ๐ค
@Heucuva8 Mine was in a fitted wood case and all the handles were made of wood too. It must have cost my parents an arm and a leg at the time. I never really appreciated it as much as I should have.
@stueytheround @Heucuva8 I had a toolbox just like that.
@stueytheround @Heucuva8 That is exactly what I had. Even the correct color. That plane was sharp as hell.
@John_Ripley Yep! I'd have been maybe 7 or 8 years old at the time! @Heucuva8
@stueytheround @John_Ripley @Heucuva8
My brother had a bb gun. We also had bows and arrows. I think the ends were blunted ends or something, but we definitely shot at each other with them.
Also had a Jr. Magic Chef oven that actually was hot enough to bake little cakes and cookies.
I just remembered the He-Man and Skeletor Sword and Shield set. 2person, 1 sword and 1 shield each, and ZERO foam. Just solid plastic. Who even made those?
Even SCA/LARP Nerds and Cosplayers don't go without foam covering, and Our sanity is often questionable, at best.
"Here, you and your brother go beat each other in the head with these..."
"Evil isnโt the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and itโs a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
- Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden
@Heucuva8 @stueytheround @John_Ripley
Also, this isn't a dangerous toy, but I remember going to the 7-11 store and buying chewing gum shaped in a roll and wrapped in paper. It had some kind of powder under the wrapper. You could put it in your mouth and blow in it and the powder would come out; pretending to smoke a cigarette!
@DianeH @Heucuva8 @stueytheround @John_Ripley We had cans cigarettes that did the same thing.
@DianeH @Heucuva8 @stueytheround @John_Ripley Candy, not can.
@DianeH @stueytheround @John_Ripley @Heucuva8 I wanted an Easy Bake Oven in the worst way but my mom refused. She said they didnโt work. So at 8 I starts baking with the real oven. Started out with cake mixes and worked my way up to cookies by 10.
Holy shit! That one is exactly it. My brother and I used it all the time. That blue tip! ๐ฎ @stueytheround @John_Ripley
@Heucuva8 Quality tools too. @John_Ripley
@Heucuva8
Seems everything โback thenโ is considered dangerous today.
Thing is, back then we were taught how to use or enjoy the games, toys or equipment used that was part of our everyday play. We were informed of the possible consequences if we didnโt respect the fact we could get hurt using them. That included the use of BB guns and other weapons. It was all part of my growing up.
I'm not so sure of that. Is it as you say, or have we just gotten better at recognizing potential hazards and stopped marketing them to children. For example, the Chemistry sets had bottles of Mercury.
80s and 90s toys had easily swallowable magnets.
Hell one magnetic toy was JUST a pack of magnets you build with (Bucky Balls).
Kids died before we noticed it. ๐ฎ
@Heucuva8
Creepy Crawler set. Hot metal and toxic fumes. Lol
@MotherOfDragons @Heucuva8
Yeah, I had that "Thingmaker" for Creepy Crawlers, and a similar one for candy bugs. There was also a piston-operated one that melted plastic pellets and filled molds to make toy soldiers. Of course, you didn't have to buy the pellets; you could cut up all the disposable polypropylene and polyethylene containers if you didn't mind if your soldier was Parkay Margarine Yellow.
But the truly dangerous stuff was the carbon tetrachloride (used to kill insects when collecting), mercury, and scrap sheets of asbestos from building sites. Add that to the DDT and Chlordane that was just all over, and whatever shit was killing the fish in the water we waded in to do a fish-census project to prove how polluted the water was.
I don't have cancer yet, but I think they're just busy planning what's the weirdest-ass malignancy they can come up with.
@Heucuva8 My first computer, a TI-99 4A, I got when I was 12.
Oh, it didn't kill me, but look what it did to the rest of my life. ๐
@Heucuva8 A scooter that could go 35+ MPH for a 12 yr old
Oh, my dad loved dangerous toys. We had BB guns, chemistry sets, go carts, zip lines, water slides, Creepy Crawlers, wire flowers you dipped in molten film...
@Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8 sounds like a GREAT childhood.
I remember it fondly and with fewer scars than you would expect. ๐
@Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8 Creepy Crawlers! Damn, I'd forgotten those!
My most dangerous toy was a small boat with a 5 HP motor. My parents gave that to me when I was 10 and set me loose, by myself, on an 8 mile long lake. ๐
- Hahaha! I got that EXACT set for
Christmas in like 1965!!!
๐ท ๐ฒ ๐ฆ
I had that baby fired up
& making creepy crawlers before 0700 hrs!!! The smell pretty much
got everyone else out of bed!!
@Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8 I led a deprived childhood. Didn't know about that stuff cos didn't have a TV.
@DavidKMresists @Studio_M_ @Heucuva8
Oh, honey. My dad and my uncle HUNTED this stuff. They spent MONTHS looking for loud, messy, dangerous toys with lots of small pieces to give the other one's kids. Non-removable batteries were a plus. Lights always a bonus.
I will never forget the Silly Sand year. Like glitter, but harder to see and grainy.
@DavidKMresists @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8
- sorry ta hear that lad...
we didn't have much, but my
โค๏ธMomโค๏ธ always made sure that
i had the latest, greatest, deadliest,
most dangerous, toy available on
the market!
haaay, wait a Fn minute... ๐ค
@Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8 Loved making Creepy Crawlers! Most dangerous toy for me were those Click-Clacks - two heavy hard plastic balls on cords that you waved around. I was black & blue everywhere!
@Sheree @Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8 Oh gawd yes! I had those as well. I still cringe when I think about them.
@cjcrew @Sheree @Studio_M_ @Heucuva8
Fun Fact - Clackers were originally made of tempered glass so you had the additional fun of potential shattering. That changed to plastic after enough GenX kids were wounded (kidding, sorta), but you could still put an eye out with 'em.
@Cosmichomicide @cjcrew @Studio_M_ @Heucuva8 Mine must have been glass then. I couldn't remember. I just remembered the bruises!
@Cosmichomicide @Sheree @Studio_M_ @Heucuva8 A lot of my friends had the glass ones but it took a while before I got some. They were plastic by then.
@Sheree @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8
- Oh, yeah!!! Had those too! ๐คฃ
We also had JARTS one summer ๐ณ
@Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8 Those Jarts tho... military grade mischief disguised as wholesome family fun!
They're illegal now in the U.S., but we had Jarts as well.
Between that, and learning games like Mumblety-peg...
Well, it's a wonder we didn't die.
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@Sheree @Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide
@Sheree @Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8
I have always wonder how toxic heated plastigoop was. ๐
Right? And those B'loons...
@Heucuva8 @realDDGlover @Sheree @Cosmichomicide
- That too!!! YUK!
Tastes terrible!
(don't ask how i know this)
@Studio_M_ @Heucuva8 @realDDGlover @Cosmichomicide I've seen this sort if thing in a store recently. Had a sensory memory of the taste & a memory of peeling a busted balloon off my glasses.
@realDDGlover @Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8 That never occurred to me! I must have absorbed a ton of that stuff through my fingers.
@Sheree @Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8
And remember there was a creepy crawlers edible version? Thank goodness we didnโt have it but friends did. Tasted cinnamon like.
@realDDGlover @Sheree @Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8
They had different flavors, I remember liking the grape and being disappointed with the cherry.
It was a do-it-yourself gummy kit. Ahead of its time.
@mcfate @Sheree @Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8
Flavored plastic! ๐๐
@realDDGlover @Sheree @Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8
Say what you like, but having to fill a mold from a squirt bottle, bake it for fifteen minutes, and then let it cool will slow down your candy consumption.
I was a big Vac-u-Form fan.
McFate, you make a very good point. I kinda wish that's how I had gotten my sugar as a child. Might've made me more healthy and fit than I am today. A little bit, anyway.
@Sheree @Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8 those Clackers were a menace to anyone around you too! ๐ต
@NorCalCherylLyn @Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8 So true! I wish I had a set now in case I have to ward off an intruder! Darn it, now I want to develop a Clackers-based self-defense course. "Don't move. I have Clackers and I'm not afraid to use 'em!"
@Sheree @Studio_M_ @Cosmichomicide @Heucuva8 lolโฆthat would work on me! I wouldnโt mess with anyone armed with those weapons!
Remembered the dip a flower things - Mattel had one in the Thingmaker series (same as the Creepy Crawlers) but this version was far more dangerous. In fact, my younger brother got TWO trips to the ER out of my set. Wires AND hot molten film. ๐ฅ
@Heucuva8
Well, of course we had BB guns, but I really think the most dangerous thing I had was the Big Wheel, and not because it was dangerous, but because I rode it down my hill, across the street at a nice, low, hard-to-see angle for oncoming traffic, and up my friend's hill. It was an absolute blast, and I'm stunned we didn't get hit by cars. We also got chased by the neighbor's german shephard while riding the Big Wheels.
@Heucuva8 probably the most dangerous toy we had were mini bikes with tailpipes that gave 3rd degree burns on your inner thigh when getting off. EVERYONE on our street had scars from them.
@Heucuva8 yard darts