What are some toys you had, when you were growing up, that would be considered un-PC today...

For example - lawn darts. Those giant darts you threw up in the air with the huge, heavy, metallic tips. We still have our set of lawn darts in our basement.

And those little toys where you would be up in the air (like a treehouse) and you would slide down a wire to reach the ground. I think they were called zip-lines. I had one, and it was taken down when one of my friends lost his grip, and fell about 20 feet to the ground and broke his leg, and got a concussion.

And trampolines.... When I was a kid in the late 70's/early 80's. Most everybody had a trampoline. And back then, you wanna talk about unsafe!!?? There was no padding on the side, no mesh to protect you from flying over the sides. And the actual trampolines, themselves had a lifespan of about 6 months before they would start to tear.

Lawn darts and regular darts were cool.
Do you think mothers let kids play with croquet balls and mallets anymore? How about horseshoes? A poor pwecious baby could smack itself.

Momma always said "Now Pixies, horseshoes for lookin' at, not for throwin at no poley in the ground."

She was however, the largest proponent of lawn darts on the East Coast. Go figure.

I'm too young too remember these personally, but I heard stories about Klackers, those little hard plastic balls on a string that you'd hit together and try to get them to "click." I heard stories that many a kid got injuries from them.

(Here's a link to what I'm talking about: http://www.timewarptoys.com/klackers.htm)

My 14" tall Arnold Schwarzenegger as Cammando doll which is tricked out with Safty vest (with knife holder, granades and extra ammo clips), 45 mag with leg holster, and uzi. Arnold has face paint on and divers undees on under his army slacks.

I've never seen anyone else with this *cough*actionfigure.....doll*cough*. I got it when I was about 4 right around the time the movie came out I believe for christmas. Seeing as they still sell the Tall G.I. Joe figures, this may still be ok for store shelves. I have it in storage but I'll see if I have any pics of it. I've been wondering how much I could get for it.

*edit* Oh are you guys only talking about unsafe toys?

There were the old metal cowboy cap guns I used to have that looked real, I even had a black cap gun with a (fake) silencer that I would screw onto the thw gun when playing cops and robbers. This was before they had the orange tips on them (and not plastic). We would always run around outside with these, even take them with us when going shopping with our parents to stores. Can't do that these days as a kid.

Uhh, my old toy lightsaber from 11 years ago, or a realistic-looking toy gun that worked with gunpowder that we owned?

i use to have those klacker things but not any more becaus it shaterd in my face. i remember hiting my wrist more then once. it's also funy when you use it as a bola aginst youre little brother.

BB guns, the old Benjamins with the huge ball bearing shots and metal slingshots, nuff said.

Haha, I still have my old wooden slingshot...I pretty much still have all of my childhood toys.

Anyone remember the plastic bubble pipes? The ones that looked like smoking pipes but were used for blowing bubbles?

And how about water rockets? How safe were those?

i had malfuctioning cap guns that would shoot fire out of the barrel if you shoot it enough it would seriously get hot as hell and it usally burned off the orange saftey thing on the tip.

I had a few cap guns when I was a kid.

And those little toys where you would be up in the air (like a treehouse) and you would slide down a wire to reach the ground. I think they were called zip-lines. I had one, and it was taken down when one of my friends lost his grip, and fell about 20 feet to the ground and broke his leg, and got a concussion.


I loved those...a friend of mine had one until one day at a birthday party a kid fell off (also about 20 ft fom the ground) and broke his nose---but he just let go for no reason. It was my turn next and we all had to leave!!
:mad:

I can't believe I forgot a few that were so obvious.

Remember when Megatron was a realistic looking Luger pistol? God, I remember I used to take mine to school, back in the day, and play with mine at recess. My teachers never said a thing about it. Nowadays, you'd be expelled so fast, it would make your head spin.

And any video game light gun is pretty much considered un-pc, now... I remember when Nintendo had to change the color of the NES Zapper because some cop accidentally shot a kid because he had a zapper, and the cop thought it was a real gun.

And remeber those battery powered water guns that looked like real guns? Like the Enertech AK Centerfire?

How in the bloody hell could a freaking cop confuse a damn Zapper for a real gun? I mean, don't you think the cord hanging off it would give it away? O_o

Anyway, remember paddle balls? A splintery piece of wood with a rubberband stapled to it. Whose sick idea was that? XD I had one with Geoffrey the Giraffe on it. I used to hurt myself with it all the time.

OMG! I remember Klackers! They smelled like sulfer. I had some, and I'm sure I did get hurt by them, but they were awesome!

If I remember correctly, it happend in a poorly lit housing project, and the cop couldn't fully make out it was just an NES zapper. He assumed it was a real gun, and shot and killed the kid. That's why Nintendo changed the zapper's clolor from beige to that ugly flourecent orange.

As for the cord, the kid probably had it in his pocket.

Socially Un PC toys are all over out there still- Barbie Dolls, Bratz, G.I. Joe, or any other action figure that promotes violence or negative female image. (Any doll that isn't a hairy armpitted girl with her college degree in feminist studies is a bad role model for young girls apparently). People who nitpick can probably find fault with any toy out there and why it's not bi-lingual and multicultural enough.

So for those toys I had: White, blue eyed, blonde haired Barbie (well, I had The Rockers, and Lights n' Lace too, so there were culturally diverse dolls there)

I had GI Joe, He Man, Centurions, In Huminoids, Voltron...all violent with scars and blood and guns. Water guns, Super Soakers, Cap Guns, Water Rockets. Ghostbuster stuff....

Safety Wise, I had Slap Bracelets, Klackers...I had a transformer that shot sparks out of its mouth, I had this pinwheel thing that when you pumped the bottom of the stem it would spit sparks out...yeah. Good stuff. Petite Ponies (wee little My Little Ponies that I'm sure some un learned naive 6 year old would try to swallow, only to choke to death) Oh geez, SLIP n SLIDE (a slab of plastic you throw yourself down on) and METAL PLAYGROUNDS!!! Roller slides! Merry Go Rounds! ALL made of GLORIOUS GLORIOUS metal!! And sand as a shock absorber.

It's a wonder that us 25+ year olds are alive and educated and even a little cultured with all the ignorance we were raised in, eh?

I had the toy of Shock Wave from Transformers when I was a kid. Shock Wave was a HUGE gun with heavy metal parts.



Never mind the fact ths thing was a gun, the toy must have weighed at least a couple of kilos so you could really injure yourself if you dropped it from a height. Also the legs would separate just below the trigger. Because that section was all heavy iron and spring-loaded I got my finger pinched in it on several occasions.

This reminds me of those skits with Dan Aykrod and Jane Curtain where they would test toys and Aykroyd would say that regular toys can be dangerous as well.